diacritics

Shayne · Post by **Shayne** » Tue Aug 01, 2006 3:16 pm

Hi Jon,

I am having trouble importing diacritics from library records.
When downloaded into BE long vowels such as ū appear as Â¯u. When accessed through a browser, the diacritics are fine. Is there an easy way to fix this?

Cheers,
Shayne

Post by **Jon** » Tue Aug 01, 2006 4:17 pm

If you're importing a file downloaded from a web site, it may be UTF-8 encoded instead of MacRoman (or possibly Latin-1, but that would just give a single garbled character). Try changine the File -> Import Text Encoding setting to UTF-8 and see if that works.

Jon
Sonny Software

Shayne · Post by **Shayne** » Tue Aug 01, 2006 4:39 pm

Hi Jon,

The file seems to be UTF-8 (at least according to Firefox's Page Info).
Changing the File -> Import Text Encoding setting to UTF-8 (or any of the other settings) does not help. The diacritics do not import. In fact, they are even broken down in the list view in BE's internet search.

Cheers,
Shayne

Post by **Jon** » Tue Aug 01, 2006 4:44 pm

Then it's very unlikely the encoding is really UTF-8. To prove this, open it in TextEdit if you can and save it as UTF-8. Then try to import it into Bookends.

Jon
Sonny Software

Post by **Jon** » Tue Aug 01, 2006 4:45 pm

Then it's very unlikely the encoding is really UTF-8. To prove this, open it in TextEdit if you can and save it as UTF-8. Then try to import it into Bookends.

Jon
Sonny Software

Shayne · Post by **Shayne** » Tue Aug 01, 2006 5:31 pm

The best I can do is copy and paste from the library, or send it to myself as an e-mail. The diacritic is preserved in the e-mail. When I paste that into TextEdit and save as UTF-8, the diacritic is still preserved. As I cannot export the record as such from the library, I simply have a text file that is not formatted as a bilbliographical entry. I am not sure how to import that to Bookends. If I copy the text from the UTF-8 file and then display my clipboard in BE, the diacritic is preserved. But it is not preserved when I use the Internet Search function.

I use the Internet Search capability in BE to access libraries for convenience and also as many libraries do not seem to allow one to save references in Endnote (excuse me) or any other formats.

Is there a library catalogue you could suggest that is definitely UTF-8? Perhaps I could check there.

Apologies for my ignorance.

Kindest regards,
Shayne

Post by **Jon** » Tue Aug 01, 2006 5:36 pm

So it's not a file you're importing, it's direct via Internet Search? The gateway doesn't support utf-8 yet, so some diacriticals aren't imported correctly.

If that's the case, you can paste it into TextEdit and save as utf-8. Then of course Bookends can import it.

If you can't figure this out, send me the file or the source you're having a problem with.

Jon
Sonny Software

Shayne · Post by **Shayne** » Tue Aug 01, 2006 5:47 pm

Yes, sorry for the confusion. It is direct via Internet Search, not a file per se.

You state that the "gateway doesn't support utf-8 yet". Please excuse my ignorance. Whose gateway is this, and is this likely to be fixed?

I will send you the source.

Thanks,
Shayne

Post by **Jon** » Tue Aug 01, 2006 6:05 pm

It's the LOC gateway that Bookends uses as an intermediary for library access. You don't need to know anything about it. Except that it doesn't handle UTF-8 yet. That's planned, but I don't know when it will.

Jon
Sonny Software