Basic featuresThis chapter describes the Rich Text Format (RTF) codes that encode features in Multimedia Viewer titles. This information is for authors who need to convert existing tagged documents to the RTF format recognized by the Viewer build program.
This chapter does not attempt to present a comprehensive description of RTF format. Rather, it explains the RTF encoding that appears in topic files when you enter Viewer features according to the directions in Part 1 of this guide. A complete RTF description is available from several sources, including the Microsoft Word for Windows Technical Reference published by Microsoft Press.
To see how the formats described in this chapter appear in an actual RTF topic file, it is recommended that you create a prototype topic file using these steps:
1.Set up a Word for Windows template specifying the paragraph and text formatting you want to use for your title.
2.Format text in the prototype topic file using this template.
3.Enter coding for Viewer features using the instructions given in Part 1 of this guide.
4.Save the topic file in RTF format.
5.Use any ASCII text editor to print the RTF topic file.
Once you have this information, you should be able to build conversion utilities (or use a standard conversion utility) to translate your source text files from their current format into the target RTF format used by the Viewer.
The RTF formats in this chapter are described according to the following categories:
Basic features
Embedded windows
Extended windows
Audio commands
Viewer command sequences and external Windows applications
Each RTF format description includes the following information:
| Heading | Information |
| In the Title | How the feature appears in the title when displayed in Viewer. |
| In the Topic File | How the feature is authored in the Word for Windows topic file. |
| RTF Format | Syntax of the RTF format. (See the Introduction of this guide for descriptions of the syntax notation.) |
| Parameters | Descriptions of the parameters in the RTF format. |
| In the Project File | Required project-file entries, if any. |
| Example | Example of the RTF format from the topic files for the sample Viewer title. |
Note:
The compiler for Viewer is designed to accept RTF files created by Word for Windows. Using conversion software, it is possible to create a legal RTF file that the compiler cannot handle directly. If this occurs, you can either open the RTF file in Word for Windows and then save the file with RTF format, or rewrite the conversion to more closely replicate the Word for Windows RTF format.
If a conversion results in an RTF file that the compiler can't handle, the compiler displays a message indicating the file offset where it finds the problem. The actual coding error (for example, a missing close brace) might actually have occurred earlier in the file.