What is CharMap?
CharMap is an graphical (GUI) application to display Unicode characters or glyphs in text fonts, and copy those characters to the system clipboard. Its major purpose is as a visual accessory for any program that uses text in some way. This Java application can be resized, for text and the program window, which is important in many languages. Features are limited to make the application faster and simpler to use. A single click adds a character to the sample text, and the sample text is automatically copied to the system clipboard on each click.

System requirements
  • Java version 1.6.0 (tested with version 1.6.0ga5)


CharMap on an eComStation machine with Open JDK


Installing CharMap
Download charmap4.zip (1.2Mb). Open the zip file and copy the contents to a drive/directory of your choice. That's it!

The used cmd file
CharMap works with Open JDK in OS/2-eCS. I have a "CharMap4.cmd" file with the following contents; 
@echo off
SET BEGINLIBPATH=[drive: java]\JAVA160ga5\bin
SET path=[drive: java]\JAVA160ga5\bin
SET CLASSPATH=
[drive: CharMap]
cd [drive: CharMap]\CharMap
java -Duser.home=[drive: CharMap]\CharMap -jar CharMap4.jar 2>CharMap4-bugs.txt
I use 2 separate folders (directories), one for Java and one for CharMap with the files created by this program. The references used in the cmd file;

  • [drive: java] = drive with Java
  • [drive: CharMap] = drive with CharMap

should be replaced with real drive letters. Save the file and name it "CharMap.cmd" or use the file from "CharMap-ecs.zip", see below. This file is copied to the "CharMap" directory/map. Furthermore, different paths?, adjust according to your needs.
Create a new program object. Specify the path and file name: "[drive: CharMap]\CharMap\CharMap.cmd". In the tabpage Session check the boxes "OS/2 window", "Running as an icon" and "Close Window to end program". In the tabpage General you can enter the name "CharMap". There is an OS/2 icon in the file "CharMap-ecs.zip".

Parameters / options explained
  • The statement "-Duser.home=[drive: CharMap]\CharMap" will ensure that CharMap will save all necessary files in own directory instead of saving them in the home directory.
  • The addition "2>CharMap4-bugs.txt" ensures that errors are saved in the file "CharMap4-bugs.txt". The 2 in "2>" is not a typo! The file stays not empty on my system, I get "Font name <Verdana> not found; using <Dialog> instead.".

Remarks with running CharMap
I did found this program for my Raspberry Pi 400 system. Could not find such a program or drowned in the endless list when your looking for such a program. So I have a lot of comments on Linux. This program is running on that system with Java 11 and without errors. The program runs fine in OS/2 with our Java 6 and does find all your fonts, only you have to choose because it comes with Dialog font (on my system). It does copy characters correctly to the clipboard as far as I can see. There is a manual included in pdf format.

Download
In the file you can find above command file (all drive letters are on set to C:) and an OS/2 CharMap icon: CharMap-ecs.zip.

revision May 5, 2023