[MAPSERVER-USERS] How to reference multiple byte characters in symbol file?

[rich.fromm]

My understanding is that the only type of vector (non-bitmap) font I can use
for mapserver is a TrueType font.

I'm starting with a PostScript Type 1 font.  (And a quick test seemed to
confirm that this is not directly useable.)  I used fontforge
(http://fontforge.sourceforge.net/) to generate a TrueType font from the
PostScript font.  The problem here is that the characters I want are now
located way above the single byte range (e.g. way above character number 255
within the font.)

Is there any way to reference a multibyte character in the CHARACTER
declaration of the symbol file:

http://mapserver.gis.umn.edu/docs/reference/symbology/syntax

Something akin to the \x{ab}\x{cd} (or \x{abcd} ?) notation of Perl?  This
exact notation doesn't work for me, it just interprets the characters as
those
individual ASCII characters (i.e. backslash, lower case x, open curly brace,
etc.)  I am able to enter non-ASCII characters into the symbol file (I use
hexl-mode in emacs), but mapserver seems to interpret these as individual
byte
characters, regardless of what encoding I intend.  I have multi-byte
characters (UTF-8) in my data and deal with that with the ENCODING
declaration
within LABEL in the map file:

http://mapserver.gis.umn.edu/docs/reference/mapfile/label

But I don't see any such declaration for a symbol file.

This mailing list thread is somewhat related:

http://www.nabble.com/-UMN_MAPSERVER-USERS--Special-characters-in-mapfile-to901771.html#a901771

But it doesn't really help, since those examples are still just for single
byte chars.

This isn't an urgent need.  I am able to work around it by editing the
TrueType font file (again with fontforge) and copy the couple of chars that
I
need down to empty spots in the single byte range, and reference those
instances.  But I am curious whether or not this is doable without that kind
of hack.

- Rich

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