Understanding xplorer² Lite's Unicode handling

J44xm · Post by **J44xm** » 2004 Sep 30, 21:24

I've been using x²L for months now and I really like it. But I'm confused about something. I see on the program description page that the lite version is "Unicode & file encoding aware" but there's not a "Unicode version available" (as there is in pro). I don't understand exactly what these each mean. Could someone help me out?

My only serious concern about x²L thus far has been its inability to read filenames (or folder names) with non-English Unicode characters (in my case, usually Japanese) in them. Such filenames appear with question marks replacing the foreign characters, and no significant operations will be performed on the file. It's just odd to me that Explorer is able to read these but x²L can't.

Thanks for any help. (Note: Just for the record, I'm using Windows XP Home (SP2).)

Post by **nikos** » 2004 Oct 01, 09:12

unicode deals exactly with problems like japanese characters
still i'm sure you will be able to read your folders with the lite version too
there are some settings in control panel to set the "code page" of all non-unicode programs so that they work properly

unfortunately i don't know details on how this can be done!

J44xm · Post by **J44xm** » 2004 Oct 02, 17:49

Thanks for replying. I tried posting the problem on Usenet and got this reply from an MS-MVP:

You can try at Regional and Language; Languages, click Details. First
on Advanced make sure the lower box is *not* checked, then OK and at the
outer level take the Advanced page and you can select the language and
code page you want. But I *very* much doubt if this will fix the
problem, if he has not written the program to handle Unicode in the
first place. I use a nice Text editor, TextPad, but it makes a sheer
mess of files containing Unicode
--
Alex Nichol MS MVP (Windows Technologies)
Bournemouth, U.K. Alexn@mvps.D8E8L.org (remove the D8 bit)
Message-ID: <i6atl0dnaggshtkts7mm5g1v4mpc49448f@4ax.com>

At this point, I suppose I'm stuck in this regard.

Post by **nikos** » 2004 Oct 03, 09:01

i'm sure his pessimism is unwarranted
i've seen snapshots of 2xExplorer (the old one!) speaking fluently chineze characters, which can't be my own doing! There must be a tweak somewhere

temp_user · Post by **temp_user** » 2004 Oct 17, 09:52

In my opinion xplorer2 lite is the best free file manager for those who don't have filenames with non-European characters. As a user who needs to work with files with Traditional/Simplified Chinese and Japanese filenames, I have to give up on such great program.

For your information:-

(1) When Control Panel>Regional and Language Options>Language for non-Unicode programs set to "English(United States)"

(a) xplorer2 LITE cannot work with filenames with East Asian Characters.

(b) xplorer2 displays correctly and work with filenames with East Asian Characters.

(2) When Control Panel>Regional and Language Options>Language for non-Unicode programs set to "Chinese(PRC)"

(a) xplorer2 LITE can work with filenames with Simplified Chinese (GB) but NOT with other East-Asian Characters including Traditional Chinese (Big5).

(b) xplorer2 OK!

(3) When Control Panel>Regional and Language Options>Language for non-Unicode programs set to "Chinese(Taiwan)"

(a) xplorer2 LITE can work with filenames with Traditional Chinese (Big5) but NOT with other East-Asian Characters including Simplified Chinese (GB).

(b) xplorer2 OK!

The same is also true if the setting is Japanese or Korean.

Sorry for my bad English. I hope the above is clear enough.

I wish you make a Unicode-aware Lite version. As for support for Windows 9x. In my opinion, it is the 2nd half of 2004, I think just let it rest in peace. Thank you for your program anyway.

Post by **nikos** » 2004 Oct 17, 11:59

sorry but that's not going to happen
(i have already presented my case on why not)

people with awkward locale issues will have to buy the PRO version

J44xm · Post by **J44xm** » 2005 Jan 26, 21:44

nikos wrote:sorry but that's not going to happen
(i have already presented my case on why not)

Hello, folks. Nikos, do you happen to remember where you posted these comments? I think x2 and x2L (which I use) are easily the best file managers, but I just can't wrap my brain around why you'd decide not to make x2L able to handle files with Unicode characters in their filenames. (To me, it just doesn't seem to be an advanced feature of the sort that should be left out for a "light" version, especially a file manager.) I figure that I might understand if I read what you'd written on the topic.

Thanks.

Post by **nikos** » 2005 Jan 27, 08:48

i think i've already answered that
to support unicode filenames and also win9x there have to be two builds of x2, one for unicode and one for ansi, respectively

the pro version does exactly that, that's why it works fine in eastern countries. The lite version could be distributed in a similar fashion, but i can't justify the maintenance hassle and extra bandwidth for what is a free product

J44xm · Post by **J44xm** » 2005 Jan 27, 11:50

This is new to me, and now I see and can understand your decision. (It's all them 98 users' fault! :lol:) Thank you for taking the time to explain this.