The inverse convertor (HTML to RTF ) also exists : HTM2RTF

Martha: RTF to HTML Converter for PC/DOS

Foreword

It often happens that one wants to put on the Web a text and/or images that have been composed with a word processing software like Word. In 1998, no text processing software could generate a good HTML file from its own files.

There were already programs which produced an HTML file starting from a RTF file. RTF Format (rich text format) contains all information about formats of the paragraphs and characters and can be produced by most of the word processing softwares like Word.

The program that I have written is one of these converters.
It is called MARTHA (My Automatic RTF To HTML Alterator) in homage of the opera of the same name by Flotow, and the American actress Martha Plimpton (see photo at the top of this page).

What the program does

It converts the text as well as the commands of formatting of this one. Attributes such as bold, underlined, Italic, strike, etc are recovered. Idem for the colour of text.

A linked table of contents is generated at the beginning of the HTML file.

The footnotes are gathered at the end of the file, and one can reach them via a link from the place where they were in the text.

The images included in the RTF file are saved in separate files, under WMF (Windows Meta File) format. There is the rub : this format is not directly readable by the browsers. In the HTML file is put an inclusion order <IMG SRC = ...> for a GIF file, and the user must then convert his/her WMF files into GIF ones (the same happens with all the rtf = > HTML converters that I have seen so far).

The tables are preserved except in case of embedded tables.

Information on the program itself

The program is running over the PC/DOS operating system.Windows.

Version 32 bits (15 août 2007)	Version 16 bits (2003)
click here to download version 2.5	click here to download version 2.1

Martha will only be updated in 32 bits and will be compiled with Free Pascal Compiler for Windows.

From DOS, you can specify the name of the input file on the command line, like martha.exe my_file.rtf or no file name at all. In the latter case, it will be asked to you on line.

The program can be launched from windows too of course (and opens a DOS window). In this case, if you directly click on the name martha.exe in the file manager window, it will have no argument and will then ask you the name of the input file. Otherwise, you can drag the input file with the mouse and put it over the name martha.com in the file manager window. It will launch the program with that file as an input.

If the input file is FILENAME.ext (whatever "ext" may be), the output file will be FILENAME.HTM. Of course, if the input file already has the extension .HTM, there will be a problem... In this case, you will be asked a filename for the output file. This output file will be located in the same directory as the input file.

If the output file already exists, you will be warned and asked if it can be overwritten or if you want to give the output file another name.

Important information : the program may create a log file named "martha.log" in the directory of the program itself. this file contains information on sequences that have not been processed, or syntaxic errors found in the RTF file... But it's in French !

License

This program can be used without any restriction, but without any warranty.

It can be transferred to any third party, or redistributed on internet sites, with the only 2 following restrictions :

it must indicate that the author is Yves Sagnier
it must not be sold but given free of charge.

It can be incorporated inside another software intended to be sold if it respects the 2 conditions above : no extra charge for it, and indicate its usage and the name of the author.

Other information

I would be pleased to get information on its use and its possible enhancements.

This page is maintained by Yves SAGNIER (ysagnier@yahoo.fr).
Last modified on 15 August 2007.

This page has been visited times since 15 August 2007