Compose Special Characters

I used this on Windows 10, and LibreOffice 5.1.2.1. I used it to simply create upward and downward accents on vowels. It worked fine.

Hi there. I'm using LibreOffice 3.6.3.2 on Windows 7.
I've installed the extension, and I'm setting up the CSC shortcuts as I'm used to, e.g. ALT+a, CTRL+a, but afterwards as I press the combination nothing happens, not even an error message. No combo with either ALT or CTRL works.
Any suggestions, what do I do?

Hi there. I've just installed Compose Special Characters to LibreOffice 3.6 but now I'm in a little trouble: typing "Shift + s" in order to get the capital "s", doesnt work. I've also tried to uninstall both the extension and LibreOffice, and then reinstall LO, but it really doesnt work. If the extension is installed, "Shift + s" simply doesnt lead anywhere. If the extension is not installed, I get this error (click on the link) http://ask.libreoffice.org/upfiles/13534236504076757.jpg

The translation of the first words is: "Error in the scripting scheme during the execution of the script Basic [...]". What can I do now? Thanks a lot.

Thank you very much for this extension, it has solved many of the problems that arise from my using several languages every day and, often enough, in the same document.

I have managed to assign a CSC short cut so that I can write the Spanish character ñ, but I need to type "n~" plus my shortcut combination I used "shift+ctrl+~", because that was my short cut on MS word and I've been using it for years. Now I wonder if there is a way that is easier than having to press 6 keys altogether for one tiny letter. Since I work with three languages simultaneously, I don't want to switch to a Spanish keyboard. I use my German keyboard, easiest for all the Umlauts ä, ü etc.

I'm sure there must be many people switching between English and Spanish on a daily basis.
If you know anything, I would greatly appreciate your help!

Thanks for getting in touch. I'm sorry to hear the extension didn't meet your needs.

It sounds like you may have tried to assign the spacebar as a shortcut key. That's not supported and there are warnings in the extension against assigning important keys like spacebar, backspace etc to shortcuts.

You can reset your keyboard accelerators using the following instructions:

1. Close all OpenOffice applications, including the quickstarter that might be running in the background.

2. Find the OpenOffice file called accelerators.xcs and rename it (to accelerators.old for example). How you find and rename a file depends on your operating system. Please check with your regular operating system support/help for instructions on how to find a file. Helpful tip if you're using Windows: Make sure hidden system files are visible in Windows Explorer - highlight the C: drive under Computer, click Organize at the top of the Windows Explorer window, then choose Folder and search options to open the Folder Options dialog - in that dialog make sure you select Show hidden files, folders and drives.

3. Restart your computer to make the old acclerators.xcs file isn't being referred to in memory.

The next time you start OpenOffice your keyboard should be back to the original OpenOffice defaults.

If deleting accelerators.xcs doesn't work, then you'll probably need to reinstall OpenOffice. OpenOffice doesn't uninstall cleanly - it leaves a bit of junk behind (that's beyond my control). You'll need to search for any remaining copies of accelerators.xcs and delete them manually.

Hello = Nín hăo OpenOffice Staff & Associates,

I had download and installed the Compose Special Characters.

I use the CSC shortcut. I click check mark Ctl for the Character key
and selected the radio button Character and selected k for the keyboard
shortcut combination of Ctrl + k to produce my Hanyu Pinyin tone number
symbols above the Roman alphabet letters.

When I try to produce the Hanyu Pinyin tone number 1 for the Roman alphabet
lower case letter i the i sign mark above the i disappear, but produces the Hanyu
Pinyin tone number with the Compose Special Character { Char = key combo a- }
as my selection.

Example Error: Nín hăo.

The Hanyu Pinyin tone number symbols is in error for the Roman alphabet letter i for
the word { Nín } and excellent for the Hanyu Pinyin tone number Roman alphabet letter
a for the word { hăo }

Your CSC and Compose Special Character { Char = key combo a- } features should
produce the Hanyu Pinyin tone number symbol above the Roman alphabet letter i that
shows the symbol i above the i with the Hanyu Pinyin tone number symbol above the
Roman alphabet letter.

Please assist and help me with your features, and/or make corrections with your features.

Have a nice day. Take care. Talk to you later on. Keep up the good work. Keep one foot forward. Keep it real. OpenOffice is kool.

Thank you very much. = Xièxiè nĭ.
Peaceout...Mr. YoBlackBlack

OOo 3.3.0 RC1 – I also had the error message:
"fncGetDisplayCUCAlert
Error # 13: Data type mismatch."

It seems to be fixed now (for me)...
Please have a look at →

"Compose Special Characters 2.0.7 / OOo 3.3.0 RC1 – error"
http://user.services.openoffice.org/en/forum/viewtopic.php?f=47&t=35072

I can see this on 3.2.1 and on 3.3 beta. Trying to insert a combining character (for example, U+0306 over an "a") gives me a series of errors. The first one is the most strange of all:

The use of unicode combining characters in the following ranges is not recommended in OpenOffice 2.x. They may not display properly.
Please upgrade to OpenOffice 3.x
...
Accepting, I have an "Error # 13"
Then an "Accept" button.
Then... the character is inserted.
Inserting "normal" unicode characters works as intended. The problem is present only with combining characters.
I'm on 64 bits Linux (openSUSE 11.2) and this happens with both, Novell's and vanilla OOo builds. OOo is also 64 bits. Extension version is 2.0.7
Thanks

Ff tells me it can't find the site. That means the links on this page and in the extension itself, and presumably the email address, are not working. --TJ Frazier

It would be great if I good use this extension to create numerals with overbars. Can that be done? Keep up the good work!

I have a similar problem to Danny Spelzmann's. I installed the extension, restarted OO, opened Compose characters, assigned the keys ALT+F1 as keyboard shortcuts, closed the dialogue box, and typed a' then ALT+F1 but nothing happened. Restarted OO, typed the same thing and the shortcuts but nothing again. Checked under Tools>Customize>Keyboard if F1 was assigned to anything else but there was nothing beside it. Saw too that F6 was free. So I cleared ALT+F1, set it again, tried it out, and nothing. Cleared ALT+F1, assigned ALT+F6 this time and went through the same procedures and nothing. How can I resolve this, please?

I installed the extension about two months ago and couldn't really get it to work (maybe I was missing something). Then I decided I didn't really need it anyway, and disabled it. And since then I've not been able to use my space bar to produce the space character (ironically, I actually have to use the Insert Special Character on the menu to do this!). Anytime I hit my space bar, I get the following message:

A Scripting Framework error occurred while running the Basic script vnd.sun.star.script:ComposeSpecialChars.modCode.ComposeSpecialChar?language=Basic&location=application.

Message: The following Basic script could not be found:
library: "ComposeSpecialChars"
module: "modCode"
method: "ComposeSpecialChar"
location: "application"

At present, I've removed the extension, but I still get this message. What can I do about this, please? It sounds like everyone really appreciates this extension, but I'm really regretting installing it right now . . . I'm feeling quite frustrated.

Thanks.

Please, can you add converting hexadecimal number to unicode? For example, you type 2248, press a shortcut and get ≈.

Followed directions several times. I choose a shortcut etc but then the shortcut combo does not do what it is supposed to. If the combo had not been assigned, nothing happens. If the combo had been previously assigned and I cleared it and then reassigned it, it reverts to the old assignment. When I check the shortcuts in the "customize" menu tree, the key combo I have chosen actually does show up as assigned to this application. So that is confusing. Would appreciate help. Thanks. OO 3.1 on OS X 10.5.8

I do not mean to be rude but it seems this can already be accomplished with autocorrect?

I've gone through the process to assign to write "o" with a macron over it, but it will not work at all. When I hit the keys in swriter, the message comes back that whatever character precedes the place where I attempted to type "is not defined as an accented character". This is after the "compose special characters" process has assured me that the shortcut keys I assigned were completed successfully. This extension would make my life much easier, and without a way to shortcut macron vowels, I am afraid that I may have to go back to a commercial processor. Please help!

I find this extension very useful but I am missing some essential characters. Is there any way to write a tilde e: ẽ, tilde iota: ῖ and this one: υ with your extension?
I can find those characters in special characters then extended Greek and extended Latin.

What's the difference between this extention and 'Accentuate'. Which one is the better extension?

I was wondering whether I should try to use the you3 method to indicate third tone, but this by far more aesthetically pleasing.

However, I must say that the instructions could use a little help. That is
1. Install
2. Restart OOO
3. Tools -> Customize... -> Keyboard Tab
4. Select OpenOffice.org Macro + user + ComposeSpecialChars + ModCode
5. Choose ComposeSpecialChar
6. Choose keyboard combination
7. Click modify button.

It was not easy to find the ComposeSpecialChar!

Cheers

There is a problem with the new (and great!) Greek character shortcuts: tau and theta use the same \t shortcut. I think \q is better for theta

I do like the idea of this extension! However, as I do often need shortcuts to the greek letters, I would like to be able to add my own character combinations. I did find the way to change the array in the macro itself, but unfortunately changes are overwritten on extension updates. Am I missing an obvious way of assigning my own special characters? Thanks again for this extension!

This is great - I'd love to see it extended to include the charaters with a dot underneath that are used in Devanagari transliteration, like ḍḥḷṃṇṛṣṭ (which probably won't come out on the web page!), but I suppose there's infinite room for expanding this. Perhaps there's scope for an expandable database of characters and their shortcuts that the extension could call from? Then they could also be grouped by accent as well as character. Meanwhile, this is really useful as it's the only quick way to produce characters with a macron, like ē. Thanks!

I second the "WOW" one user expressed. I do a significant amount of writing in Chinese pinyin. I was using "Insert" and "Special Character" then cutting and pasting. Very labor intensive! "Compose Special Characters" has been unbelievable in speeding up my pinyin entry. I cannot say enough good about it.

Initially I had a small problem. The "flag" key, necessary when entering Special Characters in Calc (not necessary in Writer), did not appear on my U.S. keyboard. I sent email to the author Chuck Henrich explaining my problem. He could not have been more accommodating. He added the provision of a user-selected "flag" for use in Calc and all my problems were solved.

If you need to use special characters, primarily non-English language marks, this is THE add-on you need and want!

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 ;)