| # Native Language Support General Native Language Support controls the communication between the character set of the printer devices and that of bshell. A bshell can use the eight-bit character set of ISO 8859-1. Many printers do not support this character set, therefore, Native Language Support techniques are implemented. The character set of the terminal is uniform. However, various country-dependent keyboards can be used with the same terminal. Not all the characters of the terminal character set can be found on the keyboard. The remaining characters must be composed. The process to compose characters is described in “Composed characters,” later in this chapter. An output conversion table is used to convert the character set of the bshell to that of the printer. In this table, a character from the ISO 8859-1 is converted to the corresponding value from the terminal character set. For a description of the conversion tables, refer to “Conversion tables,” later in this chapter. To maintain the conversion tables, you can use the NLS editor. This editor is described in “NLS editor,” later in this chapter. Conversion capabilities between the user interface, Web UI and Worktop, and the bshell are not required because the prerequisite is that both be configured to run with the same character set. Worktop works in the character set configured in the Regional Options of the Windows system. The bshell works in the character set defined in the User Data Template (ttams1110m000) session. Composed characters Characters that are not found on a keyboard must be composed by a unique combination of two or more existing characters. An example of a list of composed characters is provided in “List of composed sequences,” later in this chapter. Before you enter the combination, you must press a compose key. The compose key is defined in the terminal information file of the terminal. For more information, refer to “NLS-related files,” later in this chapter. The compose key can be linked to a special key on the keyboard, for example, a function key. To compose characters, you can also use the Compose character key, if present on the keyboard. This key has the same function as the compose key. The manufacturer of the terminal has defined the composed characters. The user documentation of the terminal contains a list of these composed characters. Conversion tables You need conversion to make the character sets of bshell and the printer compatible: output conversion. Output conversion table Output conversion table The output conversion table converts the characters of the ISO character set to their corresponding values in the printer character set. In this way, a character is printed as entered. To record or modify an output conversion table, you can use the NLS editor, as described in “NLS editor,” later in this chapter. An example of an output conversion table is provided in the “Printer output table MT910 HP Prestige character set.” Example of a conversion Printer type: Mannesmann mt910 Required character: ÿ = ISO8859-1 code 255 Assume that the bshell is running in character set ISO8859-1, the character ÿ is represented with code 255. To print the entered (required) character on a Mannesmann mt910 printer, the printer output table must contain the following line: \255 y\b\168 For this reason, the ÿ character is printed as follows: [y] <Backspace>["] y \b \168 NLS editor Use the NLS editor to maintain input and output conversion tables. To start the editor, start nlsedit. To maintain printer output tables, use the –p option, followed by the printer name. After you start the editor, the upper part of the ISO character set (160-255) appears. If a character cannot be displayed on your screen, the reason can be because the character is not found in the terminal’s character set. To display feasible options, you can type ?, or type Q to exit the editor. Note Standard delivered Enterprise Server communications no longer require input conversion; this conversion was used in the past for terminal conversion. Because the input conversion is required for other devices, the conversion is still supported. Initial screen options Feasible initial screen options include the following:
-d/h/o | Set decimal/hex/octal display mode
-t | Edit nls_in and nls_out tables
-r | Toggle display of characters
-s | Toggle character set
: With the options D, H, and –O, you can change the display mode of the character values into decimal, hexadecimal, or octal. You can use the T option to edit the conversion tables. A second screen appears. The initial screen shows the characters that the terminal displays as defaults. With the R option, you can set this mode on or off. The default characters that appear on the initial screen are characters of the upper part (160-255) of the ISO character set. With the S option, you can switch between the lower part (32-127) and the upper part of this character set. To display the initial screen options, you can type ?. The window that appears also shows your terminal setup, NLS table names, and shell variable BSE. Maintenance of NLS conversion tables If you enter the T option on the initial screen, you can maintain the input and output conversion tables. Five columns appear, as illustrated in the following example:
Input | int | s | # | Output
A` | 192 | À | 0 | \192
A' | 193 | Á | 1 | \193
A\^ | 194 | Â | 0 | \194
The left column, input, is only required to create input conversion tables that are no longer required with ERP Enterprise Server, but maintained for backward compatibility. The second column, int, displays the values of the characters in the ISO character set. The third column, s, shows the characters as they are represented after output conversion. The fourth column, #, contains the character set number. Character sets are defined at the terminal or printer. The possible values are 0-9, and the default is 0. The last column, output, contains the output sequence of the characters. You can type the output sequence in decimal, hexadecimal, or octal code. The bottom of the screen shows the display mode in which the values of the characters appear. The last line indicates the marked character. The numeric representations and description are also included. Feasible options to maintain conversion tables include the following:
–D/H/O: | Set decimal/hexadecimal/octal display mode
-N: | Toggle numeric/alpha mode compose sequence
-DOWN ARROW: | Next line
-UP ARROW: | Previous line
-CTRL+N: | Next page
-CTRL+P: | Previous page
-K: | Single key
-C: | Enter compose sequence
-S: | Enter output sequence
-W: | Write nls_in and nls_out file
-+/- | Increment/decrement character set number
With the options D, H, and –O, you can change the display mode of the character values into decimal, hexadecimal, or octal. The N option converts alphanumeric characters from the input and output table to their numeric values, and vice versa. To move the bar to the following or previous line, use the key DOWN ARROW or UP ARROW. If you press CTRL+N or CTRL+P, you can move the bar 15 lines forward or backward. To enter the input sequence of a single key, press K. The editor asks you to press the required key. That character is included directly in the table. You do not have to press ENTER after you enter the character. After you press –C, you can enter the compose sequence. You can enter up to 35 characters. To type the output sequence, enter S. You can enter up to 35 characters. After any modification, to store the input and output tables, you can enter W. |