Re: Editing Menu .ASC files
By: Digital Man to Clifra Jones on Mon Jul 23 2018 01:56 pm

If you PaboDraw or any editor that supports Synchronet control-A codes directly, then you don't need to convert to/from ANSI at all.

(This isn't just for Digital Man... it's for whomever has any recommendations)

I have tried PabloDraw (3.2.1) on Linux on a couple of different machines and if I try loading head.asc it is
mostly gibberish (ie, doesn't seem to be handling the CTRL-A codes at all).

So, I have done asc2ans on it and tried editing the resulting head.ans file, but I'm having some fun issues
because the canvas size is 80 wide and the @-codes are extending the lines beyond that.

It seems like, without a better editor, the workflow is along the lines of:

- Convert file from .asc to .ans
- Get the file in to PabloDraw, edit the sauce info, set the width to 95 columns or so
- Do the work
- Convert back from .ans to .asc

I haven't done the last couple of steps yet, as PabloDraw has crashed after starting editing... but, I'm
curious, is this the sort of process everyone's going through if they are looking to customize their look?

I will have to give the console version of PabloDraw a look-see.

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Re: Editing Menu .ASC files
By: Va7aqd to Digital Man on Fri Mar 22 2019 02:54 pm

Re: Editing Menu .ASC files
By: Digital Man to Clifra Jones on Mon Jul 23 2018 01:56 pm

If you PaboDraw or any editor that supports Synchronet control-A codes directly, then you don't need to convert to/from ANSI at all.

(This isn't just for Digital Man... it's for whomever has any recommendations)

I have tried PabloDraw (3.2.1) on Linux on a couple of different machines and if I try loading head.asc it is
mostly gibberish (ie, doesn't seem to be handling the CTRL-A codes at all).

When you open the file with PabloDraw, you need to select "Ctrl-A" from the format drop-down box in "Select the file to open" dialog. Without doing that, PabloDraw will assume the .asc files is straight-ASCII. This is one reason to use .msg files instead of .asc files if you don't need both.

So, I have done asc2ans on it and tried editing the resulting head.ans

file,

but I'm having some fun issues
because the canvas size is 80 wide and the @-codes are extending the lines beyond that.

Did you try using the "Set Width" option to extend the canvas?

It seems like, without a better editor, the workflow is along the lines of:

- Convert file from .asc to .ans
- Get the file in to PabloDraw, edit the sauce info, set the width to 95 columns or so
- Do the work
- Convert back from .ans to .asc

I haven't done the last couple of steps yet, as PabloDraw has crashed after starting editing... but, I'm
curious, is this the sort of process everyone's going through if they are looking to customize their look?

Nope, I either directly edit with a text editor (e.g. vi, notepad), or I use PabloDraw. Very rarely, I'll use TheDraw to edit the .ans or .bin version of a file.

digital man

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On 2019 Mar 22 14:54:44, you wrote to Digital Man:

I have tried PabloDraw (3.2.1) on Linux on a couple of different machines and if I try loading head.asc it is mostly gibberish (ie, doesn't seem to be handling the CTRL-A codes at all).

rename the file to .msg and pablodraw will handle it better...

as for the @-code handling, yeah, you'll get that with thedraw as well... you just have to account for it when doing the drawing... this is why some systems handle it with a type of animation but it is handcoded stuff... draw the screen first, then go back and place the cursor where needed and put the @code... i can see how to do it but i don't know if i can explain it better right now...

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Re: Editing Menu .ASC files
By: Digital Man to Va7aqd on Fri Mar 22 2019 03:15 pm

When you open the file with PabloDraw, you need to select "Ctrl-A" from the format drop-down box in "Select the file to open" dialog. Without doing that, PabloDraw will assume the .asc files is straight-ASCII. This is one reason to use .msg files instead of .asc files if you don't need both.

Ah, ok, I get that, didn't see how that worked. I actually hadn't opened the file using that
dialog yet.

Did you try using the "Set Width" option to extend the canvas?

Yes, and the problem is that the canvas doesn't stay open or wider than 80 when loading a
file, so lines get wrapped every time when loading a file (I don't see a way around this). If
the file's only a handful of lines long, it's not a big deal, I suppose, but then it seems one
should have a working copy sitting around with "sauce" added in to tell PabloDraw to open a
particular sized canvas next time we open the file?

Nope, I either directly edit with a text editor (e.g. vi, notepad), or I

use

That sounds like it could be a little sadistic! ;-)

Thanks for the thoughts on the subject, though... I'm sure I'll get things worked out for some
simple customizations. I may also see if PabloDraw's developer is still working on it, maybe
an improvement or two could be worked on.

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