Converting Files

[Robert Hemenway]

I edit on disk pretty often then tailor the files for a service bureau or for
in-house DTP. They convert the tagged files once they have designer specs to
Penta or Mac codes. (Tags are for elements--heads, block quotes, verse,
captions, etc.--or modes, ital or bold, etc., and not specific.) There's a good
deal to do shifting the original files¾they're usually WP, MSWord or MacWord¾to
XyWrite, then cleaning them up, entering editorial changes, and converting them
to tagged ASCII files. Word for Word conversions are serviceable but not ideal.
Can routinize some of it but not all, since original file formats and
keyboarding vary greatly. XyWrite, which uses very little proprietary code,
makes this all pretty easy, where it wouldn't be easy in WP or Word. There'll
be more and more of this sort of work to do, and it's one of Xy's great
strengths.

Couple of things I'd like to see. One has been asked for more than once and I
guess you're working on it. That's a way of searching for and manipulating
uppercase characters. I want it not for screenwriting but for quick tagging of
uppercase strings for small caps. The other is already in Nota Bene but
hardcoded so I can't extract it. A routine that strips superfluous mode
commands¾the extra MDNMs, MDBOs, etc.¾that's on Ctrl + Alt + = in NB 3.1 and
available via the menu in NB 4. Could you turn it into a PGM and upload here?

And small bugs, sort of:

If DF 1A is set to 1 (ignore end-of-file marker), one or two random characters
drop into the file after you open a triangle with F11, write to it, and close
with Shift+F1. Default is 0; the 1A=1 somehow got into the SIG settings file a
year ago and has been bugging me ever since. Does the same in Xy, but now I've
tracked the culprit down.

The VA triangles in the XY4.HLP list of key assignments that pick up what's in
a custom KBD are nifty. But  hangs my system. Doesn't with a
plain vanilla boot, so it must bump into a driver or TSR that got there first.
Deleted that VA from XY4.HLP, which is enough of a solution for me.

ZM doesn't seem to work from command line, but only if put in SETTINGS.DFL
before XY4 is loaded. Otherwise, it doesn't take effect and can throw off the
keyboard so that it takes a reboot to fix. View, Zoom in the menu is fine.

Hello Xy-Write, by the way, and thanks for everything. It's so nice to have you
back where you belong.