Baraha Direct

Baraha Direct can be used to type Indian language text directly into MS Word, PageMaker and other applications. When Baraha Direct program is started, it shows as an icon in the system tray at the bottom-right portion of the screen. During the session, Baraha Direct stores the language and output format for individual windows. So, when you switch between applications, the language and output format are automatically selected.

Baraha Direct icon in the system tray.

Using Baraha Direct
Menu commands
Conversion of Indian language data
Sorting Indian language data
Hot keys
Some tips

Definitions:

Indian Language Text:
The text that is displayed in Indian scripts. This may be in either ANSI or Unicode format.

ANSI Text:
The Indian language text that is formatted in Baraha Fonts such as BRH Kannada, BRH Devanagari, so on...

UNICODE Text:
The Indian language text that is formatted in Unicode fonts such as Tunga, Mangal, so on..

ENGLISH Text:
The text that is formatted in any English fonts such as Arial, Times New Roman, so on...

LATIN Text:
The text that is formatted in BRH Latin font.

Using Baraha Direct:

To type Indian language text:

Open the target application (say MS Word) where you want to type Indian language text.
In Baraha Direct, select the desired Indian language and the Output Format. To do this, choose Language-->... menu command by clicking on system tray icon.
Select the appropriate Baraha fonts in the target application.

If Output Format is ANSI, you should select appropriate Baraha TrueType font that belongs to the language selected. Baraha Direct will send ANSI codes (8 bit) to the target application, which when formatted with Baraha TrueType fonts, will display the Indian language text. ANSI output format is supported by most of the currently available applications.

If Output Format is UNICODE, you should select appropriate UNICODE font that supports the selected language. Baraha Direct will send Unicode codes (16 bit) to the target application.

Note: UNICODE option is not available if you are using Windows 95/98 operating systems

Start typing. (Kannada, KGP Keyboard, Devanagari, Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam, Gujarati, Gurumukhi, Bengali, Oriya)

To type English text:

Choose Language-->English menu command by clicking on system tray icon.
(You can press F11 or F12 key to switch between Indian language and English.)
Select the English font in the target application.
Continue typing.

Menu commands:

Menu commands can be accessed by clicking on the system tray icon.

Language:
Provides various language and output format options.

Language --> Kannada --> ANSI
Select Kannada script in ANSI format.

Language --> Kannada --> UNICODE
Select Kannada script in UNICODE format.

.....same logic applies to other languages...

Keyboard Speed:
The keyboard speed controls the rate at which character messages are sent to the target application. The default setting Fastest works for most of the applications. But sometimes, the target application may not be fast enough to work synchronously with Baraha Direct, in which case some character messages can be lost. In such cases, you have to select slower speeds.

Sort:
Provides various sorting options. See: Sorting Indian language data

Convert to:
Provides various conversion options. See: Conversion of Indian language data

Convert English Text?
This option is used during Conversion operation. See below.

Conversion of Indian language data:

Converion commands allow you to convert Indian language text from one script to another AND/OR from one data format to another. The text to be converted may contain different scripts in either ANSI, UNICODE, LATIN or ENGLISH formats. For example, In MS Word, let's say you have Kannada text in ANSI format along with Telugu text in UNICODE format. Now, you can convert this entire text to Devanagari in UNICODE format.

The conversion operation consists of 3 simple steps.

Step 1: In MS Word, select the Indian language text you want to convert and copy it by clicking Edit | Copy menu.

Step 2: In Baraha Direct, select Convert To --> ... menu command.

Convert To --> ANSI
Convert the Indian language text to ANSI format while retaining the original script. The ENGLISH and LATIN text is retained as is.

Convert To --> UNICODE
Convert the Indian language text to UNICODE format while retaining the original script. The ENGLISH and LATIN text is retained as is.

Convert To --> LATIN
Convert the Indian language text to LATIN format. The ENGLISH and LATIN text is retained as is.

Convert To --> ENGLISH
Convert the Indian language text to transliteration (ENGLISH) format. The ENGLISH and LATIN text is retained as is.

Convert To --> Kannada --> ANSI
Convert the Indian language text and LATIN text to Kannada script in ANSI format. If the Convert English Text? option is set to YES, then ENGLISH text is also converted.

Convert To --> Kannada --> UNICODE
Convert the Indian language text and LATIN text to Kannada script in UNICODE format. If the Convert English Text? option is set to YES, then ENGLISH text is also converted.

.....same logic applies to other scripts...

Step 3: In MS Word, paste the text by clicking Edit | Paste menu.

Note:

Baraha Direct remembers the conversion command last selected. You can press F10 key to perform the same operation later.
During conversion to Indian language text, If the "Convert English Text?" option is set to YES, then ENGLISH text is also converted. Is this option is set to NO, then the ENGLISH text is retained as is.

Sorting Indian language data:

Sorting commands allow you to sort Indian language text in the correct alphabetical order specific to the language. The text to be sorted may contain different scripts in either ANSI or UNICODE format.

The sorting operation consists of 3 simple steps.

Step 1: In MS Word, select the Indian language text you want to sort and copy it by clicking Edit | Copy menu.

Step 2: In Baraha Direct, select Sort --> ... menu command.

Sort --> Ascending --> ANSI
Sort the text in ascending order and output in ANSI format.

Sort --> Ascending --> UNICODE
Sort the text in ascending order and output in UNICODE format.

Sort --> Descending --> ANSI
Sort the text in descending order and output in ANSI format.

Sort --> Descending --> UNICODE
Sort the text in descending order and output in UNICODE format.

Step 3: In MS Word, paste the text by clicking Edit | Paste menu.

Note:

Baraha Direct remembers the sort command last selected. You can press F9 key to perform the same operation later.
Baraha does not use UNICODE collation tables for sorting. Instead, it uses its own sorting algorithm.

Hot keys:

F12/F11: You can press F12 or F11 key to switch between Indian language and English.

F10: Baraha Direct remembers the conversion command last selected. You can press F10 key to perform the same operation later.

F9: Baraha Direct remembers the sort command last selected. You can press F9 key to perform the same operation later.

Some tips:

1) When you are editing using Baraha Direct, it keeps track of the characters typed in an internal buffer. During editing, if you use the BACKSPACE key, it deletes the previous character and re-generates the whole character(word). If the keyboard is idle for more than 8 seconds, the internal buffer gets cleared automatically. Therefore, if you use BACKSPACE key after 8 seconds delay, the whole character is not re-generated. Instead, glyphs are deleted one by one. The internal buffer also gets cleared when you use the navigational keys such as arrows, page down, page up, e.t.c.

2) If Baraha Direct is taking a long time to send the characters to the target application, you can press ESC key to cancel the character messages.

3) During a session, Baraha Direct keeps track of the language settings for individual application windows. For example, lets say user is running two wordpad applications one for editing Kannada and the other for editing Hindi. Once the languages for individual windows are set, everytime he switches to a window the language is automatically set. This way user can switch between applications without having to select the langauges again and again. When the user starts a new application window, by default it will get the current language setting of the Baraha Direct.

4) MS Word/MS Excel/MS PowerPoint

You SHOULD NOT use any of the AutoCorrect options. These options automatically change the characters as you type, to correct them, which is good only for the English language. Click Tools | AutoCorrect menu command in MS Word/Excel to go to AutoCorrect options dialog box and DISABLE all the AutoCorrect options.

Some of the very important AutoCorrect options to be disabled are given below. But, it is better if you disable all other options also.

Correct TWo INitial CApitals
Capitalize first letter of sentences
Straight quotes with smart quotes

Disable the Check spelling as you type option in the Tools | Options | Spelling & Grammar dialog box. This will avoid the red underline for the Kannada words.

5) MS Excel

When you are editing in MS Excel grid, if you select a cell and type a word, the first letter of the word may be separated from the rest of the word. To avoid this error click the cell again (OR presss F2 key) so that edit control is displayed and then edit the text.