[XeTeX] encoding radicals in traditional Chinese

[Daniel Greenhoe]

--- On Sat, 11/29/08, Gerrit Sangel <z0idberg at gmx.de> wrote:
> That is because you’re using the list of radicals from
> 2F00..2FD5. 
> All radicals exists 
> as normal characters in the CJK Unified Ideographs Block. 
> If you use the radicals in this Block, every font supports
> them. Take a look 
> at this chart http://www.unicode.org/charts/PDF/U2F00.pdf,

I like your idea of using the alternative mappings provided by U2F00.pdf.
But when I tried the alternative locations using my defacto Chinese font, the radicals that are not standard characters do not show up. 

I tested the first 16 Kangxi radicals using the 2F00-2FDF block and the alternative locations provided by U2F00.pdf. The result is that the radicals that are standard characters (一，乙，二，人，儿，入，八，几) show up; but the radicals that are not characters (2F01, 2F02, 2F03, 2F05, 2F07, 2F0C, 2F0D, 2F0E) do _not_ show up.

Could it be that some font designers just don't bother to include glyphs for radicals that are not characters?

I am attaching a 1 page pdf file that gives more details and results of what I have tried. Maybe someone has some ideas to show me any way I could improve things.

Dan


--- On Sat, 11/29/08, Gerrit Sangel <z0idberg at gmx.de> wrote:

> From: Gerrit Sangel <z0idberg at gmx.de>
> Subject: Re: [XeTeX] encoding radicals in traditional Chinese
> To: dgreenhoe at yahoo.com, "Unicode-based TeX for Mac OS X and other platforms" <xetex at tug.org>
> Date: Saturday, November 29, 2008, 9:52 PM
> Am Freitag 28 November 2008 schrieb Daniel Greenhoe:
> 
> > But now I have a different problem; and that is that
> when I use the \char
> > command, nothing shows up in the generated pdf file.
> Presumably this is
> > because the font I am using does not support the
> 2F00-2FDF range. The font
> > I tried to use shows up in my operating system as
> "HanWangMingMedium", and
> > was downloaded as a ttf file from
> >
> http://apt.nc.hcc.edu.tw/pub/FreeSoftware/free_fonts/wangttf/
> >
> > In general, if I have a ttf font file, how do I know
> what code range it
> > supports?
> >
> > Would anyone happen to know of any free downloadable
> fonts that support the
> > traditional Chinese radicals?
> >
> > Many thanks in advance,
> > Dan
> 
> 
> That is because you’re using the list of radicals from
> 2F00..2FD5. As far as I 
> know, this list is depreceated (?), so you shouldn’t use
> it anymore. Also few 
> fonts support it, so you would have trouble using them. All
> radicals exists 
> as normal characters in the CJK Unified Ideographs Block. 
> 
> If you use the radicals in this Block, every font supports
> them. Take a look 
> at this chart http://www.unicode.org/charts/PDF/U2F00.pdf,
> where the „real“ 
> code for every radical is listed.
> 
> Gerrit
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