25 Character Attributes

This chapter provides reference material for character attributes functions defined in CharAttr.h.

Character Attribute Functions

ChrHorizEllipsis

Purpose

Macro that returns the appropriate character code for the horizontal ellipsis.

Prototype

ChrHorizEllipsis (chP)

Parameters

<- chP

Pointer to a variable in which to return the horizontal ellipsis character code.

Result

Returns nothing. Upon return, the variable pointed to by chP contains the horizontal ellipsis character.

Comments

Version 3.1 of the Palm OS^® uses different character codes for the horizontal ellipsis character and the numeric space character than earlier versions did. Use this macro to return the appropriate code for horizontal ellipsis regardless of which version of Palm OS your application is run on.

ChrIsHardKey

Purpose

Macro that returns true if the character is one of the hard keys on the device.

Prototype

ChrIsHardKey (ch)

Parameters

-> ch

The character from the keyDownEvent.

Result

true if the character is one of the four built-in hard keys on the device, false otherwise.

Compatibility

This macro is obsolete and replaced by TxtCharIsHardKey if the International Feature Set is present.

ChrNumericSpace

Purpose

Macro that returns the appropriate character code for the numeric space.

Prototype

ChrNumericSpace (chP)

Parameters

<- chP

Pointer to a variable in which to return the numeric space character code.

Result

Returns nothing. Upon return, the variable pointed to by chP contains the numeric space character.

Comments

Version 3.1 of the Palm OS uses different character codes for the horizontal ellipsis character and the numeric space character than earlier versions did. Use this macro to return the appropriate code for numeric space regardless of which version of Palm OS your application is run on.

GetCharAttr

Purpose

Return a pointer to the character attribute array. This array is used by the character classification and character conversion macros (such as isalpha).

Prototype

UInt16* GetCharAttr (void)

Parameters

None

Result

A pointer to the attributes array. This is an array of 256 UInt16 values, one for each possible character code. See CharAttr.h for an explanation of the attributes.

Compatibility

This function is not implemented if International Feature Set is present.

---

NOTE:  

This function is provided for backwards compatibility only. Use Text Manager functions instead on systems that support the text manager.

---

See Also

TxtCharAttr, TxtCharXAttr

GetCharCaselessValue

Purpose

Return a pointer to an array that maps all characters to an assigned caseless and accentless value. Use this function for finding text.

Prototype

UInt8* GetCharCaselessValue (void)

Parameters

None.

Result

Returns a pointer to the sort array.

The compiler pads each byte out to a word so each index position contains two characters.

Note: array[x].high = sort value for character 2x+1.

Comment

The GetCharCaselessValue conversion table converts each character into a numeric value that is caseless and sorted according to Microsoft Windows sorting rules:

• Punctuation characters have the lowest values,
  
  
• followed by numbers,
  
  
• followed by alpha characters.
  

  All forms of each alpha character have equivalent values, so that e = E = e-grave = e-circumflex, etc.

This conversion table is used by all the Palm OS sorting and comparison routines to yield caseless searches and caseless sorts in the almost same order as Windows-based programs, except that Palm OS routines produce the same sorting for all locales.

Compatibility

This function is not implemented if International Feature Set is present.

---

NOTE:  

This function is provided for backwards compatibility only. Use Text Manager functions instead on systems that support the text manager.

---

GetCharSortValue

Purpose

Return a pointer to an array that maps all characters to an assigned sorting value. Use this function for ordering (sorting) text.

Prototype

UInt8* GetCharSortValue (void)

Parameters

None.

Result

Returns a pointer to the attributes array. This is an array of 256 UInt8 values, one for each possible character code.

The compiler pads each byte out to a word so each index position contains two characters.

---

NOTE:  

array[x].low = sort value for character 2x.

---

Compatibility

This function is not implemented if International Feature Set is present.

---

NOTE:  

This function is provided for backwards compatibility only. Use Text Manager functions instead on systems that support the text manager.

---