QuickPinyin - Type pinyin with tone marks (portable)

[Manuel]

QuickPinyin v1.13 is out. Please see first post for download link.

What's new (loads!):

• Added: Option to start enabled/disabled.
  
• Added: IME compatibility for QQ Pinyin, Huayu Pinyin, Baidu Pinyin, Pinyinput and PinyinTones.
  
• Added: INI file automatically purged of obsolete settings when new version launched.
  
• Added: INI file validation to prevent empty values when edited manually.
  
• Added: Support for read-only environments where settings cannot be saved to file.
  
• Added: 'Space' and 'tilde' characters allowed in keyboard shortcut.
  
• Added: New Options dialog containing most set-and-forget settings.
  
• Added: Support for ü key (available only on some keyboards e.g. German, Hungarian, etc).
  
• Added: Options to specify how double-dotted 'u' is entered.
  
• Added: Options to specify program enabled or disabled state on launch (manual and startup).
  
• Fixed: Settings not saved at system logoff/shutdown.
  
• Fixed: Inconsistent behaviour of Escape key and 'X' titlebar button on some dialogs.
  
• Fixed: Keyboard shortcut incorrect behaviour with certain shortcut strings.
  
• Fixed: Undefined behaviour when empty keyboard shortcut supplied.
  
• Fixed: Installer/uninstaller fails if executed while QuickPinyin is still running.
  
• Fixed: Wrong resolution icon shown in system tray.
  
• Fixed: IME compatibility not working correctly with certain IMEs e.g. Google Pinyin.
  
• Fixed: IME compatibility not working with Windows UAC enabled or restricted file access.
  
• Fixed: Welcome message shown on every run with Windows UAC enabled or restricted file access.
  
• Fixed: Update checking settings ignored with Windows UAC enabled or restricted file access.
  
• Changed: Method for typing ü (no tone mark) changed from vvv to v0 and w0.
  
• Changed: Welcome message GUI revamped, with checkbox to "not show again".
  
• Changed: Welcome message 3-second delay dropped, now shown instantly.
  
• Changed: Welcome message shown again after updating QuickPinyin.
  
• Changed: Minor changes to GUI labels and system tray balloon tip text.
  
• Removed: Custom IME compatibility via INI file dropped (to be hard-coded by developer).
  
• Misc: Major code tidy-up.
  
• Misc: Readme.txt revised.
  

As usual, please report any problems.

Credit to users Yorin and gogokoala for their suggestions, help with testing and bug reports.

[gogokoala]

THis is amazing great!

[Manuel]

I've just uploaded QuickPinyin v1.14 to address a small bug. Check first post for download link.

What's new:

• Fixed: Syllables containing 'wan' incorrectly converted to 'üan' when 'W' option checked.
  
• Changed: 'Ü', 'V' and 'W' trigger conversion only when final is /ü/ or /üe/ (i.e. not /ün/ etc).
  

[gogokoala]

Ah...I just noticed that bug...thought it was because of the font style I chose. Thanks!

[Manuel]

Regarding fonts, there are some problematic applications that decide to use a Chinese font (Simsun) whenever certain characters (including vowels with pinyin tone marks) are typed using a Chinese IME, for example, in MS Word 2003 (click image to see full-size):

As you can see, all the pinyin-ised vowels look funny. So does the ':' and the white space after the ':' is unusually long. Using a normal alphabetic input method (English in this case), the correct font is used throughout:

Most non-Chinese users will almost definitely have installed both a normal alphabetical input method (e.g English) and a Chinese IME. Whenever they need to type pinyin, they just switch to English. On the other hand, native Chinese users who tend to only have a Chinese IME installed will engage the IME's built-in 英 mode when they want to type anything other than Chinese (English, pinyin, etc), unaware that their fonts are getting screwed up in some apps, as reported in this thread.

Two solutions exist:

1) (Recommended) Install an alphabetical input method (e.g. English) and switch to it rather than engaging the Chinese IME's built-in 英 mode.

2) If you must only have a Chinese IME installed and nothing else, the registry hack described in this other thread will produce the correct font for pinyin-ised characters typed while in 英 mode.

[kaki296]

Hi, Manuel,

 

You are a genius.  Thank you very much for making this programme.  It is very easy to use and it works like magic.     

 

Thanks from Kaki

[teachinator]

Manuel, 

 

I just installed QuickPinyin and it worked perfectly with Microsoft Word -- thanks!  I have been looking for something like this for years.

 

My only concern is that right after I created a document, I had some unusual trouble with gmail.  For a short time, I couldn't attach documents (I was trying to attach my first QuickPinyin doc), and then I couldn't load gmail.  The problem passed soon, and perhaps was completely unrelated.  In the end I was able to attach my QuickPinyin document.

 

Barring more problems, I look forward to using this frequently. It really looks like a godsend!

[Manuel]

Teachinator, thanks for your kind words!

 

Regarding the problem you encountered with GMail I am confident it is completely unrelated to QuickPinyin. All the best with your study!

[foo]

fēi cháng gǎn xiè

works like a charm on Windows 8.1 

[raydpratt]

Xiě xiě, Manuel. Wǒ xiǎng KuàiPīnYīn hěn hǎo!

 

I have been using Spanish Accents CapsLock.exe for typing Spanish, and I have been hoping that someone would create something similarly easy to use for typing Pinyin anywhere. Thank you!

 

I'm a little confused about how to get to the configurations page, and about being sure that the program is off or on (the icon on the desktop does not change from, first, bright red and yellow, and then, second, to gray), so I am not clear about the instructions, yet. However, the program works!

 

Thank you!

[Manuel]

Hi Raydpratt, glad you like it! You can double-click the tray icon to switch QuickPinyin between active/inactive. By default QuickPinyin is configured to start enabled (red+yellow icon), although you can configure it to start disabled (gray icon) from the Options dialog. To open the Options dialog, simply right-click the tray icon. A small menu should pop up where you can click Options...

 

Let me know if it still doesn't work.

[raydpratt]

Thank you, Manuel.

 

It took me a while to find the icon that I could right-click to get to the configuration options for typing ü (and its toned variants of ǖ, ǘ, ǚ, and ǜ) and whether to start enabled.

 

I only have two constant icons, one in the start menu where I pinned it, and one on the desktop, but neither of those are right-clickable to get to the configuration page. I don't know if that is a constraint in your programming language, or a safety feature, and I do not mind since I have a great program that works, but it would be easier to figure out if any such icon were right-clickable to get to the configuration page.

 

When I double-(left)-click either of my two permanent icons, a short instruction menu pops up and I can click the okay button to start using the program, but I cannot right-click the pop-up menu to get to the configuration page. However, three new program icons are temporarily available: one in my lower task bar icons, but it is not right-clickable to get to the configuration page, and one over to the right of my task bar near my language options menu, but it is not right-clickable to get to the configuration page, and finally one that is not seen until I click the up arrow near my language options which shows the system tray icons of programs that are constantly running(?). That final hidden icon is right-clickable and allows one to choose "options" from the resulting menu list and that gives the pop-up configuration page.

 

That's a little rough. Nonetheless, thank you! The program is great! I would only suggest simplifying getting to the configuration page from any QuickPīnYīn icon.

 

Very Respectfully,

Ray

[Manuel]

 

[...] and finally one that is not seen until I click the up arrow near my language options which shows the system tray icons of programs that are constantly running. That final hidden icon is right-clickable and allows one to choose "options" from the resulting menu list and that gives the pop-up configuration page.

 

Basically THAT is the system tray icon I was referring to. In order to reduce clutter, Windows hides icons in the "up arrow" menu by default. Users are then free to drag icons out of that menu back to the system tray (the area to the left of the clock). Conversely, users can drag icons back into the up arrow menu.

 

Generally it is a good idea to keep the QuickPinyin icon visible, so I suggest you drag it out of the up arrow menu, as shown below. Windows remembers which icons you dragged out, so you only need to do this once.

 

[raydpratt]

Manuel, thank you.

 

That was impressive! I followed the movie, and now I have the QuickPinyin icon next to my right-side up arrow whenever I need it. Thank you, I learned something very new for me.

 

Oops! It disappears after a shutdown and restart. But, I retrieved the desktop shortcut, and I'm fine with that. The icon near my up arrow reappears after I double-click the desktop icon, and the icon near the up arrow then stays there, so that's fine.

 

Very Respectfully,

Ray

[Manuel]

It sounds like you would like QuickPinyin to start automatically on computer start up. If that is the case, go into QuickPinyin Menu > Options... and configure as follows:



If you want it to start automatically but disabled (gray icon), then uncheck the Start-enabled checkbox. If you'd rather keep it simple, just leave all three checkboxes ticked.

 

 

At any time you can double-click the QuickPinyin system-tray icon to enable/disable. You can also go QuickPinyin Menu > Enable QuickPinyin, which basically does the same thing.
 

[raydpratt]

Manuel, thank you.

 

I understand the options better now after trying them. When I set the program to be enabled at start-up, and then re-started my computer to test it, the QuickPinYin icon showed up near my bottom-right up-arrow as desired. However, the short-instructions pop-up window also came up, and so I have reset the options to enable the QuickPinYin program only when manually started (from my desktop icon, or my start-menu icon, which I have added back). Happily, my grayed-out icon is staying near my bottom-right up-arrow after I manually start the program and then double-click it off, which makes it more convenient to turn back on with another double-click on the grayed-out icon instead of going back to the desktop icon or by opening up the system tray (where the grayed-out icon is no longer hidden on my computer, thanks to your help).

 

Again, great program! It is very convenient, and I no longer dread trying to figure out how to type some pīnyīn on the fly!

[Manuel]

If you mean the welcome message, it can be disabled like this:

 

[raydpratt]

Wow! Perfect!

 

I now get the grayed-out icon near my system tray up-arrow and no annoying pop-up. The QuickPīnYīn icon is ready to be double-clicked into action and then easily double-clicked off, at will.

 

Apparently I need to take reading lessons.

 

Thank you, Manuel.

[Manuel]

You are welcome

[lcabello]

Hi Manuel, thank you so much for designing the application and for your constant efforts to improve it. It has been very very useful to me!!