                _____ _         _____    ___
               |  ___(_)_ __ __|_   _|__|_ _|_ __ ___  _ __
               | |_  | | '__/ _ \| |/ _ \| || '_ ` _ \| '_ \
               |  _| | | | |  __/| | (_) | || | | | | | |_) |
               |_|   |_|_|  \___||_|\___/___|_| |_| |_| .__/ version 130
                                                      |_|

"FireToImp" is a Fireworkz to Impression file converter by Miss H. Bazley.
Version 130 was written between October-December 2002.

How to Use:

If you drag a file to the iconbar icon, a savebox will pop up.   As soon
as you drag the icon from the savebox to a filer window, the program
will start reading in the original file and saving out a text file in the
Impression DDF format.   A status window will appear to indicate progress.
Clicking MENU over the status window will bring up a menu with one entry -
'Abort'.   Selecting this will abandon the current conversion.

Once it has finished, the status window will show 'Conversion complete'
instead of a percentage display.  You can then drop the output file into an
Impression window or onto the Impression icon on the iconbar.   The output
file will be called "DDF", unless you altered the name in the savebox.

N.B. This is not an Impression file (filetype &BC5) and double-clicking
on it will simply load it into a text editor  you have to drag it into
Impression where it will be decoded.

Margin Adjust:

On the iconbar menu you will find a writable item "Margin adjust".   This
allows you to compensate for the fact that Fireworkz rulers start from the
edge of the printable area, while Impression rulers start from the edge of
the frame.   Using the default A4 page in both programs, Impression will
print your text about half a centimetre further to the right of the page
than Fireworkz - and thus your text will be narrower than expected.

The default margin adjust setting tries to compensate for this by
subtracting a small value from all the margin and tab stop settings when
translating the file.  You may use this menu entry to alter the adjustment
used - negative values move the margin to the left, positive ones to the
right.   If the resulting value would be less than zero (i.e. outside the
frame) then it is rounded up to zero.   This option may thus have a
'concertina' effect on your indented paragraphs and tab stops if used
over-enthusiastically!


Current Limitations:

The program does not support direct memory transfer.   This means that you
can neither save a file out of Fireworkz onto the iconbar icon (it will
ignore it) nor save the output file directly into Impression (if you try,
the program will work, but will not display a savebox, and the output file
will appear inside your !Scrap application).

FireToImp was not designed to convert spreadsheet-type files into Impression
tables.   It will not do so.   In fact, it will only convert the first
column of a Fireworkz document  so if the first column of your spreadsheet
is blank, you will get a completely empty Impression document.

There is a limit to the number of Fireworkz 'regions' the program can hold
in memory at any one time.   Attempting to convert Fireworkz documents
containing a very large number of effects may produce the warning "Too many
effects - some formatting may be lost" and offer the option to abort.   If
you continue, the conversion will take place as normal but the effects at
the end of the list (those most recently applied) will not appear in the
output document.

If you do encounter such a warning, you are strongly advised to load the
document in question back into Fireworkz and reconstruct it properly, using
globally-applied styles instead of local effects!   However, the limit may
be overridden if desired, by altering the value of FiretoImpMaxStyles from
the !Run file and restarting the program.

History:
version 106	Wimp front end finally properly integrated.
version 110	New Wimp front end written from scratch by me.   Now runs in
                32k Wimpslot instead of 96k Wimpslot and complies with
                Style Guide!   Templates removed since they were causing
                problems on loading  saves a lot of calls to Wimp_GetIconState
                anyhow.
version 120	Filetype checking and rudimentary error handling added.
                Hourglass with percentage display during actual processing
                added.
version 121	Bugs caused by debugging routines fixed(!)
version 122	No longer causes errors while responding to Acorn's interactive
                !Help
version 130	Status window fully implemented.   As a result, the program
                now multitasks during processing!
                More tolerant of Fireworkz Pro style definitions.
                Finally handles tab definitions and indented/outdented
                paragraphs properly.
                Margin adjust (previously hard-coded) now configurable via menu.
                Extended interactive Help.
                Fixed bug where base style was never switched off at end of
                document.
                Fixed bug where leafname in savebox was totally ignored...(!)
                No longer crashes Impression by allowing non-integer
                'fontaspect' in style definitions or negative margins/tabs.
                Copes better with missing rows.
                Added high-resolution sprites
                Attempts to implement page breaks using {nextframe}.
                Limit on number of regions no longer hard-wired.
                Handles 'spreadsheet' files better: copes with Name
                definitions and formula slots
                Corrected really stupid bug which caused effects not known to
                Impression (e.g. column width changes) to be inserted as blank
                effects.
                Added check for 'save selection' blocks - these use a different
                syntax which FireToImp cannot parse
                Typing a path and then pressing RETURN in savebox now works
                properly(!)
                Attempts to pass on unused keypresses now actually work.
                Styles and Effects which do not actually relate to the first
                column are no longer included in the output file!
version 131	Actually outputs blank rows!
                Now understands 'wholerow' area selection (and thus is able
                to translate styles applied to areas selected by dragging
                over row markers)
                No longer interprets vertical justify settings in
                style definition as horizontal left-justification(!)

To do:		
            Implement multi-column translation  maybe.   (Might be able to do
            direct memory transfer if I get this working)
            (Currently working on this - "FireToImp 20" may yet appear!)

Implement PipeDream conversion  probably easier. (Done this - try "Firepipe"!)

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
CONTACTING THE AUTHOR

The author may be contacted at:
  43, Wilton Grove
  Wimbledon
  London SW19 3QU

or via e-mail at	harriet@bazley.freeuk.com
			chrisbazley@bigfoot.com


Further applications by the same author (including Firepipe, a
Fireworkz/PipeDream file converter) can be downloaded from
http://www.bigfoot.com/~chrisbazley/utilities.htm

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ASCII art generated by
Risc-OS 'Figlet', ported from UNIX by
Paul Corke, c/o 6 Shotford Rd., Harleston, Norfolk, IP20 9JN.
