Infocenter

Understanding Hindi enablement


Reviewing supported platforms
Specifying Hindi monospaced font for Windows 2000 and Windows XP
Configuring a workstation
Modifying a session configuration
Switching keyboards between Hindi and Latin
Identifying language shift status
Using cut, copy and paste functions
Using file transfer
Understanding Hindi clusters
Understanding the behavior of the arrow, Backspace, Delete and Insert keys
Limitations and workarounds

Reviewing supported platforms

Hindi sessions run on the Windows 2000 and Windows XP operating systems. Select the Indic language group while installing Windows. After installation, you can change the language group to Indic:

  1. Select Settings > Control Panel > Regional Options > General.
  2. Select Indic for the Language settings for the system field.
  3. Reboot the system.

Supported browsers

The following browsers are supported for Hindi enablement of Host On-Demand:

Supported plug-ins

The IBM Java 2 Plug-in (JRE1.3) and Sun Java 2 Plug-in (JRE1.4) are supported for Hindi enablement of Host On-Demand.

Sun Java 2 Plug-in (JRE1.3) is not currently supported because the plug-in is not composing Hindi Unicode characters.

To use the IBM Java 2 Plug-in (JRE1.3) with supported versions of Netscape and Internet Explorer, do the following:

  1. Download the IBM Java 2 Plug-in from http://www.ibm.com/developerworks/java/
  2. Uninstall the Sun Java 2 Plug-in, if it is installed.
  3. Install the IBM Java 2 Plug-in.
  4. In the directory where you installed the IBM Plug-in, change the IBM security provider referenced in the \jre\lib\security\java.security file from
    security.provider.2=com.ibm.crypto.provider.IBMJCA
    to
    security.provider.2=com.ibm.crypto.provider.IBMJCE
  5. Restart the browser.

To use the Sun Java 2 Plug-in (JRE1.4) with supported versions of Netscape and Internet Explorer, do the following:

  1. Download the Sun Java 2 Plug-in (JRE1.4) from http://java.sun.com
  2. Install the Sun Java 2 Plug-in with JRE 1.4
  3. Restart the browser.

Specifying Hindi monospaced font for Windows 2000 and Windows XP

Host On-Demand uses Monospaced Devanagari font for a Hindi session on Windows 2000 and XP. To install Monospaced Devanagari font on the client:

  1. Download the font file to the client in the Windows font directory.
  2. Change the browser settings as follows:

Configuring a workstation

To configure a workstation for Hindi, set the appropriate code page:

  1. Click the Add sessions button at the bottom of the client window.
  2. Right-click the 5250 display session to add.
  3. Click Copy.
  4. Enter the destination address and select 1137 Hindi for the Host Code Page.
  5. Click OK.
  6. Click Close to close the Add Sessions window. An icon is added to the Configured sessions window.

Modifying a session configuration

To modify a workstation configuration for Hindi:

  1. Right-click a configured 5250 display session icon.
  2. Click Properties.
  3. Change the required information on each tab.
  4. Click OK.

Switching keyboards between Hindi and Latin

To switch the keyboard between Hindi and Latin, use the following key combinations:

Default key mapping  Language
Ctrl+N Hindi
Ctrl+L  Latin 

Identifying language shift status

If the keyboard is in Hindi language shift, the indicator HI appears on the Operator Information Area (OIA).

Using cut, copy and paste functions

Cut, copy and paste are supported on Hindi display mode. You can copy and cut text using the keyboard. When using keyboard functions (Shift+arrow key) for marking text, the trimming rectangle appears at the Hindi cursor position.

Using file transfer

For Hindi, when you transfer files between the PC and the host, select 1137 Hindi for the Host Code Page.

Because Hindi language is supported only in Unicode, the ASCII transfer option does not apply to Hindi file transfer. Use the Unicode transfer option to transfer a file in TEXT mode. When the session has the Hindi code page, the transfer option Unicode is the default for TEXT mode transfer.

Transfer PC files in Unicode format. If you do not use Unicode format to transfer a PC file, the following error message can appear:

                  ECL0146 Error while reading from the local file system.

Understanding Hindi clusters

A cluster is a single character on the screen that internally might be represented by more than one character. Two or more individual characters in Hindi can combine to form or compose a glyph or cluster. The number of characters in a cluster varies.

In order to find the number of characters in a cluster, Unicode Ligation and ISCII rules will be used. The 15 Unicode Ligation rules defined by the Unicode Consortium can be found in the book The Unicode Standard Version 3.0 by the Unicode Consortium, published by Addison Wesley Publishing Company.

Other than the Unicode rules, Indian Script Code for Information Interchange(ISCII) rules also identify a cluster. The ISCII rules are as follows:

Rule 1: Letter I(\u0907) + Nukta(\u093C)forms Letter Vocalic L(\u090C)
Rule 2: Vowel Sign Vocalic R(\u0943) + Sign Nukta(\u093c) forms Vowel Sign Vocalic Rr(\u0944)
Rule 3: Candrabindu(\u0901) + Sign Nukta(\u093c) forms Om(\u0950)
Rule 4: Letter Vocalic R(\u090b) + Sign Nukta(\u093c) forms Letter Vocalic Rr(\u0960)
Rule 5: Letter Ii(\u0908) + Sign Nukta(\u093c) forms Letter Vocalic LI(\u0961)
Rule 6: Vowel Sign I(\u093f) + Sign Nukta(\u093c) forms Vowel Sign VocalicL(\u0962)
Rule 7: Vowel Sign Ii(\u0940) + Sign Nukta(\u093c) forms Vowel Sign Vocalic LI(\u0963)
Rule 8: Danda(\u0964) + Sign Nukta(\u093c) forms Sign Avagraha(\u093d)
Rule 9: Consonant+Halant(\u094d)+Halant(\u094d)+Consonant forms Consonant + Halant(\u094d) + ZWNJ + Consonant
Rule 10: Consonant+Halant(\u094d)+Nukta(\u093c)+Consonant forms Consonant + Halant(\u094d) + ZWJ + Consonant

Also based on the ISCII rules, the Host On-Demand Hindi enablement allows a maximum of five consonants to form a cluster. If a cluster contains more than five consonants, only the first five consonants are treated as a cluster. The remaining characters form a separate cluster based on the five-consonant rule.

Understanding the behavior of the arrow, Backspace, Delete, and Insert keys

The arrow, Backspace, Delete, and Insert keys have some special behaviors in Hindi sessions because of the formation of clusters.

Some of the terms used to describe these behaviors include:

Character or Code Point
The smallest component of written language that has semantic value
Glyph or Cluster
The shape that characters can have when they are displayed

A single glyph or cluster can correspond to a single character or to a number of characters. To understand clusters and their formation, refer to Understanding Hindi clusters.

Limitations and workarounds

General limitations
IBM plug-in support for Hindi sessions

General limitations


IBM plug-in support for Hindi sessions

To support Hindi sessions with an IBM Java 2 plug-in, use the Windows Plug-in, Java 2 Technology Edition, Version 1.3.1 SP2, which is shipped with Host On-Demand 7.