Documentation for the AscToHTM Text to HTML converter

AscToHTM Help Index

AscToHTM is a utility designed to convert plain text files into HTML pages. The program can be used to convert legacy text files to HTML as one-off conversions, or to help you author sets of HTML pages in text.

The program attempts to detect the existing structure in the files being converted by determining rules or policies that describe the file layout. These are known as the analysis policies.

The HTML generated by the program can be configured via the programs output policies. The policies used by the file can be saved to a policy file and subsequently reloaded. This allows standard sets of policies to be defined.

This document describes AscToHTM 5.0, released in November 2004.

The HTML version of this document has - of course - been produced using AscToHTM itself. No post-processing has been done to the HTML pages produced. The contents list, the navigation bar and all the hyperlinks have been generated from a single source file and a number of configuration files.

Complete contents list for this document

This is a complete contents list for the .rtf file used to generate this help file. Sadly it isn't hyperlinked, but it may help you find what you're looking for. Ignore any page numbers.

Complete contents list for this document

Expected uses of AscToHTM

Windows installation
OpenVMS version of AscToHTM

Assumptions made by the program
The analysis pass
The collating pass
The output pass
Standards compliance

Running as a Windows application
Running as a command line program
Running from the 'SendTo' menu
Drag'n'Drop execution

Making your first attempt
Refining your results
Processing several files at once
Generating a directory page
Generating log files
Other tips and tricks

Text layout
Text formatting
Adding hyperlinks
Headings and section titles
Pre-formatted text

Adding a Document Title
Adding a Contents list
Adding Headers and Footers to your output
Customising the HTML by using 'HTML fragments'
Splitting large files into a linked set of smaller files
Generating a set of Frames
Outputting HTML to the clipboard

What are Policy files?
Policy Name, values and scope
Ways of specifying policy values
Generating a policy file for your document

Alphabetical list of policies available in AscToHTM
Analysis policies
Output policies
Other policies

Document commands
Section delimiters
Text definition block commands
Tagged Table commands
Table modifier commands
Other commands

How to define a HTML fragment
Fragment tags
Reserved HTML fragment names
A sample HTML fragments file

Loading the Table Definition File
Defining a Table Type
Defining a Table Structure
Defining a Table Format
Defining table alarms
Defining table graphs and barcharts
Locating data in a table
An example TDF file

Text Commands available
Text Command line elements
Text Command tags
An example Text Command File

What is Unicode?
Unicode Byte Order Marks (BOMs)
Auto-detecting Unicode input
Creating Unicode output
Controlling Unicode handling through use of policies

Version 5.0 (November 2004)
Version 4.1 (August 2001)
Version 4.0 (May 2001)
Version 3.3 (June 2000)
Version 3.2 (October 1999)
Version 3.0 (August 1998)
Version 2.3 (April 1998)
Version 2.2 (Feb 1998)
Version 2.1 (never officially released)
Version 2.0 (October 1997)
Version 1.1 (August 1997)
Version 1.05 (July 1997)
Version 1.04 (July 1997)
Version 1.01 (April 1997)

What happens if I don't register the shareware version of AscToHTM?
Upgrade Policy
Other products by the same author
Contacts on the Web
Support

API version
Console version
Linux version

Converted from a single text file by AscToHTM © 1997-2004 John A Fotheringham