Microsoft KB Archive/51643

DCA/RFT Conversion Limitations in Word for Windows 1.0 PSS ID Number: Q51643 Article last modified on 08-08-1993 PSS database name: APpsConV

1.00

WINDOWS

Summary:

The following are limitations in file conversion between Microsoft Word for Windows version 1.0 and IBM’s DCA/RFT file interchange format used by DisplayWrite through version 4, revision 2.

Note: You must paginate the DCA/RFT file after conversion to ensure correct page breaks and to make the first character of footnote reference marks appear on screen.

More Information:

FEATURES NOT SUPPORTED IN DCA CONVERSION (TO DCA)
The following features are not supported in the DCA conversion program when converting to DCA:

Character

 * Small capitals become regular capitals.
 * Hidden text becomes underlined text.

Paragraph

 * Right-aligned text becomes left aligned in versions of DisplayWrite earlier than DisplayWrite IV, version 2.0.
 * Hanging indents do not exist in DCA/RFT. Tabs and indent tabs are used to maintain appearance.
 * Only .5, 1, 1.5, 2, 2.5, and 3 line spacings convert to DisplayWrite.

Division

 * Snaking columns must be terminated with a hard column break; otherwise, snaking column text will be converted to single column text.
 * When RTF snaking columns are converted into DCA multiple columns, only consistent line spacing is supported.
 * Page numbering outside of headers is not supported.
 * First-page-only headers and footers are not supported.

Other

 * Normal and nonbreaking hyphens become required hyphens. Optional hyphens become syllable hyphens.
 * Leading characters for tab stops are not converted.
 * Merge documents are not supported. All special marks become normal text.
 * Indexes and tables of contents are not supported. All special marks become normal text.
 * Style sheets and glossary files are not converted.
 * Outlining is not converted.

FEATURES NOT SUPPORTED IN DCA CONVERSION (FROM DCA)
The following features are not supported in the DCA conversion program when converting from DCA:


 * Document comments are not converted.
 * Lines-per-inch commands are not supported.
 * Half justification becomes full justification.
 * Page numbering outside of header text is not supported.
 * Merge documents are not supported. All special marks become normal text.

[DCACONV] IN WIN.INI
You can set the following switches in your WIN.INI file:

Variant=5520
This switch should be set for conversions from RTF to DCA/RFT in the 5520 environment. The switch tells the conversion program to generate some different DCA/RFT structures in cases where the DCA/RFT required by the 5520 differs from that required by DisplayWrite.

Tab=CommaTab
Setting this switch determines the way decimal tabs found in the RTF file will be converted. The default action is to convert RTF decimal tabs into DCA/RFT period tabs; however, this parameter can be set to convert RTF decimal tabs into DCA/RCT comma tabs. This is especially useful for European versions of word processors that use comma tabs.

StrikeThrough=“x”
This switch is used in the RTF to DCA/RFT conversion to set the strikethrough character to x. The x can be any character with an ANSI value greater than or equal to 33 and less than 127. The default strikethrough character is the hyphen (-).

TranslateBeta=Greek
Setting this switch determines how the ANSI beta character is converted. The default action is to convert the beta character into the German s-set character (a character in the DisplayWrite character set); however, you can also convert this character into the Greek beta character (a character in the DisplayWrite Symbol Set) by setting the switch as shown in the above line.

Additional reference words: 1.00 textconv

Copyright Microsoft Corporation 1993.