THE TRANSLATOR VERSION 1.0 NB: The Translator takes over from the Servile Software package called "FILTER". Servile Software's translator is designed for computer users who need to convert data from applications into word processors, DTP packages, or analyse file contents. To this end sixteen file conversions are offered which are not usually provided with other packages; TEXT TO ASCII which copies ascii characters and tabs, carriage returns and newlines (character codes 32 to 127 inclusive and also 9, 10 and 12) from the source file into the target file. BINARY TO ASCII which copies only ascii codes (character codes 32 to 127 inclusive) from the source file into the target file. TABS TO SPACES which copies the source file to the target file replacing tab characters with eight spaces. DISPLAY TO ASCII which converts files intended for the package DISPLAY.EXE to ascii text files. BOXES TO ASCII which converts line drawing characters into ascii equivalents. That is corners become +, horizontal lines become - and vertical lines become |. XBASE TO ASCII which extracts records from xBase files and converts them text with one field per line, with a blank line between records in the target file. SPACES TO TABS which copies the source file to the target file replacing all occurences of eight continuous spaces with a single tab character in the target file. CSV TO TEXT which copies the source, CSV file, to the target file replacing the commar field delimiter with a carriage return/newline and removing the quotes from around strings. EUROPEAN TO ENGLISH copies the source text file to a target text file replacing European characters (such as and ) to their closest looking English couterparts (C and u for example). The case of surrounding characters is considered, so that Rene will become Renee but RENE will become RENEE. HEX DUMP which copies the source file as a hex dump showing the decimal offset, the hex offset sixteen hex digits and the ascii equivalents thus; DUMP OF FILE TRAN.DOC 000000(00000) 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 000016(00010) 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 54 48 45 20 54 THE T 000032(00020) 52 41 4e 53 4c 41 54 4f 52 20 56 45 52 53 49 4f RANSLATOR VERSIO 000048(00030) 4e 20 31 2e 30 0d 0a 0d 0a 0d 0a 0d 0a 4e 42 3a N 1.0........NB: 000064(00040) 0d 0a 54 68 65 20 54 72 61 6e 73 6c 61 74 6f 72 ..The Translator 000080(00050) 20 74 61 6b 65 73 20 6f 76 65 72 20 66 72 6f 6d takes over from 000096(00060) 20 74 68 65 20 53 65 72 76 69 6c 65 20 53 6f 66 the Servile Sof 000112(00070) 74 77 61 72 65 20 70 61 63 6b 61 67 65 20 63 61 tware package ca 000128(00080) 6c 6c 65 64 20 22 46 49 4c 54 45 52 22 2e 0d 0a lled "FILTER"... 000144(00090) 0d 0a 0d 0a 0d 0a 53 65 72 76 69 6c 65 20 53 6f ......Servile So If there is no printable ascii equivalent of the byte, a period is copied instead. DEBUG TO SOURCE which copies all lines from the source file to the target file excpet for lines containing ?debug. This allows .ASM files created with TCC to be stripped of their debugging information, leaving a clean assemble source file. SNAP TO TEXT which copies the file intact except for any comments created by the .PRG documentor SNAP. REMOVE BLANK LINES which copies all non blank lines from the source file to the target. COMPRESS BLANK LINES which ignores multiple blank lines when copying, instead only a single blank line is copied where one or more blank lines occur in the source file. REMOVE HP COMMANDS which copies the source file to the target file ignoring HP laserjet command strings in the source file. REMOVE EPSON COMMANDS which copies the source file to the target file ignoring Epson FX printer command strings in the source file. ALPHABETICAL SORT copies the source file to the target file sorted in ascending order of the first character of each line. Useful for index files. SCREEN TO ANSI converts a 4000 byte binary screen dump file into a text file with ANSI escape control sequences. QWK TO TEXT converts a QWK message packet into a text file. The file CONTROL.DAT must be present in the current directory so that conference information can be read by the Translator. FILE LIST TO CSV converts a BBS file list, or FTP site file list into a CSV file. PBK TO TEXT converts a Smartcom Phonebook into a text file. PS TO TEXT Converts Postscript file into text. Assumes line spacing of 48dpi and character spacing of 32dpi. The amount of formatting which will need to be applied manually will depend upon the complexity of the postscript file, but the Translator will provide a fair approximation to layout. USING THE TRANSLATOR -------------------- First select the source file to be translated. Press ALT I to enter the name of a file, or type in a wildcard specification to select a file from those in the current directory. EG: *.c will present a list of all .C files in the current directory You can select the type of translation from the scrolling list. When you press return on a highlighted translation the output file will be overwitten with the appropriate translation of the input file. If you haven't entered the name of an output (target) file, you will be prompted for one now. After the translation has completed, the targt file name will be cleared to help prevent accidental overwriting of target files. To leave The Translator, press Alt X. The Translator has been supplied to you under the SHAREWARE principle. This means that you can freely use and copy this product for thirty days so long as; 1) It is not modified in anyway 2) It is supplied to third parties along with this document After thirty days you are required to either destroy your copy, or to register it. You can register The Translator by sending a cheque for 20 sterling payable to Matthew Probert, to SERVILE SOFTWARE, 5 Longcroft Close, Basingstoke, Hampshire RG21 8XG, England. We will then send you a registered copy of The Translator which is of course the latest version! By registering your copy, you ensure that you are kept up to date with all our products, Shareware, free, and retail and it also means that we can improve our product range, and the service we provide. Be fair, register this product if you want to use it. Matthew Probert Servile Software 5 Longcroft Close Basingstoke Hampshire RG21 8XG England Telephone 01256 414072 Support is only available to registered users.