BrainHex is the world's greatest (and noisiest) hexadecimal file editor for MacOS™. It allows you to view and edit the contents of either fork (data or resource) of any MacOS™ file in hexadecimal code. If you don't know what hexadecimal is, you probably don't need this program. If you do, you will find this tool indispensable. BrainHex users include software developers, data analysts, game hackers, and others from around the world.
BrainHex 1.1 is shareware.
Registration is $25 ($19 hex) and due within 30 days of installation if you wish to continue using the product.
Upgrades from version 1.0 are free to registered users. If you are a registered user (we know who you are) of BrainHex 1.0, send email with the subject "BrainHex Upgrade" to brainscn@psyber.com. Copy the registration form to the clipboard using the "Copy Form" button and paste the results into the email message. We will return your new registration code.
Further information on registration can be found near the end of this document.
Why Register BrainHex?
◊ The more registrations we receive, the more incentive we have to continue updating BrainHex with bug fixes and enhancements. We have LOTS of plans and ideas for the future of BrainHex, but our time is at a premium.
◊ The increasingly ennoying "please register" dialogs will go away.
◊ Registered users have unlimited access to technical support via Email.
◊ It just feels good to support others in their pursuit of their dreams.
What's New?
Many changes are afoot here, and they are described in more detail in the accompanying BrainHex.notes document. Briefly:
◊ Totally revamped Finder Info window is now non-modal
◊ New fork comparison commands let you compare two forks side-by-side
◊ ASCII display in your choice of fonts
◊ Unified Open and New commands for data, resource and Finder Info windows
◊ Multiple windows open to a single file are now properly managed
◊ Close All command
◊ Improved Save As command
◊ Command-click in title bar for path popup menu (like Finder windows)
◊ Added "Date" mode to Edit Selection dialog
◊ Added "Copy Form" button to the shareware registration form
◊ Many bug fixes and minor interface improvements
This upgrade is FREE for registered users of BrainHex 1.0! (see above for details)
BrainHex Features we've always known and loved…
◊ Open multiple data and resource forks simultaneously.
◊ Create new files or new forks for existing files.
◊ Search and Replace forward and backward through a fork.
◊ Insert or overwrite data entered in Hex or ASCII.
◊ Jump to specified address, optionally extracted from selected data.
◊ Drag and drop any document or group of documents to the BrainHex icon for easy opening.
◊ Custom font (Hexus, embedded in the Application) for viewing non-displayable ASCII characters.
◊ Full-featured Finder Info editing dialog.
◊ Edit values in ASCII, Hex, Signed and Unsigned Decimal, Octal, Binary, or Roman Numerals.
◊ Export Hex dumps as TEXT files.
◊ Printing Hex dumps.
◊ Extensive use of Balloon help.
◊ Launch open document to its creating application or an application of your choosing.
◊ Open and edit Alias files.
◊ Undo of latest document-altering operation.
BrainHex Package Contents
◊ BrainHex 1.1 - the BrainHex application, version 1.1.
◊ Hexus - the default font used by BrainHex, if made available (otherwise uses Monaco)
◊ BrainHex.readMe - this elegantly written release document.
◊ BrainHex.notes - describes changes made from one version to the next.
◊ Test document - A document containing all ASCII values for you to play with.
(Note: The BrainHex.Help document is no longer provided, as I believe Balloon Help is more effective, and maintaining both documentation forms was too time consuming)
Installation
◊ Put BrainHex wherever you want it.
◊ Drop the Hexus font onto the icon for your System Folder
◊ Drop a file you don't mind screwing up onto BrainHex and away you go.
Requirements
◊ BrainHex requires System 7.0 or later. If you're still using System 6, tough.
◊ BrainHex requires a 640x400 or larger monitor.
◊ BrainHex should work on any MacOS computer that supports System 7.
I haven't tried them all, but I've run it on a wide variety of machines, from a PowerBook 100 on up.
General Usage
◊ ALWAYS EDIT A BACKUP OF THE FILE. This cannot be stressed enough. By inserting, deleting or changing values in the data or resource fork of a file, serious damage can be done. Feel free to experiment and play with the contents of files - that's the best way to learn about them - but ALWAYS EDIT A BACKUP OF THE FILE.
Interface
All menus and dialog elements have Balloon Help associated with them. Please refer to the balloon help for descriptions of individual items.
Major components of the user interface include the following:
◊ Menus
BrainHex has five functional menus: File, Edit, Search, Tools and Windows. File contains I/O related items (open, close, save, export, print..., launch). Edit contains the standard undo and clipboard stuff, plus a Preferences command. Search contains find, replace and comparison commands. Tools contains BrainHex-specific functions, most of which are also available from the dashboard. Windows contains commands for navigating among windows currently open in BrainHex.
◊ Fork Windows
The main editing windows in BrainHex are called Fork Windows. Each open data or resource fork is contained in its own Fork Window. Multiple windows can be opened to the same fork of the same file, but only one can be unlocked for editing at a time. A Fork Window is made up of several distinct regions: the Dashboard, the Address box, the Hex box and the ASCII box.
The Dashboard contains several picture buttons and box buttons that generally provide alternative access to Tools menu commands. Use Balloon Help to learn more about these buttons.
The Address box displays the offset from the beginning of the fork to the beginning of each displayed line of data, either as a decimal or hexadecimal value, depending on the setting of the Decimal Addresses option in the Tools menu. Values in the Address box cannot be edited.
The Hex box displays for editing 16 bytes of data per line in hexadecimal notation in 2-byte pairs.
The ASCII box displays for editing 16 bytes of data per line in raw ASCII form, with optional display of high-ASCII and normally non-displayable characters.
◊ Finder Info Window
This window displays various information about the current file and allows you to rename a file, change its type and creator values, change its comment, change its label, and change a number of flags associated with the file. Multiple Info windows can be opened to the same file, but only one can be unlocked for editing at a time. Use the same menu commands for this window as with the Fork windows for Opening, Closing, Saving, unlocking, etc.
◊ Find/Replace Dialog
The Find/Replace Dialog is displayed in response to selecting the Find... item in the Tools menu, or clicking on the Find button on the dashboard. It allows you to enter a search string and a replace string, in either ASCII or Hex, and to execute find and replace operations.
◊ Jump To Dialog
The Jump To Dialog is displayed in response to selection of the Jump To... item in the Tools menu, or clicking on the Jump button on the dashboard.
The default values displayed in the Jump To Dialog when it is brought up are as follows:
• If the current selection is 4, 6 or 8 bytes long, the first four bytes will be used as the default Jump Value (if within the range of the file), and the following 2 or 4 bytes (if available) will be used as the default Selection Length.
• Failing that, if the Relative Jump To checkbox was set the last time the Jump To Dialog was executed, the dialog will default to the same values as the last time the Jump To Dialog was executed.
• Failing that, the dialog will default to the Jump Back values (the last location jumped from) for the front window (initially zero).
◊ Preferences Dialog
The Preferences Dialog is displayed in response to selection of the Preferences... item in the Edit menu. This dialog allows the user to customize certain features of the BrainHex interface.
◊ Edit Selection Dialog
This dialog displays the current selection of 1-4 bytes in ASCII, Hex, Signed and Unsigned Decimal, Octal, Binary (1-2 bytes only), Date/Time format and Roman Numeral (values less than 10,000) representations, and allows editing in any of these representations if the fork is unlocked.
◊ Launcher Editor Dialog
This dialog displays a list of currently configured custom launcher applications, and allows you to add new custom launchers and delete launchers from the list. Configured custom launchers show up in the Launch File To sub-menu of the File menu. To display this dialog, use the "Modify this menu…" command in the Launch File To sub-menu of the File menu.
◊ Cursor Movement and Selection
• Mousing around.
+ A single click in the Hex or ASCII box of a BrainHex window will cancel any current selection and move the cursor to the byte clicked on.
+ A single click in the Hex or ASCII box of a BrainHex window with the Shift key held down will extend or shrink the current selection to be from the current cursor position or beginning of the current selection to the byte clicked on.
+ A double-click in the hex box of a BrainHex window will cause any current selection to be canceled and the two-byte pair clicked on to be selected.
+ A double-click in the ASCII box of a BrainHex window will cause any current selection to be canceled and the "word" clicked on to be selected. A word is defined as a run of displayable ASCII characters, not including spaces or control characters. If High ASCII mode is turned on, High ASCII characters will be considered part of a word.
+ A click and drag of the mouse starting inside the Hex or ASCII box of a BrainHex window will cause any current selection to be canceled and a new selection to be established starting from the byte originally clicked on and extending to the byte the mouse was pointing to when the mouse button was released. If the mouse is dragged above or below the box clicked in, the document will automatically scroll until the mouse is moved back into the box or the button is released.
• Cursor keys.
+ The Home key scrolls to the top of the document and moves the cursor to the first byte in the document. If the Shift key is held down, the selection will be extended to the beginning of the document. If the Shift key is not held down, any current selection will be canceled.
+ The End key scrolls to the bottom of the document and moves the cursor to the last byte in the document. If the Shift key is held down, the selection will be extended to the end of the document. If the Shift key is not held down, any current selection will be canceled.
+ The Page Up and Page Down keys scroll the window as though the mouse was clicked in the grey space above or below the thumb in the scroll bar.
+ The Arrow keys move the cursor around one byte or line at a time, as appropriate. If the Shift key is held down, the selection will be extended or reduced. If the Shift key is not held down, any current selection will be canceled.
+ The left and right arrow keys combined with the Command key move the cursor to the beginning or end of the current line.
+ The up and down arrow keys combined with the Command key scroll the window just as though the mouse was clicked in the up or down arrows on the scroll bar.
+ If the Shift key is held down when any of the above cursor movement keys are used, the selection will be extended or reduced as appropriate. If the Shift key is not held down, any current selection will be canceled.
+ If the Control key is held down when any of the above cursor movement or scrolling keys are used, the action takes place in both the Front and Target (second window back) fork windows simultaneously.
+ The Tab key switches the focus between the Hex and ASCII boxes of the current BrainHex fork window.
◊ Exporting Dump Files
BrainHex allows you to save a Hex dump as a TEXT file that can then be opened and perused using most any text editor or word processor, giving you the ability to use whatever tools such applications provide. The saved file is in essentially the same format as the Fork window from which it was created - address then hex values then ASCII values. The dump is saved with the same display options as the Fork window from which it was printed, with regard to hex vs. decimal addresses, and whether high-ASCII and control characters are shown as themselves or as simple dots. Two characters are exceptions to this rule: 0x0D (return) and 0xFF. These two characters can cause undesirable things to happen to dump files or prints, so they are always replaced with a simple dot character (BrainHex uses an option-space character (0xCA) for this).
◊ Printing Hex Dumps
BrainHex prints in the same format as the Exported dump files, again utilizing the display options from the Fork window that is printed. If text is selected, only those dump lines that contain selected text will be printed. If there is no selected text, the entire dump will be printed. The name of the Print menu item changes between "Print Selection..." and "Print..." to indicate whether part or all of the dump will be printed. Settings from the Page Setup... dialog are saved in the BrainHex Prefs file, so BrainHex will always default to the last options you set.
BrainHex Revision History
Refer to the accompanying "BrainHex.notes" document for history of changes made from one version of BrainHex to the next.
BrainScan Software
BrainScan Software was going to be a major supplier of development tools, multimedia presentation products and educational software, with over 2,500 employees located in 37 countries, and over $3 billion in annual revenues. Plans have changed…
In keeping with our desire to remain small and independent, without the irritations present in large organizations (we've got our own irritations, thank you very much), BrainScan Software is now focused on delivering downloadable software and providing consulting and development services for Internet, Multimedia and Macintosh.
Check out our web page for more information about our company and our services, more downloadable goodies, samples of our work, and the usual sort of marketing and other stuff you find on the web.
Feel welcome to contact BrainScan Software any time you wish. We appreciate comments regarding:
• how gloriously wonderful our software is
• great things you have accomplished with our software
• ShareWare fees
• suggestions for new features
• problems with our software
• problems with our documentation
• the price of tea in China
• etc.
Visit BrainScan Software's Home Page on the Web at:
http://www.psyber.com/~brainscn
BrainScan Software can be reached via E-Mail at:
brainscn@psyber.com
BrainScan Software can be reached via SnailMail at:
BrainScan Software
136 College Way
Auburn, CA 95603
U.S.A.
Semi-Legal Stuff
◊ BrainHex is ShareWare. It is freely distributable, but is not freeware or in the public domain. You may use it to your hearts content for the first 30 days. After that, if you like it and find it useful, please fill out the registration form (accessible from the About BrainHex dialog), print it out, and send it with a check for $25 US made out to BrainScan Software at the above address, and you will be added to our database of happy campers.
Once BrainScan Software has received your registration, you will receive a registration code that will eliminate the "Register" and "3...2...1...Not Yet" buttons in the About box and kill the irritating "register me" dialogs that pop up periodically when using BrainHex.
◊ BrainHex is NOT guaranteed. BrainScan Software takes NO RESPONSIBILITY for any damage this program may cause to your system or data due to either defect or misuse. While we strive to create solid, bug-free software, this is not a perfect world and those little critters are sure to sneak in somewhere. If you alert us to a bug, we will make every effort to fix it quickly and get you a new version (if you are registered).
◊ BrainHex CAN DAMAGE FILES. Resource forks, and the Data forks of many types of documents, contain pointers and lengths referencing the information in the files. By modifying a fork directly, particularly by inserting or deleting data, or modifying an address or length value, the file may be rendered unusable. This is not the fault of BrainHex. Be sure you either know what you are doing, or you are messing with a file you won't mind losing.
◊ Freely Distributable. As with most ShareWare, you may feel free to pass the BrainHex package along to friends and family, post it on online services, or package it with other publicly distributable software on disk or CD-ROM. A few guidelines to follow:
• Always include the entire BrainHex package, including the latest version of the BrainHex application, the Hexus font, this ReadMe document, the Notes document and the sample document.
• You may not charge a fee for this software, though you are entitled to media and handling fees if so desired.
• Let BrainScan Software know where and how this product has been distributed, preferably via the E-Mail address listed above.
• If you include BrainHex on a CD-ROM, you must send a free copy to BrainScan Software.
In the About BrainHex dialog, you will find a button labeled "Register". If this button is not available, the dialog probably says "Registered to Joe Schmoe" or someone closely related to him at the top. In this case, hold the shift key down when selecting the About BrainHex… menu item to reveal the "Register" button.
Press the Register button to bring up the registration dialog. Here you can enter your user ID and registration code, then press Register to register your copy of BrainHex, thus hiding the Register button in the About dialog.
To obtain a registration code, press the Edit Form button in the registration dialog to bring up the Registration Form dialog. Fill in the blanks and press the Print button to print out this form. If you cannot or do not wish to print the form, you may hand write the form, including all the information requested in the Registration Form dialog, or use the "Copy Form" button in the Registration Form dialog then paste the result into a document you can print later.
Finally, send your registration form, along with a check for your $25 US shareware fee made out to BrainScan Software, to the following address:
BrainScan Software
136 College Way
Auburn, CA 95603
USA
If you are entitled to a Free registration... version upgrades, promotional licenses, etc... use the "Copy Form" button in the registration form dialog to copy the entire contents of the registration form to the clipboard, then paste the result into an email message and mail to:
brainscn@psyber.com
with the subject: BrainHex Registration
Special Thanks...
to my alpha and beta testers, who provided many great ideas and found a multitude of bugs in BrainHex (and you thought it was perfect from the beginning!), especially: Bob "Guru" Studer, Craig "Movin' On" Hassig and Stan "Sci Fi" Stoneking.
Do you believe in Macintosh?
Please check out <http://www.evangelist.macaddict.com/> and join the EvangeList mailing list by sending an email to <evangelist@macway.com>.
Important Footnote:
What? You're still reading? Hey, the document is over. Go home, or get back to work, or whatever you should be doing. Certainly you can find something better to do than wasting away your day reading "Read Me" documents.
Are you pondering what I'm pondering, Pinky? You could poke an eye out with that thing! No one will ever need more than 640K of RAM. Suspicion breeds confidence. Man was not meant to tamper with the four basic food groups! Klaatu borata nikto. Lemmings. Finious J. Whoopee, you're the greatest. There's nothing I can do, Jim. Never leave home without it. It never hurts to help. Engage. Extreme Audio. Laugh while you can, monkey boy. There is one small problem. Would you like to play a game of chess? Truly you have a dizzying intellect. T.T.F.N! Ta-ta for now!
