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=       Viet Character Convert Office Pack      =
=                     v1.0                      =
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(c) Copyright Hoa Pham, 2003 All Rights Reserved.



                README file
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 * This file is best viewed if this document's
   window is maximized.


    CONTENTS
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
1.  Introduction

2.  Installation
    2.1  Word
    2.2  Excel
    2.3  Uninstall

3.  Add-in Options

4.  Notes & Hints

5.  License




1. INTRODUCTION
===============
Viet Character Convert Office Pack is a set of Microsoft Office ADD-INS for Word and Excel that allows conversion of the characters within a document from one Viet enconding to another.  Currently only VISCII, VPS, and Unicode encodings are supported.  There is a separate add-in file for each application.  These add-ins should work in Office 97 up to XP(2002).  Office 95 and below are NOT supported because they do not have UNICODE support.

Adds a new menu option:   "Tools"  -->  "Viet Char Convert..."

These programs were written because no utility existed at the time that could easily convert Word files from VISCII or VPS to the new Unicode standard without a lot of painful pre-processing (such as saving to RTF). They are being released in hopes that it may be useful to others.



2. INSTALLATION
===============

2.1  Installing under Microsoft Word
---
The file VNCCNVRT.DOT is the add-in for Word. There are two ways to load an add-in under Word:

  2.1.1  Save the file into the STARTUP folder under the Office programs directory.
     The default path is <C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\Office\Startup>
     Now the add-in is registered automatically in Word and from now on
     everytime you start Word, VNCCNVRT will also load.

  2.1.2  The second method is to save VNCCNVRT.DOT anywhere on your computer,

        * Then start Word
        * Go to the "Tools" menu, select "Templates and Add-Ins..."
        * Click "Add"
        * Find the file VNCCNVRT.DOT and double-click on it.
        * It will appear in the Add-Ins list
        * Make sure "VNCCNVRT" is checked.
        * Click "OK"

     The only disadvantage of this method is that Word will NOT load the add-in
     automatically each time you restart Word. You have to go into the "Tools" -->
     "Templates and Add-Ins..." menu and check VNCCNVRT to activate the add-in.
     This method is useful if you only need to run the add-in occasionally or
     want to keep startup time for Word at a minimal.


2.2  Installing under Microsoft Excel
---
The file VNCCNVRT.XLA is the add-in for Excel. Similarily as for Word, there are two ways to load an add-in, with the exception of a few minor differences:

  2.2.1  Save the file into the LIBRARY folder under the Office programs directory.
     The default path is <C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\Office\Library>
     Excel will see the add-in, but unlike Word, Excel does not load it yet. To
     activate, start up Excel. Go to the "Tools" menu and select "Add-ins".
     Look for "Viet Char Convert" and click the check box to enable the add-in.
     From now on everytime you start Excel, VNCCNVRT will also load.

  2.2.2  The second method is to save VNCCNVRT.XLA anywhere on your computer,

        * Then start Excel
        * Go to the "Tools" menu, select "Add-Ins..."
        * Click "Add"
        * Find the file VNCCNVRT.XLA and double-click on it.
        * It will appear in the Add-Ins list
        * Make sure "Viet Char Convert" is checked.
        * Click "OK"

     Unlike Word, this method WILL automatically load the add-in everytime you
     restart Excel.


2.3  Uninstalling
---
To uninstall the add-ins, just start up Word/Excel, go to the "Tools" -> "Add-ins" menu, and uncheck the add-in to unload it. Exit the application. Then move or delete the files VNCCNVRT.DOT/VNCCNVRT.XLA so they won't be recognized by the application any longer.



3.  ADD-IN OPTIONS
==================
After the add-in is loaded, there will be a new command under the "Tools" menu labled "Viet Char Convert..."  Select this command to run the add-in. A window will appear with several options to choose. Once you click "OK", the program will run and take over Word/Excel.


Following is a description of the options available:

  o  Convert CURRENT Document

        ->  Use this option to convert only the active document displayed.
            In Excel only the current WORKSHEET is converted.

           ** Note that after the conversion, you have to SAVE the document
           to accept the changes.

  o  Convert ALL Opened Documents

       ->  When this option is selected, then in Word any document that is
           currently will be converted. In Excel, ALL worksheets in ALL opened
           workbooks will be converted.

           ** Again note that after the conversion, you have to SAVE each document
           to accept the changes.

  o  Convert ALL Files in a DIRECTORY

       ->  Select this option if you want to convert a whole directory of files.
           Enter a directory name or click "Browse" to choose a directory.
           All changes will be saved automatically.

  o  Backup Each File

       ->  This option is only available when converting a directory.

           ** Files are copied with the original name and a .VBK extension added.


  o  Convert From

       ->  Choose the current encoding of the document (VISCII, VPS, or Unicode)

  o  Only if Font is

       ->  If you want to convert characters MATCHING a particular font.
           Choose a font, or enter a font name (spelling has to match EXACTLY).

           ** This option WILL slow down the conversion process.

           ** Also due to the programming certain characters may not be
              converted, even if this option is selected.
              See NOTES & HINTS (4.5) below.


  o  To This Encoding

       ->  Select the FINAL encoding you want the characters converted to.

  o  With this Font

       ->  If you want to have the characters changed to a different font (that
           may support the encoding you are converting to).
           If not checked, only the character encoding will be converted.

  o  Apply Font to Whole Document

       ->  This is available only when "With this Font" option is checked. 
           With this selected then the Font chosen above will be applied to the
           WHOLE document.

  o  Apply Font to Each Char Only

       ->  Only a character that is converted will be have its font changed.
           Again only available when "With this Font" option is checked. 
           
           ** This option WILL slow the conversion process.

           ** Also due to the programming only certain characters may be converted,
              and therefore the font change may not behave as expected.
              See NOTES & HINTS (4.5) below.




4.  NOTES & HINTS
=================

4.1  When converting a directory, the program will only search for .DOC or .XLS files.


4.2  Depending on your computer resources and the size of the file, the complete process may take a while to run or may even slow down your computer. It is recommended to do a test run on a single file first to see how it performs. If you are converting big documents or a large number of files in a directory, you may want to run the program, leave your computer, then come back later.


4.3  The default options in most cases should convert a document that is encoded in ONE format and is using a SINGLE font throughout the whole document to a different encoding with little problems:

    o  Convert Current Document
    o  From this Encoding
    o  To This Encoding
    o  With This Font
    o  Apply Font to Whole Document


4.4  In situations where the Capital letters are formatted with a different font than the Lower case letters (due to issues with Office, etc), you may have to do some pre-processing to get the desired conversion. For example converting from a VISCII document which uses a regular font and an all Upper Case(Hoa) font to a single font Unicode document.

In Word you may get around this by first using the "Replace" function with the "Format" option to change all Capital letters of a particular font to the same font as the lower case letters.
Here is an example:

    * Select "Edit" menu -> "Replace..."
    * Click the "More" button in the bottom right
    * In "Find What", enter a letter:        (remember, although it looks Capitalized,
                                               its really a lower case letter)
    * Click "Format" at the bottom -> "Font"
    * Double-click an all Upper Case font, eg.  "VI Times H"
    * In "Replace With", enter the capital letter:   
    * Again click "Format" at the bottom -> "Font"
    * Double-click the font used for lower case letters: "VI Times"
    * Check "Match case"
    * Click "Replace All"

Do this for each "capital" letter that is using the all Upper Case font. After all the replacements, you should now be able to run Viet Char Convert to encode to a single-font Unicode document as normal.


4.5  The code has been optimzed so that when converting between two encodings, any character that has the same character code in both encodings is not checked. For example the character  (A with accent acute) is decimal code 193 in Unicode, VISCII, and VPS. So when converting from VPS and Unicode, for example, the letter is not even compared, even if "With this Font" option is checked. Likewise when "Applying Font to Each Char".  So keep this in mind when using those options.



5.  LICENSE
===========
THIS SOFTWARE IS FREEWARE.  THEREFORE IT IS PROVIDED "AS IS" WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EITHER EXPRESSED OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND/OR FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.  YOU ASSUME THE ENTIRE RISK AS TO THE ACCURACY AND THE USE OF THE REDISTRIBUTABLE CODE.  THE AUTHOR SHALL NOT BE LIABLE FOR ANY DAMAGES WHATSOEVER ARISING OUT OF THE USE OF OR INABILITY TO USE THE SOFTWARE.




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