RE: Capturing display file images for documentation

["Dan Bale" <dbale@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

This thread caught my interest from the get-go, as I've developed something
that's 99% done and addresses the issue of capturing display attributes and
showing them in the Word document.

Essentially, the way the app works is that I use an Attn key program that
captures the current screen, attributes and all, and then create a stream
file in Rich Text Format (.RTF).  It works perfect, except... (just love
"perfect, except"!)

It's been at 99% done for a few years now, dormant cuz I haven't had much of
any screen documentation to do in that time.  The cost of disk space, as I
mentioned in a previous post, relegates the importance of this pet project
to below personal free time.  Anyway, the resulting RTF imports very well
into a Word document, comes complete with border, underlines, boldface, etc.
BUT the big bugaboo is the spacing between screen fields when the attribute
changes.  On 5250, attributes take up a space on the screen, but not in Word
/ RTF.  I can't remember the exact details, but if there are two screen
fields with one space between them, and they are both underlined, I was
having trouble getting the RTF to replicate that.  I'm sure it's nothing
that can't be solved with TIME...

If there's any demand for this, I might be persuaded to resurrect this
again.  I think my dreams of retiring off of this "killer app" faded several
years ago, so if anyone wants to help out, I'd be willing to consider making
this public domain, GNU, open source, whatever.

db

> -----Original Message-----
> From: midrange-l-bounces@xxxxxxxxxxxx / Vern Hamberg
> Sent: Thursday, July 15, 2004 4:52 PM
>
> Cut & paste is fine, except it does not ge the underlines and high
> intensity (bold). An old but venerable non-graphical method is to use
> STRCPYSCN with OUTDEV(*NONE) OUTFILE(somelib/somefile). The display
> attribute codes (HI, RI, UL, BLU, etc.) are in the outfile. Then
> bring the
> file down to the PC. Then have a macro that converts the various codes to
> Bold, Underline, etc., using Find/Replace. Could even do colors,
> I suppose.
> Put it into a text box, put a frame around it, voila! The codes
> used on the
> 400 get changed when you convert to ASCII, you just need to figure them
> out. It's been too long, I don't remember them all.
>
> BTW, no one has mentioned Paint Shop Pro, which has a pretty good capture
> facility, IMO. Cheaper than PhotoShop for sure.
>
> Vern