UTF-8 problems using GEdit on 'menu.xml' --> Resolved!

[Paul M. Bucalo]

On Tue, 2004-04-27 at 07:43, Paul M. Bucalo wrote:
> I have been experiencing a strange problem that I can't resolve or find
> answers to. When I edit 'menu.xml' with GEdit (FC1), initially the edits
> I make will save and allow the right-click menu to show. For instance, I
> did a simple copy & paste of one complete menu branch below another.
> However, further work on the menu structure, copying and pasting
> branches and overwriting tags contents to fit my needs, results in a
> non-working menu. When I right-click, I get a tiny box that is barely
> larger than the tip of my mouse cursor. Nothing else. 
> 
> I don't know if this this an important point or not, but when I first
> open the file (like after using MenuMaker to generate it) and do a "Save
> As", "UTF-8" is displayed as the coding. However, after making changes,
> it now displays "Current Locale (UTF-8)". Is this my problem, or is
> there some other issue I need to address?
> 
> Editing the menu file is simple enough, if not just some extra work.
> MenuMaker just doesn't pick up all the apps that are on the system. It's
> really hard luck for me not be able to add my own entries because I
> can't save in proper UTF-8 format. Any ideas as to what I need to do to
> make this work, or where I should go to make the needed changes? I've
> done some research on this, but what I have done so far leads me to no
> answers.
> 
> TIA,
> 
> Paul

Since I found the problem shortly after posting my request for help, I'm
going to reply and thank both Ken Moffat and John Shane for their help
in this one post.

Ken:

I use vi and vim more so than gedit for system files editing just
because I can get in and out quicker. I feel an obligation to be able to
use vi just so that I know that I can enter most any Linux box and edit
a file regardless of the preferences of the installer. However, I have
never learned to use the more advanced features of vi/vim. Sometimes, I
like to have the GUI-driven ease when doing massive editing of a file.
Thanks for suggesting the alternatives. I was wondering whether vi/vim
could produce UTF-8 output, and how I would make sure that was
happening, or whether I needed to worry about it.

John:

Of course, you were right about the problem. It was a mistake on my
part, and maybe you could say it was a "typo". I had not realized that
the "&" in one of my menu title entries would be interpreted instead of
printed to screen literally. I just *assumed* that being in quotes it
would be literally accepted. I should have known better, since XML is
similar to HTML. I was reminded of this on the Fedora list, where I also
posted a similar plea for help. Once I removed non-alphanumeric
characters, I was able to access the desktop menu, edits and all. My
bad!

What I should have done to have a correct entry for "Tools & Tips", for
instance, was use "&" for the "&". Live and learn.

Thanks to both of you for replying and help.

Paul