TUDOR provides high quality conversion to Rich Text Format - readable by all leading PC packages.
Dot Commands
TUDOR is in use in major commercial companies, local and central government organisations.
For example, TUDOR has been used as part of successful migrations at:
| Compaq | Austrian Telecom | Lucent Technology |
| GKN | Qantas Airlines | Institute of Taxation |
| McAlpines | Football Association | Cambridge County Council |
| Orbit Housing | Cameron McKenna | Southampton Council |
Centreline 2000 has reviewed, sold, installed and supported several document conversion packages over the years.
Document conversion systems all work to a "hub and spoke" based technology, that is, the source document is converted
on one "spoke" to an internal "hub" format, then converted via another "spoke" to the target format.
This two-part conversion, via an intermediate format has meant that with each package the conversion has not been able
to manage one or more key attributes of the conversion. Although, for more general conversion purposes, where there is
a need to convert from multiple document formats, this approach is the only sensible route one can adopt.
In reviewing requirements of our customers it was clear that there was a general need to migrate documents from Uniplex
to PC based systems, and in particular Microsoft systems. It was also clear that the conversion needed to be "format"
rich - i.e. produce complete and editable documents at the target.
Centreline 2000 therefore decided to develop a one-way Uniplex to Microsoft Rich Text Format (RTF) convertor.
There are some strong benefits of this approach: speed and accuracy being two key elements. The adoption of RTF as
the output format guarantees support by any of the Microsoft applications and just about any other Windows based WP system.
Functional Targets:
In addition to the obvious requirement to handle all standard text and formatting controls there are five key areas
where shrink-wrap packages are failing to deliver adequate conversion:
- Correct translation of a Uniplex table to a Word table. Converters usually produced some form of tabbed text,
but not in a recognisable table.
- Conversion of line draw and boxing. Converters would sometimes output line draw characters, but with all
formatting lost, so the line draw affect was completely useless.
- Correct handling of Uniplex font descriptions and in particular the ability to customise the mapping of
Uniplex source font descriptions to target font availability.
- Proper handling of multi-column work in Uniplex to produce proper multi-column documents in the target editor.
- Recognition of Uniplex printer definitions and print styles. The expected printed output from Uniplex is
controlled to a great extent by printer and print style definitions. All shrink-wrap converters failed to recognise
this and so are only capable of producing one type of output, not necessarily that which the user needs.
So, the only conclusion was to develop a new convertor aimed at producing high-quality conversions direct from Uniplex
to Microsoft RTF - a format supported by all leading PC packages.
Advanced Uniplex Support
- Multi-Columns
- Line Draw
- Boxing
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- Paper Sizes
- Print Styles
- Printer Types
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Custom Installation
Centreline 2000 installs and tunes TUDOR on your NT, PC or UNIX computer.
This tuning will meet all your existing Uniplex set-up whether it is standard or customised.
Single or Batch Conversion
TUDOR supports full batch conversion from a few files to your entire system.
We will create for you the tools you need for your particular migration plan.
PC, NT and Unix Platforms
Tudor is available on Windows 95 and NT platforms as well as Unix.
You can therefore run TUDOR integrated into your Uniplex environment
or as simple desktop options under Windows.
Conversion Features
The tables below describe how TUDOR supports each of the different parts of a Uniplex document.
TUDOR supports more Uniplex features than any other convertor available.
This includes features such as multi-columns and line-draw which are fundamental to a Uniplex document
but which are hard to convert.
Uniplex Dot Commands
| Uniplex Dot Command |
Result |
|
.HE - Page Heading |
Plain page headings and left and right page headings are supported.
RTF only supports one header per section and so only one header is output by TUDOR.
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|
.FO - Page Footer |
Plain page footers and left and right page footers are supported.
RTF only supports one footer per section and so only one footer is output by TUDOR.
|
|
.HM - Header Margin |
Header margin is supported.
RTF does not directly support header margins and so these are included as part of the page header. |
|
.FM - Footer Margin |
Footer margin is supported.
RTF does not directly support footer margins and so these are included as part of the page footer.
|
|
.PL - Page Length |
Supported
|
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.PA - Page Break |
Supported
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.PN - Paragraph Numbering |
Supported.
RTF will only support one numbering style per document.
|
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.PM - Keep lines together |
Supported
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.SP - Line Spacing |
Supported
|
|
.JY - Justify re-format on |
Supported.
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.JN - Justify re-format off |
Supported.
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.ME - Merge file |
Supported.
File is merged into the converted file to avoid problems in transferring files between systems.
|
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.RE - Remark |
Supported.
|
.SN - Send Now
.ST - Send Top
.SB - Send Bottom
|
These controls allow Uniplex to send a specific escape code sequence direct to a printer.
There is no equivalent RTF function and there are entered as document annotations.
|
|
.FN - Font Control |
Supported.
Fonts can be converted "as is" or translated to an equivalent Windows font. For example converting Helvetica to Arial.
|
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.GR - Graphic file |
Not supported.
|
.IX - Index
.IC - Index Contents |
Supported.
Note that creation of an index is a Uniplex print time function. The document will need a new index creating in the target word processor.
|
.FS - Footnote location
.FE - End Footnote
.FS - Start Footnote |
Supported.
Note, footnote control is more restricted in RTF and footnotes will either appear per page or end of document but cannot appear as both.
|
|
.NS - Numbering Style |
Supported.
RTF only supports one numbering style per section.
|
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.PT - Ruler pitch |
Supported. |
PRINT EFFECTS
These are the default settings for Uniplex Print Effects.
TUDOR can be fully configured to support variations on print effects
including different font settings, attributes etc. If your site runs
several different printer types with different font settings then TUDOR allows you
to select a printer type during conversion.
| Uniplex Input |
Microsoft Output |
|
A - Bold |
Bold |
|
B - Bold Font |
Bold Font |
|
C - Underline |
Underline |
|
D - Underline text only |
Underline text only |
|
E - Bold and Underline |
Bold and Underline |
|
F - undefined |
Plain Text |
|
G - Small font |
Small Font |
|
H - Large font |
Large Font |
|
I - Italic |
Italic |
|
J - Superscript |
Superscript |
|
K - Subscript |
Subscript |
|
L - undefined |
Plain text |
|
M - Double underline |
Underline |
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N - Double underline text |
Underline text |
|
O - Small Proportional Font |
Small Proportional Font |
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P - Normal Proportional Font |
Normal Proportional Font |
|
Q - Small Fixed Pitch |
Small Fixed Pitch |
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R - Fixed Pitch |
Fixed Pitch |
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S - Normal font |
Normal font |
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T - Shadow Overstrike |
Shadow overstrike |
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U - Strike Out Slash |
Strike Out |
|
V - Strike Out Dash |
Strike Out |
|
W - undefined |
plain text |
|
X - Index leader |
plain text |
|
Z - undefined |
plain text |
Special Characters
All characters in the Uniplex 7-bit and 8-bit international set are converted.
Pound Sign
The high bit (ESCAPE-%-#) pound sign is preserved.
Hash may be optionally converted to a pound sign
or hash and pound sign can be reversed.
Tables and Multi-Columns
TUDOR attempts to recognise any table using graphics or a multi-column section and convert it to an RTF file table.
This mechanism provides the best fit to MS-Word editing.
Because the Uniplex format does not always carry full formatting information and because
Word handles line draw in a different fashion to Uniplex this conversion is handled in a best fit fashion.
Priority is given to creating the most usable table possible in Word.
Text is preserved before formatting.
Certain diagrams, such as organisation charts will convert with varying degrees of
success depending upon their exact formatting.
Double rulers are not converted,
as their special formatting is often more simply achieved in the target word processor.
Line Spacing
Uniplex line spacing is preserved across the conversion.
Uniplex line spacing is closer than that of MS-Word and this can lead to display problems in Word.
Word will not always show on-screen the underline setting. However, this is visible at print time.
 Contact Centreline 2000 |
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Do you need high quality and high accuracy conversion of Uniplex documents to MS-Word or other PC programs?
Do you have 100's of documents using Uniplex features such as tables, fonts, line draw or multi-columns?
Then TUDOR is the program for you!