Cream of the Crop 21/Cream of the Crop 21 (Terry Blount) (October 1996).iso/os2/pms_106.zip/PMSTRIP.DOC

Text File | 1996-09-02 | 16KB | 396 lines

PMStripper 1.06


I. Overview:


This PM shareware utility strips HTML codes from Web pages, leaving
only the text and URLs (optionally).  Some of the page's formatting
is retained, but since PMStripper is not an HTML interpreter most
formatting is lost.  While the layout of tables and lists is lost
during stripping, data is sorted to separate lines for legibility.

PMStripper is designed to provide a quick conversion of HTML coded
files into plain ASCII text.  Although the converted files can be
edited while loaded in PMStripper, only simple edit commands are
available.  Therefore, if extensive editing is needed, the text
should be loaded into a more capable word processor or text editor.

The registered version offers a menu item to easily move stripped
files to programs suited for advanced editing.

One convenient use of PMStripper is to quickly convert Web pages to
text for spell checking without having to constantly click to accept
(or add) HTML codes and links to the spelling dictionary.

PMStripper is a shareware program and if you continue to use the
program you should register it.  PMStripper does not have any
code to check on how long the program has been in use, so it is
up to the user to determine a reasonable trial period.

The shareware version of PMStripper is fully functional, some of
the convenience features are disabled but they do not effect the
function of the utility.  Trying the disabled features will bring
up an unregistered message requiring a user response.


II.  Installing PMStripper:


1) Unzip the archive.

2) If REXX is installed:  Run the INSTALL.CMD script from an OS/2
command prompt, or by double clicking on the install file's icon.

The script will create a destination directory and transfer program
files to it.  Optionally, you may use the unzip directory as the
working directory.  In either case the script will create a
PMStripper program object on the desktop and set file associations
for .HTM and .HTML files.  Setting associations this way allows
instant loading, and stripping, of saved web pages by double clicking
their icons.

If the install program cannot create the desired directory, just move
all unzipped files to the working directory before running the
install program.

3) If REXX is not installed:  Unzip the archive in the desired
working directory and manually:  a) Create a desktop program object,
and b) Set .HTM and HTML associations.  (See OS/2 documentation for
instructions, if needed.)


III.  Files


PMStripper is distributed in the compressed archive PMSR_xxx.zip,
where xxx is the version number.  The archive contains these files:


NAME          SIZE       DESCRIPTION

FILE_ID.DIZ        404    File description for BBS use.
INSTALL.CMD       2326    Install script.
LICENSE.TXT       4661    License.
ORDER.BMT         3576    BMT Micro order form
PMSTRIP.DOC      16077    This file.
PMSTRIP.EXE     370548    Program executable.
PMSTRIPR.ICO       874    Program icon.
PMSTRIPB.ICO       874    Program icon.
TIPS               881    Tips on using PMStripper
WHATS.NEW         3682    Description of changes in this version


IV.  Uninstalling PMStripper:


If you find it necessary to remove PMStripper, simply delete the
unzipped files, program object, associations and directory.
PMStripper makes no entries in configuration or initialization files.



V. Using PMStripper


PMStripper is a simple program with only five menu bar items:

1. 'File' offers four pull-down menu items:  'Open File', 'Reload
Source File', 'Save As' and 'Exit'.  All except 'Reload Source File'
performs in a standard OS/2 manner.  'Reload Source File' uses the
existing file name, thereby avoiding the file dialog box since the
desired file name is already loaded.

The 'Reload Source File' menu item reloads the current HTML file and
is a handy way to make changes in the the stripper's options and then
view the same HTML, processed differently.

If the INSTALL.CMD file is used to install PMStripper, the association
for .htm and .html is set so that a double click will load files with
those extensions into PMStripper.

The utility will also load HTML coded files for stripping via drag
and drop of the file's icon onto that of the PMStripper.  However,
the capability to load files by drag and drop onto an open edit
window does not exist.

Picking a file name for the 'Save As' is easy: Highlight some text
for the name and then click on 'Save As', or simply highlight and
then press Alt+S.  If you have not highlighted text for the file
name, the original file's name (with the extension .htm or .html
replaced by .txt) is offered as the default.  The option to use
highlighted text is only available in the registered version. A
check has been added to warn the user if he is about to overwrite an
existing file. If the file is write protected an error message is
displayed.  If the file is not write protected, the user is prompted
for an 'Ok' or 'Cancel' response.

To directly print the stripped text, select a printer as the file's
destination. Entering 'lpt1' or 'lpt2' (as the file name) will send the
text to a printer.  This method bypasses the WPS print manager and
results in using the printer's default font. Additionally, since word
wrap in the PMStripper display window does not reformat the text, line
lengths must be user adjusted to fit the printer.


2. 'Edit' has five sub-menu items which also operate as expected.
They are 'Cut', 'Copy', 'Paste', 'Select All' and 'Undo Change'.  The
'Undo Change' selection will undo the last change made to the text in
the window and is only one level deep.


3. 'Options' has six sub-menu items.  They are 'Display Options',
'URL Settings', 'Strip Options', 'External Editor Settings',
'Filename Settings' and 'Save Settings'.

'Display Options' has two sub-menu items.  They are 'Font' and 'Word
Wrap'.  'Font' brings up a standard OS/2 font dialog box and will
allow the selection of any of the installed fonts.  The font that
is active when 'Save Settings' is selected will be made the default
font. 'Word Wrap' is a toggle setting that turns word wrap on or off.
The wrap function does not actually reformat the text, instead it
effects only the way text is displayed.

'URL Settings' has two sub-menu items.  They are 'Add URLs' and
'Leave URLs'.  These options effect how the HTML file is processed
and the file must be reloaded for these changes to effect current
file.  'Add URLs' appends the URLs found in the HTML file to the end
of the stripped text.  'Leave URLs' leaves the URLs found in the HTML
file in the stripped text.

'Strip Options' has two sub-menu items: 'Ignore <BR>' and 'Ignore
cr-lf'. These items are mutually exclusive and, since they are not
normally needed, are not saved via the "Save Settings" menu item. These
options are useful when the stripped output has excessive blank lines,
not present in the source file.  This often occurs in Web published
poetry since many are formatted with both carriage return - line feed
(cr-lf) pairs and the HTML code <BR> which prevents text reformatting
by the browser. PMStripper normally translates <BR> into a cr-lf pair
thereby producing unnecessary blank lines. These two menu items strips
either the cr-lf pairs OR the <BR> codes from the text before any other
actions are performed.  The results of using either option should be
similar, but one method may produce better results depending on how the
text was originally formatted.

'External Editor Settings' has two sub-menu items.  They are 'Use
__TMP2__ File' and 'Use Clipboard'.  'Use __TMP2__ File' causes the
temporary file __TMP2__ to be left in the current working directory
for use by an external editor.  'Use Clipboard' causes the stripped
file to be copied to the OS/2 clipboard when the user selects 'Exit
to Word Processor'.  These option settings are only effective in the
registered version.

'Filename Settings' has four sub-menu items.  They are 'Replac