Earlier versions of ZTerm marked all received binary files (non-MacBinary and non-TEXT) with a special type (zBIN). This has caused headaches for many people, especially for those downloading GIF files. I do not believe marking a binary file as TEXT is correct, even though most other Mac comm programs do this.
This version of ZTerm adds Binary File Type Detection. When a file is received that is not in MacBinary format and is not text, ZTerm will see if it is a known type. If it is, ZTerm will set the appropriate creator and type. This should be a boon to those transfering files from other computer systems.
There is a resource which contains file creator and types, with identifying information. If you are handy with ResEdit, you can add additional types to this resource. The resource is STR# 335. Each string in the list is one binary type detector. There are currently two types of detectors: type 0 looks for a signature (a sequence of bytes at the start of the file), and type 1 which just looks at the end of the file name (eg, the extension if its coming from ms-dos). Type 0 is the preferred kind, but some binary files do not have a signature. I may add additional types of detectors; if you have any ideas, let me know.
Each detector string begins with the detector type (0 or 1), then the 4 character creator, and the 4 character file type. Type 0 then follows with the signature bytes (any length). You should try to keep the signatures between 2 and 8 bytes. Type 1 follows with the characters to match at the end of the file name (case insensitive).
Some examples:
For GIF files: 0BozoGIFfGIF87
For ARC files: 1arc*mArc.ARC
The first example will set binary files that start with GIF87 to creator “Bozo” and type “GIFf”. Then second example will set binary file whose name ends with “.ARC” to creator “arc*” and type of “mArc”. This is for ArcMac from DogStar Software.
The current detectors handle GIF, ZIP, ARC, ZOO and some Lotus, Excel and Word file types.
There are a lot more binary file types that you might need to transfer to your Mac from other machines. If you know the file signature or typical extension, and the appropriate Mac creator/type, please let me know so I can put them in a later release of ZTerm.
The default binary file type has been changed to a creator and type of ‘????’. This is used if the file does not match any of the binary type detectors.
SENDING FILES AS BINARY
There is also a list of file types that should be uploaded as binary files. This list is in STR# 330. Each string in the list is a 4 character file type. The current list includes GIF, ZIP, ARC, ???? and zBIN files. TEXT files that have binary data in the first 128 bytes are also sent as binary.
