INFO: Windows 2000 Has a Full Unicode IME interface (250278)


The information in this article applies to:

  • Microsoft Platform Software Development Kit (SDK) 1.0, when used with:
    • the operating system: Microsoft Windows 98
    • the operating system: Microsoft Windows 2000
This article was previously published under Q250278

SUMMARY

Microsoft Windows NT, Microsoft Windows 2000, and Microsoft Windows 98 support a Unicode interface for the Input Method Editor (IME), in addition to the American National Standards Institute (ANSI) interface that was originally supported by Microsoft Windows 95. Windows 98 supports all the Unicode functions except ImmIsUIMessage. Also, all the messages in Windows 98 are ANSI-based.

There are two issues involved with Unicode handling and the IME:
  • The Unicode versions of IME routines return the size of a buffer in bytes rather than 16-bit Unicode characters.
  • The IME normally returns Unicode characters (rather than the double-byte character set [DBCS]) in the WM_CHAR and WM_IME_CHAR messages.
Use the RegisterClassW function to cause the WM_CHAR and WM_IME_CHAR messages to return Unicode characters in the wParam parameter, rather than DBCS characters. This function is available only under Windows NT and Windows 2000; it is stubbed out in Windows 95 and Windows 98.
Modification Type:MinorLast Reviewed:7/11/2005
Keywords:kbDSXGlobal2003Swept kbinfo kbLocalization KB250278
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