[9.0x] Why is there 'DOS charset' option for comments?

[MVV]

Since in TC 9 there is a combobox with a list of desired comment encodings, why is there the 'DOS charset' option which is completely useless now?

[petermad]

No, there is a difference detween DOS charset and Plain text from the dropdown box. DOS charset is ASCII encoded while Plain text is ANSI.

Try this:
Set the preferred type to "Plain text". Find a folder without any descript.ion file. Add a comment to a file using non-English characters as for example: æøåÆØÅ
Go to options and check the "DOS charset" box and then look at the comment in TC's file panel - it shows up as µ°ÕãÏ┼

Or the other way around: Delete the descript.ion file again. Try adding a comment again with æøåÆØÅ - notice that only ØÅ is visible the rest is spaces. Delete the spaces and save the ØÅ comment. Now remove the checkmark for "DOS charset". Mow the file comment show up a blank in TC's file panel.

[MVV]

So maybe just add another encoding for descript.ion files into drop-down list? Especially since DOS checkbox has only sense for descript.ion files...

[ghisler(Author)]

This is intentional and will not be changed. It's meant for users who have very old descript.ion files in DOS format.

[MVV]

As I said above, you can simply add another combobox option for such old descript.ion files for consistency.

[ghisler(Author)]

Why? It all fits in the current one. Adding even more comboxes will just confuse the user.

[petermad]

2ghisler(Author)
I think that MVV means to add is to the option list in the already existing combobox - not to make another combobox

[MVV]

Yes, it is what I mean. If we have a combobox with N similar options, we don't need a separate checkbox for (N+1)-th similar option.

[ghisler(Author)]

OK, I checked this now: It's necessary to have it separate for the case where a mode like "Unicode" or "files.bbs" is chosen, which doesn't say anything about reading from plain text descript.ion files. The combobox is all about WRITING descriptions.

[MVV]

So 'DOS charset' means reading OEM-encoded files? And what does mean 'Read from both' option? Current layout is not clear too much...

[ghisler(Author)]

DOS charset means that when TC encounters a plain text descript.ion file, it treats it as having DOS charset for reading and writing.

Read from both means that TC will look for comments in both descript.ion and files.bbs files, independent of which is chosen in the combobox as the standard format.

[MVV]

Well, I would suggest to reorder controls in such case:

Code: Select all

Preferred type:      [  Plain text .... [v]]          [x] Read from both
[x] Copy comments with files                          [x] DOS charset

OR

Code: Select all

Preferred type:   [  Plain text .... [v]]
[x] Read from both      [x] DOS charset     [x] Copy comments with files

When 'DOS charset' goes after 'read from both', it is more fore reading than when it goes after 'preferred type' (BTW combobox title doesn't contain any mention about save only).

[ghisler(Author)]

Unfortunately this wouldn't work well with some other languages, the space reserved for these strings is different.