The HTML version of this document has, of course, been produced using AscToHTM itself, no post-processing has been done to the HTML pages produced. The contents list, the navigation bar and all the hyperlinks have been generated from a single source document A2HDOCO.TXT (nearing 4,000 lines and still growing) and a few small configuration files. See section 6.1 of this document to see a list of the actual files involved.

This document describes AscToHTM V2.3, which will be available in late April 1998, and which will introduce full wildcard support and the directory page feature (see 6.3.9) for the first time.

1 Introduction

1.1 AscToHTM's design objectives
1.2 Expected uses of AscToHTM
1.3 Other uses of AscToHTM

2.1 VMS installation
2.2 Windows installation

2.2.1 InstallShield version
2.2.2 Simple .ZIP file version
2.2.3 Console application

3.1 The big assumption
3.2 The analysis pass
3.3 The output pass

3.3.1 Generating HTML
3.3.2 Generating a contents list
3.3.3 Splitting the document into many HTML pages

4.1 Windows version

4.1.1 Normal activation
4.1.2 Execution from a command line
4.1.3 Drag'n'Drop execution

4.2 VMS and console application versions

4.2.1 Command line arguments
4.2.2 Command line qualifiers

4.2.2.1 The /CONTENTS qualifier
4.2.2.2 The /DEBUG qualifier
4.2.2.3 The /DOS qualifier
4.2.2.4 The /SIMPLE qualifier
4.2.2.5 The /POLICY qualifier
4.2.2.6 The /INDEX qualifier

4.3 Making your first attempt

4.3.1 From the command line
4.3.2 From Windows

4.4 Refining your results

4.4.1 Using a policy file
4.4.2 Using a link dictionary
4.4.3 Using multiple policy files
4.4.4 Creating DOS -compatible files

4.5 Processing several files at once

4.5.1 Using wildcards
4.5.2 Using a steering command file

4.6 Other tips and tricks

4.6.1 General
4.6.2 Link dictionary
4.6.3 Contents List detection
4.6.4 Using "Send to" in Windows 95/NT
4.6.5 Tables

5.1 Text layout

5.1.1 Indentation
5.1.2 Hanging paragraph indents
5.1.3 Bullets

5.1.3.1 Bullet chars
5.1.3.2 Numbered bullets
5.1.3.3 Alphabetic bullets
5.1.3.4 Roman Numeral bullets

5.1.4 Centred text
5.1.5 Definitions

5.1.5.1 Definition lines
5.1.5.2 Definition paragraphs

5.2 Text formatting

5.2.1 Quoted lines
5.2.2 Emphasis

5.3 Added hyperlinks

5.3.1 Contents List lines
5.3.2 Cross-references
5.3.3 URLs
5.3.4 Usenet Newsgroups
5.3.5 E-mail addresses
5.3.6 User-specified keywords

5.4 Section headings

5.4.1 Numbered headers
5.4.2 Capitalised headers
5.4.3 Underlined headers
5.4.4 Numbered paragraphs

5.5 Pre-formatted text

5.5.1 Lines and form feeds
5.5.2 User defined pre -formatted text
5.5.3 Automatically detected pre-formatted text

5.5.3.1 Tables
5.5.3.2 Code samples
5.5.3.3 Ascii art and diagrams
5.5.3.4 Other formatted text

5.6 Added value markup

5.6.1 Document Title
5.6.2 Contents lists

5.6.2.1 Contents lists in default conversions
5.6.2.2 Contents lists in conversions to a single HTML file
5.6.2.3 Contents lists in conversions to multiple HTML files

5.6.3 Directory page
5.6.4 Headers, footers and JavaScript

6.1 An example conversion
6.2 Analysis policies

6.2.1 General Analysis policies

6.2.1.1 "Indent position(s)"
6.2.1.2 "Definition Char"
6.2.1.3 "Hanging paragraph position(s)"
6.2.1.4 "Page width"
6.2.1.5 "Text justification"
6.2.1.6 "Expect blank lines between paras"
6.2.1.7 "New paragraph offset"
6.2.1.8 "Keep it simple"
6.2.1.9 "Min chapter size"
6.2.1.10 "Short line length"
6.2.1.11 "Expect code samples"

6.2.2 Bullet policies

6.2.2.1 "Expect Numbered bullets"
6.2.2.2 "Expect alphabetic bullets"
6.2.2.3 "Expect Roman Numeral bullets"
6.2.2.4 "Bullet Char"

6.2.3 Headings

6.2.3.1 "First Section Number"
6.2.3.2 "Expect Numbered Headings"
6.2.3.3 "Expect Underlined Headings"
6.2.3.4 "Expect Capitalised Headings"
6.2.3.5 "Expect Second Word Headings"
6.2.3.6 "Smallest possible section number"
6.2.3.7 "Largest possible section number"
6.2.3.8 "xxxx level 1 = "" N.N at indent 2"

6.2.4 Pre-formatted text

6.2.4.1 "Minimum automatic <PRE> size"
6.2.4.2 "Minimum TABLE column separation"

6.2.5 Contents List policies

6.3 Output policies

6.3.1 Added HTML details

6.3.1.1 "Document Title"
6.3.1.2 "Use first heading as title"
6.3.1.3 "Use first line as title"
6.3.1.4 "Document keywords"
6.3.1.5 "Document description"
6.3.1.6 "HTML Script file"
6.3.1.7 "HTML header"
6.3.1.8 "HTML footer"
6.3.1.9 "Background Image"
6.3.1.10 Various colour policies

6.3.2 Hyperlinks

6.3.2.1 "Create hyperlinks"
6.3.2.2 "Create mailto links"
6.3.2.3 "Create NEWS links"
6.3.2.4 "Only use known groups"
6.3.2.5 "Recognised USENET groups"
6.3.2.6 "Cross-refs at level"

6.3.3 File generation

6.3.3.1 "Input directory"
6.3.3.2 "Output directory"
6.3.3.3 "Use .HTM extension"
6.3.3.4 "Use DOS filenames"
6.3.3.5 "DOS filename root"
6.3.3.6 "Split level"
6.3.3.7 "Min HTML File size"
6.3.3.8 "Add navigation bar"
6.3.3.9 "Output policy file"
6.3.3.10 "Output policy filename"
6.3.3.11 "Generate diagnostics files"

6.3.4 Contents

6.3.4.1 "Add contents list"
6.3.4.2 "Expect contents list"
6.3.4.3 "Use any existing contents list"
6.3.4.4 "Generate external contents file"
6.3.4.5 "External contents list filename"
6.3.4.6 "Hyperlinks on numbers"

6.3.5 Preprocessor policies

6.3.5.1 "Use Preprocessor"
6.3.5.2 "Include document section(s)"

6.3.6 Style

6.3.6.1 "Document style sheet"
6.3.6.2 "Highlight definition text"
6.3.6.3 "Use <DL> markup for defn. paras"
6.3.6.4 "Allow automatic centring"
6.3.6.5 "Automatic centring tolerance"
6.3.6.6 "Largest allowed <Hn> tag" and "Smallest allowed <Hn> tag"
6.3.6.7 "Ignore multiple blank lines"
6.3.6.8 "Search for emphasis"
6.3.6.9 "Allow definitions inside PRE"
6.3.6.10 "Use < CODE>..</CODE> markup"
6.3.6.11 "Use <P> markup for paragraphs"

6.3.7 Table Generation

6.3.7.1 "Attempt TABLE generation"
6.3.7.2 "Default TABLE border size"
6.3.7.3 "Default TABLE header rows"
6.3.7.4 "Default TABLE header cols"
6.3.7.5 "Default TABLE cell spacing"
6.3.7.6 "Default TABLE cell padding"
6.3.7.7 "Default TABLE colour"
6.3.7.8 "Default TABLE border colour"
6.3.7.9 "Default TABLE caption"
6.3.7.10 "Default TABLE width"
6.3.7.11 Other table related policies

6.3.8 Link Dictionary
6.3.9 Directory Page

6.3.9.1 "Make Directory"
6.3.9.2 "Directory filename"
6.3.9.3 "Show file titles in Directory"
6.3.9.4 "Indent headings in Directory"
6.3.9.5 "Directory title"
6.3.9.6 "Directory keywords"
6.3.9.7 "Directory description"
6.3.9.8 "Directory return hyperlink text"
6.3.9.9 "Directory Script file"
6.3.9.10 "Directory header file"
6.3.9.11 "Directory footer file"

6.4 Saving and loading policy files

6.4.1 Overview
6.4.2 Generating policy files for your document

6.4.2.1 Partial policy files
6.4.2.2 Full policy files

6.4.3 Naming policy files

7.1 Marking up sections of text

7.1.1 User SECTIONS
7.1.2 TABLE sections
7.1.3 CONTENT sections
7.1.4 HTML sections
7.1.5 CODE sections
7.1.6 DIAGRAM sections
7.1.7 PRE (pre-formatted text) sections

7.2 Commands that influence the <HEAD>..</HEAD> of a file

7.2.1 The TITLE command
7.2.2 The DESCRIPTION command
7.2.3 The KEYWORDS command
7.2.4 The STYLE_SHEET command

7.3 One line pre-processor commands

7.3.1 The INCLUDE command
7.3.2 The HTML_LINE command

7.4 The TABLE commands

8.1 Why should I purchase AscToHTM?
8.2 What happens if I don't register the shareware version of AscToHTM?
8.3 Can't I get something for nothing?
8.4 I'm convinced. How to I purchase AscToHTM?

9.1 The home page
9.2 E-mail
9.3 Support

10.1 Bug fixes
10.2 Features
10.3 Coming soon... or not.

12.1 Version 1.01 (April '97)
12.2 Version 1.04 (early July '97)

12.2.1 Bug fixes
12.2.2 New functions
12.2.3 Other changes

12.3 Version 1.05 (late July '97)

12.3.1 Bug fixes
12.3.2 New functions
12.3.3 Other changes

12.4 Version 1.1 (August '97)

12.4.1 Bug fixes
12.4.2 New functions
12.4.3 Other changes

12.5 Version 2.00 (October '97)

12.5.1 Bug fixes
12.5.2 New functions
12.5.3 Other changes

12.6 Version 2.10 (never officially released)

12.6.1 Bug fixes
12.6.2 New functions
12.6.3 Other changes

12.7 Version 2.20 (Feb '98)

12.7.1 Bug fixes
12.7.2 New functions
12.7.3 Other changes

12.8 Version 2.3

12.8.1 Bug fixes
12.8.2 New functions
12.8.3 Other changes

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