Re: XyWrite and Ventura 8 (Re: search/replace program)

[fenda@xxxxxxxx]

Thanks for the posts referring to XyWrite and Ventura8. As I have
written here, I am using Ventura5 instead of Ventura8 but now I have a
task that requires Ventura8 features and I am forced to use the newest
version. Ventura5 managed XyWrite files very well. Every time I edited a
XyWrite file in Ventura5, I could continue to work on it in XyWrite
without any special procedure (no need for conversions, imports, and so
on). Really comfortable! With Ventura8 there is an import filter but not
an export filter. Then it's necessary to check on the "Export On Save"
option in Ventura8 and, every time I go back to XyWrite, to perform a
conversion from RTF, TXT, etc. with some problems. I believe that
Ventura8 is very useful if you concentrate the whole task in it but, in
my case, I am always reediting the file in XyWrite (I am a great fan of
the text screen) and the coming and going path is a lot heavier than
with Ventura5. Keep in mind that I write in a latin language and every
TXT export includes a lot of Ventura codes for stressed characters. So,
it's preferable to use the RTF format and to write a XyWrite macro to
speed up my work. But, anyhow, I miss the old easy path from XyWrite and
Ventura5.
Anyhow, thanks to George and Patricia.
Best regards,
Manuel Castelao

WooF wrote:
>
> On Fri, 5 Apr 2002 fenda@xxxxxxxx wrote:
>
> > George,
> > I am using XyWrite 4.018 and Ventura 5. I would like to know your
> > proceedings to manage two way conversions from/to XyWrite and Ventura 8.
> > Thanks in advance,
> > Manuel Castelao
>
> Ventura 8 can read and covert a XyWrite III file to Ventura's
> format. XyWrite III can read a Ventural ".txt" file. But (of
> course) there are some problems:
>
> I have been converting XyWrite's double-pointy-bracketed
> commands to  or  or  (go to italics, go to bold, and go
> back to the default font) with the usual XyWrite
> search-and-replace commands. Ventura 8 can read these with no
> trouble -- and you can see how Ventura 8 has modified these by
> looking at the Ventura ".txt" files.
>
> In principle, you could simply turn on the Ventura 8 conversion
> toggle to let Ventura convert the unpolarized " marks to opening
> and closing quotes and also convert the -- marks to 1/M dashes
> (which Ventura 8 codes as <@151>). Unfortunately, while it will
> convert an apostrophe that appears between two lettters (as in
> "don't") to a closing single-quote -- which curves like this: )
> -- it will also convert any apostrople that appears with a space
> in front of it (as in "That 'tain't yours") to an opening
> single-quote mark -- which curves like this: ( -- which is wrong.
> Also the built-in conversion routine hasn't the remotest idea
> what to do with unpolarized double-quotes that are neither
> preceded nor followed by a space or a return.
>
> Therefore, what I do is a search-and-replace in XyWrite,
> converting [space]" to [space]<@147> and [enter]" to
> [enter]<@147>. Then search-and-replace "[space] to <@148>[space]
> and "[enter] to <@148>[enter]. You can, of course, do these as
> change invisible commands, and you can type up a simple program
> to do all four of these, triggered by a single macro.
>
> Next, I do a search for any " left over -- for example, a
> parenthesis followed by a " mark followed by a word, with no
> intervening spaces will remain a " when you run the procedure in
> the preceding paragraph. All these are best handled one by one --
> you'll probably pick up a few typos while you're at it, like a
> space missing in front of or after a " mark.
>
> Then I do a search-and-replace (change visible, this time) for
> any apostrophe preceded by a space (and then, Just In Case, for
> one preceded by a [return] or by a > -- replacing any that should
> indeed be converted to opening-SINGLE-quotes, which in
> Ventura-8-speak is <@146>. Then I run a change-invisible to
> covert all the remaining apostrophes to <@147> (in theory, one
> COULD let Ventura do that on its own, but Things Can And Do Go
> Wrong, so . . .)
>
> Next, I do a change VISIBLE to convert all the dashes (whether
> you're using -- or --- for them) to the Ventura code <@151>. The
> reason for doing this as a change-visible is that you will
> probably have to fiddle with some of the dashes, especially ones
> that immediately precede a paragraph break. My magazine's style
> puts spaces before and after dashes -- but closes the dash up
> against a preceding partial word if the dash signifies a broken
> (not hyphenated) word, as when something interrupts a speaker in
> mid-word. We also have no space between a dash and a following
> close-quote, and have no space between a dash and a following
> [enter]. It's a Good Idea to convert every
> [space][dash][close-quote] and [space][dash][enter] combination
> to [dash][close-quote] and [dash][enter] to prevent a dash
> from appearing by itself as the last line of a paragraph. (The
>  is Ventura-speak for a no-breaking space.)
>
> Obvoiusly, I'm typesetting a fiction magazine, with lots of
> dialog. For me, the big reason for surrounding mid-sentence
> dashes with spaces is that it makes justifying the type a LOT
> easier.
>
> Stay (reasonably) wicked on Wotansdays,
> George H Scithers of owlswick@xxxxxxxx