This file is best viewed in SimpleText. It contains an exact copy of the help available from within Cross Platform, however in this format it can be viewed separately, or printed.
Introduction and Help
Cross Platform provides information about how the files on a Macintosh can be used with Windows-based computers. It also functions as an excellent disk-cataloging tool. There are three main types of user who will need it :
• Users needing to share files with Windows-based computers.
• Macintosh users needing to work on Windows computers.
• Users wishing to catalogue and analyze the files on their computer.
Documents on your Macintosh may not be readable under Windows. Cross Platform analyzes the files it finds in great depth, informing you of whether, and how they are readable under Windows. It will recommend MacLink, from DataViz if appropriate, and discern whether the file can be used directly without translation with the Windows version of the software.
File names on the Macintosh will also often be unusable under Windows since certain characters in Macintosh file names are not permitted under Windows. Cross Platform identifies this problem, and we recommend using NameCleaner, also by Sig Software, to remedy it.
There are two sources of help within Cross Platform. Firstly, there is the ActiveHelp toolbar at the top of the screen, which describes the purpose and function of the current mouse location. Secondly, there is the Help window, which can be viewed by clicking the ActiveHelp toolbar or choosing Cross Platform Help from the Help menu.
We hope you find Cross Platform useful. If there are any queries, comments or suggestions, please contact us at support@sigsoftware.com.
Sig Software
http://www.sigsoftware.com/
Payment and Registration
Cross Platform is freely distributed as trial software. You are permitted to evaluate it for 28 days before discarding it, or purchasing a Personal or Network license. When Cross Platform is purchased, the report limit of 100 files is removed. If you purchase the Network license, you will also be able to access files on networked servers.
Licensing
You must purchase one license for each computer on which Cross Platform is used. Licenses can be purchased with the enclosed Register Cross Platform program, using a page on the World Wide Web, or via telephone. Payment may be made by cash, check, VISA, MasterCard or American Express.
Pricing
Current pricing is $20 for a Personal License, $40 for a Network License (allows analysis of files on networked servers), and $30 for a Personal License bundled with NameCleaner. There is excellent discount pricing available for multiple-license purchases of these packages; the Register Cross Platform application includes pricing for up to 20 licenses - for higher-volume pricing, please contact us at pricing@sigsoftware.com.
Purchasing online (easiest)
• Click Purchase Online… in the about box or go to http://order.kagi.com/?BX
• Wait for your web browser to load up the page.
• Select how many of which products you wish to purchase.
• Enter your name, address and email address in the areas provided (all are required).
• Please enter any additional comments in the space provided.
• Follow the instructions on the web page to enter your credit-card details.
Purchasing via email
• Click Purchase Alternative… in the about box or run the Register Cross Platform program.
• Enter your name, address and email address in the areas provided (all are required).
• Select how many of which products you wish to purchase.
• Please enter any additional comments by clicking the speech bubble next to the product name.
• Select the VISA, MasterCard or American Express payment method and enter your card details.
• Click the Copy… button to copy out the text for emailing.
• Create a new email message in your email software.
• Choose Paste from the Edit menu.
• Address the message to shareware@kagi.com and send it.
Purchasing over the telephone
• Call (US) 510 658-5244, available 10am to 5pm PST weekdays and at some other times.
• Follow the instructions on the telephone.
• When asked, specify how many, of which products you wish to purchase.
• When asked, state your name, address and email address clearly (all are required).
• Please note that telephone orders carry an additional handling charge of $5.
Purchasing via fax
• Click Purchase Alternative… in the about box or run the Register Cross Platform program.
• Enter your name, address and email address in the areas provided (all are required).
• Select how many of which products you wish to purchase.
• Please enter any additional comments by clicking the speech bubble next to the product name.
• Select the VISA, MasterCard or American Express payment method and enter your card details.
• Click the Print… button to print out the form for faxing.
• Fax the printed form to (US) 510 652-6589.
Purchasing by mail (slowest)
• Click Purchase Alternative… in the about box or run the Register Cross Platform program.
• Enter your name, address and email address in the areas provided (all are required).
• Select how many of which products you wish to purchase.
• Please enter any additional comments by clicking the speech bubble next to the product name.
• Select the Check, Cash, VISA, MasterCard or American Express payment method.
• If you are purchasing by cash, select the currency you wish to pay in.
• If you are purchasing by credit-card, enter your card details.
• Click the Print… button to print out the form to sent with your payment.
• Send to : Kagi, 1442-A Walnut St PMB #392-BX, Berkeley, CA 94709-1405, USA.
After you have purchased
As soon as your payment has been processed by Kagi, you will automatically receive an email with the subject Thanks for your Payment containing an enabler code which will work for 7 days. During this period you will also be emailed your permanent license code or contacted if there is a problem (a human has to check your details before sending a permanent license). If you wish to trace an order, please contact support@sigsoftware.com.
Getting Started
Cross Platform starts off with a blank report containing no folders. To analyze a folder or disk, click Add…, drop it into the empty list, report area, or onto the Cross Platform icon in the Finder. It is preferable to analyze one or more specific folders than to examine your entire hard disk.
To remove a folder from the list, select it then click Remove. To reindex a folder (because its contents may have changed), select it then click Reindex….
Reports and Searching
Cross Platform contains several built-in reports, which are accessible through the Report pop-up menu. Select a preset from this menu, or choose Custom Options… to customise the report to your needs. See the section below for a full explanation of report contents. To search for files by name, type something in the Search field. The report will be instantly rebuilt, containing only the matching files.
Built-in Reports
• Summarized by Location. This lists all files and groups them based on their location. Detailed summary information is also shown for each group.
• Summarized by Type. This groups files based on their type, e.g. picture or text.
• Summarized by Category. This groups files based on their category.
• Untransferrable. This shows files which are not cross-platform compatible or readable by DataViz MacTranslators. These files are most likely to present difficulty in moving to Windows.
• Needing renaming. This shows files whose names cannot be used under Windows. The folder will need to be cleaned with a product such as NameCleaner, also by Sig Software. More information can be found on our web site.
• Breakdown by Modified. This groups files based on the date they were last modified. Individual files are not shown at all.
The Database
Cross Platform categorizes files by using a database, stored in the file named Cross Platform Database.
We would appreciate your assistance in expanding this database. After using Cross Platform heavily for the first time, choose Copy New Codes from the Utilities menu. You will be given instructions on how to proceed, if you wish.
To obtain the latest version of the database, visit the Cross Platform page at http://www.sigsoftware.com/crossplatform/. If you open a document containing an index made with an older version of the database, you will automatically be prompted to reindex the folders and disks in that document.
Technical Information : The new codes message contains the creator and type codes encountered which are not contained in the current database. For creator codes, an application name is also sent if one was found. More information is given within the new codes message.
Individual Files
When sharing with or moving to Windows computers, files (or 'documents') may be in a format which cannot be read under Windows. The report will search given folders for files, and analyze them. See the Getting Started topic for information on built-in reports; reports can also be customized to define exactly what information to show.
Information available for each file
• Location. The full path name of the folder or sub-folder the file is located in.
• Name. The name of the file, as shown in the Finder.
• Creator Code. The four-character creator code assigned to the file. This is normally hidden from view and is used by the system and Finder to help identify a program and its files.
• Creator. The program name corresponding to the Creator Code. It is usually the program which created the file. This will be blank if the Creator Code is not in the database and the program which created the file cannot be found on any disk.
• Type Code. The four-character type code assigned to the file. This is normally hidden from view and is used by the system and Finder to help identify the format of a file.
• Type. The descriptive format of the file. This will be blank if the Type Code is not in the database.
• Size. The size of the file on disk, rounded to the nearest kilobyte.
• Date Modified. The date on which the file was last modified.
• Date Created. The date on which the file was originally created.
• Status. This can contain Category, Practicality and Problems information, described below.
+ Category. One of "Standard", "Mac Standard", "Proprietary" or "Unknown". For a description of these terms, please see below.
+ Practicality. Practicalities about making the file usable under Windows. It can contain "Compatible" and/or "DataViz". For a description of these terms, please see below.
+ Problems. Problems which will be encountered in moving the file to Windows. It can contain "Resources" and/or "Naming". For a description of these terms, please see below.
Meaning of Status keywords
• Standard. This file is in a generally standard format and should be easy to use with many different programs under Windows.
• Mac Standard. This file is in a standard Macintosh-only format and not easily used under Windows. However, some Windows programs may be able to read it.
• Proprietary. This file is in a format belonging to a specific program. Some Windows programs may be able to read the file, otherwise it may have to be exported to a standard format on the Mac, and reimported under Windows.
• Unknown. The database does not have information about the format of this file. See the Database topic on how you can assist us in expanding it.
• Compatible. This file is claimed to be easily opened under the Windows version of the program which created it. These claims vary in accuracy for different programs and it may be useful to try it with some files.
• DataViz. This file can be read by MacLink, from DataViz, for converting to many other Macintosh and Windows file formats. Sig Software is not associated with DataViz, and provides this information for user convenience only.
• Resources. This file contains information in resources (the resource 'fork'), which will be lost in a move to Windows. Sometimes the information in the resources will be non-critical.
• Naming. The name of this file is unusable under Windows, often because it contains certain incompatible characters. Use the Preferences to set whether the target considered is Windows 95 or NT. The folder will need to be cleaned with a product such as NameCleaner, also by Sig Software. More information can be found on our web site.
Summaries
A global summary always appears at the very end of the report, however the report may also be split into groups, with a summary appearing at the end of each one. The groups are chosen sensibly, based on the column the report is sorted by.
Each summary contains detailed information about the files it is summarizing. Before continuing, please read the Individual Files topic to understand how individual files are analyzed. Reports can be customized to define exactly what information to show in the summaries.
Information available in each summary
• Number of files. The number of files covered by the summary.
• Average Size. The average size (on disk) of the files.
• Total Size. The total size (on disk) of the files.
• Statuses. A tally for each of the different file status keywords. See the Individual Files help topic for an explanation of the meaning of status keywords.
• Further Status Breakdown. An additional tally of four important combinations of document statuses. For more information, please see below.
• Modified Average. The average date on which the files were last modified.
• Modified Range. The minimum and maximum dates on which the files were last modified.
• Created Average. The average date on which the files were originally created.
• Created Range. The minimum and maximum dates on which the files were originally created.
Further Status Breakdown categories
• Mac Standard & DataViz. Files in a Macintosh-only Standard Format that can be read by MacLink, from DataViz. This is useful to know because other Mac Standard files may not be easily used under Windows.
• Proprietary & Compatible. Files in a format belonging to a specific program that are claimed to be easily opened under the Windows version of the program which created them. This is useful to know because other Proprietary files will have to be translated or exported for use under Windows.
• Proprietary & DataViz. Files in a format belonging to a specific program that can be read by MacLink, from DataViz. This is useful to know because other Proprietary files, that are not Compatible, will have to be manually exported for use under Windows.
• Proprietary & Untransferrable. Files in a format belonging to a specific program whose status contains neither Compatible or DataViz. This is useful to know because these files are likely to present the most difficulty for usage under Windows; they will probably have to be exported to a standard format on the Mac, and reimported under Windows.
Report Options
The report can be customized by choosing Custom Options… from the report pop-up menu. This shows the Report Options dialog box. There are three panels of settings, selectable the Panel menu. Changes made in the dialog box will have an instant effect on the report being displayed.
Individual Files
If Show Itemized Individual Files is off, individual files will not be analyzed, and only summary information will be presented in the report.
The Verbose check box determines whether Status keywords are displayed in full, or in shortened form. The Category, Practicality and Problems check boxes determine which types of keywords are displayed in the Status column.
The other check boxes in this panel control which columns are shown in the itemized report. See the Individual Files topics for more information.
Sorting, Summaries
Select a field to sort the report by in the Sort By menu. This determines the order in which individual files appear in the report, and also affects the way groups may be chosen.
A global summary always appears at the very end of the report, however if Group and Summarize is on, the report will be split into groups, with a summary appearing at the end of each one.
The other check boxes control which information is shown in summaries. See the Summaries topic for more information.
File Filtering
If Apply Filtering to Files is on, files will filtered based to see if they should be included in the report. For a file to be included in the report, it must pass every filter. To add a new filter to the list, select the filter type from the menu, type the filter value into the field provided, and click Add. If the filter value was incorrectly specified, it will be corrected instead of being added. To remove a filter, select it from the list, then click Remove.
Most of the filter types are obvious. The Creator filters uses program names such as "SimpleText" whereas Creator Code uses a four-character code such as "ttxt". The same goes for Type and Type Code. For their filter value, the Modified and Created filters require a date expressed in standard system format (e.g. 5/6/97).
For the Status criteria in reports, filter values of "Compatible", "DataViz", "Mac Standard", "Naming", "Proprietary", "Resources", "Standard" and "Unknown" can be used.
Miscellaneous
Saving
Use the Save and Save As… commands in the File menu to save the current document as a file for later reopening. The full index of folder and disk contents will be stored in this file, and the report will be automatically rebuilt whenever the file is opened.
Printing
The report can be printed using the Print… command in the File menu. It is worth choosing Page Setup… first to set the printer up. The report columns will automatically be scaled horizontally to fit the width of the printed page.
Preferences
Choose Preferences… from the Utilities menu to adjust some overall settings. The Report Font and Report Size settings affect how the reports are displayed and printed. The Renaming For setting determines whether file names are checked based on rules for Windows 95/98 or Windows NT.
Using Files in a Report Row
Click on a report row describing an individual file to select it. Choose Open File from the Utilities menu to open the file (as if it were double-clicked in the Finder). Choose Show File from the Utilities menu to show where the file is located in the Finder. Rows may also be double-clicked to open the file they describe.
Exporting Reports
Choose Export Report… from the Utilities menu to export the report currently displayed as a text file for reading in almost any Macintosh application.
Any distribution of Cross Platform must include this file. No responsibility about Cross Platform's functionality or integrity is implied. This document and Cross Platform are copyright of the author. Other trademarks are copyright of their respective owners.
