Copyright: Copyright © 1998  by  Kent H.


Table of Contents
Fastcode32 v3.5  HELP contents:

1.  Software License Agreement

2.  Introduction & the very basics

3.  Specifics of Fastcode32

4.  FAQ – Trouble Shooting

5.  Last note & Contact info


License Agreement
Fastcode Software License Agreement

You must agree to this license before using the product

1.	License and Restrictions.  This is a FREEWARE.  You are granted the right to use this software product free of charge.  You are free to copy and/or distribute this software to others at your will provided that you must distribute the software in its ENTIRE package, which should only include the original archive.  The software may not be circulated in any incomplete or modified form, which means you may not alter, delete, or add any files in the distribution archive.  You may not lease, rent, sell, or make any profit out of the software without written permission from the author.  Moreover, this software is released as a public domain freeware, which means no one shall be charged any money for the use of this software.

2.	Disclaimer of Warranty.  The use of the Software is at Licensee's sole risk.  The SOFTWARE and documentation are provided "AS IS" WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND.  THE AUTHOR DISCLAIMS ALL IMPLIED WARRANTIES, EXPRESSED OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING, WITHOUT LIMITATION, THE WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND OF FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE.  FURTHER MORE, THE AUTHOR DOES NOT WARRANT OR GUARANTEE THAT THE OPERATION OF THE SOFTWARE WILL BE FREE OF ERRORS.  IN NO EVENT SHALL THE AUTHOR BE LIABLE FOR ANY LOSS OF INFORMATION, DAMAGE TO COMPUTER OR MONITOR, ANY INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES (INCLUDING DAMAGES FOR LOSS OF BUSINESS PROFITS, BUSINESS INTERRUPTION, LOSS OF BUSINESS INFORMATION AND THE LIKE) ARISING OUT OF THE USE OF OR INABILITY TO USE THE SOFTWARE OR ITS DOCUMENTATION, OR FOR COMMERCIAL LOSSES OF ANY CAUSE, EVEN IF THE AUTHOR HAS BEEN ADVISED AND WARNED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES.

Introduction & the very basics…


Topic 3 Title
Introduction & the very basics

     Welcome and thanks for choosing Fastcode.  Fastcode32 is a user friendly MIME/ UU/ XX/ BinHex/ AtoB/BtoA Decoder & Encoder.  It helps you in decoding e-mail attachments and newsgroup articles.  Some of you might have already known that Fastcode32 was previously known as Fastcode95.  I never I thought that I would ever needed to revise Fastcode, but I have to due to a few requests.  Fastcode is the simplest decoder/encoder there is.  Working with Fastcode just couldn’t get much easier. :-)

Getting started: (the first stage)

Ok, you needed to decode an e-mail attachment sitting on your hard-disk.  So what are the steps?  How should Fastcode be set up for the first time?  Well, for a simple routine, you're only a click away from finishing the task!  Simply Drag the file from any file manager (such as Explorer) and Drop it onto Fastcode.  Believe it or not, you’re done!  Fastcode automatically does the rest.  You see, it wasn’t so bad wasn’t it?

Besides from using the Drag-Drop operation, you can also click on the “Decode” button on the tool bar or hit [F2], and then select the desire file.  And the file is all taken care of.

So what are the options and the different settings?  The default “factory” setting has been chosen to suite most of the commonly decoding and encoding operations.  So there really is no need for changing them.  In decoding, the default setting is set to “Auto-Decoding-1.”  That means Fastcode will automatically detect the correct decoding method for the chosen file.  As for encoding you'll need to specify the encoding method.  The default encoding method is set to "MIME/Base64", which is most commonly used in e-mail attachments.  The default settings should be fine for the most part of your regular usage.  Again, you do not need to touch any of those options when encoding.  I've tried to keep Fastcode as simple and as suitable as possible for the most common tasks.

More on Fastcode32


Topic 4 Title
Specifics ofFastcode32

 Selecting a file – Drag & Drop is one way to select a file for de/encoding.  You may also click on the “Decode” [F2] or the “Encode” [F3] button located at the tool bar.

To decode a file without bring up Fastcode window, simply associate Fastcode to a file type or use context sensitive menu.  That way you only need to double click on a file, within any file manager, and have that file decoded.  Note that Fastcode only takes one argument.  That argument is for decoding only and not encoding.  Just choose the action to be “Open” and points the application to “fcode32.exe”.  You can expect the association to be the same as Windows Notepad.  Notepad is a good and simplest example of how to associate a file extention to an application.  Refer to the Windows help file for further assistance.  Remember: when passing argument to Fastcode, that operation is always decoding not encoding, and the settings depends on the INI file.  If you would like to encode a file or manually decode a file, you’ll need to bring up the main window and work from there.

Settings -- Well, like all other programs, you can set your preferences for the program's startup.  It will be saved to the file named “FCODE32.INI” located in the directory of the executable.  If you want the default settings, simply delete this INI file, then Fastcode will startup in its original settings.

There are three directories that you can set.  First is the “Working” path, which is the default location.  The second is the “Decode” path where all the decoded files will go; this also applies to the “Encode” path for encoded files.  If the “Decode” path is empty, then the decoded files will go to the “Working” path; this also applies to encoding.

Also, other miscellaneous settings are saved along with the default directories such as the default font type/color and the coding format, etc…

Coding Formats -- Fastcode supports five types of decoding formats, MIME (base64), UU, XX, BinHex (Run Length Decode), and AtoB/BtoA (v4.0 & v5.2).  “Quoted-Printable” encoded MIME format is not supported.  Fastcode only supports the Base64 version of MIME encoding format (most widely used for sending e-mail attachments).  Fastcode can decode BinHex 4.0 format with or without Run Length Encoded.  If you received your BinHex file directly from a Macintosh system, you might need to convert that file into PC Dos/Windows format before decoding.  A converter is provided, and the short-cut is [F3].  The Mac/Unix to PC converter will be further discussed in the next section in FAQ & trouble shooting.  AtoB/BtoA is an old encoding format mostly used in Network machines.  Fastcode supports AtoB/BtoA version 4.0 encoding.  In decoding AtoB/BtoA, Fastcode supports both version 4.0 and version 5.2 (as there aren’t much difference).

Decoding & Encoding -- You normally don’t have to worry about the different types of formats unless you wanted to override the default “Auto-Decoding”.

There are two types of auto decoding.  “Auto-Decoding 1” is the standard and fast, but could sometimes go wrong if the header is corrupted.  “Auto Decoding-2” is sometimes slower, because it looks at the encoded content byte by byte until one decoding format is clearly distinguished from the other formats.  When the file is not corrupted (in good condition), it is ideal to use “Auto-Decoding 1”.  However, if the file header is missing and that you do not know the encoded format of the file, try “Auto-Decoding 2”.  In the most extreme cases where Fastcode is unable to determine the encoded contents, you will then need to manually decode the file; that is selecting “Auto-Decoding OFF.”  This will only happen if either the encoded file is too short making it unclear for Fastcode to determine the coding formats, or it is corrupted.

When manually decoding a file, you’ll need to specify the coding format.  If you’re not sure of the encoded format, just try all of the coding formats and see which one of them produces the correct results.  In this mode, Fastcode will first look for the file header, as in “Auto-Decoding.”  Once the header is found and the output filename is extracted, it will begin to decode the file with the coding format specified by the user.  Fastcode will not attempt to determine the encoded format.  Also in manual mode, when the header info is missing, Fastcode will start decoding at the first non-empty line of the file.  So if there are anything extra at top, you might want to strip them off with a text editor before you put it through Fastcode.

Fastcode supports multi-part decoding for MIME/ UU/ XX/ BinHex/ AtoB/BtoA (multi-part is most often found in MIME format).  The multi-part format that is supported by Fastcode is decoding a Single file into Multiple output files.  That is a single encoded file can contain an unlimited individually encoded files.  Decoding from Multiple Input Files as One is not supported.  Well, last but not least, Fastcode supports single file Encoding for MIME, UU, XX, and BtoA, but not in BinHex.

F.A.Q. – Trouble Shooting


Topic 5 Title
F.A.Q. – Trouble Shooting

1.)  You’ve just received an E-mail along with an attachment, but the E-mail program doesn’t decode the file for you, so what do you do?

Well, first of all you cannot just double click on the title of the E-mail in your E-mail program and then expect Fastcode to do something about it, that’s because Fastcode is a separate program that has absolutely no linkage between itself and other programs.  So what do you do?  There’s only one thing!  Save the E-mail as a separate file onto the hard-disk using the very important “SAVE AS…” command.  Most if not all program should have this command located within the “File” menu or in the Pop-up menu from the right mouse click.  Save the file as any name you want as long as you can find it later on.  After the file (E-mail) is saved, you can now open up Fastcode and decode the file.

2.)  You’ve checked the encoded file and it’s got the correct header info and the encode contents, Fastcode can’t seem to decode the file correctly.  What’s wrong?

First, make sure the file is in PC Dos/Windows format.  A valid Dos/Windows text file format has a CR/LF pair at the end of a line (except for the last line of the file).  How can you tell? Well, a Mac text file usually end a line with a single CR (hex 0D).  A Unix text file usually end a line with a single LF (hex 0A).  How do you check for the format of the file?  Simply open up the file in Notepad or Wordpad, and if you see the file appears to be in one long line and a blank (hollow) square once in a while in the long string, then the format is not Dos/Windows.  (The blank square is a non-printable character, and in this case, it can be either LF or CR.)  What do you do now?  Fastcode is equipped with a converter (hit [F3]) for converting Unix and Mac text files into Dos/Windows format.  You can still use the converter on a Dos/Windows text file, it will only make no changes to the file.  So you can still run any text file through the converter even if you’re not sure about its format.

Second, if it is not a problem with the file format, then something is wrong with the encoded contents.  Try a different “AutoDecoding” mode.  Always try mode-1 before mode-2 and compare the resulting output files.  Note that in using “AutoDecoding” modes, the encoded file must have a valid header.  If it is still not good.  You might want to manually decode the file.  That is you can try to decode the file with all the available format.  In this mode you must select “AutoDecoding - OFF”.  The file must also be clear of any messages before the encoded contents.  If there are extra messages on top before the encoded contents, you will need to delete them using a text editor.  That is required because Fastcode will force decode the file starting at the first non-empty line and stop at the next empty line (encoded contents are always in a block).  The basic idea is that Fastcode reads the file from top to bottom, and you want Fastcode to encounter the encoded contents first before it reads any other text.

3.)  Why is there an output file error that says “Error creating/writing to output file”?

Before the file starts to decode, check that the output file that is being saved is valid.  In order to do so, you must uncheck the command that says “Use Default Filename” under the “Settings” menu.  When it is unchecked, every time you decode or encode a file, Fastcode will always show you the output filename and allows you to make last minute changes to it.  What do you have to look for in the output filename?  Well, first of all, make sure it is not empty.  A file cannot be created when it is empty.  Second, a valid Windows filename may contain the following characters: (space) a..z A..Z 0..9 _ . ! # $ % & ) ( @ ] [  } { ~ =

There are also a few other special characters that are valid, but it is best that you keep each characters within the 7-bit range.

4.)  Ok, you’ve received an encoded file from a friend, and tried to decode the file but it didn’t come out right.  While your other friend who has a different ISP had no trouble receiving and decoding the same file.  What’s wrong?

Blame it on the server!  Actually this problem rarely, if ever, happens.  If you see a regular pattern or consistency in this problem and the Tech support doesn’t seem to do anything about it, then I suggest you switch ISP.

*** To help you defeat any future decoding problems, it is beneficial for you to look at a few encoding examples.  Here are 4 examples of valid encoded messages in various formats.  These are actual encoded messages that can be decoded.  Simply do a copy & paste to a text editor, and run the saved file through Fastcode.  You can copy and put all of them into one single file or separate them into four separate files before decoding.  Check the file sizes after decoding!  See if you can identify the header info from the body of the encoded contents.  Note: after copy & paste operation, make sure each of the encoded block is not cut by any blank lines.  If so, remove the blank lines otherwise it will not be decoded correctly.   Just make sure it looks much the same as your see it here.

These 4 messages are some of my most favorite quotes!

File sizes: !quote1.txt – 295, !quote2.txt – 306, !quote3.txt – 203, !quote4.txt - 271

-----------------------------------------------------------------

Content-Type: application/octet-stream; name="!quote1.txt"

Content-Transfer-Encoding: Base64

Content-Disposition: attachment; filename="!quote1.txt"

U28gc29tZXRpbWVzIHRoaW5ncyBhcmUgYWhlYWQgYW5kIHNvbWV0aW1lcyB0

aGV5IGFyZSBiZWhpbmQ7DQogIFNvbWV0aW1lcyBicmVhdGhpbmcgaXMgaGFy

ZCwgc29tZXRpbWVzIGl0IGNvbWVzIGVhc2lseTsNCiAgICBTb21ldGltZXMg

dGhlcmUgaXMgc3RyZW5ndGggYW5kIHNvbWV0aW1lcyB3ZWFrbmVzczsNCiAg

ICAgICAgICBTb21ldGltZXMgb25lIGlzIHVwIGFuZCBzb21ldGltZXMgZG93

bi4NCg0KVGhlcmVmb3JlIHRoZSBzYWdlIGF2b2lkcyBleHRyZW1lcywgZXhj

ZXNzZXMsIGFuZCBjb21wbGFjZW5jeS4NCg==

begin 644 !quote2.txt

M("`@("`@("`@("`@02!M86X@:7,@8F]R;B!G96YT;&4@86YD('=E86LN#0H@

M("`@("`@("`@070@:&ES(&1E871H(&AE(&ES(&AA<F0@86YD('-T:69F+@T*

M("`@("`@1W)E96X@<&QA;G1S(&%R92!T96YD97(@86YD(&9I;&QE9"!W:71H

M('-A<"X-"B`@("`@("`@($%T(&1E871H('1H97D@87)E('=I=&AE<F5D(&%N

M9"!D<GDN#0H-"E1H97)E9F]R92!T:&4@<W1I9F8@86YD('5N8F5N9&EN9R!I

M<R!T:&4@9&ES8VEP;&4@;V8@9&5A=&@N#0H@("`@(%1H92!G96YT;&4@86YD

D('EI96QD:6YG(&ES('1H92!D:7-C:7!L92!O9B!L:69E+@T*

`

end

xbtoa Begin !quote3.txt

<+oi`AKY].+Du*?B6%QlFCfJ8F(oM7FD,*#+Co&)Bl[c9%15jK+D5_+@<?($+CfP7F(HJ9BOPd$A8-

*pDf0Z.DKIE=$;PL^B6%QlFCfJ8D/"''DfTrBDIjr4BOPd$G@>B2Bl7Q+F)Po,FD,B+B-:f)EZf:<A

TMF!AhFN"<+oi`AS,k$AKYYt+EqL;+DYk5GB4mKBOQ!*ASuF/B4rE%F!,%3Dfo]++EqO9C`m/&G@>c

<+D>2,AKYQ%Dfo]+/e&-f

xbtoa End N 203 cb E 73 S 49ab R faa1410d

(This file must be converted with BinHex 4.0)

:#b&aG@pdC63ZG(Kd!&4&@&4YC'pc!*!%!3m!N!5$NdKP)(GSEb"VEQphFb"ZEh3

JB@jN)'YZEhGc)'j[G#"SC5"VEQphFb"ZEh3Z)%KP)'Pc)'%JCQp[E#dJ8fKeEL"

SD@dZ$3SJ5'8JGfK[)'YZEhGc)'j[G#"KEQ3JDfj[Gh-JD'8JDfj[Gh-JEQpd,L"

)C5"TFb"cD@e`E'8Y)&4PB@0S)'KTE5i0#L!J5'8JGfK[)'YZEhGc)'&ZC#"VEQp

hFb"ZEh3JD'8JDfj[Gh-Z)#")C5"TFb"KFfaPCA!Y)%&hB@YPEL"SD@dZ$3SJN!0

)C5"hD'mJDfj[Gh-JB@jN)'YZEhGc)(4SBA3JD'8JDfj[Gh-Z)%KP)'Pc)(GTFf8

Y)%C[E'a[Gb"SD@dZ$3Um03!!:

-----------------------------------------------------------------

If you have any other strange decoding problems, please e-mail me about it!

Last note & Contact info


Topic 6 Title
Last note & Contact info

Well, if you previously owned Fastcode95 v1 or v2, you can throw those away because Fastcode32 is much better comparing to its older brother.  I’ve decided to build this newer version because I feel that the previous version 3.0x has a few of weak points.  There might be a future update if I ever decides to include a new encoding formats or when there is a serious problem with this version.  If you run into any trouble or bugs, please contact me and I'll try to respond as soon as possible.  I love to hear suggestions for any improvements that'll make the program better suite you, the user.  You can send comments and suggestions directly to my e-mail. (My average respond time is around 1 to 2 days)

Contact information...

E-mail:  turbopascal@hotmail.com (Primary)

             recursive@bigfoot.com

Homepage:  http://www.angelfire.com/ca/kent/   -- the gateway to my Internet Empire

If you have problem accessing my homepage then try my other sites...

http://trailerpark.com/phase1/next/fileutil.html   -- all my (free) programs are here

http://www.geocities.com/SiliconValley/Park/7532/   -- the shareware page (internet tools)

http://members.tripod.com/~listerman/

Well, be sure to look for updates and other freeware that I'll be posting to the web.  Enjoy the program!

   :-)

Hey, if you have time, visit my schools’ homepages.  They're pretty cool!

http://www.ucdavis.edu/  -- U.C. Davis

http://www.cs.ucdavis.edu/  -- Department of Computer Science

http://www.ece.ucdavis.edu/  -- Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering

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