[Uim] How to customize uim / ELatin for better mathematics support?

[Etsushi Kato]

HI,

On Mon, Aug 12, 2013 at 5:12 AM, Michiel Helvensteijn
<mhelvens at gmail.com> wrote:
> Hi all!
>
> Since recently I've been using uim with the "ELatin" input method, and
> the "TeX" layout, to input mathematical symbols. For the most part I'm
> happy with it, but there are two things that I'd like to improve, and
> I could use some help:
>
> (1)  The list of available rules / macros is somewhat limited. I can
> add new ones in \usr\share\uim\elatin-rules.scm, but that seems like
> the wrong thing to do; that file will probably be overwritten with the
> next update. Is there a way to put extra ELatin rules in my home
> directory?

For (1), you can use ~/.uim to customize anything.

$ cat ~/.uim
(require-module "elatin")
(elatin-define-rules elatin-rules-TeX
 (your preferred list...)
)

Or, you can copy elatin-rules.scm to ~/.uim/scm/ and modify them as
you like.  Then set LIBUIM_SCM_FILES environment variable like this.
$ export LIBUIM_SCM_FILES=$HOME/.uim/scm:/usr/share/uim

uim searches default scheme library path with $prefix/share/uim. You
can specify it by LIBUIM_SCM_FILES environmental variable (colon
separated string).


> (2)  I also make heavy use of the Unicode block of mathematical
> alphanumeric symbols (the basic Latin alphabet in italics / bold /
> calligraphic script / double struck / etc.). I'd like a convenient
> input method for those characters too. It would be easiest if I could
> enter, e.g., an 'italics mode', in which normal keystrokes will input
> symbols from the corresponding Unicode block (a bit like your average
> WYSIWYG word processor). Would this be difficult to accomplish with
> uim?

It is possible but it may need some amount of coding, like adding
modes, handling corresponding rule files, and mode changes...

Cheers,
Etsushi