rzdz@fluke.UUCP (Rick Chinn) (02/21/85)
Here's what wordstar does:
1. carriage returns created via word wrap have their high-order bit set.
The line feed character is vanilla ascii.
2. after a paragraph is formatted (^B), each word has the high-order bit
of the last character set, except when you have told wordstar to
insert a non-breakable space character.
3. the tab key inserts spaces in the document mode. The tab character
(^I) isn't used except in non-document mode.
4. spaces added by wordstar (for instance when you use the paragraph
tab, ^OGB) have their high-order bit set.
5. there's some other funny business that they do with hyphens.
Solution to your problem: use non-document mode, then you can search for tab
characters. Another solution is to use pip to copy the file to another
filename, using the [z] option to zero the parity bit.
I have a couple of C programs that I use to transfer stuff between home and
unix. they're available if someone is interested.
Better solution: use a database manager to create, edit, store your database.
Output to a comma delimited file, use mailmerge to turn datafile into
something humanly readable. Add typesetting codes, typeset.
You won't find .WS files documented anywhere. Nor should (or will) you expect
micropro to help. They're ***holes. I suggest that you use ddt or some other
hex-debugger to dump a ws file and look at what's going on. That's what I had
to do.
p.s. to original submitter (tgr!burhans)
I tried to reply to you by mail, but the mailer couldn't find you. Why
don't you include your mail address in your signature?
Rick Chinn
John Fluke Mfg. Co MS 232E
PO Box C9090 Everett WA 98206
{ihnp4!uw-beaver, ucbvax!lbl-csam, microsoft, allegra, ssc-vax}!fluke!rzdz
(206) 356-5232
<--------------- menus do not a user friendly program make ------------------>rzdz@ucb-vax.ARPA (02/23/85)
Here's what wordstar does:
1. carriage returns created via word wrap have their high-order bit set.
The line feed character is vanilla ascii.
2. after a paragraph is formatted (^B), each word has the high-order bit
of the last character set, except when you have told wordstar to
insert a non-breakable space character.
3. the tab key inserts spaces in the document mode. The tab character
(^I) isn't used except in non-document mode.
4. spaces added by wordstar (for instance when you use the paragraph
tab, ^OGB) have their high-order bit set.
5. there's some other funny business that they do with hyphens.
Solution to your problem: use non-document mode, then you can search
for tab characters. Another solution is to use pip to copy the file to
another filename, using the [z] option to zero the parity bit.
I have a couple of C programs that I use to transfer stuff between
home and unix. they're available if someone is interested.
Better solution: use a database manager to create, edit, store your
database. Output to a comma delimited file, use mailmerge to turn
datafile into something humanly readable. Add typesetting codes,
typeset.
You won't find .WS files documented anywhere. Nor should (or will) you
expect micropro to help. They're ***holes. I suggest that you use ddt
or some other hex-debugger to dump a ws file and look at what's going
on. That's what I had to do.
Rick Chinn
John Fluke Mfg. Co MS 232E
PO Box C9090 Everett WA 98206
{ihnp4!uw-beaver, ucbvax!lbl-csam, microsoft, allegra, ssc-vax}!fluke!rzdz
(206) 356-5232