XFIG Users Manual

Internationalization (Using Japanese, Korean, etc.)

Xfig and fig2dev can produce PostScript, EPS, PDF and bitmap files that contain Japanese or Korean text. For this to work, fig2dev must be invoked from the command line. Also, it is necessary to have a postscript preamble file, e.g., japanese.ps, in its default location, usually /usr/local/share/fig2dev/i18n or /usr/share/fig2dev/i18n. Such preamble files might also be put into the location pointed to by the FIG2DEV_LIBDIR environment variable. The file japanese.ps and korean.ps define composite fonts to use with Times-Roman and Times-Roman Bold.

Command Line

From xfig, save your drawing using Save As… from the File menu. Xfig invariably writes utf-8 encoded fig files. You must convert the file to an EUC-encoding, e.g., with iconv
iconv -f UTF-8 -t EUC-JP drawing_utf8.fig >drawing.fig
Use fig2dev to convert the resulting, euc-encoded fig file (drawing.fig) to the desired output format. You must work in the corresponding EUC-locale (setting the environment variable LC_CTYPE, or simply LANG), and you must specify the options -E for input encoding and -j to enable composite fonts. For instance, to convert to EPS,
LC_CTYPE=ja_JP.eucJP fig2dev -L eps -E EUC-JP -j drawing.fig drawing.eps
or to a PNG,
LC_CTYPE=ja_JP.eucJP fig2dev -L png -E EUC-JP -j drawing.fig drawing.png

Entering Text

Using this internationalization facility, you may enter text in Japanese or some another languages (henceforce, call "international text") with the TEXT facility. When entering international text, "Times-Roman" or "Times-Bold" (may be displayed as "Times-Roman + Mincho" and "Times-Bold + Gothic" in Japanese environment) must be selected as TEXT FONT.

Input of international text will be started by typing a key to switch the input mode when it is ready to input text from the keyboard in TEXT mode. It depend on the environment as to which key will switch the input mode, but keys such as Shift-SPACE, Control-SPACE, Control-O, or Control-\ may be used in many cases. Operations for conversion also depend on the environment, but will be the same as other applications which use the environment.

The input style may be selected from Off the Spot, Over the Spot, and Root. The input style to be used may be selected with the inputStyle resource or the -inputStyle option. For example, xfig -inputStyle OverTheSpot will select Over the Spot as the input style.

Off the Spot:
The text under conversion will be displayed at the bottom of the canvas.

[Input Style: Off-the-Spot]

Over the Spot:
The text under conversion will be displayed at the position where it will end up. But the display may be somewhat strange because it will be displayed with a different font. Also, it may lead to somewhat unusual behavior, or the display on the canvas may get confused.

[Input Style: Over-the-Spot]

Root:
The text under conversion will displayed in a separate window.

[Input Style: Root]

Changing Fonts on PostScript Output

Fonts used when generating PostScript output are specified in the files like japanese.ps in fig2dev package, and it is possible to change them by modifying those files.

Japanese

By default, Ryumin-Light and GothicBBB-Medium will used if they are available, and HeiseiMin-W3 and HeiseiKakuGo-W5 otherwise.

Locale name can one of japanese, ja, ja_JP, ja_JP.ujis, ja_JP.eucJP and ja_JP.EUC.

Korean

By default, Munhwa-Regular and MunhwaGothic-Bold will used if they are available, and HLaTeX-Myoungjo-Regular and HLaTeX-Gothic-Regular otherwise.

Locale name can one of korean, ko, ko_KR, ko_KR.ujis, ko_KR.eucKR and ko_KR.EUC.

Another Languages

Because configuration file for languages other than Japanese and Korean is not prepared, you must make the file for the language and available fonts.

The file must installed into the directory specified when fig2dev is installed. The filename must locale name followed by ".ps". For example, if locale name is zh_CN.eucCN, the filename must zh_CN.eucCN.ps.

Setting Resources

X Window System has mechanism to load locale-specific resource file to support internationalization (localization) of applications. With this mechanism, it is possible to make suitable settings for the language without specifying options when executing the application. To make xfig works properly for multiple languages, it may be necessary to make suitable settings using this mechanism.

In the default configuration of X11R6, if there is a resource file like /usr/X11R6/lib/X11/locale/app-defaults/Fig (here, locale is locale name or its "language part"), it will be loaded instead of /usr/X11R6/lib/X11/app-defaults/Fig. Therefore, if you wrote setting for Japanese environment in /usr/X11R6/lib/X11/ja/app-defaults/Fig, the setting for Japanese environment will be used when environment variable LANG is set to ja_JP.eucJP or so, and default setting in /usr/X11R6/lib/X11/app-defaults/Fig will be used otherwise.

Notes

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