Installation Guide for RTFtoHTML

• Installation Guide for RTFtoHTML
  • Macintosh
    • Unpacking the Distribution Files
    • Setting up Your Environment
    • Tips
  • Unix
    • Unpacking the Distribution Files
    • Setting up Your Environment
    • Tips
  • Windows/DOS
    • Unpacking the Distribution Files
    • Setting up Your Environment
    • Tips

Installation Guide for RTFtoHTML

Macintosh

Unpacking the Distribution Files

The Macintosh distribution file is a binhex'ed stuffit archive. Depending on how you obtained the file, some parts of this install process may have already been done for you (by your browser for example.)

1. If the distribution file ends with .hqx, it is in binhex format. Open the file with Stuffit Expander (either drag and drop the file onto Stuffit Expander, or choose Expand from the File menu.) Stuffit Expander will convert the file to a Stuffit archive. When this is done, Stuffit Expander may automatically run step 2 as well, depending on your preferences.

2. If the distribution file ends in .sit, you have a Stuffit archive. Open the file with Stuffit Expander (either drag and drop the file onto Stuffit Expander, or choose Expand from the File menu.) Stuffit Expander will convert the file to a folder.

3. If you have a folder, you are done!

Setting up Your Environment

RTFtoHTML allows you to establish your conversion preferences, by editing the text files: html-trn and nav-panl. The Macintosh version of RTFtoHTML also allows you to set some preferences by running RTFtoHTML and choosing "Preferences..." from the Edit menu. For complete information on the preferences, and translation files, see guide.htm and FAQ.htm.

1. nav-panl contains the file names of some gif files that are used in the conversion process. These are the background gif, and the navigation buttons (back, next, index, table of contents, top). In the distribution, these are set to point to ../Images/xxx.gif , where xxx is the appropriate file name. You can either:
   • Move the images folder to the location on your machine or network that you want to keep these gif files. In this case, you should edit nav-panl, modifying ../images to make it a fixed path to the images folder (directory). For example:
     <IMG SRC="../images/rightg.gif" ALT=">> " border=0>
     becomes
     <IMG SRC="http://www.mymachine.com/somepath/images/rightg.gif" ALT=">> " border=0>
   • Create one or more folders within the docs folder that you use to convert documents. Then the references to ../images/xxx.gif will work correctly. Remember to copy the images folder as well if you move your converted documents.
2. html-trn contains a list of the style names used in your RTF documents. This list appears at the end of the file. When you convert a document, you will be notified of any styles in your document that are not contained in this list. Simply add your styles to the end of html-trn, selecting and appropriate HTML markup for each style (i.e. <H1>, <OL> ...). By default, unknown styles use <P> markup, which is generally acceptable - so you don't need to modify html-trn until you are more familiar with the filter.

Tips

• If you are converting documents produced on a Macintosh, set the graphics file creator to Clip2Gif. Obtain Clip2Gif from http://hyperarchive.lcs.mit.edu/HyperArchive.html or your favorite net location. Then run Clip2Gif and set Clip2Gif's preferences to (in the Options menu) to automatically convert files, and always rename them. Then when RTFtoHTML creates a graphic file, you can simply double click it, and Clip2Gif will open and automatically generate the GIF file. Clip2Gif is freeware (see it's distribution for details.)
• If you are converting documents produced on a Windows machine, set the graphics file creator to GraphicConverter. Obtain GraphicConverter from http://hyperarchive.lcs.mit.edu/HyperArchive.html or your favorite net location. GraphicConverter can translate Windows MetaFile format images (.wmf).Clip2Gif is freeware (see it's distribution for details.)
• If you want to keep your HTML documents in a different location than the RTF input, turn off the autoname checkbox in the Preferences. Then for each document you convert, the filter will prompt you for an output file name. You can change folders for the output file, and the filter will place the HTML and graphic files in that folder.

Unix

Unpacking the Distribution Files

The Unix distribution file is a compressed tar archive. Depending on how you obtained the file, some parts of this install process may have already been done for you (by your browser for example.)

1. If the distribution file ends with .Z, it is in compressed format. Type:
uncompress xxxxxxxxx.Z
where xxxxxxxxxx.Z is the distribution file name.

2. If the distribution file ends in .tar, you have a tar archive. Type
tar -xf xxxxxxxxxxxx.tar
where xxxxxxxxxx.Z is the distribution file name.

3. If you have a directory, you are done!

Setting up Your Environment

RTFtoHTML allows you to establish your conversion preferences, by editing the text files: html-trn and nav-panl. The UNIX version of RTFtoHTML also allows you to set some preferences by editing rtftohtml which is a shell that invokes the rtftohtml binary. You can force standard options to be used by adding them into the shell. For complete information on the preferences, and translation files, see guide.htm and FAQ.htm.

1. nav-panl contains the file names of some gif files that are used in the conversion process. These are the background gif, and the navigation buttons (back, next, index, table of contents, top). In the distribution, these are set to point to ../Images/xxx.gif , where xxx is the appropriate file name. You can either:
   • Move the images directory to the location on your machine or network that you want to keep these gif files. In this case, you should edit nav-panl, modifying ../images to make it a fixed path to the images directory. For example:
     <IMG SRC="../images/rightg.gif" ALT=">> " border=0>
     becomes
     <IMG SRC="http://www.mymachine.com/somepath/images/rightg.gif" ALT=">> " border=0>
   • Create one or more directories within the docs folder that you use to convert documents. Then the references to ../images/xxx.gif will work correctly. Remember to copy the images directory as well if you move your converted documents.
2. html-trn contains a list of the style names used in your RTF documents. This list appears at the end of the file. When you convert a document, you will be notified of any styles in your document that are not contained in this list. Simply add your styles to the end of html-trn, selecting and appropriate HTML markup for each style (i.e. <H1>, <OL> ...). By default, unknown styles use <P> markup, which is generally acceptable - so you don't need to modify html-trn until you are more familiar with the filter.

Tips

• If you are converting documents produced on a Macintosh, obtain NetPBM - a freeware conversion suite. NetPBM is able to convert PICT files to gif format. Alternatively, you may consider Apple's MAE (Macintosh Application Environment) which would allow you to run Clip2Gif on your UNIX box.
• If you are converting documents produced on a Windows machine, you may want to look at SoftWindows for your UNIX box. This would allow you to run a Windows graphic file converter on your UNIX box. I don't know of any native UNIX graphic converters that can handle Windows MetaFile format images.
• If you want to keep your HTML documents in a different location than the RTF input, specify the -o option to save th HTML and image files in a different location. You could also modify the rtftohtm shell to perform some mapping of input to output file names.

Windows/DOS

Unpacking the Distribution Files

The Windows/DOS distribution file is a zip archive. Depending on how you obtained the file, some parts of this install process may have already been done for you (by your browser for example.)

1. If the distribution file ends with .zip, a zip archive. Use PKUNZIP or comparable utility to unzip the file.

2. If you have a directory, you are done!

Setting up Your Environment

RTFtoHTML allows you to establish your conversion preferences, by editing the text files: html-trn and nav-panl. For complete information on the preferences, and translation files, see guide.htm and FAQ.htm.

1. nav-panl contains the file names of some gif files that are used in the conversion process. These are the background gif, and the navigation buttons (back, next, index, table of contents, top). In the distribution, these are set to point to ../Images/xxx.gif , where xxx is the appropriate file name. You can either:
   • Move the images directory to the location on your machine or network that you want to keep these gif files. In this case, you should edit nav-panl, modifying ../images to make it a fixed path to the images directory. For example:
     <IMG SRC="../images/rightg.gif" ALT=">> " border=0>
     becomes
     <IMG SRC="http://www.mymachine.com/somepath/images/rightg.gif" ALT=">> " border=0>
   • Create one or more directories within the docs folder that you use to convert documents. Then the references to ../images/xxx.gif will work correctly. Remember to copy the images directory as well if you move your converted documents.
2. html-trn contains a list of the style names used in your RTF documents. This list appears at the end of the file. When you convert a document, you will be notified of any styles in your document that are not contained in this list. Simply add your styles to the end of html-trn, selecting and appropriate HTML markup for each style (i.e. <H1>, <OL> ...). By default, unknown styles use <P> markup, which is generally acceptable - so you don't need to modify html-trn until you are more familiar with the filter.

Tips

• If you are converting documents produced on a Macintosh, obtain NetPBM - a freeware conversion suite. NetPBM is able to convert PICT files to gif format. Alternatively, you may consider Apple's MAE (Macintosh Application Environment) which would allow you to run Clip2Gif on your UNIX box.
• If you are converting documents produced on a Windows machine, you may want to look at SoftWindows for your UNIX box. This would allow you to run a Windows graphic file converter on your UNIX box. I don't know of any native UNIX graphic converters that can handle Windows MetaFile format images.
• If you want to keep your HTML documents in a different location than the RTF input, specify the -o option to save th HTML and image files in a different location. You could also modify the rtftohtm shell to perform some mapping of input to output file names.