INTRODUCTION TO GIST SDK
GIST
Software Development Kit for Indian Languages on MS Windows 95/NT – GIST SDK,
is a set of software components that enables software developers to facilitate
the use of Indian scripts with MS Windows 95/NT(32-bit) applications. Unlike
other solutions, the significant feature of GIST SDK is that it enables the MS
Windows 95/NT application to process ISCII data directly. ISCII (Indian Script
Code for Information Interchange) is the current Indian Standard for input,
storage, processing and transmission of Indian script text. ISCII enables alphabetic
sorting, transliteration and data exchange and reusability in a uniform manner.
The
GIST SDK development tool uses ActiveX Technology from Microsoft and provides a
seamless, transparent and self-contained Indian language layer for data entry,
storage, retrieval and printing in Indian scripts for your MS Windows 95/NT
applications. It is based on COM standards and can be used with any of the
latest application development tool providing "OLE container’ support.
Visual
Basic 5.0 and above, Visual C 4.2 and above, Power Builder 5.0 or later, Visual
Foxpro, Delphi 3, Forms 5.0 (Developer 2000) are few of the front-end
development tools in which GIST SDK can be used.
GIST
SDK consists of a set of Dynamic Linked Libraries (DLL’s) with necessary API, a
set of ActiveX controls and True Type fonts to enable integration with your MS
Windows 95/NT application.
- Develop Completely self contained Indian language
enabled applications rapidly and with ease using standard front-end
development tools
- Seamless, transparent Indian language layer
- Integrated keyboard driver for typing in Indian
languages in ActiveX Controls
- Bi-lingual data input, storage and display. Special
bi-lingual True Type Fonts to enable intermixing of English characters
with Indian script characters
- Facilitates on-line sorting, indexing and complete
editing control in 10 Indian scripts
- No hardware or software based protection devices
required to ship with your application
- License to distribute the GIST SDK components along
with your MS Windows 95/NT applications
- DOE/BIS phonetic INSCRIPT keyboard overlay common for
all Indian scripts
- Scripts supported: Assamese, Bengali, Devanagari, Gujarati, Kannada, Malayalam, Oriya, Punjabi, Tamil, Telugu
The GIST Software
Development Kit for Windows applications consists of the following main
components
ISM Keyboard Driver
The ISM API Library
ISFOC Fonts
The ISM DDE Server
ISM Keyboard Driver
The
ISM Keyboard Driver provides the basic user function i.e. to allow the input of
bilingual data to the Windows application. It uses the INSCRIPT keyboard overlay
for easy and consistent entry of multilingual data. The user input is displayed
by the application using the appropriate ISFOC font for the selected script.
The input data that the application receives from the ISM Keyboard Driver is in
the font character format (ISFOC). For more details refer to the ISM user
manual.
The ISM API Library
The
ISM Application Programming Interface is the heart of the ISM SDK. It provides
all the functions required for the application development in Indian languages.
ISM API is a Windows DLL and can be used directly within a Windows application.
The interface includes routines to convert between alphabet and font codes for
the selected scripts.
ISFOC Fonts
The
GIST-SDK includes a set of aesthetic publishing quality True Type BI-lingual
and monolingual ISFOC typefaces for all scripts. The end-user will get
typefaces of selected script only.
Script Mnemonics
Script
can be one of the following
DV for Devanagari DVB for
Devanagari Bilingual
GJ for Gujarati GJB for Gujarati Bilingual
TM for Tamil
TMB for Tamil
Bilingual
TL for Telugu
TLB for Telugu Bilingual
PN for Punjabi PNB for
Punjabi Bilingual
OR for Oriya
ORB for Oriya Bilingual
AS for Assamese ASB
for Assamese Bilingual
BN for Bengali BNB for
Bengali Bilingual
KN for Kannada KNB for
Kannda Bilingual
ML for Malayalam MLB for Malayalam Bilingual
GIST DDE Server
The
GIST Dynamic Data Exchange (DDE) Server provides the application program with a
set of utilities. The ISM DDE Server can be loaded and unloaded by the
application program itself. It uses the ISM API and other details. DDE server
is mostly used by windows based DBASE/FOXPRO programs. It is a simple DDE
Server, which will work in the background and will convert the given input
script to the output script specified.
Multilingual ActiveX Control/OCX controls.
The
Multilingual ActiveX Controls Library contains the basic ActiveX Controls used
to design the form of a front-end or to be used for multilingual Web based
applications. These controls fully and functionally provide support for all
Indian languages and scripts.
The GIST SDK ActiveX controls need to be installed and registered on the client computer.
Following controls are available through ActiveX Control
1. GEdit Control
2. GPushButton Control
3. GCheckBox Control
4. GRadioButton Control
5. GStatic Control
6. GGroupBox Control
7. GListBox Control
8. GistComboBox Control
9. Gflexgrid Control
10. Gtreeview Control
- GIST SDK ActiveX controls contain Data Binding properties
- The GEdit control contains special features for editing in Indian languages like accurate caret movement and positioning, bi-lingual ISCII data storage. (PC-ISCII and 7-bit ISCII data also supported)
- Each of these controls has its property page. For example, in case of GEdit control, Script Name, Multi/Single Line, Word Wrap, Auto Scrolling, Pointsize are some of the properties
- All required methods and events are provided by these controls
- These controls use quality TrueType fonts for Indian scripts which are included in GIST SDK
The GIST-SDK ActiveX controls require a few Microsoft run-time libraries for proper functioning. These libraries are available for distribution
Pentium PC, 32 MB RAM, MS Windows 95/NT with run time support for ActiveX.
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