[Promotion-technology] Fwd: Announcing CHM2TXT

[David Andrews]

>
>Now available at
>http://www.EmpowermentZone.com/chm2txt.zip
>
>I hope this utility increases access to information stored in CHM
>archives.  It is explained below.
>
>Jamal
>
>----------
>
>CHM2TXT
>Version 1.0
>August 16, 2007
>Copyright 2007 by Jamal Mazrui
>Modified GPL License
>
>Contents
>Description
>Operation
>Development Notes
>----------
>
>Description
>Running on Windows 98 and above, CHM2TXT (chm2txt.exe) is a command line
>utility that converts a file from Compiled HTML format (.chm) to
>structured text (.txt).  Combining multiple HTML and graphics files, the
>CHM format is commonly used for software documentation, e.g., what is
>displayed by pressing F1.  The usual help viewing program, however, can be
>challenging to search globally or to read continuously.  A single,
>structured text file provides an alternative in such cases.  CHM2TXT is a
>free, open source program that seeks to fill an observed need of many
>users.  Note that its present limitations include the fact that topics are
>ordered alphabetically, rather than according to the outline view of the
>CHM file.
>----------
>
>Operation
>The command line syntax of CHM2TXT is as follows:
>chm2txt "SourceFile.chm" "TargetFile.txt"
>
>A file name should be fully qualified, that is, include a leading path --
>either absolute or relative -- if not located in the current directory.
>Quotes around a file may be omitted if it does not include a space
>character.  The target may be omitted to produce one named like the source
>except for extension.  Status messages are displayed on the console (via
>standard output) during the conversion process.
>
>The chm2txt.exe executable may be copied to and run from any directory.
>The program creates a workspace in a subdirectory of the user's temporary
>directory.  Batch files or other applications may invoke CHM2TXT in order
>to convert multiple files with a single command, or to provide a graphical
>user interface for specifying source and target files.  For example, such
>capabilities are included in the EdSharp editor available at
>http://www.EmpowermentZone.com/edsetup.exe
>
>The text file produced by CHM2TXT observes a few conventions that
>facilitate navigation in editors that implement the "Homer editor
>interface."  Besides EdSharp, TextPal is another such application,
>available at
>http://www.EmpowermentZone.com/palsetup.exe
>
>A structured text document is divided into sections separated by a
>character sequence consisting of a hard page break and line break (ASCII
>12, 13, and 10 codes).  The first section is the table of contents, and
>remaining sections are the body.  Each topic name in the contents is also
>a section heading in the body.
>
>Relevant Homer keys for navigation are as follows.  Press Control+PageDown
>to go to the next section, or Control+PageUp for the previous one.  Press
>F6 to go from a topic in the contents to its corresponding section in the
>body.  Press Shift+F6 to reverse that, going from a section in the body to
>its topic in the contents.  Press Control+F6 to search for a section based
>on text in its topic name.  Press Alt+F6 to search for the next match.
>
>A structured text document may also be converted to an equivalent HTML
>version, with a table of contents linked to section headings.  Press
>Control+H to convert the current document to HTML format.  Press Control+S
>to save it to disk.  Press F5 to launch it in the default web browser.
>----------
>
>Development Notes
>I developed CHM2TXT with the Perl Developer Kit 7.0 from
>http://ActiveState.com
>It incorporates Perl 5.8, as well as the libraries Text::CHM,
>HTML::Stripper, and File::OldSlurp from the Comprehensive Perl Archive
>Network at
>http://cpan.org
>
>The distribution archive, chm2txt.zip, contains Perl source code
>(chm2txt.pl) and the batch file to compile it (compile.bat).  The code is
>covered by a modified version of the GNU General Public License (GPL),
>which is explained at
>http://gnu.org/copyleft/gpl.html
>Essentially, software that uses the code must be open source, except that
>I am willing to relax GPL conditions in a particular case if persuaded
>that a greater good would result.
>
>I welcome feedback, which helps CHM2TXT improve over time.  When reporting
>a problem, the more specifics the better, including steps to reproduce it,
>if possible.  If you happen to be a programmer, please consider
>contributing code that fixes a problem or improves functionality.
>
>The latest version of CHM2TXT is available at the same URL,
>http://www.EmpowermentZone.com/chm2txt.zip
>
>Jamal Mazrui
>jamal at EmpowermentZone.com
>
>----------
>End of Document