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Key Definition Files (KDFs) - Creating and modifying This
chapter gives you nuts and bolts on the technology of KDFs. It is this feature that allows
freedom from specific fonts, specific keyboard layouts and application specific use of
language solutions. There are two different scenarios here. A. One you might want to create a Key Definition File for a language for which you already have a KDF. For example you might have KDF for MeghneelBengali font and wish to create one for Adarshalipi. In such cases you might want to reuse the KDF that you already have, thus reducing the development time for the new KDF. Please note that the new KDF will be using the same concept as the old one. B.
You might want to develop a KDF for a new language like Tamil or
Vietnamese. In such cases you will have to create a KDF from scratch. Also
if you think that you need to create a KDF based on an entirely different
concept for a language like Hindi or Bengali, then too you might want to
start clean. A
- Creating KDF based on another KDF The
steps are 1.
Right click on the KickKeys Icon and navigate to "Edit" and
choose "Edit/Create Key Definition File..." from the menu 2.
Choose "I want to create a new Key Definition File" from the
option button, Choose the font, change the KDF file's name if you want to
and hit "Next" 3.
Choose "I want to create a KDF based on the existing KDF" option
and choose the KDF file that you want to base your KDF on. Hit
"Next". 4.
A Font - Mapper form will come up. You will have to match the characters
in the right with that of the left. Read the help information at the top
of the mapper form. After you are done hit "Next". 5.
A Mapper Result form will come up. Again read the help information at the
top and hit "Next". 6.
The KDF editor window will open. Your KDF file is almost ready. You can
change it in this Editor window. For detailed help on how to do this
please refer to the sections on Joint Characters and Specifying your
Keymap. B
- Creating KDF from scratch The
steps are 1.
Right click on the KickKeys Icon and navigate to "Edit" and
choose "Edit/Create Key Definition File..." from the menu 2.
Choose "I want to create a new Key Definition File" from the
option button, Choose the font, change the KDF file's name if you want to
and hit "Next" 3.
Choose "I want to create a KDF from scratch". Hit
"Next". The KDF editor window will open. Here you will have to
choose joint characters and then specify your KDF. Joint
Characters The
Editor screen opens with the tab Joint Characters. Now in Hindi and Forward Joint Characters and Reverse Joint Characters Notice that g joins to the next character : . So we say g is a forward joining character while :is a reverse joining character since it joins to the previous one. It should be easy for you to determine whether the character in question joins to the next character or to the previous one. In case of Meghneelengali É is a reverse joining character. Again
as a word of caution. Not all languages need this feature. It is only
required where you need reverse typing - typing "ki" and getting
"ik" on the screen and then too if your font needs you to join
multiple glyphs (technical word for single character in the font language)
together to form a whole character. Specifying your key mappings Click
on the tab "Key Map" on the KDF editor form. This is the tab
that specifies all your
LastKey The
lower rightmost character is "lastkey". This again has uses in
Hindi and Bengali and for other languages that require reverse typing.
What it does is it allows you to put
characters before your last typed character. In a sense it allows
reverse typing. This feature is used extensively in Hindi and Bengali. An
example:
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© 2001 KickKeys