Extended characters not getting through VM properly in JDK1.4 versions

Question

This is on WIndows platform with regular US keyboard.
When you type "ALT+0252" (it is �) from your regular (English) keyboard using it's numeric keypad, somewhere in the VM there is translation happening that is converting the numeric value of 252 to 242 and there by displaying the character mapped to ALT+0242 (which is �).
Similarly, every other extended character is getting translated somewhere thereby displaying the wrong character.
The way to look at Character Map on Windows platform is Start|Programs|Accessories|System Tools|Character Map.
Best way to compare what is getting through VM is by running
regular Notepad (Start | Programs | Accessories | Notepad) and typing
above character and then running the Notepad that comes with J2SDK install (java -JAR JDKInstallDir\demo\jfc\Notepad\Notepad.jar) and typing the same character.
You will notice that the regular Notepad displays � when you type ALT+0252 but the java Notepad displays � when you type the same ALT+0252 character.

Answer 1

Here is the sample code. You can first run it in jdk1.3 environment and enter the extended characters in the textfield. You will notice that they get rendered correctly (such as ALT+0252 gets rendered as �)
Then try running the same applet in jdk1.4 environment and enter the same extended characters in the textfield and you will notice the difference. ALT+0252 will now get rendered as � which is not correct.
JComponent class in JDK1.4 seems to be translating the string some how before rendering it.
Please let me know if you have any ideas or suggestions on this weird behavior in JDK1.4. Thanks.
import javax.swing.*;
import java.applet.*;
import java.awt.event.*;
import java.awt.*;
public class DemoApplet extends JApplet
public JTextField jtf = new JTextField ("Testing");
public String text = "";
public void init()
jtf.addActionListener (new ActionListener() {
public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent e)
text = ((JTextField)e.getSource()).getText();
try {
System.out.println ("numeric value of text is : " + (int)(text.charAt (0)));
catch (Exception ex)
ex.printStackTrace ();
JPanel pan = new JPanel ();
pan.add (jtf);
pan.validate();
getContentPane().add (pan);