The Main control panel has the following controls:
WinVNKey hyperlinked to WinVNKey Homepage
TriChlor Software Group hyperlinked to the TriChlor Homepage
This group has six combo boxes:
Select a mode that is suitable for your typing need.
OFF: WinVNKey is inactive as if it were never running.
AutoCombine (Viet):
recommended if your text is mainly Vietnamese. In this mode every character you type in will automatically combine into Vietnamese if possible. For instance, ma' to^i → má tôi.
recommended if you also need to type foreign characters such as French, German, etc.
Combine on Request (English): used when your text is mainly English and occasionally Vietnamese. In this mode characters normally do not combine unless you request by preceding the base letter with an escape character, which is usually the backslash by default. For instance, Hello Kh\o^i → Hello Khôi.
Literal: rarely used. Provided for compatibility with the VIQR standards. It is frequently used in batch processing of VIQR text. In this mode every character appears as is (what you type is what you see), except a number of special sequences beginning with the escape character: \V, \M, \L, \S, \v, \m, \l.
Sleep: rarely used. Provided for compatibility with the extended VIQR standards used in MacVNkey. It is frequently used in batch processing of VIQR text. In this mode every character appears as is (what you type is what you see), except one and only one sequence called the wake-up sequence, normally defined as \WK! (exactly four characters \ W K and ! ).
Users can click on the hyperlink "Keyboard Mode" to see an explanation of keyboard modes.
This option allows you to select the character set for your text. If your text is purely 8-bit Vietnamese, you can select VISCII or MacVISCII and use VISCII fonts that are included in the release. You can also select Unicode and use Unicode fonts. But each character is 16-bit and your text file is likely twice as large. Most Microsoft fonts that come with NT4/2K/XP support Unicode such as Arial, Times New Roman, Courier, etc.
If your text is French or German only, choose a codepage that supports French or German completely such as Windows Codepage 1252 or Unicode.
If your text contains characters from several languages, you can select Unicode charset or VNI but Unicode is much preferred.
You can click on the Charset hyperlink to see information relevant to the charset currently in use.
Normally this would not be a concern for you unless you choose Unicode Charset.
This controls how Unicode characters are delivered to your applications. How to choose an output method depends on both the Windows operating system version and your application. If a method is supported by both Windows operating system and your application, you will be able to type and see Unicode characters in your application.
Automatic method: WinVNKey detects the Windows version automatically and then chooses the best method (from methods 1 through 5 as shown above) that the system supports. However, this method may not work because your application does not support it. If this is the case, try the clipboard method 1 or 2 explicitly instead of the automatic method.
Clipboard method: WinVNKey delivers every true 16-bit Unicode character to your application via clipboard. WinVNKey first clears the clipboard, then copies Unicode characters to the clipboard, and triggers a paste operation by faking a CTRL-V or SHIFT-INSERT.
Regular method: Unicode characters are delivered directly to applications in the same way as 8-bit characters. It is up to applications to process them. Thus if an application is not smart enough to process Unicode, you can not get Unicode characters. In this case you may want to try one of the two clipboard methods. This method works for Outlook 2000 on Windows 98, NT4, and other later versions of Windows.
Simulation method: this method produces Unicode characters as if they were typed physically at the keyboard. Supported on Windows NT 4 with at least Service Pack 3, Windows 98/ME, and Windows 2000/XP or later. For example, this method works with Office 2000 (except Outlook) on NT 2000.
Unicode method: Unicode characters are delivered specifically marked for Unicode. This feature is supported in Windows XP or later. For example, this method works for Office 2000 (except Outlook 2000) on Windows 2000.
In general, the clipboard method works on all Windows versions starting from Windows 95 to the latest Windows release. If your application accepts Unicode characters at all, it must support the clipboard method. The only drawback is WinVNKey has to clear the clipboard every time you type a true 16-bit Unicode character. Thus if you have copied something into the clipboard and then type a true 16-bit Unicode character (say, ạ), the contents of your clipboard is lost and is replaced with the new Unicode character (e.g., ạ).
You can avoid interfering with the clipboard by choosing other methods by trial and error. Or you can still use the clipboard method. In this case you should avoid scenarios where you copy something, then type some accented characters, and finally paste; i.e., avoiding typing accented characters between the copy and paste steps.
Select a Vietnamese typing method that is comfortable to you.
To see the details of each typing method, click on the hyperlink "Typing Method." Each typing method is saved in a file with the ".ktm" extension in the Typing folder in the installation directory. You are allow to add/modify/delete any typing methods.
All the options that affect typing and combining Viet characters are conveniently grouped into a page. WinVNKey provides 13 pages numbered from 0 to 12. Click on the hyperlink "Viet Option Page" to see the details of each page. You can add new pages or modify/delete an existing page.
Users can enable one to four types of macros at the same time. They can click on the hyperlink "Macro" to see tables of these macros.
Click this default button to reset all settings on the currently displayed page (Main control panel) to the default state as shown in the first picture at the top of this page. The default state supports the following:
Unicode
Accent marks can be typed anywhere in the syllable and will combine with the appropriate vowels if the resulting syllable is Vietnamese.
Once an accent mark is combined and you next type something that makes the syllable no longer Vietnamese, the accent mark will be uncombined automatically:
hoan` ==> hoàn
hoànk ==> hoan`k (typing k will uncombine the grave)
Once uncombining has occurred, you can simply press and release the Right Shift key to undo (toggle) it, i.e., to recombine the mark.
Click the OK button to minimize the control panel to an icon on the taskbar tray. WinVNKey is still running in the background. The icon look depends on the keyboard mode as follows:
WinVNKey is OFF, the icon looks like a red STOP sign.
WinVNKey is in AutoCombine mode (red VN on yellow icon)
WinVNKey is in Combine-On-Request mode (hand raised to request)
WinVNKey is in Literal mode (chars going through WinVNKey as is)
WinVNKey is in Sleep mode (moon on the sky)
You can right click on the tray icon to display a menu, which is self-explanatory.
You can left click on the tray icon to toggle WinVNKey from "Auto Combine" mode to OFF and vice versa
You can double click on the tray icon to maximize it
You can move the mouse over the tray icon and stay there for a second or two to show the current state of WinVNKey.
Click the Exit button to quit WinVNKey.
Click here for more info