Documentation for the AscToRTF conversion utility

This documentation can be downloaded as part of the documentation set in .zip format.

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The RTF versions of this document has, of course, been produced using AscToRTF itself, no post-processing has been done to the RTF produced. The file has been generated from a single source file and a few small configuration files. The HTML version of this documentation has been produced by the sister program AscToHTM

This document describes AscToRTF version 1.0, which will be available in March 2000.

1.1 AscToRTF's design objectives

1.1.1 Intelligent analysis.
1.1.2 Simple user input

1.2 Expected uses of AscToRTF

2.1 VMS installation
2.2 Windows installation

2.2.1 InstallShield version
2.2.2 Simple .ZIP file version
2.2.3 Console application

3.1 The big assumption
3.2 The analysis pass
3.3 The collating pass
3.4 The output pass

4.1 Windows version

4.1.1 Launching the program

4.1.1.1 Normal activation
4.1.1.2 Execution from a command line
4.1.1.3 Drag'n'Drop execution

4.1.2 Using the Windows Interface

4.1.2.1 Doing a straightforward conversion
4.1.2.2 The File menu
4.1.2.3 The Conversion options menu
4.1.2.4 The Settings menu
4.1.2.5 The View menu
4.1.2.6 The Language menu
4.1.2.7 The Help menu

4.1.3 Program settings

4.1.3.1 Documentation
4.1.3.2 Diagnostics
4.1.3.3 Drag and drop execution
4.1.3.4 Results viewers
4.1.3.5 Use of policy files

4.2 Console application version

4.2.1 Command line arguments
4.2.2 Command line qualifiers

4.2.2.1 The /CONTENTS qualifier
4.2.2.2 The /DEBUG and /LIST qualifiers
4.2.2.3 The /LOG[=filespec] qualifier
4.2.2.4 The /OUT=filespec qualifier
4.2.2.5 The /POLICY qualifier
4.2.2.6 The /SILENT qualifier
4.2.2.7 The /SIMPLE qualifier

4.3 Getting the most from AscToRTF

4.3.1 Making your first attempt

4.3.1.1 From the command line
4.3.1.2 From Windows

4.3.2 Refining your results

4.3.2.1 Using a policy file
4.3.2.2 Using a link dictionary
4.3.2.3 Using multiple policy files
4.3.2.4 Use the pre-processor and in-line tags

4.3.3 Processing several files at once

4.3.3.1 Using wildcards
4.3.3.2 Using a steering command file

4.3.4 Generating log files

4.4 Other tips and tricks

4.4.1 General
4.4.2 Link dictionary
4.4.3 Contents List detection
4.4.4 Using "Send to" in Windows 95/NT
4.4.5 Tables

5.1 Text layout

5.1.1 Indentation
5.1.2 Hanging paragraph indents
5.1.3 Bullets and lists

5.1.3.1 Bullet chars
5.1.3.2 Numbered bullets
5.1.3.3 Alphabetic bullets
5.1.3.4 Roman Numeral bullets

5.1.4 Centred text
5.1.5 Definitions

5.1.5.1 Definition lines
5.1.5.2 Definition paragraphs

5.2 Text formatting

5.2.1 Quoted lines
5.2.2 Emphasis

5.3 Added hyperlinks

5.3.1 Contents List lines
5.3.2 Cross-references
5.3.3 URLs
5.3.4 Usenet Newsgroups
5.3.5 E-mail addresses
5.3.6 User-specified keywords

5.4 Section headings

5.4.1 Numbered headings
5.4.2 Capitalised headings
5.4.3 Underlined headings
5.4.4 Numbered paragraphs
5.4.5 Mail and USENET headers

5.5 Pre-formatted text

5.5.1 Lines and form feeds
5.5.2 User defined pre-formatted text
5.5.3 Automatically detected pre-formatted text

5.5.3.1 Tables
5.5.3.2 Code samples
5.5.3.3 Ascii art and diagrams
5.5.3.4 Other formatted text

5.6 Added value markup

5.6.1 Document Title
5.6.2 Contents lists

5.7 The use of RTF stylesheets

6.1 An example conversion
6.2 Analysis policies

6.2.1 Overview ("look for") policies
6.2.2 General Layout policies
6.2.3 Bullet policies
6.2.4 Headings
6.2.5 Pre-formatted text
6.2.6 Contents List policies

6.3 Output policies

6.3.1 Added RTF details
6.3.2 Hyperlinks
6.3.3 File generation
6.3.4 Contents
6.3.5 Preprocessor policies
6.3.6 Text Styling
6.3.7 Table Generation
6.3.8 Link Dictionary

6.4 Saving and loading policy files

6.4.1 Overview
6.4.2 Generating policy files for your document

6.4.2.1 Partial policy files
6.4.2.2 Full policy files

6.4.3 Naming policy files

7.1 Marking up sections of text

7.1.1 User SECTIONS
7.1.2 TABLE, COMMA_DELIMITED_TABLE and DELIMITED_TABLE sections
7.1.3 CONTENT sections
7.1.4 CODE sections
7.1.5 DIAGRAM sections
7.1.6 PRE (pre-formatted text) sections
7.1.7 IGNORE sections

7.2 Commands that influence the document's properties header

7.2.1 The TITLE command
7.2.2 The DESCRIPTION command
7.2.3 The KEYWORDS command

7.3 One line pre-processor commands

7.3.1 The INCLUDE command
7.3.2 The CONTENTS_LIST command
7.3.3 The LINERULE command

7.4 The TOC command
7.5 The TABLE commands
7.6 The CHANGE_POLICY command

8.1 Format of inline tags
8.2 Summary of in-line tags

8.2.1 BR
8.2.2 COLOUR <value>
8.2.3 CONTENTS_LIST
8.2.4 FONT
8.2.5 GOTO
8.2.6 HYPERLINK
8.2.7 LINKPOINT
8.2.8 NB or SPACES
8.2.9 SUPER and SUB
8.2.10 TEXT
8.2.11 TIMESTAMP

9.1 Purchasing AscToRTF

9.1.1 Why should I purchase AscToRTF?
9.1.2 What happens if I don't register the shareware version of AscToRTF?
9.1.3 Can't I get something for nothing?
9.1.4 I'm convinced. How to I purchase AscToRTF?

9.2 Contacts on the Web

9.2.1 The home page
9.2.2 E-mail
9.2.3 Support

10.1 Bug reports
10.2 Features
10.3 Coming soon... or not.

11.1 Version 1.00 (March 2000)

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Converted from a single text file by AscToHTM © 1997-2000 JafSoft Limited