Compose Special Characters

(6 votes)
Compose special characters

    Compose Special Characters lets you type two or three characters and then run a macro to convert them into a single accented or special character. Writer and Calc are currently supported.

      You can also use a dialog to insert any supported character. The dialog lists all supported characters and the character combinations you use to compose them - once you know the character combination you need for any particular character you don't need to use the dialog. The characters are categorised in the dialog for easier reference.

        To open the dialog choose Compose Character... on the Insert menu (Insert > Compose Character...).

          You can assign the macro to the keyboard shortcut of your choice via a button on the dialog, or you can manually assign it to whatever key combo you choose via Tools > Customise... > Keyboard.

            HOW TO USE

              For Text documents:
              Type the two composing characters and run the ComposeSpecialChar macro.
                For Spreadsheet documents:
                Type "¬" plus the two composing characters, then run the ComposeSpecialChar macro. A flag character is required in Calc because currently there doesn't seem to be any way to identify in code where the insertion point is in an OpenOffice spreadsheet cell. Since you might want to insert a special character anywhere in a cell, not just as the last character, the flag character is necessary.

                  After installing the extension you'll need to close OpenOffice then re-open it to see the new Compose Characters... menu item on the Insert menu.

                    Download extension
                    Operating System: System Independent
                    Compatible with: OpenOffice.org 2.3 | StarOffice 8 Update 8 or higher.
                    Official release: 1.1.6
                    Date: 2008-Aug-07
                    Size: 31.31 KB
                    License: opensource
                    Further product information: Product details

                    Comments

                    Wow!!

                    Wonderful!
                    I found a little problem with the "==" shortcut not working on version 1.0.94. This can be easily fixed by editing the "fncCharacterArray" macro. Just change the line
                    arrChars(1,255) = "== "
                    with
                    arrChars(1,255) = "=="
                    (that is, erase the extra space after the two equal signs)
                    A typo, I suppose ;)

                    Bug fixed

                    Thanks for the kind words! Version 1.1.1 fixes that bug relating to shortcuts ending with "=".

                    Dialog size

                    I've had some reports of Ubuntu users experiencing problems with the size of the Compose Special Characters reference dialog in OO 2.4.x. Sometimes it appears full size, other times it appears just as the upper left hand corner of the full dialog. The problem affects a number of extensions, not just this one. It seems to be due to a combination of bugs in Ubuntu's graphics handling and their version of OO 2.4.x. For more detail see:

                    http://www.openoffice.org/issues/show_bug.cgi?id=87596
                    and
                    http://user.services.openoffice.org/en/forum/viewtopic.php?f=47&t=7716&p...

                    The OO developers are working on a fix. In the meantime if you're a Ubuntu user and you're having problems with the size of extensions' dialog boxes you might want to change your graphics mode to "None" (in Ubuntu: System -> Preferences -> Appearance).

                    Copyright symbol fixed

                    Version 1.0.88 fixes a conflict with the copyright symbol so if you download a previous version please update to 1.0.88. Thanks and please get in touch if you find any bugs or have any suggestions, feedback is most welcome.

                    If you don't want to waste

                    If you don't want to waste hours looking for special characters that you have to use night and day, then this extension is for you! A real top-notcher!