Original Article Date: March 30, 2004

Call 'em what you want, Special Characters, ASCII Extended Characters, Unicode Characters, or Symbols can be found in many fonts including Windows True Type Fonts (TTF) and MicroStation's own delivered fonts. Learn how you can place them into your drawings in this article.

2006-12-06 Updated for MicroStation V8 XM Edition SELECT Update #1.

To view the TTF symbols in Windows Character Map:
By opening up the Windows Character Map and loading Arial you can easily see the available symbols, and what's more is if you click on one of them you can also get it's keystroke combination as shown below.

To view MicroStation symbols in FontEdit:
Keyin mdl load fontedit in either MicroStation /J or V8. Locate and load your font resource file and set the desired font. You can then view both the available symbols as well as thier keystroke which is shown above the graphic.

To view TTF and MicroStation symbols in the WYSIWYG text editor:
To set the text editor to WYSIWYG, go to Workspace > Preferences > Text > Text Editor Style > WYSIWYG. Now select Place Text and note the nifty text editor that shows the font in a similar fashion as the Windows Character Map. By poking on one of the symbols you will also be able to extract it's keystroke information as shown below.

To place MicroStation's special characters using any text editor:
When using a MicroStation font, and if you know the keystroke or ASCII character, all you need to do is keyin a backslash followed by the ASCII character value. For example \110 would produce a diameter symbol for Font 100, while \200 will give you a +/- when using Font 3. This technique works for all styles of text editors, although when using the WYSIWYG editor you can simply poke on the desired symbol rather than keyin it in.

To place TTF special characters using any text editor:
When using a TTF font you'll need to know the keystroke combo for the desired symbol. To place the symbol enter the keystroke combo by holding down the ALT key and then pressing the appropriate numbers on the number keypad. For example, to place a copyright symbol, you would press ALT+0169 when using Arial. Note: The symbol will not appear in the dialog until you've finished keyin in the entire keystroke combo and release the ALT key. This technique works for all styles of text editors, although when using the WYSIWYG editor you can simply poke on the desired symbol rather than keyin it in.

 

To place special characters using MicroStation V8 XM Edition SELECT Update #1 or later:

Use the Insert Symbol button to get quick access to the Symbols dialog. This dialog is similar to the Windows Character Map and provides a convenient way to insert special characters into your drawings. It also allows you to create a list of your favorites!

 

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