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Subject:Re: Converting IBM Script to PC software From:Chet Ensign <Chet_Ensign%LDS -at- NOTES -dot- WORLDCOM -dot- COM> Date:Tue, 6 Jun 1995 09:49:18 EDT
David Lenoir wrote:
> My company wants to convert its corporate standards and procedures manual
> from mainframe software (IBM Script) to other software, probably PC-based.
...
> Here are some of the required elements that we are looking for:
...
> ... handle large documents
>... accessible company-wide to PC and mainframe users (Mac too if
possible)
> ... print
> ... view it online
> ... searches for keywords
> ... automatic table of contents, index, cross-references across chapters
> Would any of you know of (or know someone who knows) any software packages
> that could convert IBM script easily?
And Harold Henke replied
> ... you should consider the value of text in a markup language, which is
> what your IBM Script files are. ...
> The value of "marked up" or "tagged" source files is that you
> can take the source files and convert the markup tags to another set of
> markup tags, like SGML, and today's big deal, HTML. My recommendation
> would be to make the most of your IBM Script files and focus on a solution
> that enables you to convert the IBM Script files into SGML.
I want to vote Harold's slate. David, you have thought through your
requirements well and that's very good. Having done that, you are in a good
position to discover that there no one product that is going to satisfy all
your needs today and tomorrow. More likely, you'll find that 'hey, if I could
just have this product here, that product there, and this part of that and that
part of this, I'd have exactly what I need!"
Also realize that there is no one package that can convert IBM Script (or MS
RTF, or Frame MIF, or ....) "easily." There are lots of conversion packages on
the market, but the vast power to customize the way you use them combined with
the idiosyncracies of individual writers' approaches make a mockery of
'auto-conversion' programs. Just to give a real-life example, I've worked with
GML files where power-taggers autonested macros four and five iterations deep.
Converting those files into another source format was a nightmare.
So, why not go through that painful conversion process *once* to get data into
a presentation/usage - independent markup (ala SGML) and then be able to choose
the best product for the requirement. On Windows, it could be Winhelp. On the
mainframe, it could be BookManager. On the Mac... well, I don't know what's on
the Mac, but you catch my drift. Unlike the format-oriented approaches that are
geared to putting your content into one form or another, SGML is geared toward
turning your content into *data* that you can reprocess and reuse with
automated processes.
Best regards,
/chet
---
Chet Ensign
Director of Electronic Documentation
Logical Design Solutions
571 Central Avenue http://www.lds.com
Murray Hill, NJ 07974 censign -at- lds -dot- com [email]
908-771-9221 [Phone] 908-771-0430 [FAX]
