Bug 104493

Summary: enable full text search for non-ASCII characters
Product: [Unmaintained] kdvi Reporter: Oliver Grimm <logistikka>
Component: generalAssignee: Unassigned bugs mailing-list <unassigned-bugs>
Status: RESOLVED UNMAINTAINED    
Severity: wishlist CC: adaptee
Priority: NOR    
Version: unspecified   
Target Milestone: ---   
Platform: Debian testing   
OS: Linux   
Latest Commit: Version Fixed In:
Sentry Crash Report:

Description Oliver Grimm 2005-04-24 22:54:53 UTC 
Version:            (using KDE KDE 3.4.0)
Installed from:    Debian testing/unstable Packages
OS:                Linux

KDvi currently does not support searching for strings which include umlauts (äöüß). This is a severe usability issue for writing german texts with Kile. I guess it is the same problem with other languages using non-ASCII chars.
Comment 1 Thiago Macieira 2005-04-24 23:39:04 UTC 
Isn't the problem the fact that those characters simply aren't there in the .dvi file? I have just checked a .dvi file of mine in khexedit, and I can find all of the ASCII text in it, but not the non-ASCII.

It is the case with PDFs as well, see bug #103621.
Comment 2 Oliver Grimm 2005-04-25 17:08:20 UTC 
Yes, it is obviously the same problem with PDF files. Non-ASCII chars are expressed as a multi-byte code and not as a single symbol from a codepage. It seems to be the same problem for ligatures, umlauts and other accented characters. Unfortunately I don't know enough about DVI coding or PDF coding to inquire further here.
Comment 3 Thiago Macieira 2005-04-26 04:37:28 UTC 
The problem is not multibyte coding of one character. The problem is that there is more than one character, superimposed, that composes the glyph you see.

A similar effect would be obtained with the following HTML excerpt:
<tt>
  <p style="position: absolute; top: 1em; left: 1em">Jos´</p>
  <p style="position: absolute; top: 3em">Yadda yadda yadda</p>
  <p style="position: absolute; top: 1em; left: 1em">&nbsp; &nbsp;e</p>
</tt>

You'll see "é", even when there is no such character in the file. This is exactly what LaTeX does when my source .tex contained "\'e", and I can bet the .dvi contains similar stuff.
Comment 4 Jekyll Wu 2013-09-28 13:42:59 UTC 
kdvi is no longer maintained since KDE SC 4, and its functionality is replace by okular.  If the issue in this report still exists in or apply to okular in KDE SC 4.10.5 or higher, please reassign the report to okular product or create a new report against okular.