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John_BW
Inspiring
August 30, 2010
Answered

Greater than or equal symbol not working

  • August 30, 2010
  • 2 replies
  • 25455 views

Hi,

I cannot get the "greater than or equal to" symbol to display properly. I can get the less than or equal symbol to display by typing Ctrl+q #, and then formatting it as Symbol font.

According to the Character_Sets.pdf FrameMaker Online reference, the greaterequal symbol is Ctrl+q 3, but when I format it as Symbol, FrameMaker displays a box (which looks to me to be a non-printing character).

Any suggestions on how I get a "greater than or equal to" symbol to display?

Thanks,

John B.

FrameMaker 8 (8.0 p277)

Windows XP SP 3

This topic has been closed for replies.
Correct answer Arnis Gubins

With the unicode support in FM8, some of the old shortcuts are messed up (these still work in FM7.2 and earlier). Try alt+0179 on the numeric keypad or use the Charmap utility to copy & paste.

2 replies

Bob_Niland
Community Expert
Bob_NilandCommunity Expert
Community Expert
August 17, 2012

> I cannot get the "greater than or equal to" symbol to display properly.

Try this...

Click in margin.

Format > Characters > Designer...

Character Tag: [ Symbol ]

Family: [ Symbol ]

all else As Is or blank

Commands: New Format...

  • Store in Catalog

    Click in Body Flow A.

    Special > Variable...

    [Create Variable]

    Name: [ char.symbol.greaterequal ]

    Definition: [ <Symbol>\xb3 ]

    [Add]

    [Done]

    [Insert]

    Advantages:

    • Avoid frequent arcane typing: you only need to look up the special character entry sequence once per document (if that - we keep these var defs in a separate catalog for ease of application).
    • Isolates special char encodings for dealing with eventual replacement by native Unicode glyphs and/or ports to platforms lacking legacy Symbol overlay font
    • Isolates special char renderings for possible changes to font with native >= glyph
    • Assures text inserted adjacent to symbol will be in native paragraph font, and not Symbol.
    • Prevents spell checker from needlessly complaining.
    • Is portable between FM platforms and releases, although \xb3 does appear as Š (cap s caron above) in Windows dialogs.

    Disadvantages:

    • If you apply a Default ¶ Font to the para, the variable is no longer in Symbol font (but this is always the case for variables that use alternate fonts). You have to re-select the var (which may be hard to even see), and re-insert it.
    • If you highlight the entire para, or just the text containing the var, and apply a new PgfTag, the variable likewise gets de-fonted. It has ever been thus.
    • You have to search by Variable, and not by special character.

    _______

    So what do we suppose made this topic so popular that it's got over 1000 Views so far?

    • Karen Farrell
    Karen Farrell
    Inspiring
    August 17, 2012

    Error7103 wrote:

    > I cannot get the "greater than or equal to" symbol to display properly.

    Try this...

    Click in margin.

    Format > Characters > Designer...

    Character Tag: [ Symbol ]

    Family: [ Symbol ]

    all else As Is or blank

    Commands: New Format...

  • Store in Catalog

    Click in Body Flow A.

    Special > Variable...

    [Create Variable]

    Name: [ char.symbol.greaterequal ]

    Definition: [ <Symbol>\xb3 ]

    [Add]

    [Done]

    [Insert]

    Advantages:

    • Avoid frequent arcane typing: you only need to look up the special character entry sequence once per document (if that - we keep these var defs in a separate catalog for ease of application).
    • Isolates special char encodings for dealing with eventual replacement by native Unicode glyphs and/or ports to platforms lacking legacy Symbol overlay font
    • Isolates special char renderings for possible changes to font with native >= glyph
    • Assures text inserted adjacent to symbol will be in native paragraph font, and not Symbol.
    • Prevents spell checker from needlessly complaining.
    • Is portable between FM platforms and releases, although \xb3 does appear as Š (cap s caron above) in Windows dialogs.

    Disadvantages:

    • If you apply a Default ¶ Font to the para, the variable is no longer in Symbol font (but this is always the case for variables that use alternate fonts). You have to re-select the var (which may be hard to even see), and re-insert it.
    • If you highlight the entire para, or just the text containing the var, and apply a new PgfTag, the variable likewise gets de-fonted. It has ever been thus.
    • You have to search by Variable, and not by special character.

    _______

    So what do we suppose made this topic so popular that it's got over 1000 Views so far?

    • I tried these instructions with great anticipation, but alas, it did not work for me.

    Maybe it works differently on FrameMaker 9. I even tried making a PDF to see if it just rendered differently on the screen, since you mentioned the display in Windows dialog boxes (even though I was just in the main flow).

    See the screenshot below for my results.

    Bob_Niland
    Community Expert
    Bob_NilandCommunity Expert
    Community Expert
    August 17, 2012

    > Maybe it works differently on FrameMaker 9.

    Or maybe it's a bug. The instructions I provided worked for the case of:
    create on FM7.1/Unix, and
    use on FM9/Win7-64.

    Attempting to create the variable on FM9 failed (got a box, i.e. no glyph for that code point - I haven't yet* studied the MIF to find out what's happening).

    If you don't ever plan to port the document back to an FM earlier than 8, I'd do the var as Unicode:

    Try this...

    Click in margin.

    Format > Characters > Designer...

    Character Tag: [ Unicode ]

    Family: [ Arial Unicode MS ]

    all else As Is or blank

    Commands: New Format...

  • Store in Catalog

    Click in Body Flow A.

    Special > Variable...

    [Create Variable]

    Name: [ U+2265.GREATER-THAN OR EQUAL TO ]

    Definition: [ <Unicode>≥ ]

    [Add]

    [Done]

    [Insert]

    You'll need to get that U+2265 character (>, hacked here as > underlined) in the Definition box from either the Frame or Windows Character Map, unless you've done the Registry hack that allows Alt entry of Unicode code points. Frame apparently has no code point notation for Unicode values in dialogs.

    ________

    * I vote for bug. The originated MIF9 shows an A-ring, rather than an S-caron.

    • Arnis Gubins
    Arnis GubinsCorrect answer
    Inspiring
    August 30, 2010

    With the unicode support in FM8, some of the old shortcuts are messed up (these still work in FM7.2 and earlier). Try alt+0179 on the numeric keypad or use the Charmap utility to copy & paste.

    J
    John_BWAuthor
    Inspiring
    August 30, 2010

    alt+0179 on the numeric keypad works perfectly!

    Thank you very much Arnis.

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