Render special characters as field separators in template

[Daniel Patrick Sullivan]

Hi,

I apologize if this is dumb question;  I am trying to use a special
character as the field separator in my template.  I can render the
character (a vertical centered dot) by executing the following command from
a shell:

--[dps at neve]-[~/Dropbox/github/arch_x86_64_configs]--
> echo -e "\x00\x00\xb7"
·

This works all fine and good.  I am using the same font on my xterm as I am
using for xmobar.  Now, when I try to copy and paste this character to my
template, xmobar does not properly load.  If I delete the character and
change it to a period, it does.   So, what I did was try to create a new
command that explicitly uses the echo command from above (as opposed to
copying and pasting the character directly).  My problem is that xmobar
just says "Updating..." and the field separator never renders.  Is there an
elegant way render a special character in the template?  Should I just make
a bitmap of the character and load that?

Below is my configuration (see %fancyDot%).  Any input you could provide
would be most appreciated.  Thank-you, I wish you a wonderful night.

Dan Sullivan

Config {
       --font = "-misc-fixed-*-*-*-*-10-*-*-*-*-*-*-*"
       --This appears to work with any from xfontsel 12/28/2012
       --font = "-nil-profont-medium-r-normal--12-120-72-72-c-60-iso8859-1"
       font = "-*-profont-*-*-*-*-15-*-*-*-*-*-*-*"
       --Place the bar at the bottom, centered with 75% of the screen width
       --, position = BottomW C 75
       , position = Top
       , bgColor = "black"
       , fgColor = "grey"
       , border = BottomB
       , borderColor = "#af00ff"
       --Send the window to the bottom of the window stack initially
       , lowerOnStart = True
       , commands = [
            Run Network "eth0"
["-L","0","-H","32","--normal","grey","--high","grey"] 10
            , Run Cpu
["-L","3","-H","50","--normal","grey","--high","grey"] 10
            , Run Memory ["-t","Mem: <usedratio>%"] 10
            , Run StdinReader
            , Run Com "echo" ["dps"] "echoInitials" 0 --0 means run only
once
            , Run Com "date" [] "customClock" 10 --do it once per second
(last parameter is tenths of second).
            , Run Com "echo" ["-e", "\"\\x00\\x00\\xb7\""] "fancyDot" 0
       ]
       --The character to be used for indicating commands in the output
template.
       , sepChar = "%"
       --The text before the first character will be left aligned, the text
between them
       --will be centered, and the text to the right of the last character
will be right aligned.
       , alignSep = "}{"
       , template = "%echoInitials% <fc=#8ae234>%fancyDot%</fc> %eth0%
%memory% %cpu% %customClock% }{ %StdinReader%"
}
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