Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!husc6!think!ames!pasteur!ucbvax!decwrl!labrea!polya!ali
From: ali@polya.Stanford.EDU (Ali T. Ozer)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.next
Subject: Re: NeXT's Digital Library
Message-ID: <5820@polya.Stanford.EDU>
Date: 28 Dec 88 18:12:53 GMT
References: <19728@ames.arc.nasa.gov> <5037@phoenix.Princeton.EDU>
Reply-To: aozer@NeXT.com
Organization: .
Lines: 26

In article <5037@phoenix.Princeton.EDU> Silvio Levy writes:
>UNDESIRABLE FEATURE #4:
>The source text has very low-level formatting commands embedded
>in it.  (Though I guess I should be thankful it's in ASCII files, not
>in binary files in some proprietary format...)  

The formatting used for the Shakespeare files is the Microsoft Rich Text
Format (usually known as RTF). The NextStep Text class understands
RTF; and any program using the Text class should be able to read in and edit
RTF files without a problem. (Currently the Text class cannot write out RTF;
but it will be able to in 0.9.)

You can use Edit, the cut-and-paste editor in the Apps directory, for
reading in RTF files and stripping the RTF info off. If you double-click
on the file name in the Librarian, Edit will be launched and the 
specified file will be read into a new window, formatted correctly and
with the various fonts as indicated by the RTF instructions. If you wish
to strip the RTF commands off, create a new Edit window, then cut the 
desired text from the first window and paste it into the second. Edit
windows by default are mono-font, so the RTF info is automatically stripped
during the paste. 

You can make an Edit window accept RTF by selecting "Make RTF" from the menu.

Ali Ozer, NeXT Developer Support
aozer@NeXT.com