SGML: Underscores Appear Instead of Characters

 Last reviewed: August 5, 1997
Article ID: Q126596
The information in this article applies to:
  • Microsoft SGML Author for Word, version 1.0
  • Microsoft Word for Windows, versions 6.0, 6.0a, 6.0c

SYMPTOMS

In an SGML-tagged document opened Microsoft Word 6.0 for Windows, underscores appear in the place of some characters.

CAUSE

Any character that the SGML converter does not recognize is converted to an underscore (_).

SGML Author supports the ANSI, Wingdings, and Symbol character sets. ANSI, Wingdings, or Symbol characters inserted into your document must also have identical symbols in the ISO Character Entity declarations in order to be output correctly on import or export. Other character sets are more likely to have characters that will convert as an underscore.

Symbol font characters that do not have a matching ISO Character Entity declaration are output as an underscore. These characters include: 

   Filled diamonds (#168)
   Set membership with bar (#207)
   Upper/lower left arcs (#230, #232)
   Upper/middle/lower, left curly brackets (#236, #237, #238)
   Upper/lower integral sign (#243, #245)
   Upper/lower right arcs (#246, #248)
   Upper/middle/lower, right curly brackets (#252, #253, #254)

RESOLUTION

Insert the character that did not convert from the Wingdings font set. To insert the character, use the following steps:

  1. From the Insert menu, choose Symbol.

  2. Choose the Symbols tab.

  3. In the Font box, select Wingdings.

  4. Choose the symbol you want and choose Insert.

IMPORTANT: The Wingdings character you use must have a matching ISO Character Entity declaration or it will be translated as an underscore.

Also, check that the PATH statement in the ENTM.CAT file specifies the actual location of your Wingdings ISO Character Entity declarations file (WINGDING.PUB).

The ISO Character Entity declaration statement in your ENTM.CAT file should look like the following: 

   PUBLIC "-//Microsoft Corp//ENTITIES for MS Wingdings//EN" "WINGDING.PUB"

MORE INFORMATION

The converter can always convert any character below 127 in the ANSI character set. And if you reference the ISO character sets WINGDING.PUB, WINGDING.CCF, and WINSYM.CCF in your DTD, the following symbols in a Word document can be converted to character entities in the SGML instance: 

   Characters above 127 in the ANSI character set
   Characters in the Wingdings font
   Characters in the Symbol font
When the SGML instance is converted to Word, the character entity is converted to the referenced character and marked with the currently open style. For example, the "e" with the acute accent in the word "resume" is converted to "resum&eacute" in the SGML instance. When the file is opened in Word, the correct character displays.

Symbol characters are converted to SYMBOL fields in Word. For example, the copyright symbol is converted to the following SYMBOL field: 

   {SYMBOL 211 \f "SYMBOL" \s 12 \h}
If your DTD uses any of the following items, examine SKELETON.dtd (usually located in the C:\WINWORD\SGMLCONV\SAMPLE directory) to see how to construct a DTD that will work with SGML Author:
  • Tables
  • Equations
  • Graphics
  • Special characters and symbols
  • External entities

For additional information about obtaining support for Microsoft SGML Author for Word, please see the following article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base: 

   ARTICLE-ID: Q154264
   TITLE     : SGML Author Support Policy

REFERENCES

"Microsoft SGML Author System Administrator's Guide," pages 118-120

Additional reference words: 1.0 sgmlword KB_SGMLAUTHOR 6.0 6.0a 6.0c
winword ASCII WordBasic err=123 import imported dash underline line mark
word6 glyph glyphs markup
Keywords : kbformat kbsgml kbinterop
Version : 1.0 6.0 6.0a 6.0c
Platform : WINDOWS
Issue type : kberrmsg

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Last reviewed: August 5, 1997
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