che@pbhyf.PacBell.COM (Mitch Che) (03/30/89)
In article <241@pbseps.UUCP> rdp@pbseps.PacBell.COM (Richard Perlman) writes: >I am looking for a program (filter) to translate WordStar and/or >Lotus 1-2-3 documents to POA (Plain Old ASCII). I realize each I have (gulp) a "freeware" program from 1984 (hey, this was before anyone was worried about virus programs, right?) named wscnvn that runs under PCDOS. Don't know if newer versions are still available, or if it is fully compatible with every version of Wordstar that is now out (release 5 for instance). A name and address are given at the end. Here is all the documentation that exists. ======================== "This program has been used extensively to port files between Wordstar and a large variety of other word processors on micros (PC DOS, MS DOS and CP/M systems) and minis (DEC VAX, UNIX systems) as well as dedicated word processors (NBI, WANG, DEC Writer systems). The main problem encountered with transferring a file to Wordstar is that paragraph reform is lost because every line has a hard carriage return. The main problem with exporting Wordstar files to other word processors is that Wordstar uses the high order bit to form characters which are non-ASCII i.e. 128-255. The conversion of an output file from another word processor to Wordstar is done with the "O" option in WSCNVN. Input which meets the criteria of a soft paragraph is converted to a single string of text. When the file is brought up into Wordstar, a file reform using ^Q^Q^B1 will produce a standard file with paragraph reform active. When the option "W" is selected, Wordstar files are converted according to selections made by the user, and all the high order bit settings are zapped to produce an ASCII file. The choices are: 1) Carriage Returns - if Hard is selected, every lZe of Wordstar text is ended with a CRLF to make it hard. If Soft is selected, all of the Wordstar soft returns within a paragraph are deleted to form a contiguous line of text. This will normally be automatically reformed into paragraphs by the destination word processor. 2) Dot Commands - if Strip is selected, all dot (.) commands associated with print time forming are deleted from the file. MailMerge commands are retained as they are probably of value to be known in the destination word processor. If Retain is chosen, dot commands are kept in the output file. 3) Special Codes - if Strip is chosen, all of the special meaning codes to Wordstar are stripped out except 'skip to new page' and tabs - tabs are converted to spaces on an 8 byte boundary basis consistent with the way Wordstar uses tabs. If Identify is chosen then <<^*>> is displayed for every code, where * is the Wordstar operation e.g. B means Bold printing. It is a simple matter to Find & Replace these fields with the equivalent function of the destination word processor. If you find this program useful, it is suggested that you forward a contribution of $25 to: SaraKoi P.O. Box 2161 Saratoga CA 95070 Even if you do not contribute, please feel free distribute this program freely to others so that they may benefit from the use of WSCNVN. NOTE: It is possible to use special versions of WSCNVN to port files between different word processors, and retain the special print form capabilities of each automatically. Such versions are customized to the user's preferences and may be contracted for at a standard fee of $250. -- Mitch Che Pacific Bell 415-823-2454 --------------------------------------- R&D excuse #1:"My dog ate my research." disclaimer, disclaimer, too R&D excuse #2:"My research ate my dog." uucp:{ames,bellcore,sun}!pacbell!pbhyf!che
rdp@pbseps.UUCP (Richard Perlman) (03/30/89)
I am looking for a program (filter) to translate WordStar and/or
Lotus 1-2-3 documents to POA (Plain Old ASCII). I realize each
of these programs has this capability built in, they do not
serve the needs of the specific applications I am working on.
* I would like to do the WordStar => ASCII conversion on the fly in
a .bat file (without having to run WordStar) as part of a file
transfer operation.
* While 1-2-3's "print-to-file [.prn] works for most applications,
in this particular case the file is "wider" than 240 characters and
1-2-3 insists on paneling the output file, which I must then
"paste" back together again (minor pain).
BTW, in both cases the output goes to a UNIX (Sequent) system
so the conversion could take place in either the MS-DOS or UNIX
environments.
---
Richard Perlman * pbseps!rdp@PacBell.COM || {ames,sun,att}!pacbell!pbseps!rdp
180 New Montgomery St. rm 602, San Francisco, CA 94105 |*| (415) 545-0233