Write Chinese - Macro for Word 97

• Initial remarks
• New
• For users
• Requirements
• Installation
• Uninstallation
• Short description
• Files
• Literature
• Questions, suggestions, criticism, thanks
• Warranties
• Feedback

• This macro is currently configured for traditional chinese characters only.
• In case you decide to download and install the described software, please read this whole page thoroughly before installation - it might be wise to print it out.

• Latest word list date: 2003-03-09.
• Latest program date: 2002-08-06 (Version 0.9996z4).
• 2004-08-02: Feedback form
• 2002-09-10: Index files included into complete version archive.
• 2002-08-06 (V 0.9996z4): Continuous loop error while starting the macro from "ChinJap.dot" without previous installation of WritChin97 solved. Also, the tone in the ZhuYin-Edit can be deleted by pressing the current tone again.
• 2002-07-23 (V 0.9996z3h): Unicode and translations can be turned off in the dictionary. Not everyone might appreciate the unicode, and without translations you will have a list of the Chinese words only.
• 2001-11-22 (V 0.9996z3g): Problem in managing the selection (list of corresponding characters) found and solved.
• 2001-11-04 (V 0.9996z3f): Statistics for "Menu->Index" as control measure. If the numbers don't match the ones given in the "word list" description then download index files (cf. table below).
• 2001-10-25 (V 0.9996z3e): Internal changes, WCPrep.exe not necessary any more (but you still need "Menu->Index" to create index files)
• 2001-09-16 (V 0.9996z2): Internal changes, also index structures changed (needs WCPrep.exe V 2.50!)
• 2001-07-30 (V 0.9996z1): Error in Office2000 found and solved (hopefully).
• 2001-07-23 (V 0.9996z): Fault with ZhuYin output in lexicon cleared.
• 2001-07-14 (V 0.9996y): Input of user defined font under "Menu"
• 2001-07-06 (V 0.9996x): Improved ZhuYin automatic.
• 2001-05-01 (V 0.9996w1): Problem with searching within the current selection without 1st tone automatic solved.
• 2001-04-22 (V 0.9996w): Searching within the current selection possible.
• 2001-03-03 (V 0.9996v): Better handling of several documents at a time (Office 97 only).
• 2001-01-27 (V 0.9996u): Problem with different font names for Office-2000 solved (hopefully).
• 2000-12-17 (V 0.9996t3): Problem with single dictionary entries of the current selection solved.
• 2000-12-17 (V 0.9996t2): Fault in selecting options for dictionary cleared.
• 2000-12-11 (V 0.9996t1): Minor fault in "Text" display for compound expressions eliminated. Label "UC" for unicode field.
• 2000-10-27: Extended installation instructions in case that the directory name is not accepted during installation (The problem should be solved in Version 0.9996s).

• If you are using the software already, you should download a newer version of the template and the word lists from time to time, to stay up to date. The software - the macro - is stored in the template and the translations are in the word lists.
• Installation: After downloading the EXE-files execute them and enter the same directory as destination that you entered in the first installation (e.g. if you specified "C:\Program Files" in the first installation, which made the software to be installed into "C:\Program Files\WritChin97", you'll have to enter "C:\Program Files" in every update).
• Important: After each update of the word lists you should rebuild the index files with "Menu->Index", for each language separately. A window with statistics concerning the processed characters will be shown. If the numbers don't match the ones given in the "word list" description then download index files (cf. table below).

• This macro needs quite a lot of resources. It has been being developed and is being used on a computer with a 200 MHz Pentium processor. I would recommend this as a minimum, although it also runs on slower machines. In addition to this, there should be 64 MB of main memory, otherwise you might need a lot of patience.
• The operating system must be Windows 95 or later. This requirement is mainly due to the next point (Word 97). As long as you use the English version, the language of the installed system shouldn't matter (Language can be changed to German in the "Menu", if you need it, but the German "Umlaute" might not be displayed correctly if you don't have a German version of Windows). For Chinese Windows you have to install a user defined font - a valid chinese font - using "regedit". Enter the font name manually into "Menu->Define font" (Version 0.9996y or above).
• Word 97 must be installed (e.g. included in Office 97).
• If you have Windows-2000 or Windows-XP you need at least the version WC09996m.
• For Windows versions that are restricted to European characters the Microsoft FarEast Support must be installed, too (not (!!!) for Chinese Windows and only (!!!) for Office-97). This can be found on any Office CD in a directory "FarEast" underneath "CDExtra" or so (Sorry, I've never had an English Office CD). The FarEast Support pack makes it possible to display far eastern characters and supports several character sets. If you do not want to install all of the four of them (Japanese, Korean, traditional Chinese and simplified Chinese), you should at least install the traditional Chinese (Font: "MingLiU"), maybe the simplified version as well (Font: "MS Song").
• Office-2000 and Office-XP seem to be OK until now, but under Windows NT 4.0 there always comes up an error message when Word is closed after using this macro. The support for far-eastern languages can be installed in the Office installation menu via "Office->Office Tools-> International Support".

• For an initial installation download the complete version. The file is a self-extracting archive.
• Run the self-extracting EXE-file (double click). Now, a directory "WritChin97" will be created underneath a directory that you can select. This directory contains, partly in subdirectories, all of the files that this macro needs.
• Open the document "WritChin.doc" in the created directory "WritChin97". With version 0.9996z or above you can also simply open the template "WritChin.dot". There might a message be coming up, warning you that this document contains a macro. If you don't activate macros now, the macro cannot run. The author feels no fun in spreading viruses, although he cannot be completely sure that this software is not infected. Until now, there have been no problems.
• Next to the font selection, there should be a new button ( ). If you use this for the first time, some entries will be written to the registration (Key "\\HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Write Chinese"). In case you are asked for a directory, please enter the path up to "WritChin97" (e.g. if you selected "C:\Program Files" as destination directory for the macro, enter "C:\Program Files\WritChin97"). In case, this does not help, i.e. when you are asked repeatedly although you entered the correct directory, please abort and enter the path manually using regedit: Run "regedit" ("Start->Run: regedit"), browse in the left window to "\\HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Write Chinese", use the right mouse button to click into the right window, select "New->String", enter the name "Directory" and press ENTER, double click on this new entry to assign a value, enter the directory name (e.g. "C:\Program Files\WritChin97" in the example above) and excuse the troubles. This should do it.
• You might want to create a shortcut to the template ("WritChin.dot") in the "Templates" directory of Microsoft Office (probably "C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\Templates") to have an easier access to it, by simply using "File->New".
• From time to time, some changes are made to the template or the word list. You will find the updates below (Refer to the date in the brackets, in front of the size). If there are newer versions, you should install them to stay up to date. To install them, download the self-extracting archive and run it, enter the same directory as in the initial installation, the directory above "WritChin97" (N.B.: The template can only be overwritten if it is not open, i.e. that no document must be open that is based on it !!!). After updating the word list, please select "Menu" and then "Index" - for each language separately - to create a new search file. This file is also used for complete Dictionary output. A window with statistics concerning the processed characters will be shown. If the numbers don't match the ones given in the "word list" description then download index files (cf. table below).
• The macro is installed now. Documents that are created using the template "WritChin.dot" contain this new button.

• Before uninstalling the software you should delete all shortcuts to the template that you have created.
• Use "regedit" to delete the registry key "\\HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Write Chinese". (Not really necessary, but it helps to clean your registry).
• Delete the directory "WritChin97" that was created during installation.
• That was it.

• In this macro, until now you can only use Zhu-yin (BoPoMoFo), to enter the phonetics of the characters that you want to write. After selecting the tone, a list of corresponding characters will appear. Clicking on a character in the list will write it into your document, unless one of the options right above the text is selected (Copy/Text/Dictionary).
• If you leave your mouse cursor resting long enough over one of the characters in the list, its translation will appear, if entered. Unknown words have a "?" in the translation, still new words a "!".
• If you want to use tone characters or punctuation, use the key next to the enter key which has a quotation mark on it and select the first tone (space bar). Underneath the punctuation key there is another one with a mathematical square root on it. Using this with the first tone will give you some mathematival symbols. Some of these can only be seen with the simplified font (MS Song).
• Under "Options" you can, among others, specifiy, whether you want to use "Unknown" characters, which have a "?" in their translation, "Still New" characters, translated with "!", and strange characters, with "!!". Strange characters are characters, whose phonetics seem to be different to those given in my Zhu-yin template.
• Until now, there are only translations for single characters. There are no compound expressions yet.
• To adapt the window size there are two buttons labelled "+" and "-" in the lower right corner. You can also adapt the size manually in the registry using "regedit" (Entry "ZoomFactor" in key "\\HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Write Chinese"). Default value is 100.
• The button "Menu" will open up a window where you can, for example, write the dictionary for all the characters that are currently in the list, or even af all characters that are translated. The latter might take some minutes. The complete dictionary will be sorted with respect to the zhu-yin order, and then the unicode value.
• If you write "4E00" to the left edit field right above the big "?" in the main window (labelled "UC" in version 0.9996t1 and above), and "9FFF" in the right one, you can create a total list of all Chinese characters with the button "UC List" under "Menu" (!).
• Using "S" in the upper right corner of the main window lets you search for unicode value (The value has to be entered first on the main form, in the left edit field above the big "?", labelled "UC" in version 0.9996t1 and above) or a text. Both will take some time. Not more than 500 characters will be shown in the result.
• If you use the button "Index" under "Menu" and press "OK" in the appearing window, a search file will be created that speeds up searching a little, for each language separately. This has to be repeated after each update of the word list.  A window with statistics concerning the processed characters will be shown. If the numbers don't match the ones given in the "word list" description then download index files (cf. table below).
• Right now, there are almost only traditional characters configured. Simplified characters are only availabe, if at all, when they are included in the traditional font (MingLiU).
• There is no complete manual available yet, because the software is still being developed. Just play around a little, you cannot do any damage.

Literature:

The Dictionary I was using for the English translations is "Far East English-Chinese Chinese-English Dictionary - Yuan Dong Ying Han Han Ying Ci Dian", The Far East Book Co., Taipei, 1997, ISBN 957-612-016-0. Some more translations have been added to the English part, mostly based on the German source below. The additional translations are marked with "(*)".
The Dictionary I was using for the German translations was "Xin Han De Ci Dian - Das neue Chinesisch-Deutsche Woerterbuch", Peking, 1996, ISBN 7-100-00096-3. Some more translations have been added to the German part, mostly based on the English source above. The additional translations are marked with "(*)".

Questions, suggestions, crititcism, thanks:

Questions, suggestions, criticism and thanks to Christian Hinz.

Warranties:

The author cannot guarantee that the software is free of faults, nor that the data contained are complete or free of errors. He can only emphasize that he wrote this software for his own use, that he tried hard to wipe out all defects that he found, and that he entered the translations diligently. Besides, as mentioned above already, he does not intend to spread any computer virus or anything alike. Still, he cannot guarantee that no virus has found its way into this software.

Feedback: A feedback form can be found here.

Deutsche Version / German version

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Last Change: 2004-04-03, Christian Hinz