cin2tab - The input-method table converter for xcin system.

cin2tab filename

Cin2tab is the input-method table converter for xcin system. It is the utility to accomplish the ability of User Defined Input Method of xcin. All one needs to do is to edit a filename.cin formated Input-Method Table Source File (IMTSF), which is the definition of the particular input-method, then use cin2tab to transform it into binary format for xcin.

This manual page is based on the document cin2tab.HOWTO. This is a quick guideline for users to install their favorite User Defined Input Method. For a more detailed description, please refer to the original document of xcin-2.1d.

Suppose that you have prepared an IMTSF named vvvv.cin, then you can execute the following command to transform it:

cin2tab vvvv[.cin]

If there are no errors, it will generate the following files:

vvvv.tab vvvv.tab.rev vvvv.tab.phr vvvv.tab.quick vvvv.tab.sel1st

where the .tab and .tab.rev will always be generated, but .tab.phr, .tab.quick and .tab.sel1st may or may not be generated, depending on what you defined in the vvvv.cin. Note that if you upgrade your xcin system from older version to this version, please be sure to regenerate these input-method tables. Because the data structure of these table may be changed in the newer version, this may cause problems to read your older formatted table file and lead xcin to down.

The structure of IMTSF contains the following sections:

%NoBosh value

Set value to 0 to turn on the output character immediately mode, or set it to 1 to turn the mode off. This is the extension of the new version. The output character immediately mode will upload the first of the duplicate characters with the same encoding immediately when you type the Fully Input Encoding (see xcin(1)) and followed by ANY key. You do not have to type the space key to upload this character as before.

%ename name

Define the English name name of this input-method appeared in the title bar of the xcin window.

%prompt [name]

Define the Chinese name name of this input-method.

%selkey keyList

Define the key list keyList of this input-method to select the character if there are duplicate characters sharing with the same encoding.

%endkey keyList

Define the key list keyList of this input-method to be the end-key to terminate the input encoding. Every time when you type one of the keyList, xcin will assume that you have typed a complete encoding, and it will perform the output character immediately functionary. Using this extension, one can make the Phonetic like input-method more easy-to-use. See cin2tab.HOWTO for more details.

%last_full value

When xcin perform the output character immediately functionary, this extension will control xcin to send the white space followed by encoding immediately or not. Set value to 0 will send the white space, or set it to 1 will not. This is the same as the command option -last_full of xcin.

%dupsel number

Set the maximum number number of the duplicate characters with the same encoding can be selected at the same time.

%keyname begin

..............

%keyname end

This section defines the mapping between each key and the Chinese-input representation of the input-method. The format of this section is: <key> <Chinese representation>

%quick begin

............

%quick end

This section defines the quick keys for several special characters. The format of this section is: <key> <Character list>

%sel1st begin

.............

%se1lst end

This section defines the special characters which will be output under the output character immediately, instead of the first of the duplicate characters with the same encoding. If you setting this section, then the cin2tab will generate the .tab.sel1st table file.

From now on, there begins the mapping table of encoding & character. The format is:

<encoding key list> <character (or phrase)>

If you define a phrase in the second argument, then cin2tab will generate a .tab.phr file. Therefore, every time you type this encoding, xcin will output this phrase directly.

If you find any bugs, please report to:

vvvv.bbs@cis.nctu.edu.tw or thhsieh@twcpro.phys.ntu.edu.tw.

Edward Der-Hua Liu (Original author of xcin-2.1b)

Suei-Jeng Wang <vvvv.bbs@cis.nctu.edu.tw> (XcinFix4: highly improved version of xcin-2.1b)

xcin(1), crxvt(1), xcin.HOWTO, cin2tab.HOWTO, Boshiamy.HOWTO, Xfonts.HOWTO