--- psiconv/trunk/README 1999/10/03 21:10:47 2 +++ psiconv/trunk/README 2004/02/04 15:28:56 200 @@ -2,13 +2,13 @@ ============ This package is meant to make the Psion 5 series of PDAs, as well as other -small computers running Epoc 32, more usable to non-Windows users. But even +small computers running EPOC 32, more usable to non-Windows users. But even they may profit from the data I collected. The package consists of several parts: * Documentation about Psion 5 data formats; * A library which can be linked against application that have to read - (and in the future, perhaps write) Psion 5 files; + and write Psion 5 files; * An example command-line program which reads Psion files and writes more commonly used formats. @@ -20,9 +20,10 @@ or is not able to release the data formats of the saved files of their internal applications. I am trying to reverse engineer these data formats and to document them for general use. At this moment, I understand their -Word, TextEd, Sketch, MBM and Record files. I want this information to -be available to everyone, in order to write better file conversion utilities -for popular (non-)Windows programs. +Word, Sheet, TextEd, Sketch, MBM, Clipart and Record files, as well as a +few other less important formats. I want this information to be available +to everyone, in order to write better file conversion utilities for popular +(non-)Windows programs. All documentation is written in Psion 5 Word. Fortunately, the utilities in this package can translate it to HTML and other formats. @@ -40,43 +41,18 @@ =========== libpsiconv is a library of routines that you can link against your own -application. It allows you to read Psion 5 files, and helps you output -more commonly used files. Note that it comes under the GNU General -Public License; that means that you can only link it to programs which -are also covered by that license. You can contact me if you need other -license terms. - -Libpsiconv consists of two parts. The parser reads the Psion file into its -internal data structures. The generator reads these data structures and -generates an output file in some other format. Libpsiconv is written to make -it easy to add generators, without having to modify the parser side. -Actually, it is a lot easier to write a generator than to modify the parser! - -The parser is quite good at the moment. Page layout codes are not yet -read, but almost everything that is described in the documents in the -format directory is supported by it. Of course, it can also not yet -cope with inserted objects (ie. documents in some other format) and -other as of yet undocumented things. - -The current HTML target is not very ideal. HTML is just not made to -represent detailed layout considerations: it is a document description -language. Still, the output is quite readable already. Of course, headers -and footers are not displayed, because there is no notion of pages in -HTML. Tabs are also difficult; they are not supported yet. This can be -solved using tables, but it is quite hard to do it correctly. Some other -things are just approximated too. - -The HTML4 target uses style sheets. You need a not-too-old browser for -this to display correctly. Generally, the output of this generator is -of higher quality than the normal HTML generator's. - -A plain TEXT target just grabs all text, without any futher conversions. - -I would very much like to add other targets, like (La)TeX, RTF (Rich Text -Format) and XML (for AbiWord). If other people want to work on this, please -let me know! Of course, you could also write your own conversion applications -just using my data format description. Native import/export filters for -some word processors would be very welcome! +application. It allows you to read and write Psion 5 files. Note that +it comes under the GNU General Public License; that means that you can +only link it to programs which are also covered by that license. You can +contact me if you need other license terms. + +The following formats are supported at this moment: + Word (R+W) Word processor files + TextEd (R+W) OPL editor files + Sketch (R+W) Picture files + MBM (R+W) Alternate picture format; can contain several pictures + ClipArt (R+W) Internal picture format; can contain several pictures + Sheet (R) Spreadsheet files Documentation is scarce; please examine the source code or the example psiconv program. Some things may also be found in the doc subdirectory. @@ -91,6 +67,28 @@ Please enter `psiconv --help' if you want to know about its syntax. +The current HTML4 target is not very ideal. HTML is just not made to +represent detailed layout considerations: it is a document description +language. Still, the output is quite readable already. Of course, headers +and footers are not displayed, because there is no notion of pages in +HTML. Tabs are also difficult; they are not supported yet. This can be +solved using tables, but it is quite hard to do it correctly. Some other +things are just approximated too. + +The XHTML target uses cascading style sheets (CSS). You need a not-too-old +browser for this to display correctly. Generally, the output of this +generator is of higher quality than the normal HTML generator's. + +A plain TEXT target just grabs all text, without any futher conversions. + +All ImageMagick graphic output formats are supported; depending on how +you compiled ImageMagick, this is betwee 20 and 50 different formats. +Your favorite one should be somewhere in there... + +In the past, my focus was on extending the number of output targets for +this program; at the moment, I belief more in import/export filters for +office applications like AbiWord, Gnumeric and the Gimp. + Psiconv is licensed under the GPL. Please read the included file COPYING for exact licensing information. Please contact me if you need some other licensing terms. @@ -102,14 +100,15 @@ Starting with version 0.2, psiconv should keep all namespaces unpoluted. Starting with version 0.4, the conversion routines are linked into a (static or shared) library. Version 0.5 has autoconf and libtool support, -and should run on many more platforms. +and should run on many more platforms. Version 0.6 has support for +graphics. Version 0.8 can generate files and add Sheet support. Version +0.9 uses Unicode inside, add the psiconv.conf file and has many more +enhancements. -High on the TODO list are input routines for Sketch, MBM and Record files. +High on the TODO list are input routines for Record files. Sheet files will be next. I am running into some trouble understanding Data and Agenda files, but with a little luck, I'll figure it out after all. This is more long-term though. -On the output side, I hope RTF will soon be done. This will allow most -office tools to read the Psion files. INSTALLATION