Configuring automatic character conversion for the Digital editor of Studio

Entering often used special characters such as arrows, copyright symbols, or quotation marks can be cumbersome for users because it requires a dedicated panel or keyboard shortcut.

To make entering such characters in the Digital editor easier, an automatic conversion takes place when a specific character or combination of characters is entered.

It is possible to customize if and how a character is converted. This is split into the following groups of characters:

• Special characters (such as copyright symbols, arrows, fractures, and so on)
• Quotation marks

Special characters

Special characters are copyright symbols, arrows, fractures, and so on.

The following table shows the default set of character sequences and the special character into which they are automatically converted.

To configure this, do the following:

Step 1. Open the config.php file of the Studio Server plug-in:

<Studio Server path>/config/plugins/ContentStation

Step 2. Locate the section for the CS_DIGITAL_EDITOR_AUTO_CORRECT_CONFIG option.

/**
 * The configuration of the Digital Editor Auto Correct feature.
 *
 * This is an array of arrays that contain information about a character sequence to
 * search for and when found replace it with the defined character.
 *
 * New options can be easily added by adding another entry in the array:
 *     [
 *        'from' => [ 'chars to search for' ],
 *        'to' => 'chars used as replacement',
 *     ],
 */
define('CS_DIGITAL_EDITOR_AUTO_CORRECT_CONFIG', serialize([
      [
         // Left right arrow ↔
         'from' => ['<-->'],
         'to' => '↔',
      ],
      [
         // Leftwards arrow &#x2190;
         'from' => ['<-- '],
         'to' => '←',
      ],
      [
         // Rightwards arrow &#x2192;
         'from' => ['-->'],
         'to' => '→',
      ],
      [
         // Plus-minus sign &#xB1;
         'from' => ['-+', '+-'],
         'to' => '±',
      ],
      [
         // Almost equal to &#x2248;
         'from' => ['~='],
         'to' => '≈',
      ],
       (more code here)
]));  

Step 3. Copy the section to the config_overrule.php file of Studio Server and modify the options by adding, removing, or changing them.

Quotation marks

A single or double straight quotation mark can be automatically converted to a curly or guillemet punctuation mark (a feature also known as 'smart quotes').

To configure the punctuation mark to use for the conversion, do the following:

Step 1. Access the Features page of the Studio Management Console.

Step 2. Use the quote conversion fields to enter the punctuation mark into which the straight quotation marks need to be converted.

Example: Enter « in the 'Double quote conversion - left side' field when an opening double quote needs to be converted to an opening guillemet mark.

Note: Users who are logged in when the change is made need to re-log to see the changes.