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Conference iosg::all-in-1_v30

Title:	OLD ALL-IN-1 (tm) Support Conference
Notice:	Closed - See Note 4331.l to move to IOSG::ALL-IN-1
Moderator:	IOSG::PYE

Created:	Thu Jan 30 1992
Last Modified:	Tue Jan 23 1996
Last Successful Update:	Fri Jun 06 1997
Number of topics:	4343
Total number of notes:	18308

716.0. "Ruler change when converting to ASCII" by KURTAN::WESTERBACK (Mimsy were the borogroves) Tue May 19 1992 22:25

    A question about Convert Document in ALL-IN-1 2.4:
    
    A customer wants to convert a WPS-PLUS document to ASCII
    (in order to include it in his 2020 spreadsheet, or something
    like that). He uses Convert document from menu and chooses
    ASCII. Now it seems the TAB's get all screwed up by the 
    conversion process, which inserts it's own ruler.
    
    Testing this without a printer right now, I can't see the
    TABs in the ASCII file using EDT (is there any way to see 
    them?). Instead I took the ASCII file and used Gold G to
    put it into a new WPS-PLUS document. The result does have
    another ruler, without any right margin, and the TABs are
    messed up a bit it seems, examining with Gold V.
    
    I also tried converting to ASCII EDT and ASCII WPS but they
    all seem to give the same result.
    
    Any comments on this? Is it impossibe to keep the original
    ruler when converting to ASCII, or have we missed something?
    
    Thanks,
    Hans Westerback
    TSC, Stockholm

T.R	Title	User	Personal Name	Date	Lines
716.1	KON.COM missing?	KURTAN::WESTERBACK	Mimsy were the borogroves	`Tue May 19 1992 22:30`	12
	Almost forgot this: When doing the Gold get to get VMS file into document it worked (but wrong ruler) but when saving this document a message is displayed: (roughly translated to English) OA-W-COM, command procedure USR:[WESTERBACK]KON.COM cannot be opened file not found What file is this? What should it do? Maybe set all the TABs right... Hans
716.2		KURTAN::WESTERBACK	Mimsy were the borogroves	`Wed May 20 1992 09:41`	12
	Ok, now I've tried it with a printer. Everuthing prints OK from ALL-IN-1, whether a .TXT file made by converting to ASCII, or if you use Gold G to get the .TXT into a .WPL document. But the relevant thing here is that if you print the .TXT file straight from VMS the TAB settings are all messed up. And that seems to be the customer's problem. Is there something you can do to keep the TAB settings? Hans
716.3	Nope	HOTAIR::MADDOX	When in doubt, change it	`Wed May 20 1992 19:33`	13
	Hans, AIUI (As I Understand It) ASCII files do not support rulers. It does support TABS. Since rulers are not supported, TABS are arbitrarily set at every eight spaces. This will obviously not produce the same results as a document in WPS PLUS with with other ruler settings. If you import this ASCII file into a WPS PLUS document and put in rulers which match the originals, every- thing should be the same. Joe
716.4	Tough luck	KURTAN::WESTERBACK	Mimsy were the borogroves	`Wed May 20 1992 19:59`	11
	Hmm... So this means there is nothing you can do to the ASCII file to change the TAB settings from this every eight spaces? I also tried using EDT as default editor in ALL-IN-1, and using Gold R could see the TAB settings, but only change the right tabstop. So this does not seem to work any better. I guess he could replace all use of TAB with spaces in WPS-PLUS prior to converting...... what a sacrilege! ;-) Hans
716.5	As you say, tough luck	IOSG::SHOVE	Dave Shove -- REO-D/3C	`Thu May 21 1992 16:29`	8
	As ASCII files, don't have tab stops, the Gold-R in EDT is a fake - all it really does is to let you change the margins (as you found out). When you convert from high-functionslity WP such as WPS-PLSU or Microsoft WORD or whatever to ASCII you, inevitably, lose certain features, such as real rulers. You gets what you's pays for. Dave.
716.6	TPU can help!	KURTAN::WESTERBACK	Mimsy were the borogroves	`Thu May 21 1992 23:56`	14
	I did find some features in TPU which might be useful here, first it is possible to see if a file has TABs or spaces by using command SET TABS VISIBLE, then you can also CONVERT TABS which changes all TABS to spaces. Then you have a file which prints just like it did from WPS-PLUS it seems. This seems to be OK if you don't need to do any more editing, and even if you do, it's just awkward not having the TABs. (I was pretty surprised to find all those options when looking in the HELP of EDIT/TPU!) Thanks for your input, Hans
716.7	Have you tried this?	HOTAIR::MADDOX	When in doubt, change it	`Fri May 22 1992 00:15`	8
	I don't think the convert tabs function will do what you expect. Since the ASCII editor doesn't know what your WPS PLUS ruler settings were it won't know how many spaces you want supplied for each space. I think it just blindly puts eight spaces in place of each tab. I hope for your sake that I'm wrong. Please let me know if I am. Joe
716.8	Yep!	KURTAN::WESTERBACK	Mimsy were the borogroves	`Fri May 22 1992 00:26`	17
	Sure, I have tried it. When you have converted the file to ASCII and then look at it in EDIT/EDT it looks exactly the same, with e.g. columns spaced correctly, but of course you can't tell if they are whereever they are due to tabbing or to spacing. Looking at it with EDIT/TPU still looks the same. But then if you do SET TABS VISIBLE you get exactly the same output as with GOLD V in WPS-PLUS, you know those small HT signs and the dots. But now you can see that the spacing between the columns is a weird mix of tabbing and spaces. This must be a result of the conversion trying it's best to use whatever tabs it has to make it look right. Then with CONVERT TABS it's all changed to spaces. I have printed it and it works. Hans