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│░ │░ T2A - Text to Ansi/Avatar Convertor │░ Version 2.0 │░ For RemoteAccess │░ │░ │░ (C)Copyright 1992,1993 Rand Nowell │░ - RaLin Enterprises - │░ "Putting Bits Together" (tm) │░ All Rights Reserved │░ │░ Program Documentation │░ January 1993 │░ │░ - Manual Contents - Legal Terms...........................i Overview..............................1 Making a Template File..............1,2 Filenames.............................2 Entering Codes....................2,3,4 Background Colors...................4,5 Example Files.........................5 Pause Code Notes......................5 Other Program Formats.................5 Beta Testing........................5,6 Obtaining Updates.....................6 Evaluation Copy vs. Registered......6,7 Future Compatibility..................7 Future Expansion/Enhancements.........7 Support: Phone Number Note............7 Support: Other Aspects................8 Acknowladgements......................8 LEGAL TERMS: Page i This program is not Public Domain, nor is it Freeware. The program, documentation and included utilities are the Copyrighted work of Rand Nowell dba RaLin Enterprises. The program may be distributed in its Shareware form, as long as all documentation and support files are included. I request that you distribute this original Authenticated ZIP file archive, but the archive format may be changed by Sysops if they feel it is needed. This program is distributed under the Shareware Concept, Try Before You Buy. After you have evaluated the program for a period of two weeks, if you continue to use the program, the registration fee is due to the Author. The program nor any of its utilities or documentation may be altered, nor may the Registerd version of the program be distributed to others. Doing so is in violation of Federal and International Copyright Law. Please do not add additional files to this archive, for distribution. No warranties are expressed or implied. Use the program at your own risk. The author will not be liable for any damages whatsoever. Registered Users will be warranted insofar as the media the program is distributed to them on, will be free from deffects, and if not shall be replaced by the author. This warranty does not apply to copies received via Download from our BBS, or via Netmail file attach. Your use of T2A and its supporting files/program(s) constitutes your understanding and agreement to these terms. T2A Ver 2.0 Text to Ansi/Avatar Convertor Page 1 OVERVIEW: While T2A is useful to EVERYONE, it is probably of most value to the RemoteAccess BBS Sysop! T2A is designed to take any Ascii text file and with the insertion of special codes, convert that file to a Color Ansi/Avatar version, which may be displayed from DOS or as a screen in a BBS program. T2A does not create an animated screen as do some Ansi EDITORS, but thats not what it was designed to do. The main purpose of T2A is to allow you to create or modify a text file of "any page length" into a colorful Ansi version. Thus, there are no cursor movement codes. While this is somewhat limiting, consider if you will, what you have to go through to create a L-O-N-G directory listing for a BBS?? You have to create multiple pages in a Ansi Editor program, save each file both as Ansi and Ascii, then from DOS do a COPY ?????.ans+??????.ans+?????.ans file.ans..... then do the same for the Ascii version. Or what about a three page report that you obtain from another source, and you want to display it to your users, but in color. Bet you can't do that in an Ansi Editor as easy as you can with T2A! An Ansi file of any page length! Thats why I first wrote T2A. And I have found it to be less time consuming than using TheDraw, though I do use TheDraw (a registered user) extensivly for many of my BBS screens. I found T2A to be pretty useful, so I modified the first version and released it to the public. I admit, ver 1.2 release, the program and documentation are kinda skimpy and wimpy, but thats why I made that version FREE! But then I continued to develop and enhance it, and thats what you have here. With T2A you create one file, insert the codes, then run that file through T2A and end up with an Ansi/Avatar =and= a clean Ascii copy, ready to roll! The "template" file you created could be saved for future additions/changes. If all you want to create is the Ansi file, with no Avatar or Ascii version, switches have been provided to bypass creation. Typing T2A by itself will display a help screen for code/switch and color code format reference. The file COLORT2A.REF also contains these and all the color codes to enter. NOTE: Some functions, codes etc are NOT avaialble in the Evaluation Copy. These are marked with {+} where I remembered to do so. There is also a section in the documentation explaining what is not available util you receive a Registered Copy. Registered only functions are also marked on the REFERENCE sheet. MAKING THE TEMPLATE FILE: The "template" file is simply the ascii file with codes inserted, that you run T2A on. For RemoteAccess - The Best BBS Software! T2A Ver 2.0 Text to Ansi/Avatar Convertor Page 2 1. Using your favorite editor, load in the file you want to convert, or start a new one. Layout the file the way you want, boxes,lines, text. Format (place) everything the way you want it to appear in the Ansi file. If the screen is for a BBS, I suggect you set the right margin at NO MORE than 76. 1.(a) See ENTERING CODES below. 2. Make sure your template file uses an extension other than .ASC, I suggest .TXT or .MSG as a good one. You should set a habit of using the same extension for all your template files. If you end up using T2A a lot, make all your template file extensions .T2A, then you'll =ALWAYS= know what they are. 3. Once the Template file is done, all codes inserted, run T2A on it. Then you should type the Ansi file to the screen: "Type FILE.ANS" and press Enter..... If the file is multiple pages in length, you can use your PAUSE/BREAK key to pause the typing. If you see something you want to change, note its position in the file, edit the file with your change(s), and re-run T2A. REMINDER! T2A =always= overwrites any existing ANS-AVT{+}-ASC file it sees with the same name in the directory. If you want two different copies to compare....when you re-run T2A, assign a different name to the output file(s). FILENAMES: The file to be converted (template file) should always be given with it's extension, and MUST reside in the current directory. T2A will tell you if it cannot find the file you specified. The file you wish to create can be any name, even the same name as your template file. You can type anything you wish, but T2A will only use the first eight (8) characters of the given name. This is to prevent someone from entering DIDDLEBOPE (10 chars) or NEWMENU1.BBS and causing T2A to abort with an error message. A little safety measure. ENTERING CODES: (Text Format:) One thing to remember when entering the control codes and the color codes, as you enter them, they will move your text to the right. DO NOT ADJUST THE FORMATTING! The codes and colors written to the file will not show when the file is typed to the screen, so your text,lines,boxes etc. will all show properly when displayed. (Left Foot First) I have found that it is best to create your basic layout in the editor first, format the text. draw your boxes etc. Of course this is assuming you are creating a 'new' file/message. If you are enhancing an existing text file, to have a color version, then all you have to do place the variable/color codes where you want them. For RemoteAccess - The Best BBS Software! T2A Ver 2.0 Text to Ansi/Avatar Convertor Page 3 In regards to the RA system variables, you can enter the Ctl-Key presses as you type, or wait until all text is entered. I generally enter a marker such as ?? where I am going to want a System Variable placed. As in "Its ?? at ?? and How are you ?? ?" In the above, the markers would be replaced with the variables for DayOfWeek - TIME -and UserFirstName, the last question mark is supposed to be there <grin>.... After your text, boxes, variables etc are placed, THEN go in and place the color codes. Please see the section below on different background colors. REMEMBER.....when you enter the codes, or system variables, your text and drawing characters will be moved to the right..... DO NOT REFORMAT THE TEXT.... all spaces occupied by the created AVATAR or ANSI color codes, will NOT be displayed when the screen is shown. Your text etc will maintain its original format. If you are using the same colorcode at many different locations in the file, I reccomend you use the Block Copy feature of your editor. Once you ahve entered in the code one time, mark it for copy, then PASTE it in whatever areas you need it. This is especially useful if you are creating a multi-page File Area Listing for instance. Where each line will use say 4 colors for 4 different parts of each line. Go to the first line, enter the color codes as you want them, before continuing, you may wish to run the file through T2A, even though there is only one line done, to see if you =really= like your color scheme. Go ahead, it will only take a minute! Once you are decided on the colors for each line, go to the first color code, mark it as a block, then cursor down each line and paste it in. Do the for each code on the first line....you'll be suprised at how fast you can finish this portion of the file creation using this method. I =HIGHLY= reccomend QEdit, the Shareware text editor for creating, modifying your files. Keep in mind that all the RA system variables =WILL= expand to display the proper information. You need to allow for this as you layout or modify your text. For instance, if you have a 70 character line of text, at the end of which you place the code for the Users Full Name, and that name expands to 25 characters, you're gonna have a messed up display. (Bad Format:) I have tried to keep the control codes assigned to characters that are not necssacary to writing a message etc. You must be sure you do not use these codes as part of your regular text, or you will get an error message, Guarenteed! For instance the @ which specifies the start of a color code, if you were to enter the following: @015 We meet @5:00pm @003.... you would get the Error Message: Error reading color codes - because 5:00pm is not a valid color code. {+}This is also a major problem with using the forward slash (/) in the general text, it specifies that a RA pause value is following, and if its not there, as in (/15) you will get an error message and the program will abort. The following: Files in the NEW/TEXT area - will cause an error and program abort. So you will have to be creative in some cases where you would normally use one of the control codes in normal text. Perhaps in a later version I will For RemoteAccess - The Best BBS Software! T2A Ver 2.0 Text to Ansi/Avatar Convertor Page 4 impliment a different type of code entry, but for now, this way has proven to be the easiest to set up, and the easiest to use! (Color Codes:) Color codes after the @ must be entered as a 3 digit number. T2A parses the next three charecters after it sees the @, so if a code is only one or two digits it must be zero padded. If T2A picks up a space or a charecter during the code parseing, you =WILL= get an error and a program abort! Thus if your code is 2 for green on black, it would be entered as @002. Some codes, like Black on White (112) do not need to be zero padded, this one would be written as @112.....got it? DIFFERENT BACKGROUND COLORS: If you want the background color to be other than black, there are a few things to keep in mind. First, lets assume you are going to have BLACK as the basic background color, with your text color Cyan. But lets say you want a certian block of text to be Bright White on Blue. For =each= seperate line you need to enter the code for Bright White on blue: @015, and at the end of each line the code, you place the code for Cyan on Black: @003. This keeps the blue background color from bleeding to the next line. In most text editors, if you space bar, tab, or even cursor over to the right, it creates blank spaces at the beginning of the line, so if the background color of the previous line is not set to the 'overall' color used, the spaces at the beginning will be blue. Makes for a messy screen. Another problem run into is when you press ENTER at the 'END' of the line, there are NO spaces beyond that point, this means if your lines are not justified to the right (even right margin), then you will end up with some lines shorter (in blue) than others, again, a messy screen. Depending on the editor, you may be able to just space bar to the proper line position befor pressing enter. This will insure all lines in the different background color of being the same length. Remember to insert the color code 'after' the last character position, before pressing enter. If this method does not work, you may have to pad the blank area with 'solid' spaces. These are entered with Alt + 255 using the numeric keypad numbers. The solid space trick is especially useful for one or two words in a different background color, you can have one leading and one trailing solid space in the different color, to 'frame' the word or phrase. View the enclosed file BAKGRND.T2A and BAKGRND.ANS for an example of the effects of blank spaces in respect to colors. This file is more than 25 lines long, so you may wish to use the supplied T2AVIEW.EXE to view all the example files included. This is a simple program that will only display 23 lines at a time, then wait for you to press a key. It will only work with the Ascii and Ansi files. It will NOT properly display the AVATAR files. T2AVIEW is easier than entering TYPE FILENAME.ANS at the prompt, then scrambling for your pause key, before the screen scrolls out of sight :-) For RemoteAccess - The Best BBS Software! T2A Ver 2.0 Text to Ansi/Avatar Convertor Page 5 Its not a super fast display, but it will do the job, you may use it for whatever you like! == YOU MUST HAVE ANSI.SYS LOADED TO VIEW THE ANSI FILES == (Like I said, its a simple program) If you have a program such as A_Type, you can view the Avatar file from the Dos command line. Perhaps later I will modify T2AVIEW to display the Avatar file also. Please view the included EXAMPLE files to see how the codes are used. EXAMPLE.T2A The template file. EXAMPLE.ANS The Ansi creation. EXAMPLE.AVT The Avatar creation. EXAMPLE.ASC The clean Ascii creation.{+} BAKGRND.T2A Template file for Backgroung Color Demo BAKGRND.ANS Same thing, but Ansi Color. View w/T2AVIEW. BAKGRND.ASC Ascii Version.{+} Along with these and the T2ACOLOR.REF that you can print out, you can be on a Quick start to making T2A do the work for you. I am not going to go into coverage of all the codes and colors here, the file T2ACOLOR.REF should explain all that pretty well. A note though: The PAUSE{+} switch: (/) this requires a "number" after it. Should you use the (/) without a number following it, T2A will abort with a message explaining why, and what to do. =PAUSE LENGTH= Maximum value allowed= 30 When entering pause's be aware that the system clock coupled with the modem delays etc may not give you what you think you're getting for a pause. If you put in a 15 second pause, you may actually give your users a 30 second pause or =more=. Log on locally and test screens with pauses, to long a pause in a screen can chase callers/users away. If you can call in from a remote to test, thats even better yet! =TEST=TEST=TEST and TEST again!! NEW VERSIONS: I am working on versions of T2A for use with Wildcat! and PCBoard. The WC and PCB versions will have to be seperate programs, as they require =more= codes for color changes than does the Ansi version, this is mainly because both WC and PCB do not have a code to set the blinking attribute only, as does Ansi. This means that for =EVERY= color combination another code needs to be specified for the same colorcombo with the foreground blinking. Basically what this means is that while T2A has about 96 color codes for you to enter, the WC and PCB versions will have more like 187 or so. BETA TESTING: For RemoteAccess - The Best BBS Software! T2A Ver 2.0 Text to Ansi/Avatar Convertor Page 6 I do not run a Wildcat! or PCBoard BBS, I run RemoteAccess, and am in need of folks to help debug the upcomming WC/PCB versions. If you are a Wildcat! or PCBoard Sysop, and would like to Beta Test the WC or PCB version(s) please see the file BETA.DOC OBTAINING UPDATES: Notification of updated versions will be posted both on my BBS and in the FidoNet Shareware Echo. Those who have registered T2A may obtain the latest version by requesting T2AR with the password given you with your registered copy notification. The updates will be under a "generic" name: ie T2AR.ZIP, you may wish to do an UPDATE REQUEST instead of a normal request, so you will not get another copy of a version you already have. (Refer to your mailer doc) Callers to the BBS may also update by requesting to download T2AR.ZIP this file will not show on any file listing, but it will be available. The same password will be required. EVALUATION Vs. REGISTERED: Its an unfortunate fact, MANY people do NOT register their Shareware programs. So when an author puts out a program into the Shareware Market he needs to: 1. Distribute the Full Bore program, and figure it a free donation, and any money received is an extra suprise. 2. Distribute a workable copy, with additional features, that are only available upon registration. 3. Distribute a 'crippled' version that hardly does 'anything' until its registered. My Feelings: I design these programs for several reasons.... 1. I enjoy doing it. 2. I needed this type program. 3. To help support my family of hungry, growing teenage boys, and a six year old daughter who has discoverd what new clothes all the time is about <grin> I DO NOT LIKE Crippleware or Expireware. I either distribute a full blown copy, and allow donations if the user is willing, or distribute a good working copy with additional features available on registration. T2A falls into the latter catagory, it is fully functional, and will allow you to evaluate it. But some functions will only be available in the registered version. The list follows...also, any variables not working in the Evaluation copy are marked as such on the Reference Sheet. File Creation: Evaluation= Ansi & Avatar Registered= Ansi - Avatar - Clean Ascii Copy. I have not disbled the Avatar creation, because if you are running RemoteAccess, then you most likely have AVTCONV to convert the Ansi For RemoteAccess - The Best BBS Software! T2A Ver 2.0 Text to Ansi/Avatar Convertor Page 7 version to Avatar anyway. But not having the Ascii version means you have to create the Ascii file, then copy it to another file to use as a template....so I have a little leverage there <another big grin>. System Variables: Disbled in Evaluation Copy... ^ = Ansi/Avatar Blink Attribute `(Left Apostrophe) Inserts Code /nn= Pause Value to disable Aborting with 'S' Ctl-D= User Full Name Ctl-E= Users Handle Ctl-R= Day of Week Ctl-Q= Todays Date Ctl-X= Continue Prompt On Ctl-X= Continue Prompt Off Now these, I know you can enter anyway, but you will find, after using T2A awhile, that using T2A's Ctl-Key presses with the reference sheet next to your keyboard, is a lot faster than entering Ctl-Key + Character as you would otherwise. Plus you don't have to look up the code in the RA manual. So please register the program, and get these added features. FUTURE COMPATABILITY: Yes, a new version of RemoteAccess is comming. When it is finally released, if there are any changes that need to be made to T2A, they will be made as quickly as possible. If there are some good functions added to RA that will enhance T2A, they also may be included. FUTURE EXPANSION/ENHANCEMENTS: In the next release, there may be added, more of the RA system variables, I am working on that now. Also working on a filter to allow the use of the codes [ ~`^%@ ] within the text body also. If =YOU= have a suggestion or a request for an additional variable to be included, please let me know. SUPPORT: =A NOTE ON OUR CONVULTED PHONE NUMBER= We have a switch in our line that determines if the call is for the BBS/MAILER, or for another location. Thus a code is required, which is 3322, in order to be sure the code is received, you need to force a 4 second pause after connect. Most modems use the (,) comma for this, and usually have 2 secs as the default for the pause length. This can usually be changed (consult your modem handbook). If your modem uses another character, then by all means use it in place of the commas. Ours uses the commas, therefore you see our number listed as below. We hope to have this messy phone number situation fixed in the very near future. For RemoteAccess - The Best BBS Software! T2A Ver 2.0 Text to Ansi/Avatar Convertor Page 8 The author may be reached for support via several means. =FIDO NET ECHOS= Shareware, RA_Utils address messages to RAND NOWELL =NET MAIL= To: 1:161/710 This node listed as PVT, mail will by default be routed. If you wish to CRASH/DIRECT send, then you need to insert our phone number into your control file. For Front Door: FDNODE.CTL Format: PHONE 1:161/710 510-651-0252,,3322 (4 second pause required between connect and send code) =BBS= 510-651-0253,,3322 The RaLin BBS - 24 hours (except Zone Mail Hour, or other events) Running RemoteAccess with USR Sportster v32b,v42,v42b =VOICE PHONE= 510-651-0253 (no pauses/codes) 510-657-0830 The second number is our personal number, if I'm not in, my wife will NOT be able to help you. I will return REGISTERED users calls at my expense, others....be prepared for a collect call! =SNAIL MAIL= Rand Nowell RaLin Enterprises 40728 Sundale Dr. Fremont, Ca. 94538 ACKNOWLADGEMENTS: TheDraw - Ian Davis - TheSoft Programming Services. QEdit - SemWare. A_Type- Ron Huskies / Intersoft. Wildcat! - Mustang Software. PCBoard - Whoever created it. My Wife and Kids- For putting up, grudgingly, with my countless hours spent on this infernal machine. T2A was written in Turbo Pascal v6.0 - Borland - (Thanks Guys!) For RemoteAccess - The Best BBS Software!