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ColorUtils.README!
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1995-10-07
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============================================================================
CNet Amiga MCI Color Utilities, v1.2 by Dotoran of Frontiers!
============================================================================
Hey there everybody! What's up?!? Got another utility program for ya!
This program is the programmers or customizers dream when dealing with MCI
Color codes.
Included within this one file are TEN(10) modules/utilities that will
allow you to do the following to any TEXT file or ARexx PFILE (Standard, not
Compiled) in a matter of seconds:
- Change old style Slash Commands to new style Control-Y Commands.
- Change from the old MCI color order to the new MCI color order.
- Change from Control-Y MCI Codes to Control-Q MCI Codes.
- Change from Control-Q MCI Codes to Control-Y MCI Codes.
- Convert to using ONLY the HIGH INTENSITY MCI Colors(2nd Eight).
- Convert to using ONLY the LOW INTENSITY MCI Colors(1st Eight).
- Change 2nd eight into 1st eight, and 1st eight into 2nd eight.
- Change one or more MCI Colors to other MCI Colors.
- Swap two or more MCI Colors within a file.
- Strip ALL 3 character Control-Y MCI codes from a file.
NOTE: To convert ALL old style "slash" MCI codes, use Ken Pletzer's UP250
program. See the BOTTOM of this document for more information on how
to use this file.
As you can see, there's a veritable smorgasborg of great utilities all
within this one program.
To install this file, simply follow these steps:
1: Place "ColorUtils" in your "PFILES:MAINTENANCE/" directory.
2: Add it as a SysOp Only ARexx Pfile.
3: If you wish, you can create the "COL" SysOp Only command by adding this
line to the end of Menu # 1 (Maintenance Menu) of BBSMENU:
COL, COLor | {#0 pfiles:maintenance/ColorUtils}
^
Control-Q
4: That's it, you're done!
You can do everything you need to do from one screen in this program.
This program was written to use LOTS of COLOR, IBM GRAPHICS, and ANSI CODES,
so will most probably want to be run in local mode, although it CAN be used
from remote, with a slight decrease in speed.
You can traverse through the three menus in two ways:
- Use the four CURSOR keys. (LEFT/RIGHT/UP/DOWN)
- Press the UNDERLINED Letter of the Command.
Either method will HIGHLIGHT the needed function, but you will need to
press RETURN/ENTER to SELECT the function.
NEW: Something NEW in v1.2 over v1.0 is the ability to enter a PATH ALONE
v1.2: in the "path to convert" string gadget. Doing so will allow you to
: convert ALL files located within that path using the settings you
: specified earlier for ALL files. To make this fully automatic, make
: sure to also specify to view NEITHER before or after. This way, one
: file after another will be immediately converted, with no waiting,
: and no further input needed from you.
For the two PATH/FILE string gadgets, you can use the following CONTROL
CODES to help you edit text:
- Control X - Delete ALL contents in gadget.
- Control B - Move to BEGINNING of text.
- Control N - Move to END of text.
- BACKSPACE - Delete ONE character.
- DELETE Key - PULL one character INTO the cursor.
The SAVE path/file will DEFAULT to the one entered for LOAD, but you can
change this to suit your needs. If you select a SAVE path/file that EXISTS
in your system, you'll be asked if you wish it to be overwritten.
There are two text windows at the BOTTOM of the screen that you will want
to be aware of:
INFO Window:
- This is the ONE LINE window where prompt text will be displayed.
- As a rule, check here first if you're not sure what to do next.
HELP Window:
- This is the LARGE window at the BOTTOM of the screen.
- Whenever a menu item is selected, you will be shown text here that
will offer you some additional information as to what that item
will do for you.
- This window is also used for the COLOR SELECTION box.
- Lastly, while a conversion is in progress, this window will be
filled with the following information:
- Reading Line
- A running total of the lines in the file as they are
initially being read into the computer.
- Total Steps
- Some of the conversion functions are needed to be done
in multiple steps. This tells you the total number of
steps that are required for this conversion operation.
- Working Step
- Tells you how many MORE steps are needed to be done
before the end of the conversion.
- Working Line
- Tells you the current line being worked on while the
conversion is taking place.
- Converted Lines
- This counter tells you how many lines where POSSIBLE
conversion has taken place. (In reality, this is the
total number of lines found that CONTAIN MCI Color
Codes in them).
- Converted Codes
- This is a running total of the number of MCI Codes that
HAVE been converted. (This is an EXACT count).
- Writing Lines
- A running total on the number of lines that have been
written to the SAVE file. (This number should MATCH
the "Reading Line" value).
That's all there is to using the program. The rest of this document will
go into specific detail as to WHAT each of the ten modules DOES to a file
during it's conversion:
Low 8 to
High 8
~~~~~~~~
- Total Steps: 1
- File Type Needed: A Control-Y coded file.
- File finds all instances of:
\c0 \c1 \c2 \c3 \c4 \c5 \c6 \c7
- And converts them to the following, respectively:
\c8 \c9 \ca \cb \cc \cd \ce \cf
- Note that \ above is a Control-Y character.
High 8
to Low 8
~~~~~~~~
- Total Steps: 1
- File Type Needed: A Control-Y coded file.
- File finds all occurances of:
\c8 \c9 \ca \cb \cc \cd \ce \cf
- And converts them to the following, respectively:
\c0 \c1 \c2 \c3 \c4 \c5 \c6 \c7
- Note that \ above is a Control-Y character.
High 2 Low
Low 2 High
~~~~~~~~~~
- Total Steps: 3
- File Type Needed: A Control-Y coded file.
- Step 1:
- Find these Control-Y codes:
\c0 \c1 \c2 \c3 \c4 \c5 \c6 \c7
- Convert these into SLASH Code INTENSE Colors.
- Step 2:
- Find these Control-Y codes:
\c8 \c9 \ca \cb \cc \cd \ce \cf
- Convert these into SLASH Code NORMAL Colors.
- Step 3:
- Find the following SLASH Codes:
\c0 \c1 \c2 \c3 \c4 \c5 \c6 \c7
\c8 \c9 \ca \cb \cc \cd \ce \cf
- Convert these into Control-Y equivalents.
Control-Y
Control-Q
~~~~~~~~~
- Total Steps: 1
- File Type Needed: A Control-Y coded file.
- Find these Control-Y Codes:
\c0 \c1 \c2 \c3 \c4 \c5 \c6 \c7
\c8 \c9 \ca \cb \cc \cd \ce \cf
\z0 \z1 \z2 \z3 \z4 \z5 \z6 \z7
- Convert these into Control-Q equivalents.
Control-Q
Control-Y
~~~~~~~~~
- Total Steps: 1
- File Type Needed: A Control-Q coded file.
- Find these Control-Q Codes:
{c0} {c1} {c2} {c3} {c4} {c5} {c6} {c7}
{c8} {c9} {ca} {cb} {cc} {cd} {ce} {cf}
{z0} {z1} {z2} {z3} {z4} {z5} {z6} {z7}
- Convert these into Control-Y equivalents.
Slash to
Control-Y
~~~~~~~~~
- Total Steps: 1
- File Type Needed: A Slash MCI coded file.
- Find these Slash Codes:
\c0 \c1 \c2 \c3 \c4 \c5 \c6 \c7
\c8 \c9 \ca \cb \cc \cd \ce \cf
\z0 \z1 \z2 \z3 \z4 \z5 \z6 \z7
- Convert these into Control-Y equivalents.
Old to New
Code Order
~~~~~~~~~~
- Total Steps: 2
- File Type Needed: A Control-Y coded file.
- Step 1:
- Find these Control-Y Codes:
\c0 \c1 \c2 \c3 \c4 \c5 \c6 \c7
\c8 \c9 \ca \cb \cc \cd \ce \cf
\z0 \z1 \z2 \z3 \z4 \z5 \z6 \z7
- Convert these to NEW Order SLASH Codes.
- Step 2:
- Find these Slash MCI Codes:
\c0 \c1 \c2 \c3 \c4 \c5 \c6 \c7
\c8 \c9 \ca \cb \cc \cd \ce \cf
\z0 \z1 \z2 \z3 \z4 \z5 \z6 \z7
- Convert these to Control-Y Codes.
MCI Color
Swapper
~~~~~~~~~
- Total Steps: 2
- File Type Needed: A Control-Y coded file.
- Step 1:
- Find these Control-Y Codes:
\c0 \c1 \c2 \c3 \c4 \c5 \c6 \c7
\c8 \c9 \ca \cb \cc \cd \ce \cf
\z0 \z1 \z2 \z3 \z4 \z5 \z6 \z7
- Convert these to SLASH Codes, using the
custom built conversion string.
- Step 2:
- Find these Slash MCI Codes:
\c0 \c1 \c2 \c3 \c4 \c5 \c6 \c7
\c8 \c9 \ca \cb \cc \cd \ce \cf
\z0 \z1 \z2 \z3 \z4 \z5 \z6 \z7
- Convert these to Control-Y Codes.
MCI Color
Changer
~~~~~~~~~
- Total Steps: 2
- File Type Needed: A Control-Y coded file.
- Step 1:
- Find these Control-Y Codes:
\c0 \c1 \c2 \c3 \c4 \c5 \c6 \c7
\c8 \c9 \ca \cb \cc \cd \ce \cf
\z0 \z1 \z2 \z3 \z4 \z5 \z6 \z7
- Convert these to SLASH Codes, using the
custom built conversion string.
- Step 2:
- Find these Slash MCI Codes:
\c0 \c1 \c2 \c3 \c4 \c5 \c6 \c7
\c8 \c9 \ca \cb \cc \cd \ce \cf
\z0 \z1 \z2 \z3 \z4 \z5 \z6 \z7
- Convert these to Control-Y Codes.
MCI Code
Stripper
~~~~~~~~
- Total Steps: 1
- File Type Needed: A Control-Y coded file.
- Find and REMOVE the following Control-Y MCI Codes:
\c0 \c1 \c2 \c3 \c4 \c5 \c6 \c7
\c8 \c9 \ca \cb \cc \cd \ce \cf
\z0 \z1 \z2 \z3 \z4 \z5 \z6 \z7
- And these OTHER Control-Y MCI Codes:
\: \a \b \f \g \h \k \n \o \p \q
\r \s \u \w \^ \! \> \< \- \? \=
- Control-Y Codes NOT removed fully are:
\@ \i \j \l \m \t \v \x \* \# \$ \+ \& \%
- These codes are generally LONGER than three characters
long, which means if you try and MCI Strip a file that
contains any of these codes, the entire command will
NOT be removed.
- Because of this, it is suggested that you NOT use this
module on LARGE PFILES which MIGHT contain one or more
of the above commands.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
That's it. Hope you enjoy it, and that it can be of use to you. Lastly,
I've been asked by numerous people for a module that converts ALL SLASH-type
MCI Codes into the Control-Y type codes. A module to do this was NOT housed
in this pfile, because Ken Pletzer himself wrote a program that does this
QUITE nicely(and blindingly fast too!) You'll find it in your "Updates/"
directory of disk # 2 of your CNet Command Set. It's called "UP250". It was
originally written to convert older formatted message base files into the
newer version we were using at that time, however it also contains a utility
to convert old mci codes to the new ones. To use the program, follow these
steps:
1: From a CLI Window, type UP250 from WITHIN the directory that houses it.
(I use it on a regular basis, so store it directly in my CNET: path)
2: Answer "N" (No) to the first THREE questions it asks you.
3: Answer "Y" (Yes) to the next question that asks if you'd like to convert
mci's in other files.
4: You can either specify the exact path/filename location of a specific
file you'd like to convert, or else specify JUST the path, upon which
it will attempt to convert ALL FILES contained within said path.
5: One note of warning when specifying just the path, though. The program
makes an attempt to convert ALL INSTANCES of the \ character, whether
it's part of an MCI code or not. Some ASCII graphic pictures make use of
the slash as a graphic character, as well as some ARexx programs using
it in their headers. For instance, my ARexx files use a standard three
lines which look like these:
/**************************\
$VER: Version String
\**************************/
In the above example, the backslash used at the END of the first line,
as well as the one used at the START of the third line would ALSO be
converted when using this program. Nothing BAD will happen if a file is
used where unnecessary conversions are made, however it tends to make a
file rather tough to read(and could cause a garbled look in graphics
that use this character).
6: That's all there is to using this other extremely powerful program!
- Dotoran