English | Benglai
BanglaPad is a full-featured cross-platform Bangla Unicode text editor that can run on different operating systems, such as Windows, Linux/Unix, owing to its base on the Java programming language. Users can type Bangla text without using external helper applications, such as keyboard drivers.
BanglaPad enables users to type Bangla Unicode text using common Bangla character entry methods. It provides file and text Drag-and-Drop support and intelligent marking capability. BanglaPad can open and save files in Windows Latin 1 and Unicode formats via selecting the appropriate file types in the File Dialog. An integrated conversion utility, which operates on the whole file or on selected text, provides Unicode conversion support for legacy, Numeric Character References (NCR), and UTF-8 encoding formats. Sort Bangla words, strip diacritics, remove line breaks, and change case operations are also supported.
The ability to add diacritical marks to unmarked Bangla text is also integrated. This feature uses a user-modifiable list, located in .BanglaPad directory under user's home directory, containing common Bangla words and phrases. Spell check and normalize diacritics functionalities are also included.
Files saved in Unicode formats can be opened and edited by Unicode-compatible text or HTML editors, such as Microsoft Notepad on Windows NT/2000/XP system. The file content can also be copied/pasted to/from other Unicode applications. The built-in Font Preview function enables users to select fonts that have full Bangla character support. The Find/Replace Dialog can accept newline (\n) and tab (\t) characters (use sequences \\n and \\t if you want to escape them).
BanglaPad is released and distributed under the GNU General Public License. Its official homepage is at http://BanglaPad.sourceforge.net.
You will need to have the Java 2 Runtime Environment (JRE), Standard Edition v1.4 or later installed on your machine to run BanglaPad. For Windows, Linux, and Solaris, the JRE can be downloaded free from http://java.sun.com/j2se/downloads.
On Mac OS X Panther, BanglaPad runs without additional requirements. For Jaguar 10.2.6 or later, Java 1.4.2 Update 2 can be installed via Software Update in System Preferences.
BanglaPad is packaged as executable Java-Archive program. Download and unzip BanglaPad-1.2.zip. Run the JAR-packaged application with the Java interpreter either by double-clicking on the BanglaPad.jar file object or by executing the following command at the command line:
java -jar BanglaPad.jar
or (on Windows)
javaw -jar BanglaPad.jar
Note: The filename is case-sensitive in some operating systems. Be sure the directory that contains the BanglaPad.jar file is the current directory.
To run the Bangla localized version, place font.properties.vi file in jre/lib directory (not needed on Mac OS X; for J2SE v1.4.2 on Windows, this would be the C:\Program Files\Java\j2re1.4.2\lib directory; on Linux, first drop the linux file extensions of the packaged font.properties.vi.linux files and then copy them into jre/lib directory), and specify the following switch for the Java interpreter:
java -Duser.language=vi -jar BanglaPad.jar
This switch is not needed if the system's default locale is already Bangla. In the International category of System Preferences on Mac OS X, "Việt" has to be added to the Languages list, at a position not below English. On Windows, the Bangla locale can be set as default via Regional Options in Control Panel. If the bundled font.properties file is also copied into jre/lib directory, you will only need to choose the appropriate User Interface in Preferences dialog, without having to set any locale.
Note: The font.properties files are not needed in J2SE 5.0 as Bangla locale has been supported.
Files that contain Unicode-compliant Bangla characters must be saved in Unicode formats. Custom settings, such as Font and Input Method options, will be saved when the program exits. The Always Save with Platform Default Line Separators option, when checked, forces the use of platform default line endings for file saving; when unchecked, preserves the original line endings. This accounts for the difference in End-of-Line (EOL) characters, namely, CRLF and LF, between Windows and Linux/Unix operating systems.
Note: Be sure to turn off other external Bangla keyboard drivers—e.g., VPSKeys, WinVNKey, VNI, VietKey, or UniKey—when you use BanglaPad.
|
Accents vs. Vowels |
Telex Input Method |
VNI Input Method |
VIQR Input Method |
|
a circumflex - â |
aa |
a6 |
a^ |
|
e circumflex - ê |
ee |
e6 |
e^ |
|
o circumflex - ô |
oo |
o6 |
o^ |
|
a breve - ă |
aw |
a8 |
a( |
|
o horn - ơ |
ow |
o7 |
o+ |
|
u horn - ư |
uw |
u7 |
u+ |
|
d stroke - đ |
dd |
d9 |
dd |
|
acute - sắc |
s |
1 |
' |
|
grave - huyền |
f |
2 |
` |
|
dot below - nặng |
j |
5 |
. |
|
hook above - hỏi |
r |
3 |
? |
|
tilde - ngã |
x |
4 |
~ |
|
remove diacritics - xóa dấu |
z |
0 |
- |
|
Example
- Ví dụ: |
Vis duj:
|
Vi1 du5:
|
Vi' du.:
|
The keys designated as diacritical marks are to be typed immediately after the vowel they qualify. To type those keys literally, i.e., without combining them with the preceding vowel, type the escape character, defined to be the backslash key (\), right before entering those keys. For example, while Viet Mode is on with VNI Input Method selected, if you want to type the character sequence a1 , enter a\1 -- the escape character (\) will prevent character a and character 1 from combining into character á.
BanglaPad incorporates SmartMark capability, allowing users to enter diacritical marks at word ends, besides the traditional method above.
Unicode has only limited support in Windows 95/98/Me, but these operating systems are still capable of displaying all Bangla characters using appropriate Unicode fonts. Full Unicode support is built into Windows NT/2000/XP. Linux and Mac OS 8.5 or greater have begun to provide support Unicode. Mac OS X and Palm OS provide full Unicode support.
The following Windows fonts, which come supplied with Windows 98SE/Me/2000/XP, contain many Unicode characters, including Bangla:
Times New Roman, Courier New, Arial, Tahoma, Verdana, Palatino Linotype
Note: Users of Windows 95/98/NT and Mac OS X should download the latest versions of these fonts, as the older versions, which are not fully Unicode-compliant, would display question marks (?), squares (◻), or glyphs from other fonts for unsupported characters. They can be downloaded from VietUnicode Fonts archive or TrueType Core Fonts. These fonts are also included in Windows NT Service Pack 4, in Internet Explorer 5.5 or later, and in Microsoft Office 2000.
Note to Linux Users: To make Unicode fonts available to Java applications, you may need to set the environment variable JAVA_FONTS to the appropriate font paths (typically, /usr/share/fonts/truetype) and then export it. This is usually done in /etc/profile file. More information can be found in Install and configure Unicode TrueType fonts in Linux and Configure Java environment on Linux.
For comments/feedback/input/bug report, please post at Viet Unicode Forum.