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Character Sets
In theory, a character set is just another name for a code page; in this case, a character set is the encoding that describes the relationship between these code points and the glyphs that exist within fonts (see Table 2). The main difference between character sets and code pages, however, is that the number of character sets is much more manageable. At first, this might seem like a good thing, but when you consider the fact that the operating system will have to do the work to map between the code page values and the font character sets, suddenly it seems a lot more complicated than it needs to be. Luckily, unless you are writing your own fonts, this is one issue that you can safely ignore; simply set the appropriate character set. Font creation is an interesting but complicated topic, which is (thankfully) beyond the scope of this book.
Table 2 Character Sets and Their Values
|
Character Set Name |
Value |
|
ANSI_CHARSET |
0 |
|
DEFAULT_CHARSET |
1 |
|
SYMBOL_CHARSET |
2 |
|
SHIFTJIS_CHARSET |
128 |
|
HANGEUL_CHARSET |
129 |
|
GB2312_CHARSET |
134 |
|
CHINESEBIG5_CHARSET |
136 |
|
OEM_CHARSET |
255 |
|
JOHAB_CHARSET |
130 |
|
HEBREW_CHARSET |
177 |
|
ARABIC_CHARSET |
178 |
|
GREEK_CHARSET |
161 |
|
TURKISH_CHARSET |
162 |
|
VIETNAMESE_CHARSET |
163 |
|
THAI_CHARSET |
222 |
|
EASTEUROPE_CHARSET |
238 |
|
RUSSIAN_CHARSET |
204 |
|
MAC_CHARSET |
77 |
|
BALTIC_CHARSET |
186 |
Character sets are available to Visual Basic developers through the CharSet property of the StdFont object, which is defined as an automation type in stdole2.tlb (referenced in every VB project) and used by the Font property of all the VB form and control types. In Visual C++, character sets are defined in the wingdi.h header file. Unfortunately, VB does not define constants or an Enum for character sets, but you can create one yourself from Table 2, creating a ValidCharsets Enum:
Public Enum ValidCharsets
ANSI_CHARSET = 0
DEFAULT_CHARSET = 1
SYMBOL_CHARSET = 2
SHIFTJIS_CHARSET = 128
HANGEUL_CHARSET = 129
GB2312_CHARSET = 134
CHINESEBIG5_CHARSET = 136
OEM_CHARSET = 255
JOHAB_CHARSET = 130
HEBREW_CHARSET = 177
ARABIC_CHARSET = 178
GREEK_CHARSET = 161
TURKISH_CHARSET = 162
VIETNAMESE_CHARSET = 163
THAI_CHARSET = 222
EASTEUROPE_CHARSET = 238
RUSSIAN_CHARSET = 204
MAC_CHARSET = 77
BALTIC_CHARSET = 186
End Enum
The StdFont object has many uses beyond just enabling you to set font attributes.