FILE TRANSLATOR DOCUMENTATION Purpose: -------- The driving force behind this tool was the desire to use an Atari ST in an office environment dominated by IBM PCs. In this environment, most of the documentation is created using Wordstar word processors. Although most agree that 1st Word is a much better word processor (compared to Wordstar at least!), the main problem to be resolved was the incompatibility between the two different file formats. Although a work-around exists - saving and then loading the text as ASCII - this meant that the formatting (bold, underline, soft CRs, etc) was lost in the translation. After making do with this problem for quite some time, I finally decided to make a tool that would convert between Wordstar and 1st Word file formats. The result is this tool, allowing a user to translate 1st Word files to Wordstar, and vice-versa, while still retaining the original presentation. For example, if a line was underlined in the original document, the line will also appear underlined in the translated file. The tool also supports translating ASCII text into either 1st Word or Wordstar format - eliminating the need to manually reformat each paragraph. While I was at it, I decided to address another problem that has been annoying me for quite some time - having to open the AUTO folder and then renaming GDOS to turn GDOS on or off. So, the File Translator accessory includes a button to turn GDOS on or off with a single click of the mouse. An alert box will then appear, asking you if you want to reboot the system. Clicking on Yes then performs a cold reboot, saving wear-and-tear on the On/Off switch - as well as eliminating the 15 second countdown previously necessary for memory to clear. Instructions for use: --------------------- Loading the program is easy - simply place TRANSLAT.ACC and TRANSLAT.RSC on your boot disk (drive A: for floppy or drive C: for autobooting hard disk). Once loaded, the title 'File Translator' will appear in the 'Desk' menu as one of the loaded accessories. To invoke the translator, click once on the 'File Translator' menu selection. The main dialog will appear, prompting you to specify the file formats of the input and output files. For example, if the input (source) file is a 1st Word File, you would click once on the '1st Word' entry contained within the 'Input File Type' box. If you want the output file to be a Wordstar file, you would then click on the 'Wordstar' entry contained within the 'Output File Type' box. Once the file types of the input and output files have been selected, clicking on 'OK' (or pressing the Return key) will cause a file selector box to appear, prompting for the name of the input file. Notice that standard filename extensions have been assumed - '.TXT' for ASCII text, '.DOC' for 1st Word files, and '.WS' for Wordstar files. Only those files will be shown in the file selector that match the specified extension. If you would like to see all the files in the current directory, click once on the path name (the line with the filename extension), backspace over the extension (thereby deleting it), type a single asterisk ('*'), and then click once in the area where the filenames are displayed. At this point you can click on the name of the input file or enter the name by typing on the keyboard. Clicking on 'OK' or pressing the Return key will then cause the file to be translated. Only the name of the input file needs to be specified; the name of the output file will be the same name as the input file, except with one of the standard extensions mentioned above corresponding to the type of the output file. For example, if the name of the input file is 'TEST.DOC' and you selected Wordstar format for the output file, the output filename would be 'TEST.WS'. Why is the output filename specified automatically? This allows wildcards to be used so that one or more input files can be converted at once. The standard wildcard characters ('*', '?') are available for any character of the input filename. With this capability, an entire directory of files could be converted in a single operation. In fact, I find this occurs often; before I can work on a collegue's files, I usually invoke the translator with '*.WS' as the input filename and 1st Word as the output file format, resulting in a collection of 1st Word files ready for editing. The only snag that I found with this scheme is the rare possibility for the name of the input file and the derived output filename to be the same, causing an alert box will be displayed and the file to be skipped. The solution to this problem is to change the filename extension of the offending file to something else, or choose a different output file format. About the GDOS button, clicking on the button will enable GDOS if it's off, or disable it if it's on. After clicking on the GDOS button, an alert is displayed asking if you would like to perform a cold reboot. If you click on 'No', the GDOS file will still be renamed, but the reboot is not performed. You must later reboot the system manually to load/remove GDOS. Clicking on 'Yes', however, will perform a cold reboot, causing GDOS to be loaded/removed as desired. The File Translator looks for GDOS in the AUTO folder of the system boot disk (drive A: if from floppy or drive C: if autobooting hard disk). If GDOS does not reside in one of these two places, the GDOS button will be disabled. The File Translator has been released into the public domain as shareware. If you find this program useful and/or decide to keep it, please register your copy by sending $10 to: Steve Nies 220 Treu Terrace NW Palm Bay, FL 32907 This will register you as an official user. As upgrades are made, or additional word formats added, you will be notified via US or GEnie mail.