*** VIEW Version 13.0 March 1997 *** Recent history VIEW Version 11.0 ================= Added more functionality to the file selection menu. This has meant changing the functions of the Home and End keys. The keys are now: Home - go to first file in current screen list End - go to last file in current screen list Ctrl-Home - go to first file in whole list Ctrl-End - go to last file in entire list. In addition the up arrow now takes you to the previous screen when at the top of the current screen; the down arrow similarly tales you to the next screen when at the end of the current screen. These changes have meant that the F8 and F9 keys (select a file by name and by first letter) have been dropped. Apologies to you if you are used to using these, but they were incompatible with the new system. The new functionality should help to compensate for this loss. Added two toggles. To toggle speaker "beeps" (when an illegal key press is made, press s. VIEW starts with sound off. To toggle word wrap on/off when viewing a plain text file (ASCII or ANSI) press w. Note: the word wrap parameter stays in effect for viewing subsequent files until w is pressed again or F3 is pressed from the file selection menu. Text search strings can now be up to 80 characters. VIEW Version 11.1 ================= Improved support for code page 850. VIEW Version 11.2 ================= Improved identification of ASCII files with high-order characters. Added new command line switch /b This allows you to override the"break process" setting you have chosen from the configuration program. When break is configured to be on, pressing Esc interrupts the file read. With break off, the whole file is read before you can exit. The /b allows you to break out even when "break process: is configured as off. VIEW Version 11.2a ================== Added a new command line switch /mono to force display to monochrome. This is useful for running VIEW on laptops or "palm" computers. Added Alt-F8 as alternative for "s" (toggle sound), Alt-F9 as alternative for "q" (toggle quick view from file selection menu), and Alt-F10 as alternative for "w" (toggle line wrap on/off when viewing an ASCII file). These additions are to accommodate possible variations in keyboards (e.g. "azerty" rather than "qwerty"). VIEW Version 11.3 ================= Added the ability to change the default drive to which temporary files are written (using the viewcfg program). Changed VIEW so that if a text search string is listed on the command line, VIEW goes directly to the first occurrence of the string when a file is loaded. VIEW Version 11.3a ================== Added a command line switch, /s, to override the default way in which VIEW looks for text in files when the search string is entered on the command line. The default is case insensitive. The /s switch makes it case sensitive. VIEW Version 11.3b ================== FOR WORDPERFECT DOCUMENTS ONLY: changed the way in which "strikeout" text is handled. By default, VIEW now omits this text. You can have it included by adding a new command line switch, /-, to override the default. If you use this switch, strikeout text will be shown in UPPER CASE LETTERS. VIEW Version 11.3c ================== Minor improvements to display of HTML accented characters. VIEW Version 11.3d ================== Added a toggle - h - that allows you to switch between showing HTML files in decoded form or as pure ASCII (i.e., with the HTML tags displayed). Corrected a display problem that caused some text to remain at the right of the screen when exiting VIEW after you had used the /l switch with the number of columns used by VIEW less than the screen width. VIEW Version 11.4 ================= Added ability to read XYWRITE files. To toggle between XYWRITE display and ASCII (and so show XYWRITE codes), press x while viewing a file. VIEW Version 11.5 ================= Added ability to read Microsoft Publisher files. Improved positioning of cursor to help those using a voice synthesizer to read the display. NOTE: because of the complexity of Publisher files, VIEW may not read them all correctly. If you have one that does not display e-mail it to me (mdrury@nrcan.gc.ca) and I'll see what I can do. VIEW Version 11.6 ================= Corrected display of XYWRITE files. The two previous versions were developed under a wrong assumption concerning the internal nature of line wrap in such files. This has meant that the x toggle (switch between XYWRITE and ASCII) is no longer appropriate. Added minimal support for Mac Word files. Not perfect, but you will be able to read them. Changed F4 (toggle text search off) to shift-F2 in order to free F4 for a new version of VIEW that will support continuous scrolling for visually-handicapped users who use a speech synthesizer. (Coming soon!) VIEW Version 12.0 ================= Improved "quick mode" (set by /q command line switch) so that if it is set on and a file is to be converted or printed directly, without being displayed, only the first 22 lines are written. Added a new feature for visually-impaired users. See the separate documentation file visual.doc VIEW Version 12.0a ================== Fixed broken "Home" function in scroll mode. Minor improvement to algorithm to detect "unknown format" files. Added option to view Word 6/7 files called with /c or /C command line. VIEW Version 12.1 ================= Added new function - "print using file's form feeds" (shift-F9). With this you can control where page breaks occur when printing. Form feeds are equivalent to embedded bookmarks, so to force a page break in the printed document just press Ins while viewing a file to insert a bookmark. Pure text files that contain form feed codes will also print with page breaks intact as they are converted internally by VIEW to bookmarks. Changed the configuration file so that you can now set the left margin indentation for printed files. VIEW Version 12.1a ================== Improved error message handling when converting a file directly. VIEW Version 12.2 ================= Corrected error in displaying MS Publisher files, introduced inadvertently in version 12.0. (Sorry for any inconvenience!). Enabled direct conversion or printing of Word6/7 files. This means that all formats that VIEW can handle can now be converted directly. VIEW Version 12.2a ================== Minor change for compatibility with error message in BATCHCNV program. No functionality change. VIEW Version 12.3 ================= Added a new print function (Ctrl-F6) to allow file to be printed quickly without having to answer questions such as "include lie numbers?". The full functionality is still available through F6. Exchanged Shift-F6 and Shift-F9 functions to make all print functions related to F6. Moved the "w" function - re-read ASCII file - to "r", and added to "r" a re-read Word 6-7 function and re-read Wordperfect 5-7 function. Note that "r" is a toggle. Its effect will remain in effect for subsequent reads until it is pressed again. Thus, when a file has been read, pressing r will have the following effect: If the file is ASCII, it will be re-read with a different line wrap default. The two possibilities are use the file's line wrap and use VIEW's line wrap. If the file is Word 6 or 7 it will be re-read and decoded with an alternative algorithm. Use this if the initial read does not produce a display or if the file does not appear to have been decoded correctly. If the file is Wordperfect it will be re-read and text that has not been displayed because it has the "strikeout" has been applied will now be displayed. Alternatively, if the toggle is such that this text has been displayed, it will now be hidden. VIEW Version 12.3a ================== Added functionality to detect Wordperfect highlighted text and display it in UPPER CASE. (This was introduced in WP 7 for text saved in version 6 format). VIEW Version 12.4 ================= Added viewer for Wordperfect 7.0 files, which are in a new format. This is very complex, and some files may not decode correctly. Removed the function that calls hlp2doc to convert Windows 3.1 help files on the fly. Windows 95 files cannot be decoded with this utility. The hlp2doc program is still available in the freeware.zip file sent to those who register VIEW, and also at the web site (http://www.nrcan.gc.ca/~mdrury/shware.html). VIEW Version 12.5 ================== (Incorporating changes made to interim releases 12.4a and 12.4b) Improved viewer for Wordperfect 7.0 files. This is still an experimental viewer, and some files may not decode correctly. Improved decoding of Word 6/7 files. The /6 command line switch is no longer used. Added basic support for ClarisWorks text files. They may display some "garbage" but you will be able to read them. Improved display of HTML files. In particular, VIEW no longer tells you that it has detected HTML formatting errors if it sees a long string of text, such as JavaScript code, between the < and > tags. Corrected a problem with changing display from ASCII to ANSI/UNIX character set. Added the ability to convert the Mac character set to ASCII. Improved the functionality for saving files in ANSI or UNIX formats. See the documentation file under command line switches /a and /u. The /w switch has been removed as it is no longer needed. Rationalized the function keys for changing the display or the way files are decoded. All such functions are now built around the F10 key. - the r and h commands are no longer used but have been replaced with Ctrl-F10. - F10 converts the character set from ANSI/UNIX to ASCII - Shift-F10 converts the character set from ASCII to ANSI/UNIX - Alt-F10 converts the Mac character set to ASCII (replaces the m command) - Ctrl-F10 rereads the file being viewed using alternative defaults. The effect depends on the type of file being viewed: - Word 6/7 - the file is reread with a different decoding algorithm. Use if the display does not look right. - Wordperfect 5-7: the file is reread and text formatted as "strikeout" is displayed. - HTML or XYWRITE: the formatting tags are toggled on/off. Added an F11 function. If you press F11 while viewing a file the program ends and sets errorlevel to 2. You can use this feature in a batch file for optionally passing control to another function. VIEW now resets toggles such as "view Wordperfect strikeout text" to their default values when exiting a file. Rationalized the /a and /u command line switches, and added /d. From the command line, using /a forces the use of the ANSI/UNIX character set, and /u forces the output of files converted directly to use the UNIX line feed convention. The /d switch forces the use of the DOS character set (code page 437 or 850). These switches provide a powerful way to convert among DOS, Windows and UNIX files. Note: build 2 of VIEW 12.5 corrects a problem with displaying HTML files that contain comments. VIEW Version 13.0 ================= Added support for Rich Text Format (RTF) files. Please see also trouble.doc for a note on these. Also in this version I have added a "save configuration" function to the configuration program, viewcfg. This will allow you to configure future versions of VIEW without having to re-enter the configuration parameters. (END OF DOCUMENT)