[Therion] Compiling error due to encoding

Fri May 29 09:47:55 CEST 2026

Torsten,

the file you attached is utf-8 encoded but specifies "encoding  iso8859-1"
on the first line.

XTherion does no encoding autodetection and relies on the first line. When
it encounters "ö" character, which is represented by two bytes in utf-8
(for comparison, it is just one byte in iso8859-1), it simply displays
those two bytes as iso8859-1 characters.

The problem with your file is that you created it in XTherion using
iso8859-1 encoding, but then edited it in VSCode. VSCode editor assumed the
file was utf-8 encoded (it ignores the information on the first line, which
is therion-specific) and then encountered one-byte "ö" representation,
displaying it as an unknown character. You replaced that with "ö" in VSCode
and saved the file in utf-8, resulting in a two-byte representation of
"ö" in the file. Since the file became utf-8 encoded, you should have
modified the first line to "encoding utf-8".

So, there is no problem in Therion at all, you just need to ensure the
encoding specification matches the file's actual encoding. The easiest way
is to use utf-8 everywhere.

Martin

On Fri, May 29, 2026 at 9:04 AM Torsten Schnitter <
torsten.schnitter at netcologne.de> wrote:

> Hi Martin
>
> As you can see on the screenshots the file format from Xtherion editor is
> the same as the first line of the file.
> (but real file format seems to be UTF-8 as Visual Studio Code is saying)
> When I change the file format with XTherion the first line (not shown in
> XTherion editor) is autmatically changed corresponding.
>
> The file was created and edited with XTherion editor. Resulting in that
> problem.
> My only solution was to edit the file in an external editor (without
> changing file format).
> This does work now but the character within Xtherion editor is corrupted...
>
> For me there is a file format problem inside XTherion (may be with special
> circumstances).
> Or someone can explain to me what I did wrong.
>
> regards, Torsten
>
>
> Am 2026-05-28 17:31, schrieb Martin Budaj:
>
> Hi,
>
> there is a simple rule: the encoding given in the first line of the .th
> file should match the actual file encoding.
>
> If you reencode your file to another encoding, you must modify the first
> line (encoding xxx) accordingly.
>
> Martin
>
> On Thu, May 28, 2026 at 3:41 PM Torsten Schnitter <
> torsten.schnitter at netcologne.de> wrote:
>
> Hi all
>
> Problem found and solved.
>
> I do use commands to import different layouts inside the thconfig file:
>   input ..\_Therion\_Layouts\area_blocks_hdens.th
>
> This file was edited with XTherion and saved as "iso8859-1":
>
> As someone can see: text de .... seems to be OK (especially the character
> ö)
>
> When opening this file with Visual Studio Code it looks like:
>
> Now the character does NOT look ok (and format of file is UTF-8 as you can
> see at the bottom of the screenshot)
>
> Just changing within Visual Studio Code this single character in line 2
> (not changing the format) and saving the file does solve the problem:
>
> But now the file looks somehow wrong inside XTherion:
>
>
> Seems to be a problem with XTherin file editor and file formats....
> Attached the actual and working layout file.
>
> For me I will not use XTherion file editor anymore and will edit files
> with Visual Studio Code.
>
> best regards, Torsten
>
>
> Am 2026-05-28 12:07, schrieb knollesimage at t-online.de:
>
> Same behavior here:
>
> Running therion 6.4.0 on a thconfig file automatically inserts "encoding
> UTF-8" in the first line, if it is not there already.
>
>
>
> Regards, Michael.
>
>
>
> *From:* Therion <therion-bounces at speleo.sk> *On Behalf Of *Torsten
> Schnitter
> *Sent:* Mittwoch, 27. Mai 2026 14:00
> *To:* Therion <therion at speleo.sk>
> *Subject:* [Therion] Compiling error due to encoding
>
>
> Hello
>
> I have a thconfig file where I use the statement "language de"/"language
> en" to switch language for the output.
> Within the config file I use some translations like this:
> ...
>    text de "point passage-height:unsigned" "Ganghöhe"
> ...
>    text en "point passage-height:unsigned" "passage height"
>
> Every time I try to compile with "language de" I get an error:
>
> #################### end of metapost log file ####################
> converting scraps ... done
> C:\Program Files\Therion\therion.exe: error -- Invalid utf-8 string!
> writing xtherion file ... done
>
>
>
> As soon as I switch back to "language en" it does work.
> Therefore I'm pretty sure it is due to the special characters like 'ö'.
>
> I opened the thconfig file with an external editor (Visual Studio Code),
> removed the first line "encoding utf-8" and saved the file with encoding
> "ISO 8859-1".
>
> As soon as I open the thconfig file with XTherion and start compile the
> format is resetted to utf-8 and within the thconfig file the first line is
> replaced to "encoding utf-8" (checke this again with Visual Studio Code".
> And the error above is the result.
> Only opening the config file and closing again without any changes does
> change the encoding line in the config file to utf-8.
>
> I'm using Therion 6.4.0 and can't remeber when this behaviour/problem
> raised.
> I'm pretty sure some time ago this did work without error.
>
> Any help is appreciated. Thanks in advance!
> regards, Torsten
>
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