Urdu Editor Lite
I released UrduEditor some time ago. Unfortunately it does not work on Windows 98. I did not realize at that time that right-to-left support needs to be installed in order for UrduEditor to work properly and this support is not available for Windows 98. Luckily I got a solution in my mind, which in fact is more of a hack, but it is still effective. Remember Urdu Webpad. It also works under Windows 98. Well, you need to have at least Internet Explorer 6 installed for it to work.
I then remembered that MFC also contains a CHTMLView class which is just a wrapper on Internet Explorer’s object model. It is capable of showing a html-page containing Urdu Webpad. This html-page loaded inside the application provides almost the same editing features as UrduEditor. Saving and loading Urdu text then requires accessing the contents of the Urdu Webpad control through the object model of Internet Explorer.
I call this application UrduEditor Lite since it provides a subset of the features available in UrduEditor. It is compiled using the Microsoft Layer for Unicode on Windows 98 systems (MSLU). This way the same application runs equally well both on Windows 98 as well as on Windows XP systems. The file unicows.dll needs to be in the application path in order for it to function properly in Windows 98. This program is useful for those who want to stick to their Windows 98 systems. Those Windows XP users who are too lazy to install support for Urdu language on their systems may also find it interesting.
Following are the UrduEditor features missing in UrduEditor Lite:
- Customized Find and Replace dialog boxes
- Urdu email client
Following is needed for the proper functioning of UrduEditor Lite:
- Internet Explorer 6
- Urdu Naskh Asiatype font
- On Windows 98 the unicows.dll file in application’s path. This is included in the download.
UrduEditor Lite can still save Urdu text as html. The missing features are not really impossible to program. I had some problems in compiling the CPJNSMTPConnection-class with UrduEditor Lite on Windows 98 and therefore I left out the email client functionality. This class implements the SMTP-protocol. It may work after some minor modifications. I may think about incorporating it into UrduEditor Lite if there is enough demand.
Creating a wrapper around Urdu Webpad adds an interesting perspective to the further development of the UrduEditor Lite application. Now only the JavaScript or html-modules can be updated to augment the functionality of UrduEditor Lite. The html-page that gets loaded inside UrduEditor Lite is Editor.htm. You can freely customize it to your taste e.g. by adding a background image. I have also made use of the Urdu keyboard available with Urdu Webpad in Editor.htm. This on-screen keyboard keyboard can be expanded or collapsed by clicking on the button as shown in the following figure. You can make as many modifications to the Editor.htm file as long as you do not change the file name. Another requirement is that thid html-page should contain a textarea-element whose identifier attribute is “Editor”.
The Urdu Webpad included with UrduEditor Lite contains some updates from Asif. There are some minor bug fixes and now the buttons on-screen keyboard show tool tips. You only need to unpack the zip-file containing UrduEditor Lite application in a folder and it is ready for use. No extra steps need to be performed for its installation. I have tested UrduEditor Lite on Windows XP as well as on Windows 98. I do not have a separate installation of Windows 98. I ran Windows 98 inside a virtual machine. I used VMWare for this purpose.
I am releasing UrduEditor Lite again under GPL. Have fun!
Updated location:
Download UrduEditor Lite with source code
Tags: Urdu Editor, Urdu Editor Lite, Urdu Software
May 30th, 2005 at 12:55 pm
کیا یہ درست کام کرے گا؟
May 30th, 2005 at 7:15 pm
آزمائش شرط ہے۔
May 31st, 2005 at 5:00 pm
It’s a good one .. but why have u named it UrduLite????
May 31st, 2005 at 5:11 pm
Asma: Thanks for liking it. Well I am not very good at choosing names. The suffix “Lite” only suggests that it contains a subset of the features of UrduEditor. You are most welcome to suggest a better name for any of the programs I have written.
June 3rd, 2005 at 11:50 pm
Asslamu Alaikum
Yep this editor is best one so far other unicode urdu editor are concerned.It is easy to use :). Have (Y).
June 10th, 2005 at 10:55 am
I can’t see Urdu [ur](urdu)ہ in the editor. It displays like a box. Question is that why can’t I use Microsoft Word or other products as the eidtor?
June 10th, 2005 at 11:09 am
Naveed: Of course you can use other editors. I have mentioned in other posts that the UrduEditior or UrduEditor Lite just make it easier for you to edit Urdu by taking care of other tasks. For example these programs set up a right-to-left edit area and then save the Urdu text in UTF-8 format. These editors also have other features such as saving Urdu text as html or sending Urdu emails. These programs are also open source and free.
Do you have the Urdu Naskh Asiatype font installed? You can also change the font by editing the supplied style sheet if you want to.
June 12th, 2005 at 11:23 am
Thanks Nabeel, it works fine now.
The HTML tags p[ur](urdu), %[ur](urdu) and %[en](en) are really interesting. They surely make posting in Urdu lot easier, especially when adding some English words in a Urdu paragraph, but they are specific to this website, right? Or is there any blogging service that allows using these tags?
June 12th, 2005 at 4:21 pm
Naveed: This blog is actually maintained by Zakaria and he he is using MovableType. The tags you have mentioned are not HTML-tags, these are rather used specifically for this blog.
June 13th, 2005 at 2:14 pm
Naveed: These tags are actually from MT-Textile.
June 16th, 2005 at 11:28 am
Assalam o Alaikum
Great Work. Keep it up.
I wanted to ask, would it be possible for you to add the “Urdu Naskh Asiatype” font too in this package, so that people need not to download it extra from BBC site.
Secondly, no Urdu Font has complete support for Arabic (except Tahoma and other MS fonts).
How is it possible to change the default font of Urdu Editor to any other font (let’s say Tahoma)?
Note: I am nill in coputer programming. I think one should go to source file and play with it.
Any how, I am waiting for your reply.
Was Salam.
June 16th, 2005 at 11:54 am
Mehwish: It is not possible for me add the Urdu Naskh Asiatype font to the download because of the licencing conditions. In order to change the font find the following line in the file UrduEditor.js:
fontFamily=”Urdu Naskh Asiatype”;
and change it to
fontFamily=”Tahoma”;
I am busy in my job right now. I will update the Urdu Webpad with new features whenever I find time, so stay tuned.
March 12th, 2006 at 10:31 am
Hey! Well Done Nabeel, thats a nice work.
Secondly there are some problems like one cant not change the size of the font small or big and there is keys like Y shows me a BLOCK like this.
Please inform about these things.
And Well done again.
March 25th, 2006 at 8:37 pm
Good work Nabeel. I appreciate your work. The thing I want to ask is that how did you use unicode in programing. Although I tried to interprete the source code myself but couldn’t understand how did you use unicode. Actually I want to design an application which could let its user to type his/her biodata(name, gender, address,...etc) in urdu. The problem is that I don’t understand how an urdu character is printed when we type a key from the keyboard.
March 27th, 2006 at 3:17 pm
Dear friends, if you need any support, please go to the Urdu Mehfil forum and post your questions there.
Thanks
September 17th, 2006 at 8:19 am
hi!
December 25th, 2006 at 7:42 pm
Only Checking
March 16th, 2007 at 4:03 pm
hi guys listen i m new in programming n ma got a project of “urdu text editor” so cud any one here help me out that from where i shud start mean wats the initial n also reffer ma some webs through which ma can get some sort of ideas so plz u just comment ova hea
i just request hea mr nabeel that plz would u lyk to help me??????
March 16th, 2007 at 4:04 pm
hi guys listen i m new in programming n ma got a project of “urdu text editor” so cud any one here help me out that from where i shud start mean wats the initial n also reffer ma some webs through which ma can get some sort of ideas so plz u just comment ova hea
i just request hea mr nabeel that plz would u lyk to help me??????
i m giving u ma mail address (fairy_nagia88@yahoo.com)
March 16th, 2007 at 4:11 pm
n yes one thing i forgot that i f to work out on it in (C language)version 3.0
March 16th, 2007 at 5:18 pm
ash: The Urdu editors that I have written are open source and the source code is included in the download. This should give you a good starting point.
March 17th, 2007 at 4:22 pm
mr nabeel plz would u like to tell me tht first when u focused to this project then first wat u did n how much time it took n i have also a classmate of mine so v both have to work on it so plz as u said (i got the source code now plz tell ma that what firstly i have to do from where i shud start . ma getting boggle)
i need ur help n will be very thank ful to u
March 18th, 2007 at 3:11 pm
Very Nice brother for that release.
Thanks for that
Ahmad
April 27th, 2007 at 7:28 am
Great Work Nabeel. I am working on a web project and where i have to develop a text editor where the user can enter his/her professional details and then i have to save it in his profile in a database. I am using sql server as a backend and asp.net (with C-sharp ) as a front end. do help me if u have some time man coz i have come to know that u r buzy with ur job.
waiting for ur reply Nabeel its urgent man.
Allah Hafiz
April 27th, 2007 at 10:18 am
Ahsan, there is already a web-based Urdu editor that you can use inside a web page for editing Urdu text. You will need to make an ASP.NET control from it.
April 29th, 2007 at 5:57 pm
thanks for replying Nabeel. I really dint get that much quick response from any where. please give me a downloading link for such urdu editor or if u have this editor then please send me bcoz I m in urgent need.
April 30th, 2007 at 7:57 am
Ahsan: Please have a look at the following post.
http://www.urduweb.org/blog/2007/04/82/
May 3rd, 2007 at 12:43 pm
thanx nabeel for giving me this link. I have start working with it and it is simply best. I m facing one more issue. I integrate this Urdu composer in a demo project and the problem is that it is working fine with Mozilla Firefox but have some trouble with internet explorer. In internet explorer when I m using on screen keyboard and type some text in input by clicking on the letter (having type is text) then the cursor position is not moving according to Urdu rusmul khut thats is from right to left but rather it is moving from left to right as in English typing when u type a letter the cursor move to one point forward(from left to right). When u type through keyboard it is working properly that is cursor is moving from right to left. Please help me and fix this problem.well it is happening in input only it is working fine in html text area control in internet explorer too.
May 26th, 2007 at 6:48 am
sir i m trying to install urduLite in my system but i m not capable can u mail me original software of this. i will be thankful for this work in my whole life
May 26th, 2007 at 11:52 am
Ali Hasnain: What exactly is the problem that you are having in installing UrduLite. In fact there is no installation required. You just need to unzip the download and you can start using UrduLite right away.
January 30th, 2008 at 9:10 am
i am unable to download, any guide me? thanks in advance.
February 3rd, 2008 at 9:33 pm
Download link has been updated. Please try again.
February 25th, 2008 at 4:52 am
Salam Dear
the pad you provided is very simple and at its early stage, I recommend the user to use RabtPad available on sourceforge.net for Urdu. Nabeel we have to put more effort for the development of a big document composition software like MS-Word (for Urdu), where as Urdu Editor Lite is in its too early stage. Please let it do for a big mega output, I am interested in. The criticism is not for discouraging but showing the ultimate future goal. I will share you the new ideas & recommendation when i received. Isn’t it better if some development forum will be open for every open source project for Urdu, and some new feature enhancement or new ideas generation forum as well, where the interested audiences could discuss the related issues. Please bear my suggestion if you have an alternate for this.
Best Regards
Rizwan Yasin Khan
May 4th, 2008 at 6:25 pm
Help! im desperate, these should be a walk on the park for someone that knows about these things… i need the following written in naskh… ”...the life of this world is nothing but a provision of vanities.” Qur’an 3.185.
thanks