Introduction
CopiaFacts no longer supports board or port conversion of ASCII files (which could only be performed on Brooktrout boards and ports). Instead, CopiaFacts provides facilities in the CF9IMAGE library (normally used for graphical customization) to convert ASCII files, named on $fax_filename FS commands, into TIF.
Files with extensions .TXT, .ASC, or .CVR are always treated as ASCII files. Other files with extensions not otherwise recognized are treated as ASCII if they start with a block of mainly ASCII characters. If you define a variable VALID_ASCII_EXTS containing a white-space-separated set of file extensions (each with a leading '.') only these ASCII files will be accepted and others will be rejected.
CopiaFacts built-in ASCII Conversion
CopiaFacts can convert ASCII files to text format using an 'ASCII-template' graphical customization file (.GTT). This pathname of this file should be specified as the value of the control variable ASCII_TEMPLATE, either in a UJP or USR file (for all transmissions) or in an FS file (for an individual transmission). This feature is enabled by setting a value for this variable which is a valid pathname with .GTT (or .GCT) extension.
If the ASCII_TEMPLATE variable is not explicitly defined, it is assumed to have been set to AT_LTR_1.GTT in the USA locale and to AT_A4_1.GTT elsewhere.
Four sample ASCII-template files are provided in the CopiaFacts Application Data folder (AT_*.GTT). Each contains either one or two pages, containing a large annotation into which the ASCII file is flowed line by line. Overlong lines are truncated to fit the field, unless the variable ASCII_WRAP is set to a non-empty value, which will cause them to be word-wrapped. The last page of the template is either omitted or replicated, depending on the number of lines in the ASCII file. The annotation specifies the font and size in the normal way. The filename for each annotation's include file is specified as @ASCII_FILE, and this variable is set automatically by the engine when each file is processed using the ASCII-template file.
If ASCII_WRAP is defined as a non-empty value, you must either ensure that the text will fit within a page, or else insert your own formfeed (ASCII 12) characters into the text to force page breaks appropriately.
If ASCII_LANDSCAPE is defined as 90 or 270 the text will be rotated anti-clockwise by the specified number of degrees before it is placed into the field. An example is provided in FaxFacts\Samples\ASCII_LANDSCAPE, and described in the Examples section.
If ASCII_NO_EXPAND is defined as a non-empty value, it suppresses expansion of all variables in the text. By default, ASCII conversion treats the word following an @ sign as a variable and attempts to expand it.
The sample annotations with two pages leave room on the first page for a logo or heading. If the ASCII file fits entirely on the first page, the second page is omitted. If the ASCII file does not fit in the supplied pages, the last page is replicated.
It is possible to show the page count on either the cover sheet or in the fax header line only when the fax pages have been preconverted with the CopiaFacts built-in ASCII conversion. The system variable @TPAGES will provide this value, which is used when the fax has been assembled but before the cover sheet is rendered.
You should avoid smaller Windows fonts, which will first be rendered effectively in high resolution and converted to low-res, if specified. This conversion may occasionally either lose or thicken details of the character glyphs especially in small point sizes. It is recommended that this method of conversion should use high-resolution, and the provided sample ASCII template .GTT files are all designed with high-resolution watermark files to ensure a high resolution output file.
