(the euro is represented by WP character 4,72). If you want a space to appear
between the euro symbol and the number, change the line to read:
01The problem | The basic solution | Automated implementation using a macro | Manual implementation | Unfinished business | Main euro page | Home page
Important: This page will be useful only to users of WordPerfect 6.x for DOS who want to use the euro as a currency symbol in tables. Everyone else should feel free to ignore this page and return to the main euro page on this site.
WPDOS 6.x tables, like standalone spreadsheet programs, let you format numbers as "currency" and can automatically apply a currency symbol (like the dollar sign or pound sterling) when you enter a number in a cell. This option is in the Table Format menu, under Number Type. As shipped, WPDOS 6.x supports most major currency symbols, but not the euro. The drop-down menu that lists available currency symbols (Table Format/Number Type/Currency Symbol/Select...) apparently cannot be modified to include the euro in the way that the euro is included in the corresponding menu of recent versions of WPWIN.
It is, however, possible to use the euro as a currency symbol in WPDOS tables. If you do not specifically select a currency symbol, the "Default" currency symbol is used, and WP finds the default symbol in the settings for the current language in the Language Resource File (WP.LRS). If the current language is English - U.S., the default currency symbol is the dollar sign; if the current language is English - U.K, the default currency is the pound sterling.
If, and only if, the euro symbol has been installed in WordPerfect using the replacement graphic font (solution 1) from the euro page on this site, it becomes easy to define the euro as the default currency symbol in one or more language settings. Any table created when the modified language setting is active will then use the euro as the default currency symbol. Any other currency symbol, like the dollar sign or pound sterling, can still be used as a currency symbol by selecting it explicitly in the Table Format menu. But if no other symbol is selected, the euro will be used as the currency symbol. Furthermore, tables created with the euro as a currency symbol will print and display correctly if the table is opened in recent versions of WordPerfect for Windows.
The default language of your copy of WordPerfect is always active; you can determine or change the default language by using Shift-F1/Environment/Language. If you change the settings in WP.LRS that apply to your default language, all new documents that you create will automatically use the euro as the default currency symbol in tables.
If you change the settings in the WP.LRS file for a language that is not your default language, you can use the euro as a currency symbol in tables by making the language with the altered settings the active language in WordPerfect. The language whose settings you modified can be made active anywhere in a document, or only in a selected block, by using Shift-F8/Other/Language.
The language whose settings you modified can also be made the default language for any one document by using Shift-F8/Document/Document Initial Codes, and then Shift-F8/Other/Language. And the modified language can be made the default for all new documents by using Shift-F8/Document/Initial Codes Setup, and then Shift-F8/Other/Language.
You may use the EUROTABL.WPM macro in this self-extracting archive to make the necessary changes to WP.LRS for you. (For convenience, the archive includes another self-extracting archive containing the replacement graphic font. You do not need to reinstall the replacement graphic font if you have already installed it.)
The macro lets you make the euro the currency symbol in one or more of the following:
If you choose the last of these options, you will be able to use the "EU" language setting by using Shift-F8/Other/Language/Other Language Code and entering "EU". The "EU" language will not appear in the built-in drop-down list of languages.
The first time you use the macro to modify your WP.LRS file, the macro will make a backup copy of the original copy of the file. When you run the macro again, an option to restore the original copy will appear on the menu. If you delete this backup copy, you can restore the original WP.LRS file by reinstalling WordPerfect, or you may download this copy of the original WPDOS 6.2 WP.LRS file, which is compatible with all WPDOS6.x versions.
The macro is designed with every safeguard I could think of, and will not modify a file that does not have the expected format. But no modification is risk-free, and you are strongly urged to make an additional backup of your WP.LRS file before using the macro. I have not tested the macro with WPDOS 6.0, and it may perhaps refuse to change that version's WP.LRS file. If this happens, you can modify the WP.LRS file by hand, or copy the 6.2 WP.LRS file to your system, and apply the macro to it instead of to the 6.0 version of the file.
Note: On some systems, when you first enter a number into a table cell after using this macro, WordPerfect may display an error message like this one: "File not found: WPCC61xx.DTL". You may safely ignore the message, and it probably will not appear a second time.
The format of the WP.LRS file is a standard WordPerfect table. Each record contains a language. Each field contains a setting like the names of the month and the currency symbol.
As described in the WPDOS 6.1 manual, in WP.LRS, field 18, line 1 specifies
the currency symbol, preceded by two numbers (0 or 1); the first indicates if
the symbol comes before (0) or after (1) the number; the second indicates if
there is a space between the symbol and the number (1) or not (0). The macro
supplied on this page changes this line to read: 00
(the euro is represented by WP character 4,72). If you want a space to appear
between the euro symbol and the number, change the line to read:
01
Lines 2 and 3 of field 18 are the credit symbol and debit symbol. They should be left unchanged.
Further details of the format may be found in the WordPerfect 6.x for DOS manual under "Language Resource File." (Field 19 in recent versions of the file is undocumented in the WPDOS manuals; line 1 is the decimal indicator, line 2 is the thousands separator, and line 3 is the number of digits after the decimal indicator.)
Note: Depending on the language you modify, and only on some systems, when you first enter a number into a table cell after modifying WP.LRS, WordPerfect may display an error message like this one: "File not found: WPCC61xx.DTL". You may safely ignore the message, and it probably will not appear a second time.
This solution is a workaround. Full euro support in WPDOS would require further changes listed under unfinished business on the main euro page of this site.