What's new for Arabic in Microsoft® Office Systems 2003
	Microsoft Office 2003 Online features
	What's new for Arabic in Microsoft® Windows® SharePoint® Services
	Knowledge Base

Index

1. Introduction
2. System requirements
   • Install system support for Arabic languages
   • Adding Arabic support in Windows XP
3. Arabic support in Microsoft Visio 2003
   • International Options
   • Text input
   • Formatting Arabic text
   • Handling Arabic text
   • Proofing tools
   • Hijri Calendar support
   • Inserting Comments in Arabic language
   • Reverse Engineering
   • Document Workspaces
     • What are Document Workspaces?
     • Document Workspaces in Microsoft Visio 2003
     • Creating Document Workspaces
     • Creating Arabic tasks
     • Arabic Link Names
4. Known Issues

Introduction

Many new enhancements have been added to Microsoft Visio 2003, and Arabic support is one of these important added features, because Microsoft Visio becomes fully integrated with Microsoft Office and Unicode enabled.

Microsoft Visio 2003 allows the user to customize many of the language settings for Microsoft Visio much as you would for other Microsoft Office System applications. For example, the user can:

• Specify whether the special language features appear all the time, never, or only under certain circumstances.
• Set which language imported files should be converted into.

In general, Microsoft Visio 2003 Supports Arabic language in editing objects prosperities such as names and descriptions.

In this document we will describe the Arabic related, issues and features in Microsoft Visio 2003.

System requirements

To enable the right-to-left features in Microsoft Visio, you must be running a 32-bit Microsoft Windows operating system that has Arabic support— for example, the Arabic version of Microsoft Windows XP or any language version of Microsoft Windows 2000 with Service Pack 3.

Install system support for Arabic languages

If you are using Windows 2000 or Windows XP, so you may need to add the Arabic support to your system. In the next part, we will describe how to add the Arabic support in Windows XP only.

Adding Arabic support in Windows XP

This procedure will enable the Arabic language in any language version of Microsoft Windows XP (if you don’t run the Arabic version of Windows XP).

a) On the Windows Start menu, point to Control Panel, and then click Date, Time, Language, and Regional Options.

b) Click the Regional and Language Options icon, and then click the Languages tab.

c) In the Supplemental languages support box, select the check box "Install files for complex script and Right-To-Left languages", and then press "Apply".

d) In the Advanced tab and Regional Options Tab, Select Arabic (your Country).

For more information please refer to Microsoft Knowledge base Article:

How to Set the Language for System default and User local for Windows XP and Windows 2000

 Arabic support in Microsoft Visio 2003

International Options

In Microsoft Visio 2003, the user candisable / Enable international options, which mean more control on Arabic features. This setting will allow the user to specify whether the special language features based on the Arabic language, appear all the time, never, or only under certain circumstances

Before starting the work on Microsoft Visio 2003, the Arabic user will need to ensure that the international options in enabled so he can use the Arabic features in his drawings.

Figure 1: Microsoft Visio 2003 with Arabic support

This option can be set from the menu by following the next steps:

1. From the File menu, Select Options
2. In Regional tab, locate Complex scripts Options
3. Select one of the Available options:
   • Use System Settings
   • Show
   • Hide

   a.Selecting "Use System Settings" will enable or disable the new Arabic features in Visio depending on the system settings.
   If the Arabic is enabled in the system, so the Arabic features will be enabled and it will appears in all Visio settings.
   If Arabic is not it not set in the System settings, so the Arabic features will not appears in Visio settings.

   b. Selecting "Show" will enable the new Arabic features and will show the Arabic specific features. The Arabic user will be able to select his Arabic settings (Fonts, Date. Etc…).

   c. Selecting "Hide" will disable the new Arabic features in Visio, so all the Arabic settings will not appear in the menus and in the options

Text input

All Arabic characters can be typed correctly in a RTL order (Figure 2).

Figure 2: Microsoft Visio 2003 with Arabic support

This feature will allow the user to use the following Arabic text specific features:

1. Mixed runs: The user can type English, Arabic text correctly in both RTL and LTR directions.
2. Word Break: Words are broken similar to English and similar to the rest of Office components.
3. Diacritics: All Arabic diacritics can be typed, selected and navigated through correctly in both RTL and LTR direction.

The following steps will show how to write Arabic in a new Drawing file:

1. Open File menu, and point on New, then select the objects that you want to use (example: Network à Active Directory - Metric)
2. b. Drag any shape to the empty page
3. c. Double click of this shape and write the Arabic text you want (Figure 2).

 A new section added for the Complex Script fonts in the Text dialog box. This setting can be reached from the menu by following the next steps:

1. From the Format menu.
2. Select Text

The Font dialog contains a separate list for Arabic fonts, which allow the user to apply specific Arabic fonts, font styles, font size in addition to common font settings like as color, alignment...etc.

Figure 3: Microsoft Visio 2003 with Arabic support

 Handling Arabic text

Using Arabic in Microsoft Visio will allow the user to use all the normal text functions as in the English text, without any problems:

1. Copy/cut/paste
2. Drag & Drop:
3. Undo/Redo
4. Bullets

Proofing tools

The user can spell check Arabic text and can translate the Arabic text to English and vice versa using research and reference feature.The Arabic Office LPK (Language pack) must be installed in order to use this feature.

 
Figure 4: Microsoft Visio 2003 with Arabic support

To use research and reference feature, the user will has to follow the following steps:

1. From the main menu press on Tools, then select Research
2. From the Research pane, ensure that you select Translate.
3. Select the languages that you want to translate From / To

Hijri Calendar support

Microsoft Visio 2003 supports the Hijri date. The Hijri date can be used in Fields, Object prosperities and Reports.The setting and format for the calendar type (Hijri and Gregorian) is independent on the system calendar (Figure 6)

Figure 5: Microsoft Visio 2003 with Arabic support

The Hijri Calendar can be inserted easily through menu using the following steps:

1. From Insert menu select  Field
2. From the Category list, select Date/Time.

Now you can select the Calendar type, Format, etc…

Figure 6: Microsoft Visio 2003 with Arabic support

The user can write Arabic text in the Comment. The text direction will follow the language used in the comment, but the paragraph direction will always be LTR

Figure 7: Microsoft Visio 2003 with Arabic support

The user can insert comment by following the next steps:

1. From Menu, select Insert.
2. Select Comment
3. Type your comments

In Addition to the new enhancements done in this area, Microsoft Visio 2003 supports Arabic for Reverse Engineering (Data base, web site, network diagram, etc...)

Figure 8: Microsoft Visio 2003 with Arabic support

In this section we will describe the reverse Engineer for Database, which will require adding Database Model Diagram object; this can be done by following the next steps:

1. Open File menu
2. Select New, then select Database Model Diagram

With the Database Model Diagram template you can create a new database model by extracting (or reverse engineering) all or part of the schema of an existing database. The Reverse Engineer Wizard lets you extract all or part of the schema from an existing database that you specify.

It leads you through the following tasks:

• Connecting to the target database management system (DBMS) that you want to reverse engineer
• Specifying the platform-specific database objects that you want to reverse engineer, such as tables, primary keys, indexes, and database code
• Extracting, analyzing, and validating the schema into a database model diagram that you can review and modify

 To get clearer idea about this subject we will describe it in the following steps:

1. Locate any Arabic database file, or create a new one, using Microsoft Access or any other database application.
2. In Microsoft Visio 2003, from File menu, select New
3. Select Database, then select Database Model Diagram
4. An new menu item will appears which is Database
5. From Database menu, select Reverse Engineer, to start the Reverse Engineering Wizard
6. Select the Visio drivers and Data Source (e.g. Microsoft Access), then press Next
7. Enter user name and Password for the database.
8. Browse to locate the Arabic Database, then select the Object types and press Next.
9. Select Tables and/Or views then press Next.
10. Specify if you want to add shapes for this reveres Engineer item, and then press Next
11. Press Finish

Figure 9: Microsoft Visio 2003 with Arabic support

What are Document Workspaces?

Use Document Workspaces to simplify the process of co-authoring, editing, and reviewing documents with others in real-time through Microsoft Office Visio. A Document Workspace site is a Microsoft Windows SharePoint Services site that is centered on a single document. People can easily work together on the document— either by working directly on the server copy or by working on their own copy, which they can update periodically with changes that have been saved to the server copy.

Typically, you create a Document Workspace when you send a document to others as a shared attachment to an e-mail. As the sender of the shared attachment, you become the administrator of the workspace, and all the recipients become members of the workspace, where they are granted contributor permissions. Another common way to create a Document Workspace is to use the Shared Workspace task pane in a Microsoft Office 2003 program.

When you use Visio to open a local copy of the document on which the Document Workspace is based, Visio periodically checks the server copy and notifies you when a change has been made to the server copy. If the changes to the server copy conflict with changes you've made to your copy, you can choose which version to save locally on your computer. When you are finished editing your copy, you can save your changes to the Document Workspace, where they are available for others to incorporate into their copy of the document.

Since Visio can handle the Arabic names and Arabic data, so Visio also can create Arabic Work space, create task with Arabic names and assign tasks to Arabic users.

Creating Document Workspaces using Arabic names, adding Arabic Task names and adding Arabic Links in Visio can be done by following the next steps:

Creating Document Workspaces

1. View the Task Pane, by using the View Menu or pressing Ctrl+F1.
2. In the task pane, select other Task Panes,  which is Shared Workspace
3. Type the name of the new workspace and its location
4. Follow the instruction till you succeed creating the workspace

Creating Arabic tasks

Figure 10: Microsoft Visio 2003 with Arabic support

Using Microsoft Visio 2003 the user can add Arabic tasks to the Document workspace

Tasks are a to-do list to the team members. With the integrity of Microsoft Windows SharePoint to Microsoft Visio 2003, the user can add tasks from Microsoft Visio 2003 to the share document workspace

To add Arabic task to the shared document work space from Visio, please follow the next steps:

• From the shared document task pane, Click the Tasks tab, and then click the link "add a new task"
• Fill any Arabic name in the title and press OK button
• Click the link "open site in browser"

Figure 11: Microsoft Visio 2003 with Arabic support

Link is a list of hyperlinks to web page of interests to team members. With the Flexibility and integrity of Microsoft windows share point to other office client applications user can make link list From Microsoft Visio 2003       

• From the shared document task pane , Click the Link tab
• Click the link "add a new link"
• Write a link in the "URL", and type an Arabic description and note, then click "OK"
• Click the link "open site in browser"

The following points are important issues the users may face them during working on Microsoft Visio 2003. We will try to list them and add brief descriptions on these issues

a. Installing Microsoft Visio 2003 without installing Microsoft Office 2003

You can install Visio 2003 without installing Office 2003. In this case, the setup program will install all the shared components between Office 2003 and Visio 2003 that are used

 b.Office Microsoft 2003 Language settings impact on Microsoft Visio 2003

When using Microsoft Office 2003 with Visio 2003 and adjusting the Office 2003 language to be Arabic, some Visio 2003 dialogs might appear in Arabic.

c. Date and time values inserted in Header and Footer

Microsoft Visio 2003 uses the language file setting to display the date and time values used in header and footer. For example, when you adjust the language file setting to be Arabic (Saudi Arabic) and set the long date to be displayed in the header, Visio 2003 will display the value in Arabic text. The calendar used in this example will be the Gregorian calendar with Arabic month names.

d. Paragraph Direction switching

The short cut CTRL+SHIFT may not affect the text direction in the paragraph. This function will work through the menu (Format à Text àParagraph) and the user will be able to add the RTL and LTR paragraph direction buttons in the Toolbar. From the main menu and by following the next steps: (Tools à customize à Commands dialog à Format Text)

e. Auto-Keyboard switching

This a core feature for the Arabic users, but it's not implemented yet in Microsoft Visio 2003

f. Numeral shapes

No Context support in Visio editor. The numbers always show in Arabic shapes (no Hindi support). However, Hindi shapes show in dialogs and menu items (Figure 4).

 g. Horizontal (text) ruler

With Arabic text the ruler will remain in LTR (Figure 12).

Figure 12: Microsoft Visio 2003 with Arabic support

h. Vertical ruler and scroll bar

The user can't swap vertical scroll bar with ruler for RTL direction as it id applied in Microsoft Word (Figure 1).

i. Find and replace

Find and Replace in Microsoft Visio 2003 can find and replace Arabic text. However, Ignore Alef Hamza, Ignore Kashida, and Ignore diacritics options are not implemented.

j. Report Direction

Reports direction affected by Regional options. The text direction will follow the language used in the report.