Special Characters

eSignal EFS 2

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Special Characters

You can use the drawText family of functions to display various symbols on your chart (i.e., arrows, circles, etc.) by using one of the symbol font sets that you probably have available on your computer. Every Windows user should have the Symbol font set and many users will also have the Wingdings font set, which is comprised of Wingdings, Wingdings 2, and Wingdings 3.

The best tool to use for finding and using special symbols in conjunction with the drawText functions is the Windows Character Map utility. You can load this utility as follows:

1.	Click on your Start button in Windows;

2.	Click on All Programs;

3.	Click on Accessories;

4.	Click on System Tools;

5.	Click on Character Map.

Note: Probably a good idea to create a shortcut on your Windows Desktop for the Character Map utility.

Once the Character Map utility is loaded, you can use the Font selector box at the top to browse through all of the fonts installed on your computer. For special symbol purposes you will want to focus on the Symbol font and the Wingdings fonts. (Note: Not all users will have the Wingdings fonts installed on their computers. If that is the case you will be limited to the symbols available in the Windows Symbol font).

To print a special symbol using the drawText functions you will want to:

1.	Load the Character Map utility;

2.	Select the symbol font set that you want to use (i.e., Symbol or one of the Wingdings fonts);

3.	In the Character Map display, click on the specific symbol you want to use;

4.	Look at the bottom of the Character Map display and write down the Character Code that you see there;

5.	Convert that Character Code to a Unicode Escape Sequence by taking '\u00' (i.e, a backslash, the letter u, and two zeros) and adding the last two characters of the Character Code to the end.

So, if the Character Code for your symbol is 0xE3, your Unicode Escape Sequence would be '\u00E3'. If your Character Code was 0x77, your Unicode Escape Sequence would be '\u0077'. Pretty straightforward.

Now just use this Unicode Escape Sequence as the text parameter in your drawTextRelative, drawTextAbsolute, or drawTextPixel function call and you are all set. Be sure to enclose your Unicode Escape Sequence with single quotes when you type it in (i.e., use '\u0084' rather than just \u0084).

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