Ira L. Gershenhorn & Co., Inc. mgFargo - Translate Magic control files to flat source files [ What's New | Downloads | How To | Feedback | Bugs | Background | Copyright ]

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Latest News

9 December 2006		MgFargo perl-only version 0.804		This is a 9.4-only release. It may work with other versions of 9, but it definitely will not work with any version below 9.
9 December 2006		MgFargo perl-only version 0.615		Fixes some 8.3 issues. Works better with text editors that recognize and color C code
31 January 2005		Mgtrans perl-only version 0.611		Fixes a few 8.3 issues.
09 November 2001		Mgtrans executable version 0.604		Fixes many 8.3 issues. This is a major revision.
25 November 2000		Mgtrans executable version 0.589		Same as mgtrans-0589.pl script, but you don't need to install Perl or Perlcrt.dll.
25 November 2000		Mgtrans Wizard version 1.01		Supports the executable. Screen Shot
25 November 2000		Mgtrans.pl script version 0.589		Release to support the executable version of the script.

Downloads

For VERSION 9.4 and possibly other version 9s.
• mgFargo-804.zip updated 12/9/2006.

  ---

  For VERSION 8.3 and below
• mgFargo-0615.zip updated 12/9/2006.
• mgFargo-0611.zip (584kb) updated 05/23/2005.
• mgtrans-0604.zip (584kb) updated 11/09/2001.
• mgtrans-0589.zip (556kb) updated 11/25/2000.
• gpl.html GNU General Public License
• mgtrans-old-scripts.zip
• Please email me if you want to be directly notified of updates.

Recent Program Updates

• 12/9/2006 0.804 First and very raw release for version 9.4. Totally incompatible with anything earlier. Released for comments. I guess that makes it an Alpha release. It shouldn't bother your computer.
• 12/9/2006 0.615 Fixed a bunch of 8.3 issues and made it more likely that you'll see text coloring in a text editor.
• 10/26/01 0.604 Expand virtual display area to 32 from 21 after seeing trunncation
• 05/17/01 0.603 Restore printing of static text in 5.xx forms. Lost it with first 6xxversion.
• 05/17/01 0.602 Enable characters after Z for variable codes
• 04/15/01 0.601 Now report DB Cache value.
• 03/13/01 0.600 Fixes many 8.3 issues. This is a major revision. Display the main task as it # appears in Magic, not the file version with lots of dashes. Show form names in the layout section. Read the font table. Expand font numbers. Add dot notation Task level info in Task hierarchy. Have option to put item row/columns in forms first.
• 11/24/00 0.589 Update to work with Perl2exe.
• 11/24/00 0.588 Release to support the Wizard - mgtrans.ini can be pathed.
• 11/13/00 0.587 Major 8.30 and Events functionality improvement!
  Report Return actions (PB_ACT = Pushbutton?).
  Entire DIT_INFO section was not pulling in fields,
  Now reads act_usr.eng to decode user actions and keys in Events and pushbutton return actions.
• 11/03/00 0.586 Convert any 'xx'var references to @references as is done in task/program calls.
• 11/02/00 0.585 Some Forms were unnamed. NAME of a Form may not directly follow the brace, allow for some space in between.
  Expressions for key of main file were not being calculated or printed.
• 09/25/00 0.584 Use .html extension and surround text in basic html tags if flag in mgtrans.ini is set.
  Remove '.' after file number in "Main File:".
• 05/22/00 0.583 Insert a line consisting of a non-text funny character (a Control-A, octal 001) in line above 'Task Name:' so that it can be used limit regex searches.
• Complete Change History

Want to be able to really understand your own code? Try this!

For VERSION 9.4 and possibly other version 9s.
• The zip file should have:
  1. mgFargo.ini
  2. mgFargo.pod
  3. readme9.txt
  4. example9.bat
  5. mgFargo-xxx.pl
• Get and install the latest version of ActivePerl from Activestate.com.
• Read example9.bat for info on how to set up your batch file from your folder layout.
• Unzip and put the mgFargo files where it works for you and still can be compatible with the batch file.
• Export your application in internal format.
• Run the batch file.
• The the directory. You should have a lot of new files.
• If it doesn't work. Its likely because you've used RTF on screens. Please tell me. I have a program to strip it out of the export.

  ---

  For VERSION 8.3 and below
• Download mgtrans-0604.zip to get all files.
• If using any of the perl scripts, install Perl 5.6 (http://www.activestate.com).
• Then put the following in an empty directory (eg. c:\programs\mgtrans):
1. mgtrans-xxx.pl if using the script,
2. mgtrans-xxx.exe if using the EXE,
3. mgtrans.ini ,
4. mgtrans.pod (only required if you invoke the script incorrectly),
• Import the Mgtrans Wizard (wizard.std) into your Magic application (it creates no files, but uses your magic.ini for storage).
• Setup of your paths in its Preferences screen.
• Zoom on Go.
• Look in your Output folder.

How mgtrans output is best viewed

Other Functionality - mgtrans-22.e and doc_ezr.eng

Bug Report Summary. :-(

For VERSION 9.4 and possibly other version 9s.
• 12/9/2006 Doesn't handle RTF on form. Will probably hang if it encounters an initialized RTF text object. I have a workaround I have to add.
• 12/9/2006 Doesn't output screen or form info. I need to add this.
• 12/9/2006 Doesn't handle bound data objects. I need to add this.
• 12/9/2006 Doesn't identify a ctl a handler is connected to. I need to add this.
• ... and many more ...
  For VERSION 8.3 and below
• 08/29/2000 A blank form confuses the form numbering.  Workaround: Ensure you have no blank form descriptions.
• 08/22/2000 Block nesting is not always reported correctly.
• 06/29/2000 Combining statement execution conditions is not always valid.
• Bug Details

Sample Output of mgtrans

• Magic 8.30 Broker Monitor (mgtrans v0.587)
• zipped up mgtrans-lated Broker Monitor
• I had exported Trillium's 8.30's Monitor, but, whoops! I lost it.
  On 11/04/99 Trillium's 8.30 Monitor was freely downloadable from their Seattle Magic Users Group website (a portion of the Trillium Custom Software website currently).
  If you would like to get a copy check out http://www.trillium-sw.com/smug.htm and look for the Download link.

Now, about this script...

Background

• Read the code.
• Search the code for anything.
• Compare versions of the code.

Mgtrans output helps you read the code.  A good Magician needs a fabulous memory.  My memory's not what it used to be.  Magic lets you see your code, but only in snippets.  Showing the expression for the current line helps but there's nothing like seeing big chunks of code at once.   I've always found the presentation very fragmented.  And nothing about the organization of the statements tells you anything about the operation of your code.  I expect blocks to be indented!

Allows you to search the code for anything.  What if I want to know every place a variable is set or used in a task, program, application, or which program is emitting a particular warning message, or do I have blocks of code common to more than one program? Since the output is just text, you can use any off-the-shelf tools to process it.

Assignment statements are always coded as: "variable <tab> =".  Search on that and you won't get confused with other references to the variable.

Compare versions of the code.  If my group releases a new version of a program and now some function no longer works the same, I can compare the two versions and find out immediately what was changed to cause the different behavior.  BTW, the ediff-buffers function in NT Emacs version 20 shows the differences color-coded word-by-word.

What does the generated output look like? I tried to make it look like C without curly braces.  Download and try it, or, look at this directory where I used version 0.587 to generate the source for Magic 8.30's Monitor application.  The fields area needs some work.  Here is the documentation for mgtrans in HTML. I use the mgtrans output with either Lugaru Epsilon or GNU Emacs text editors.  These editors are wonderful for searching and their grep functions support next-previous match commands, where after you do a search, with one command you can go from match to match with the editor automatically opening the file and positioning you to the match.  I have made a minor modification to Epsilon that puts the name of the task on the buffer's status line (screen shot).  I've also enabled C-style code coloring (screen shot). 

mgtrans is written in Perl.  It was developed on the standard version 5.04.  I have currently run it on ActiveState's 5.006 Build 620.   I have also generated an executable from the script, mgtrans-0589.exe, that runs without Perl installed.  This was made possible by Perl2Exe.

If you want to use the script form of mgtrans or any of the other Perl scripts, you will need to install Perl.  My recommendation is that you install ActiveState Perl

Copyright

The mgtrans program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.  See the GNU General Public License for more details.

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