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The Datafile PD-CD 5
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!7Plus
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!Help
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1993-04-03
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7Plus for the Archimedes : Version 1.00
=======================================
Introduction
------------
Hip Hip Hooray!! Throw away that tired old PC emulator and install
7Plus for the Archimedes instead. Its been a long time coming but the
Archimedes now has a native version of 7Plus, all be it in command
line form.
For those of you who already use 7Plus under the PC Emulator this
program should not be too much of a culture shock. For those who don't
use the PC emulator or the command line I apologize for releasing this
program with no nice'n'easy desktop front end, but once this
conversion is proven in the field then I shall devote more time to the
desktop version.
Theory behind the conversion
----------------------------
When I started porting 7Plus across to the Archimedes it soon became
apparent that much of 7Plus' internal workings were dependant on the
PC concept of file name extensions (similar to RISC OS file types).
ie-:
EXAMPLE.DOC
Where 'EXAMPLE' is the filename and 'DOC' is the file name extension.
In this case a DOCument for a word processor. This would be the
equivalent to the Archimedes file type TEXT (&FFF) or similar.
So in order to keep as much of the original 7Plus source code untouched
I have wrapped it in cotton wool by translating RISC OS file names and
types into DOS format and back again.
The upshot of all this is that we only have a command line version of
the program. This should be easy to keep up to date and in line with the
PC version and it also has a command line syntax almost exactly the
same. This also means WE understand what PC owners are going on about
when they ask for a re-send of 'EXAMPLE.P06' for example.
If you have not read the 7Plus manual written by Axel DG1BBQ then it
would be advisable to do so now. This is kept in the Archive '7+ 4 PC'
and is called '7PLUS_E/DOC'. The manual covers the operation of all the
versions of 7Plus across all the platforms except for RISC OS machines.
The rest of this file gives a quick guide as to the structure of 7Plus
under RISC OS and how to use it.
How 7Plus organises its work files.
-----------------------------------
In order to keep the command line as close to the PC format as possible
all 7Plus 'work' files are kept in one place. This is the '!7+_Work'
directory with the open brief case icon. Double clicking on this will
cause the directory to open revealing a couple of 7Plus files called
'!Spock' and '!Spocky'. The directory structure of the '!7+_Work'
directory is shown here.
!7+_Work--------|
|----!Sprites22
|----!Sprites
|----!Boot
|----!Run
|
|----Work----|
|-----!Spock (7+ 'file')
|-----!Spocky (7+ 'file')
|-----Spock (decoded sprite file)
|-----JPEG----|
|-----Spocky (JPG decoded PC)
(file stamped )
(with DOS type )
Any successfully decoded Archimedes files are also put in this
directory. If the file was originally from a PC or other machine the
file is put in a newly created Sub-directory whose name is the files
file extension. Sounds complicated but hopefully all will be made clear
in the following examples.
Decoding Examples.
------------------
This is a small example to show you how to decode the 7Plus file
'!Spock' into its normal Archimedes sprite form.
Press the 'F12' to get to the * command line prompt and then type the
following
*7Plus Spock
and then press 'Return'
7Plus will now display its banner and proceed to decode the '!Spock'
7Plus file. You may have noticed that to decode we did not type in
'!Spock' but 'Spock'. When decoding you do not use the first '!' in
the file name.
Once the decoding has finished press 'Return' to go back to the desktop.
If you have opened the '!7+_Work' directory ( called the work directory
from now on ) you will now find a successfully decoded sprite file
called 'Spock'. The '!Spock' 7Plus file is now redundant and can be
deleted.
You have now successfully decoded a 7Plus file that was created on the
Archimedes. Now how about a file that was created on a PC.
Press 'F12' again and type
*7Plus Spocky
When it has finished press 'Return' to get back to the desktop. You
will now find a new directory in the work directory called 'JPG'.
Inside you will find a file called 'Spocky' with a file type of DOS.
This file would have had the full name of 'SPOCKY.JPG' on a PC. I have
implemented PC file names in this manner instead of the more usual
'SPOCKY/JPG' so that no truncation of the name occurs.
The '!Spocky' 7Plus file is now redundant and could be deleted.
To view 'Spocky' you will need the application !changeFSI (comes with
RISC OS 3.1) or !Translator ( a shareware program ) and djpeg.
The nitty gritty of the !7Plus files
------------------------------------
Yep you've guessed it '!Spock' was not a file at all but another fancy
'file' directory as inspired by !Impression. The structure of '!Spock'
is shown here.
!Spock---|
|---!Run
|---!Sprites
|---!Sprites22
|---!Help
|---7ix-----|
| |---7ix (data type)
|
|---7mf-----|
| |---7mf (data type)
|
|---cor-----|
| |---cor (text type)
| |---c01 (text type)
| |--- ......
|
|---err-----|---err (text type)
| |---e01 (text type)
| |--- ......
|
|---p0_-----|---p01 (text type)
| |---p02 (text type)
| |---p03 (text type)
| |--- ...... upto p0f
|
|---p1_-----|---p10
| |--- ...... upto p1f
|
|... upto pf_
Double clicking on '!Spock' will open the file to reveal a number of
files and directories. The '!Run' and '!Sprites' are the normal run of
the mill stuff and can be ignored. The !Help file is slightly special
and to find out why just double click on it and read.
Why the complicated directory structure?.....
---------------------------------------------
7Plus produces many different file name extensions on the PC which can
cause problems when exceeding the 77 file limit on ADFS. The file
extensions, to recap, are-:
7PL A file encoded into 7Plus format and has only one part
( 1 of 1)
P01 A file encoded into 7Plus format and is the first part of many
ERR A file generated while decoding a set of corrupted 7Plus files.
COR A file generated to correct the errors listed by the ERR file.
7MF A file generated while decoding. This is a partly decoded file
and is kept to speed up the process of decoding when a COR
file is received.
7IX A file that is related to the 7MF file.
When downloading 7Plus files from a BBS it is possible to download more
than one 'COR' file. In this case the 'COR' files will be named 'COR'
for the first file and then the sequence C01,C02..C4C will be used.
(ie a maximum of 77 'COR' files).
The same also applies to the 'ERR' files. You will almost certainly
receive more than one error file when you have encoded and distributed
some 7Plus files.
All the above file name extensions are kept in sub-directories of the
same name for each file that you are de/encoding. Have another look at
the '!Spocky' directory structure.
The only exception to this rule is the parts files ('P01'..etc). These
are kept in directories of names described as follows. The files 'P01'
to 'P0F' are kept in the sub-directory 'P0_', similarly the files 'P30'
to 'P3F' are kept in the sub-directory 'P3_' . This enables the
Archimedes to support 255 parts for 7Plus files ( over the top I know )
and still keep within the 77 file limit of the ADFS filing system.
Remember if only one part of one is created it will hav