@database "Spc2Tab_eng.guide"
@author "Grzegorz Królik"
@(c) "Copyright © 1999 Grzegorz Królik
@$VER: Spc2Tab_eng.guide 1.1 (14.07.99)
@wordwrap

@node main "Spc2Tab - Documentation"

           Welcome to documentation of my new program - Spc2Tab.

    Click one of the following gadgets:

    @{" Program version                " link version}
    @{" Copyright and spreading        " link copyright}
    @{" What does it do?               " link usage}
    @{" Program description            " link description}
    @{" Conversion errors              " link errors}
    @{" Program history                " link history}
    @{" Suggestions, bug reports, etc. " link end}
@endnode

@node version "Spc2Tab - Program version"

                                  Spc2Tab

                                Version 1.1

                      Copyright © 1999 Grzegorz Królik

                           Compiled: 14 July 1999
@endnode

@node copyright "Spc2Tab - Copyright and spreading"

  This  program  is  FreeWare.  It  means  that  it may be used and spread
  freely. But I reserve the copyright to it.

  You  mustn't  charge any fee for spreading it (besides, of course, a fee
  charged for copying a PD program).

  You  are  not  allowed  to  make  changes  in  the  main  file or in the
  documentation files.

         This program may be spread only with the following files:

                     Spc2Tab                - @{"main program" link description}
                     Spc2Tab_eng.guide      - English documentation
                     Spc2Tab_eng.guide.info - its icon
                     Spc2Tab_pol.guide      - Polish documentation
                     Spc2Tab_pol.guide.info - its icon

  This  program may be also spread as an archive. I do not agree to spread
  it  as  a crunched file because there is nothing that you could compress
  besides  the  executable  file.  And  the  executable file should not be
  crunched  because  it  is  so small that compression would not give much
  gain, and the program could not be made @{"resident" link description 26}.

  The source code of this program is not included, but you can get it from
  me.
@endnode

@node usage "Spc2Tab - What does it do?"

  This program is a supplement to the previous program Tab2Spc and it does
  the  inverse  operation,  ie. it converts all spaces (code 32) in a text
  file into tabulators (code 9).

  The  text  file  is  also  put  to optimization. It consists in removing
  so-called  'blank lines'. It does not affect outlook of the text, but it
  helps to reduce the file size.

  Both  functions  reduce  the  size  of  a  text file without loosing the
  clarity of the text itself.
@endnode

@node description "Spc2Tab - Program description"

  This program is very simple.

  In  order  to  make it very short and simple it can only be started from
  Shell, not from Workbench.

  You have to type three parameters

  <tab size (1..8)> (source file> <destination file>

  so  the  number  of  spaces  that equal to one tabulator, the source and
  destination file names.

  As  the  number  of  spaces that equal to one tabulator, I advise you to
  enter  8,  because it is the default value. The minimal admissible value
  is  2.  I made it so, because there is no point in replacing spaces with
  tabulators when the size of one tabulator equals to 1 space.

  After conversion a report is displayed:

  Original file length    : the file length before conversion
  Converted file length   : its length after conversion
  Spaces removed/inserted : number of removed/inserted spaces
  Tabs removed/inserted   : number of removed/inserted tabulators

  Because  the  program  works  only  as a Shell command, I decided to add
  a  possibility  to  make  it  resident.  It  means  that  if you use the
  'Resident'  command  you  are  able  to  add the program to the resident
  programs  list.  It  will  then  stay  in  the  memory  until reset. The
  executable  file has the 'Pure' bit set, so there should not be problems
  with  making it resident. However, it may not be made resident if it had
  been crunched. But it should not make any difference because it is quite
  short and conversion would not give much gain...
@endnode

@node errors "Conversion errors"

  At  present  there  is only one error known to me. It may occur when the
  converted file already contains tabulators.

  If  the program finds any tabulator during conversion, it counts the how
  many spaces equal to one tabulator. It uses the following formula:

  NUMBER_OF_SPACES = TABULATOR_SIZE - NUMBER_OF_CHARS_BEFORE_TABULATOR

  So, if the text file contains tabulators and they equal to eg. 8 spaces,
  and in the first parameter was specified eg. 5, then the program uses 5,
  not 8 as the TABULATOR_SIZE.

  After such conversion the file will loose its clarity.
  It is advised not to convert files that contain tabulators or try to use
  8  as  the tabulator size. It is the default value and probably the file
  will then be correctly converted.
@endnode

@node history "Spc2Tab - Program history"

  1.0 - First program version.

  1.1 - Second release.
        The  program  no  longer  converts spaces into tabulators in lines
        that  are  put  in  quotation-marks  (")  or  (').  The converting
        function   has   also  been  fixed.  In  some  cases  the  program
        incorrectly  counted the number of tabulators that were to replace
        spaces.
@endnode

@node end "Spc2Tab - Suggestions, bug reports, etc."

  If you have any suggestions about this program or you have found any bug
  in  it,  then  I  would like you to contact me writting to the following
  address:

  Grzegorz Królik
  ul. Wyszyďskiego 8/19
  42-400 Zawiercie
  Poland
  tel. +48 (32) 672-32-53
@endnode