5 $_$_CHANGE_POLICY Convert TABLE X-refs to links : Yes  1     Introduction ------------------  K       [AscToTab] started life as a highly specific ASCII to HTML conversion L       tool.  It was designed to convert plain text files to HTML tables, and       that was all it did.  L       However, people complained (as people do when you give them something ;       for free) that it didn't convert tab separated lists.   P       So now it converts tab separated lists, and before you utter another word,L       it also converts files to RTF now... and IMHO does so better than Word       does.   '       So no more complaining, _please_.   F       [AscToTab] has evolved out of the development of [AscToHTM], theI       general-purpose text to HTML conversion utility.  The text analysis J       part of AscToHTM sill soon be used in a text-to-RTF package.  You'reO       getting a sneak preview of that in the RTF generation that AsctoTab does.   J       AscToTab is a complete subset of AscToHTM, and is offered as "as is"       postcardware.   A       From V2.3 onward, AscToTab version numbers simply match the F       AscToHTM release they are a subset of, regardless of whether theF       AscToTab part of the functionality has advanced significantly orI       not.  However only those releases of AscToTab that have significant C       new functionality will be announced separately (via USENET) .   K       As of V3.1, AscToTab now uses the same Windows interface as AscToHTM. D       Prior to this it was only available as a command line program.N       This command line interface and the use of policy files are also largelyI       common.  For this reason much of this documentation has been (ahem) "       borrowed from the [A2hDoco].  B       This document describes AscToTab V3.1, which is available asM       postcardware (a big thanks to those that have sent in postcards - _both O       of you_ - they're *very* much appreciated) from March 1999. [AscToHTM] is D       available as shareware, and has been awarded 5 stars by ZDNet,P       the *only* text to HTML converter to attain this award to date.  Amazingly@       that sentence is still true a year after I first wrote it.  M       The HTML version of this document has been produced using AscToHTM, and B       no post-processing has been done to the HTML pages produced.I       It has been generated from a single source document and a few small        configuration files.  J       If you encounter a RTF version of this document, that will have beenK       produced by a text-to-RTF converter [AscToRTF] which I am developing  %       using the same analysis engine.   C       AscToTab is made available for download via the Internet from #       [AscToTab download location].      2     Installation ------------------  P       AscToTab is downloadable as a .ZIP file from [AscToTab Download location].@       You should download the version best suited to your needs.  I       Once downloaded, simply unzip the files and move them to a suitable J       location.  As of 3.1 the Windows .zip file contains an InstallShieldP       installation.  Simply run the Setup program to install the software.  ThisI       will also give you an uninstall option in your control panel should        you ever need it.   F       AscToTab V3.1 runs as a windows application under Windows 95/NT F       (previously it was a console application), and from the command        line under OpenVMS.        3     How AscToTab works ------------------------  L       AscToTab can treat input files in two different ways; plain text file 3       (see 3.2) and tab-delimited values (see 3.1).       3.1   Tab-delimited source files  O       If you identify your source as a tab-delimited data values (e.g. as saved O       from Excel), the program will copy each tab-delimited value into it's own        cell.   K       Each value will have any quote marks stripped (on the assumption this A       file has been saved form some other package such as Excel).   H       Each line is given its own row, and empty cells have suitable text       placed in them.   P       At present no clever calculations are done to work out exotic COLSPAN etc.L       (although I'd *like* to add this in later versions time permitting, as,       it's a failing of the software as is).     3.2   Plain text source files   I       This is the more interesting type of source file and is the problem /       AscToTab was originally written to solve.   H       AscToTab will look at the layout of your text file and try to spot*       the column boundaries in your table.  J       Having detected your column positions, it attempts to detect if your       table has a header.   K       Having decided how to allocate your data to table cells and rows, the C       program outputs your table, paying attention to the following   D         - Data alignment.  The alignment of a column is checked, and=           where suitable, numerical values are right-aligned.   M         - Column-spanning.  Where a value appears to span two or more columns I           the COLSPAN attribute is used, and the alignment re-calculated. K           If too many values appear to span columns, the columns are liable            to be merged.   K         - Table headers.  Where the heading is underlined, this is detected @           and the header row(s) are marked up using <TH> markup.  I         - Cell entries that span multiple lines.  Where possible, this is K           detected and the entries are added together with <BR> inserted to '           preserve the original layout.   M         - Blank lines.  Usually omitted, unless they appear to be separators, L           in which case this information is fed back into the cell analysis.  L         - Border.  Added unless a number of user-supplied lines are detectedE           in which case these are shown, and the HTML border omitted.   K       In addition to it's automatic features, AscToTab can be customized to K       give even better output.  See [[GOTO "Customizing your conversions"]]        for details.     4     Running AscToTab ----------------------  # 4.1   Execution from a command line   =       From a command prompt (Windows or OpenVMS) you can type   9         AscToTab <textfile> [<policy file>] [/qualifiers]          Where            <textfile>  6         Name of file to be converted.  The output willJ         be the same name with a ".html" extension.  Wildcards are allowed.  <         If the <textfile> is of the form "@<filename>", then;         AscToTab will read the file <filename> line-by-line 2         and convert the files listed in that file.  M                 If the <textfile> is omitted, the Windows version will launch O                 as per usual.  The OpenVMS and console versions will prompt you :                 for the name of the files to be converted.  	       and            <policyfile>  D         Is a "policy" file used to customize the conversion see 7.1.  I       As of V2.3, the command line interface is in identical to that used L       by [AscToHTM], although virtually none of the qualifiers are relevant.  3       As of V3.1 the following qualifiers are added   M         /RTF            The files should be converted to RTF rather than HTML   G         /TABBED         The source file(s) are tab-delimited text files   3       As of V3.2 the following qualifiers are added    	/HELP		Displays a help message   2 	/CONSOLE	Output is directed to the "cout" stream.' 			Works better in OpenVMS than Windows   ) 	/SILENT		Suppresses all console messages   5 	/OUT=[filespec]	Directs output to specified location     & 4.1.1 Processing several files at once   4.1.1.1 Using wildcards   I       You can convert multiple files at one time by specifying a wildcard N       describing the files to be converted.  The wildcard has to be meaningfulD       to the operating system you are using, and will be expanded in       alphabetical order.   J       At present we recommend that wildcards are only used on the contentsL       of a single directory.  Indeed it may well not work across directories
       at all.   N       Note, the same policies will apply to all files being converted.  If youH       wish different policies to apply, use a steering command file (see       4.1.1.2)    % 4.1.1.2 Using a steering command file   %       *Possibly discontinued in V3.1*   L       You can convert several files at the same time in the order and manner3       of your choosing.  To do this use the command   2         AscToTab @List.file [rest of command line]  L       Where the file "list.file" is a steering file which contains a list ofM       AscToTab command arguments, and the "@" in front indicates it is a list /       file, rather than a file to be converted.   *       An example list file might look like  
 $_$_BEGIN_PRE 8                 ! this is my first table... it's special2                 Table1.txt      special_policy.pol                 # K                 # These are my other tables.  I don't want table2 converted                  table3.TXT                 table4.TXT $_$_END_PRE     H       Note the use of "!" or "#" at the start of a line signifies it's a!       comment line to be ignored.   G       Any qualifiers used on the original AscToTab line will be used as K       defaults for each conversion, but will be overridden by any listed in K       the list file.  In this way it would be possible to specify a default 5       policy file for a bunch of similar conversions.      4.1.2 Command line qualifiers   F       Certain aspects of AscToTab's behaviour can be changed by addingO       qualifiers to the command line.  Qualifiers must begin with the slash (/) L       character but may be of mixed case and may be shortened provided they M       remain unique.  So /H will get you help, whereas you can't use /S since &       that could be /SILENT or /SIMPLE     4.1.2.1 The /CONSOLE qualifier  #       *New in version [[TEXT 3.2]]*   H       Specifies that the HTML generated should be directed to the outputK       stream, rather than to an output file.  This is a step towards making N       the program more suited for use inside a web server, e.g. to dynamicallyJ       convert text to HTML on demand, although it is expected this process"       has some distance to go yet.    # 4.1.2.2 The /OUT=filespec qualifier   #       *New in version [[TEXT 3.2]]*   G       This specifies where the output file(s) should be placed.  It can G       include wildcards, with the input file being used to replace any  *       parts of the filename not specified.  I       Thus "/OUT=*.shtml" will result in a file with the same name, but a H       .shtml extension.  In VMS "/OUT=[.sub]" will place the output in a!       sub-directory called "sub".   O       If omitted, the output file will be given the same name as the input file M       but with a .html extension.  That behaviour may change dependant on the +       values of a number of other policies.      4.1.2.3 The /SILENT qualifier   #       *New in version [[TEXT 3.2]]*   I       This specifies that no messages should be displayed on the console. H       When used with the /CONSOLE qualifier (see 4.1.2.1) this makes theH       program suitable for use in a web server, although you may need to$       use redirection under Windows.     4.1.2.4 The /RTF qualifier  #       *New in version [[TEXT 3.1]]*   K       This specifies that the files should be converted to RTF rather than         HTML (the default)     4.1.2.5 The /TABBED qualifier   #       *New in version [[TEXT 3.1]]*   I       This specified that the source file(s) are tab-delimited text files C       such as may have been saved from a spreadsheet such as Excel.     ! 4.1.2.6 The /HELP or /? qualifier   #       *New in version [[TEXT 3.2]]*   :       Displays a help message listing the command options.       4.2   Windows version          *Section added in V3.1*   M       As of V3.1 AscToTab is available as a normal Windows program instead of /       the console version available previously.      4.2.1 Launching the program    4.2.1.1 Normal activation   J       Just run the program as you would any other Windows program, i.e. by<       clicking on it's icon, or launching it the Start menu.    % 4.2.1.2 Execution from a command line   %       From a DOS command you can type            C:> AscToTab         or  (         C:> AscToTab <file1> <file2> ...  =       In the first case, AscToTab will be launched as normal.   K       In the second case AscToTab will convert the specified files, briefly F       displaying a status window, and then exiting.  In this case, one3       of the named files can be a .pol policy file.   M       The exact behaviour can be configured via the Settings Dialog (see ???)      4.2.1.3 Drag'n'Drop execution   H       Create an Icon for AscToTab, and simple drag'n'drop files onto it.F       The results will be identical to those obtained by typing in the(       filenames as described in 4.2.1.2.  D       One useful suggestion is to add AscToTab to your "SendTo" menu-       (shown when you right-click on a file).   1       See the Windows help file for more details.     ! 4.2.2 Using the Windows Interface          *Section added in V3.1*   M       The Windows interface has been copied from [AscToHTM], which was itself        re-vamped in V3.0.    * 4.2.2.1 Doing a straightforward conversion         *Section added in V3.1*   H       To do a simple conversion, simply enter the name of the file to beN       converted or use the "Browse" button to locate the file to be converted.  .       Select plain text or tab-delimited text.  7       Select the desired output extension (HTML or RTF)   .       Then press the "Convert file(s)" button.  M       A status screen will be displayed whilst the conversion is in progress. K       For small files this may flash up so fast you can't actually read it. M       (If you want to see what it said go to the View...Messages menu option)   P       To view the HTML/RTF, press the "View results" button.  This should launchL       your preferred HTML/RTF viewer to display the newly created HTML page.     4.2.2.2 The File menu          *New in V3.1*   .       The File menu has the following options:         - *Convert*   L         Initiates the conversion.  If you already have a file selected, thisM         file will be converted.  If you don't, then a browse window will open 1         allowing you to choose a file to convert.   H         This option is identical to pressing the "Convert files" button.           - *Exit*           Exits the program     # 4.2.2.3 The Conversion options menu          *New in V3.1*   J       AscToTab offers the advanced user a large number of program options.D       These are a small subset of the options available in AscToHTM.K       These are called policies, and may be saved in policy files for later H       re-use.  Policy files are described in detail in Chapter 7 of this       document.   )       Policies broadly come in two sorts.   L       Analysis policies represent a description of what the source file doesF       and does not contain.  These policies are usually set to defaultF       values and/or calculated by analysing the source document.  TheyB       should only ever need to be manually adjusted if you wish to@       correct the analysis, or override the detection of certain       typographical features.   :       AscToTab has very few analysis options at this time.  H       Output policies represent styling and other options that cannot beJ       inferred from the source document.  These include styling and markupG       options, and allow the user to "add value" to the HTML generated.   9       The Conversion Options menu has the following items           - *Edit analysis policies*  P         This option allows you to edit the programs analysis policies (see 7.1).P         This opens a tabbed property sheet with the various policy values shown.M         These values will change each time a document is converted to reflect P         the results of analysing the document.  Policies that have been manually>         set (or loaded from file) will not change in this way.  P         You should only need to change these if you suspect AscToTab has wrongly"         analysed your source file.           - *Edit output policies*  N         This option allows you to edit the programs output policies (see 7.1).P         This opens a tabbed property sheet with the various policy values shown.  D         For the most part these values will *not* change each time a         document is converted.  O         You can use these policies to tailor the document conversion to produce <         HTML files as near as possible to how you like them.           - *Re-analyse the file*v  !         Not relevant to AscToTab.s           - *Reset to defaults*   N         This option forces all policies back to their AscToTab defaults.  ThisO         will negate the effect of any manually set policies, or policies loadedo         from a policy file.     !       - *Load policies from file*s  L         This option allows you to load a set of policies previously saved toO         a policy file.  This allows a conversion to be repeatedly done the sameA<         way, or a set of conversions to be done the same way  M         Note, you can set a policy file to be used by default on the settingsr         Dialog.          - *Save policies to file*e  O         This option allows you to save your current set of policies to a policy.L         file for later re-use.  It is recommended that only a partial set ofN         policies (i.e. any loaded policies and manually set policies) be savedN         to allow the program maximum flexibility when converting future files.     4.2.2.4 The Settings Menud  I       The Settings menu allows you to set your program preferences.  This I       allows you to specify your preferred viewer for HTML and RTF files, L       and the default behaviour you want during drag'n'drop operations under       Windows.     4.3   Refining your results   C       If all goes well the resultant HTML/RTF will be satisfactory.t=       However, you can customize the conversion in two ways:-   %         - Use a policy file (see 7.1)s  /         - Use pre-processor commands (see 7.2).      5     HTML markup produced --------------------------   5.1   <TABLE> statementh   5.1.1 BORDER=n attribute  0       AscToTab will default to a BORDER=2 unless  A       a) A BORDER preprocessor command is encountered (see 7.2.1)p  >       b) It determines that the user has added their own lines     5.1.2 CELLPADDING=n attributeo  9       AscToTab will only add CELLSPACING if a CELLSPACING 6       preprocessor command is encountered (see 7.2.2).     5.1.3 CELLPADDING=n attributeb  (       AscToTab will add CELLPADDING if:-  9       a) It encounters a CELLPADDING command  (see 7.2.2)   ;       b) A BORDER is present.  The default is CELLPADDING=4o    : 5.1.4 BGCOLOR="colour" and BORDERCOLOR="colour" attributes  A       AscToTab will add these attributes if it encounters BGCOLOR *       or BORDERCOLOR commands (see 7.2.3).    . 5.1.5 WIDTH=<pixel_size> or WIDTH=<percentage>  G       AscToTab will add this attribute if it encounters a WIDTH commandi       (see 7.2.7)i     5.2   <CAPTION> statement   <       AscToTab will add a caption if it encounters a CAPTION       command (see 7.2.4)l     5.3   <TH> statements   H       AscToTab will use <TH>..</TH> markup whenever it determines that a$       cell forms part of the header.  J       AscToTab will attempt to automatically detect headers by looking for7       a single separator line near the top of the file.i  @       Alternatively the HEADING_ROWS command (see 7.2.5) will be1       used to specify the number of header lines.   H       AscToTab will set the ALIGN and COLSPAN attributes as best it can.     5.4   <TD> statementsa  C       AscToTab will use <TD>..</TD> markup for most of the cells ind       the table.  =       If the HEADING_COLS command (see 7.2.6) is encountered, N       the first few columns will additionally use <STRONG>...</STRONG> markup.  H       AscToTab will set the ALIGN and COLSPAN attributes as best it can.     5.5   Colouringg  K       AscToTab can have all the table colours set via options.  It can alsoeG       document colours set (which is everything *outside* of the table.u  N       New in V3.1 is the ability to colour odd and even data rows of the tableJ       differently for emphasis.  The Header rows are unaffected, they will?       take on the table or document colours that have been set.i     6     RTF markup produceds -------------------------e  O       At present there are very few options controlling the RTF markup created. 3       This is expected to change in later versions.h  I       The column widths are estimated from the cell contents and the fontiL       used.  This is only approximate, so it may be necessary on occasion to9       manually adjust column widths after the conversion.     " 7     Customizing your conversions" ----------------------------------   7.1   Policy files  G       Policy files are an AscToHTM feature that are supported as of the A       integration between the two products that occurred in V2.3.   M       Not all of the policies recognised are relevant to AscToTab, but here'st        a list of some that are :-  /         Descriptive text                 ValuessI         ----------------------------------------------------------------- 4         Active Link Colour               HTML Colour4         Background Colour                HTML Colour5         Background Image                 URL of image /         Colour data rows                 Yes/No /         Convert TABLE X-refs to links    Yes/Noe4         Default TABLE border colour      HTML Colour@         Default TABLE border size        Number. 0 = "automatic"4         Default TABLE caption            Text String;         Default TABLE cell padding       Number. 0 = "none" ;         Default TABLE cell spacing       Number. 0 = "none" 4         Default TABLE colour             HTML Colour4         Default TABLE even row colour    HTML Colour@         Default TABLE header cols        Number. 0 = "automatic";         Default TABLE header rows        Number. 0 = "none"]4         Default TABLE odd row colour     HTML ColourF         Default TABLE width              Table width in pixels or as aA                                          percentage of page widths@         Document Style Sheet             URL of style sheet file4         Document description             Text string=         Document keywords                Comma-separated listl4         Document title                   Text stringP         HTML footer file                 File name.  File contains HTML commandsP         HTML header file                 File name.  File contains HTML commands/         Minimise HTML file size          Yes/No =         TAB size                         Number of characterse4         Text Colour                      HTML Colour4         Unvisited Link Colour            HTML Colour/         Use .HTM extension               Yes/Nos4         Visited Link Colour              HTML Colour  J       Policy files are simply text files with a .pol extension by default.K       Each is placed on a separate line with the policy phrase, a colon (:)vJ       and the value.  The .pol file is then specified as an extra argument$       on the command line (see 4.1).  4       An example policy file might look as follows:-  
 $_$_BEGIN_PRE)0         Background Colour               : CCDD00+         Default TABLE border size       : 3P/         Default TABLE colour            : White -         Default TABLE width             : 75% E         Document title                  : This is a table I converted K         Document keywords               : Keywords, included, in, META, tagg $_$_END_PREs  N       Note, as of V3.0 it is possible to embed *any* policy line in the sourceN       document using the $_$_CHANGE_POLICY pre-processor command (see 7.2.11).  N       Note, as of V3.1 it is possible to edit policies directly in the WindowsM       version via tabbed property sheets in the user interface.  See 4.2.2.3.n  G       For more details check the "Policy Manual" added to the AscToHTM .K       documentation set in version V3.2.  As stated above, not all policiese       are relevant to AscToTab.      7.1.1 HTML Colours  G       These policies identifies the colours to be placed in the variousfJ       attributes of the <BODY> tag.  You can enter any value acceptable toL       HTML.  Normally a value is expressed as a 6-digit hexadecimal value inJ       the range 000000 (black) to FFFFFF (white), but certain colours suchM       as "white", "blue", "red" etc may also be recognised by HTML.  AscToTabh9       simply transcribes your value into the output file.a  M       The various policies control the colours of the foreground Text (TEXT),aO       the background (BGCOLOR), unvisited hyperlinks (LINK), visited hyperlinks ,       (VLINK) and active hyperlinks (ALINK).  H       A value of "none" signals the defaults are to be used.  By defaultK       AscToTab changes the background colour to be white, and omits all they"       other <BODY> tag attributes.     7.1.2 TABLE policies  I       Most of the these policies are equivalent to pre-processor commandse       described in section 7.2.l  /         Colour data rows                 7.2.12r/         Convert TABLE X-refs to links    7.2.10 .         Default TABLE border colour      7.2.1.         Default TABLE border size        7.2.1.         Default TABLE cell padding       7.2.2.         Default TABLE cell spacing       7.2.2.         Default TABLE colour             7.2.3.         Default TABLE caption            7.2.4/         Default TABLE even row colour    7.2.13a.         Default TABLE header rows        7.2.5.         Default TABLE header cols        7.2.6/         Default TABLE odd row colour     7.2.13y.         Default TABLE width              7.2.7.         Expect Sparse tables             7.2.9.         Minimum TABLE column separation  7.2.8     7.1.3 Document policiesE   7.1.3.1 Document Style Sheet  F       This policy allows you to specify the URL of a style sheet file,N       usually with a .css extension.  Style sheet files are a new HTML featureN       that allow you specify fonts and colours to be applied to your document.  J       The resulting HTML is inserted into the <HEAD> section of the output       page(s) as follows :-o  :         <LINK REL="STYLESHEET" HREF="URL" TYPE="text/css">     7.1.3.2 Document keywordsE  D       This policy allows you to specify keywords that are added to a=       META tag inserted into the <HEAD> section of the outputi       page(s) as follows :-   >         <META NAME="keywords" CONTENT="your list or keywords">  L       This tag is often used by search engines when indexing your HTML page.I       You should add here any relevant keywords possibly not contained inu       the text itself.     7.1.3.3 Document description  F       This policy allows you to specify a description of your documentI       that is added to a META tag inserted into the <HEAD> section of thei"       output page(s) as follows :-  <         <META NAME="description" CONTENT="your description">  J       This tag is often used by search engines (e.g. AltaVista) as a briefI       description of the contents of your page.  If omitted the first fewtC       lines may be shown instead, which is often less satisfactory.i     7.1.3.4 Document title  J       AscToTab can calculate - or be told - the title of a document.  ThisJ       will be placed in <TITLE>...</TITLE> markup in the <HEAD> section of       each HTML page produced.  H       The Title is calculated as in the order shown below.  If the firstA       algorithm returns a value, the subsequent ones are ignored.   >       1) If a $_$_TITLE pre-processor command is placed in the(          source text, that value is used  J       2) If the "Document title" policy is set (see 7.1.3) then this value          is used.n  H          Note:  If this is the value you want, ensure the other policies,                 outlined above are disabled.  A       3) Finally, if none of the above result in a title the texto-          "Converted from <filename>" is used..     7.1.4 Other policies   7.1.4.1 HTML headerr  L       This identifies the name of a text include file to be transcribed intoG       the HTML file at the top of the <BODY> ... </BODY> portion of then       generated HTML page.  K       This can be used to add standard headers, logos, contact addresses toiJ       your HTML pages, and is especially useful to give a consistent "look+       and feel" when converting many files.i     7.1.4.2 HTML footerf  L       This identifies the name of a text include file to be transcribed intoJ       the HTML file at the bottom of the <BODY> ... </BODY> portion of the       generated HTML page.  F       This can be used to add "return to home page" links, and contactK       addresses to your HTML pages.  Again, this helps to give a consistent 1       "look and feel" when converting many files.e     7.1.4.3 TAB size  G       This value can be used to specify the size of TABs in your source L       document.  AscToTab converts all tabs to space assuming using this tabN       size.  This becomes important only when comparing lines that use tabs toJ       lines that use spaces for alignment.  If problems occur you may findA       indentations appear strange, or tables are not quite right.e  I       Note, text that is all tabs or all spaces should experience no suchc       problems.1  P       If you know your source file uses a different TAB size (e.g. Notepad files3       use a value of 4), try adjusting this policy.f     7.1.4.4 Minimise HTML file sizep  J       This policy may be used to reduce the size of the created HTML file.H       By default AscToTab attempts to layout the created HTML code in anK       easy-to-read manner.  This was done so that the created HTML would be -       easier to manually edit after creation.   M       To make the code easier to read, AscToTab inserts white space to indent.L       the code to match the output indentation levels.  It also outputs each&       cell of a TABLE on its own line.  C       All this white space adds up, particularly the indentation of H       largely-empty cells in TABLES.  If you select this option, all the&       extra white space is eliminated.  O       Depending on the file contents, this can make the file 5-20% smaller (ands:       hence faster to download), at a cost of readability.     7.1.4.5 Use .HTM extension  O       This policy specifies whether or not the generated HTML files should havesJ       a .HTM extension.  The default is to use a ".html" extension, unless)       DOS-compatible files are requested.m     7.2   Preprocessor commands  ----------------------------  L       The preprocessor is a feature shared with [AscToHTM].  Essentially youF       insert commands into your source file that tell AscToTab how you2       want various aspects of your file converted.  J       The preprocessor looks for lines that begin with a special characterN       sequence "$_$_".  All the AscToTab commands add "TABLE_" to this, makingK       the relevant prefix "$_$_TABLE_".  This sequence *must* appear at theTI       start of the source line with no leading white space.  Each command 2       must be wholly contained on a separate line.  =       Commands are best placed at the top of the source file.c     7.2.1 The BORDER command         $_$_TABLE_BORDER       5  2       This command specifies the BORDER attribute.        A value of 0 means "none".    . 7.2.2 The CELLSPACING and CELLPADDING commands  #       $_$_TABLE_CELLSPACING       5 #       $_$_TABLE_CELLPADDING       5t  I       These command specify the values of the CELLSPACING and CELLPADDINGL       attribute.          A value of 0 means "none".    * 7.2.3 The BGCOLOR and BORDERCOLOR commands  ,       $_$_TABLE_BGCOLOR         AntiqueWhite'       $_$_TABLE_BORDERCOLOR     #FF23451  F       These commands specify the values of the BGCOLOR and BORDERCOLOR       attributes.      7.2.4 The CAPTION commandi  8       $_$_TABLE_CAPTION         Ooo! what a pretty table  J       This command specifies the value of <CAPTION>...</CAPTION> markup to       be added to the table.     7.2.5 The HEADING_ROWS command  $       $_$_TABLE_HEADING_ROWS       4  J       This command tells AscToTab how many lines of text are to be treatedF       as part of the header.  This should be the number of lines as it<       appears in the source file, including any blank lines.     7.2.6 The HEADING_COLS command  $       $_$_TABLE_HEADING_COLS       1  K       This command tells AscToTab how many columns (if any) at the start of C       each line should be marked up in <STRONG>...</STRONG> markup.t     7.2.7 The WIDTH commands         $_$_TABLE_WIDTH   500        $_$_TABLE_WIDTH   75%n  J       This command specifies the value of the WIDTH attribute in pixels or%       as a percentage of screen widths    ' 7.2.8 The MIN_COLUMN_SEPARATION command.  '       $_$_TABLE_MIN_COLUMN_SEPARATION 2n  E       This command specifies the minimum number of spaces that may be J       interpreted as a column separator.  The default value is 1, but thisK       occasionally gives rise to too many "columns" - particularly in shortl7       tables, or columns whose data values are similar.   0       A larger value will lead to fewer columns.    % 7.2.9 The TABLE_MAY_BE_SPARSE command          $_$_TABLE_MAY_BE_SPARSEi  J       This command specifies that the table may be sparse.  This fact will7       then be used to adjust the analysis of the table.p  H       Columns which appear to have little or no data in them are usuallyF       eliminated by merging them with their more populated neighbours.  P       If you use this command this process is relaxed, meaning that you will getA       more, emptier, columns rather than fewer, more filled ones.m    & 7.2.10 The TABLE_CONVERT_XREFS command  L       Although this affects table generation in AscToHTM, it's irrelevant in       AscToTab.   P       This specifies whether numbers in tables should be converted to hyperlinksL       to numbered document sections.  Since AscToTab deals with single-tableI       files, there can be no numbered sections elsewhere in the document.       7.2.11 The CHANGE_POLICY command  D       This directive allows you set a policy in the document source.H       This allows you to effectively embed a policy file at the start of       your source file.D  '       The syntax of the command line isl  '         $_$_CHANGE_POLICY <Policy Line>   O       where <Policy_line> is a policy line as it would appear in a policy file, )       and (usually) as it appears in 7.1.E  ;       For example the following would be a valid directivesI  
 $_$_BEGIN_PREN1         $_$_CHANGE_POLICY Background Colour : red7=         $_$_CHANGE_POLICY Document Title    : My pretty tablel $_$_END_PRED    # 7.2.12 The TABLE_COLOR_ROWS commandP         *New in V3.1*2  K       This command specifies that you want alternate data rows in the table        coloured differently.L    @ 7.2.13 The TABLE_ODD_ROW_COLOR and TABLE_EVEN_ROW_COLOR commands  I       These commands specify the colours to be used for odd and even data J       rows in the table whenever you elect to colour the rows differently.     8     Purchasing AscToTab  -------------------------i  2 8.1   How do I purchase AscToTab (trick question)?  M       You can't.  It's free.  Or rather it's postcardware.  If you wish to be K       notified of updates or request support you have to send me a postcardtL       with your email address.  I'll accept enquiries via email, but I still       want my postcard.t  I       Thanks to all those that have sent cards to date.  Keep 'em coming.   I       To those of you that send me email saying how great the software is M       and how it saved your life... well that's very nice, but I *still* want        my postcard :-)b  8       It you really like the program, send a postcard to           John A Fotheringhamk         c/o Yezerski Roper         Applicon House         Exchange Streeto         Stockports         SK3 0ET   
         UK  L       You could also look at [AscToHTM], which is a superset of the AscToTabH       functionality, i.e. it'll convert any document, using the AscToTab.       software to convert any tables it finds.  L       [AscToHTM] is shareware in the Windows version, but is free to OpenVMS        users and FAQ maintainers.  H       In the near future you should also look at [AscToRTF], in fact whyG       not just visit www.jafsoft.com and see what else I have on offer.e     9     Contacts on the Web  -------------------------v   9.1   The home page   K       Recently I've founded a new company ([JafSoft]) to promote [AscToHTM]vI       and [AscToTab].  However, it's not a living, and so I'm grateful todH       my employers [Yezerski Roper] for all the support they've given me"       in developing this software.  J       The OpenVMS version of this software is offered free to help promoteH       [Yezerski Roper] and the skills we have to offer producing OpenVMS       and Windows software.-  A       Yezerski Roper are the most intelligent software house it'sfJ       ever been my privilege to be associated with.  We're based in the UKA       and offer OpenVMS and Windows NT systems, and are currently E       developing state-of-the-art products which will allow companies C       to exploit the full communications potential of the Internet.   -       AscToTab and AscToHTM are my "hobbies".-     9.2   E-mail  /       E-mail any feedback to jaf@jafsoft.com.       
 9.3   Support   K       A limited amount of support is available by emailing jaf@jafsoft.com. M       Sadly, we cannot guarantee any replies, though we do try to be helpful.      10    Known problems --------------------  !       None.  (Ignorance is bliss)      11    Change History --------------------  ! 11.1  Version 1.00 (December '97)   J       Initial release of command line version as postcardware.  OriginallyL       the intention was to develop this as a separate shareware product, butG       I've since decided to keep it postcardward (just so long as those        postcards keep coming).c    ! 11.2  Version 2.00 (February '98)A  C       AscToTab is now integrated into [AscToHTM], and the bug fixese8       and enhancements are released as V2.00 of AscToTab     11.3  Version 2.3 (April '98)   J       AscToTab is now totally subsumed in [AscToHTM].  This allows it fullI       access to the AscToHTM feature set.  In particular the command linetJ       interface is now the same, allowing wildcards and policy files to be       used.   M       New commands are added (see 7.2.7 and 7.2.8), and more improvements are        made to the algorithms.   K       From now on the AscToTab version numbers will indicate the release oft$       AscToHTM they are a subset of.     11.4  Version 3.0 (August '98)  8       Release synchronized with [AscToHTM] release V3.0.   11.4.1 Bug fixes  J       - The TABLE_HEADER_COLS directive only worked when there were header         rows as well.   O       - Use of emphasis inside a TABLE cell was not being detected as all.  NowMM         it is detected if held on a single line.  Phrases that are emphasised I         over several lines inside a table cell may still not be detected.    11.4.2 New functions  )       - New "TAB size" policy (see 7.1.4)a  O       - New "Expect sparse tables" policy and TABLE_MAY_BE_SPARSE pre-processor %         command (see 7.1.2 and 7.2.9)e  8       - New "Minimise HTML file size" policy (see 7.1.4)  J       - New "Convert TABLE X-refs to links" policy and TABLE_CONVERT_XREFS4         pre-processor command (see 7.1.2 and 7.2.10)  <       - New CHANGE_POLICY pre-processor command (see 7.2.11)     11.4.3 Other changes  N       - Empty lines in a table cell now get an extra &nbsp; added, in additionL         to the <BR>.  This is to compensate for a bug in Internet Explorer 3K         which would ignore the <BR> otherwise, leading to alignment errors.e  M       - Improved handling of tables with long urls in them.  Previously these J         would not be recognised as part of a table.  Increased "long line"-         limit inside tables to 110 charactersi  G       - Improved detection of "mal-formed" tables.  Previously this waso2         over-cautious, especially on short tables.     11.5  Version 3.1 (March '99)e  E       Release of first fully-Windowed version.  This was to have beenTL       synchronized with [AscToHTM] release V3.0, but it slipped drastically,?       hence this is V3.1, even though AscToHTM is still at V3.0v   11.5.1 Bug fixes  &       - Nothing major in this release.   11.5.2 New functions         - New Windowed interface,(  J       - Now supports tab-delimited text files as well as plain text files.I         The conversion of tab-delimited data is a little simple minded atbF         present, and is geared up to the type of file created by ExcelL         (which wraps text in quotes, and doubles up and quotes in the text).         - Added output to RTFv  $       - Added data colouring options     11.5.3 Other changes  P       - No major changes to existing functionality, it's mostly new stuff added.     11.6  Version 3.2 (October '99)t  K       This release is synchronized with [AscToHTM] release V3.2, and is theAJ       first OpenVMS release since V3.0.  As such there's not much AscToTabI       specific changes at this time, although OpenVMS users will now get s       all the V3.1 changes.   B       The command line interface has had a number of improvements.     11.6.1 Bug fixes  &       - Nothing major in this release.   11.6.2 New functions  &       - Added "cell alignment" policy.  *       - Added /HELP command line qualifier  -       - Added /CONSOLE command line qualifiere  ,       - Added /SILENT command line qualifier  7       - Improved /OUT=[filespec] command line qualifierL     11.6.3 Other changes  3       - Improved file handling and error reporting. 