Informática Multimedia 1995 April/Informatica Multimedia CD - Epimundo.iso/DOS/FILEFIND/CNVTALL.ZIP/CA.DOC

Text File | 1992-09-27 | 16.3 KB | 335 lines

Welcome to Convert-All, the file-conversion program that can change
from anything to anything.  Use it to convert word-processing files
or to make mass editorial changes to files.  On the simplest level,
Convert-All works like the find/replace feature of your word processor.
However, instead of finding and replacing only one item at a time,
Convert-All does up to 100 at once. On a more complicated level,
Convert-All performs conditional replacements, alternating replacements,
upper- and lower-case conversions, several types of deletions, and it
uses an almost infinite variety of wildcards.

This short documentation file accompanies the shareware version of
Convert-All.  Further documentation, along with examples, is available
in a printed manual.

Convert-All has three main working areas in addition to the main menu.
First is the editing area where you make and edit find/replace pairs.
Second is the viewing area where you view text files in such a way that
you can peek inside them and see exactly what characters are there.
Third is the area where a directory of files displays and you select
files to work on.  Select any of these three areas from the main menu,
or move directly from one area to another while bypassing the main menu.

Convert-All uses two kind of files, text files and find/replace pair
files.  Text files are the files you convert.  Find/replace pair
files contain the find strings and replacement strings that operate
on the text files.


                            THE MAIN MENU

The main menu offers an array of choices that you can select or
ignore.  The options that you select and use are automatically stored
in a disk file called CHANGEIT.OPT.  The next time you use Convert-All,
the computer checks this file so that the options you previously
selected will be recalled.  If you work with text files in different
directories, then there will automatically be a different CHANGEIT.OPT
file in each directory.  In this way the computer remembers a
different set of options for each directory that you work in.

Press F at the main menu to select the file of find/replace pairs to
use when you convert text files.

Press B at the main menu to change the status of making a backup file.

Press S at the main menu to change the status of stripping leading
spaces before each line.

Press E at the main menu to change the status of stripping trailing
spaces after each line.

Press J at the main menu to change the status of stripping justifying
spaces within each line.

Press P at the main menu to change a paragraph indent from spaces
into a tab.  If a document has leading spaces before each line,
and if it has additional spaces before the first line of each
paragraph, then you can filter out all these spaces using a
combination of the S and P options.  The P option asks you for the
number of spaces to change into a tab.  Answer with a number that is
more than the number of spaces before normal lines, but is equal to or
less than the number of spaces before paragraph indent lines.  This
causes the paragraph indent to change into a tab, while all other
leading spaces disappear.

Press W at the main menu to change the width of lines or to convert
any or all returns into hard returns or soft returns or spaces.  By
converting returns into spaces with this option, the computer can find
two-word combinations that might possibly spill over onto two lines.

Press C at the main menu to convert high-order characters to normal
low-order characters.  The conversion from high to low takes place not
only in the text file but also in the find/replace file.  (The find/replace
file is not changed on disk, but the computer treats the high-order
characters as normal low-order characters.)

Press Y at the main menu to strip out end-of-file markers (the control
Z character whose value is 26) that occur in the middle of the file.
Some word processors insert this character in the middle of the file,
but other word processors think it indicates the end of the file and
will not read past it.  You cannot get rid of it with such a word
processor, but you can with Convert-All.  For the high-order control Z,
use the find/replace table to replace it with nothing or with something.

Press Z at the main menu to add an end-of-file marker.  If your word
processor likes to see a control Z at the end of the file, then this
option makes sure that one is there.

Press D at the main menu to display the conversion process on the
screen.  After you select the file(s) to work on, the conversion
process takes place right before your eyes.

Press L at the opening menu to change the drive or directory.  Press Q
to quit and stay in the new directory, but press Esc to quit and
return to the original directory.

Press V at the main menu to view a text file.  This option lets you
peek inside the file and see the exact characters that are there.  It
also lets you highlight find strings directly from the file.

Press M at the main menu to edit find/replace pairs.  The pairs contained
in the last file used are displayed.  To input a different file
of find/replace pairs, press F8.  To start fresh and create a new
file of find/replace pairs, press F3.  Pressing F3 does not delete the
old file from disk, but it clears the screen of the old pairs.
To explore the full power of Convert-All, press F7 and help regarding
sophisticated types of conversions appears on screen.

Press ENTER at the main menu to get to the directory of files so
that you can choose which files to work on.


                      AREA 1: THE EDITING SCREEN

Set up find/replace pairs in two ways.  Pressing M at the main menu
takes you to a screen where you type in the find/replace pairs.
The second way is to highlight a string while viewing a text file,
using the Insert key.  This is easier because you do not have to type
the find string.

The find/replace screen has two columns.  Type items to find on the
left.  Type replacements on the right.  Move from column to column
using the arrow keys.  You can also scroll up and down using the
PageUp, PageDown, Home, and End keys.  You can delete a pair, insert a
pair, or move a pair using various function keys.

You can replace something with nothing.  To do that, just leave the
replace column blank.

Wildcards give you flexibility in finding items. Wildcards in the find
string work when the string has brackets around it.  The brackets do not
become part of the find string, but they indicate that wildcards are
being used.  To replace a wildcard with whatever character happens to
be in the text, use the identical wildcard in the replacement string.
For example, a find string of [18##] and a replacement string of
[19##] will find 1855 and replace it with 1955.  Four pre-defined
wildcards show on the right half of the help screen, but you can
re-define these or make up your own wildcards.  For further help press
F7 at the editing screen.

The order of the pairs is important, because the replacement
operations are performed in order.  In other words, the computer does
the first replacement before the second.  In this way you can build
one upon the other.  An earlier replacement can be used as a later
find.  The maximum length of each find or replace string is 38, which
is plenty for most cases; but if you need a longer length, then you
can use this building-block feature to perform a long replacement
operation in smaller sections.

A box in the upper left corner displays the value of the character
that you have just typed or that the cursor is under.

As you type the find/replace pairs, note that some of the keys print a
character instead of performing a function.  For example the Return
prints a control M on the screen, and the Backspace key prints a
control H.  This is designed so that you can find or replace these
characters just like any other character.  To move from one column to
another use the arrow keys (instead of Return), and to delete use the
Delete key (instead of Backspace).

You can type an alternate set of characters by pressing F9.  F9
toggles high-order bits on and off.  To see a chart of all possible
characters, press F6.  The chart shows the normal range of characters
(those valued below 128) and their high-order counterparts (those
valued 128 or above).  Pressing F9 allows you to type any character
on this chart.

To learn how to do more complicated types of replacements, press F7.
Herein lies the real power of the program--be sure to explore these
capabilities.  When you press F7 a menu displays, asking what you
would like to learn about.  Make your choice, and the information
displays on the bottom half of the screen.  Since you are working on
the top half of the screen, it is easy to follow the examples given
right in front of you.

To save a file of find/replace pairs, press F1.  The computer asks
if you want to save the file on disk.  Answer Y, and the computer
asks you for a file name.  If the computer thinks it knows what
file name you want, it defaults to that name, and you can confirm
that name by pressing Enter or you can type in a different name.  You
can have more than one file of find/replace pairs on disk, but you use
only one at a time.  To edit a different file without saving the
current one, press F8, then press R (to replace the file you are
currently working on).  To insert another file into the current file,
to make it bigger, press F8, then press I (to insert the new file into
the current file).  Any time you want to save a file, press F1 to
quit.  Depending on the situation, saving the find/replace pairs will
either replace the old file, or they will be appended to the old file.
Watch the screen to tell you which one is happening.  When you press
F1 to quit, the computer offers you the opportunity to save the file,
and it returns you to the main menu.



                      AREA 2: THE VIEWING SCREEN

To view a text file press V at the main menu (or, if you are at the
screen where the directory shows, select a file from the directory and
press F8).  After you select the file to view, the file shows on
screen.  A box in the upper left corner displays the value of the
character the cursor is under.  Move the cursor and the number in the
box changes.  Scroll also with PageUp, PageDown and Home.

View the file in two types of display.  The alternate type of display
(press A) shows returns and line feeds, and it shows high-order
characters as their low-order counterparts.

To highlight a string that you want to find and replace, press Insert,
then move the cursor.  As you move the cursor, the characters highlight
automatically.  After highlighting, press Insert again.  Now the
computer asks you for the replacement string.  After typing the
replacement string, press Insert again to indicate that you are done.
Now you can edit your find/replace pairs by pressing F10.  You will
see the find string that you have highlighted in column one, and you
will see the replacement string in column two.  To save these in a
disk file press F1 to quit, and the computer will give you the
opportunity to name a file to save them under.


                        AREA 3: THE WORK AREA

To work on files, press Enter at the main menu.  A directory of files
displays on the left, and the first file is highlighted.  Highlight
and select files from the directory, or type their names in manually.
The DOS wildcards, namely * and ?, are accepted in file names.  When
you have selected one or more files to convert, press F9, and each
file will be processed in turn according to the find/replace pair file
that you have selected from the main menu with the F option.

This area of the program also lets you perform utility operations on files.
You can delete, rename, or copy files.


                              FINAL TIPS

If replacements do not seem to work, check for these things:

* Wildcards work only when brackets surround the string.
* There should be no space after the final bracket.
* Spaces inside bracketed strings must be correct.
* Check for accidental wildcards inside brackets that you did not intend.
* The key words inside bracketed strings must be in all capitals.
* If you are altering the line length, then the altered returns
  affect the finds and replacements.
* If you are converting high-order bits to low-order bits, this
  affects the finds and replacements.
* Try switching the order of replacements--earlier relace strings may
  affect later find strings.
* You may want an earlier replace string to affect a later find string.
  But to avoid an unwanted affect, try these things: (1) change the
  order of the find/replace strings, (2) combine the two find/replace
  pairs into one, and (3) put the second pair into another find/replace
  file and process the text file a second time using the second
  find/replace file.


                           HOW TO REGISTER

When you register, you receive the following:

1. Printed manual with clear instructions and examples
2. Ready-made translation tables for conversion
   between common word-processing programs
3. A version of this program without this reminder screen

To register send only $20 registration fee to:

                Arrow Connection
                P.O. Box 899
                Pollock Pines CA 95726

Write down your opinion and comments about this program,
and you will receive a bonus program free of charge.


                              DISCLAIMER

Arrow Connection hereby disclaims all warranties relating to this
software, whether express or implied, including without limitation any
implied warranties of merchantability or fitness for a particular
purpose. Arrow Connection will not be liable for any special,
incidental, consequential, indirect or similar damages due to loss of
data or any other reason, even if Arrow Connection or an agent of Arrow
Connection has been advised of the possibility of such damages. In no
event shall Arrow Connection's liability for any damages ever exceed
the price paid for the license to use software, regardless of the form
of the claim. The person using the software bears all risk as to the
quality and performance of the software.



         ----------------end-of-author's-documentation---------------

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