Extended ASCII table issues on a 64-bit OS

Question

Consider:

Our old 32-bit program using the US-ASCII extended table (128-256) to create simple borders for its program menus.

For example, decimal 193 is an upside down Tee.

However, when the program is installed on a Windows 10 64-bit OS, the ASCII extended table is surpassed by ISO-8859-1 (Latin) character set.

Is there a solution to this borders graphic issue when running on a 64-bit OS?

Answer 1

The old symbols are part of Code Page 437. You can change your active using CHCP before you run your program.

Answer 2

A simple workaround I have used is to download and install a copy of DOSBOX available from https://www.dosbox.com/download.php?main=1

Setting it up is a little complex, but it will report a DOS version 5.

Use it to create the frames and borders that you need, then save the file with a .txt extension.

Move the file to a directory of your choice, rename it and keep it as a template.

You can then open it in your favourite editor - to create the menu that you require, then save it with the .bat extension.

NOTE: The frame and border characters may not appear the same as when you created them in DOSBOX - but they should appear as normal when you run the batch file with the menu in it.

Answer 3

You could specify to Windows that the program should be run in compatibility mode on an old version of Windows:

• Right-click the program's .exe
• Choose Properties
• Go to the Compatibility tab
• Under Compatibility mode, check "Run this program in compatibility mode for:"
• In the drop-down list, choose an old Windows version
• Click OK