64coder
This page is archived and no longer maintained
This is the sister application to UUcoder by the same author, John Allen.
It codes and decodes MIME base64 such as might be sent and received via Usenet newsgroups on the Internet. It works totally on the RISC OS desktop and is designed to work only under RISC OS 3.10 and later versions.
64coder saves and loads files to and from the Scrap directory so will run much better on a machine with a hard disc, but then Internet (or at least Demon) would be a pain on a machine which only had floppy drives.
Copyright Notice
© John Allen 1996.
- This application is Freeware and is supplied on the understanding that:
- The source code is not altered in any way
- Any copies made contain all of the files in the directory
- It is not sold for a profit
- It is not included on any disc costing more than £2 or any CD Rom costing more than £20 without my prior permission
Please contact me before adding it to a PD library so that I can supply an up to date version.
Getting going
Double click on the 64coder icon in the Filer window. This installs 64coder on the iconbar and opens the main coding and decoding window.
Clicking on the 64coder icon on the iconbar will re-open the main coding and decoding window if it has been closed. If the window is already open it will bring it to the top of any other windows that are open.
64coder is designed to be simple to use. To decode: drop a file on the decode icon and to code drop it on the code icon. The resulting file can then be dragged where ever it is required. The instructions below are more detailed and explain the more advanced features.
Decoding a file
- Drag a file containing base64 coded data to the decode icon at the bottom right of the main window. There's no need to edit the header off the file, just use the whole file.
- 64coder coder decodes the complete file.
- Edit the supplied name as appropriate, then drag the file icon to a Filer directory display or to another application. Alternatively enter the full pathname of the file and click select on the 'OK' icon. Additionally you can double-click select over the file icon to load it into an appropriate application (if known to RISC OS at the time of clicking).
Encoding a file
- Drag the file you wish to encode to the code icon at the top right of the main window. If the file is being sent to someone with a PC rather than an Arc it should be named with the appropriate file PC file extension, using a "/" instead of a ".". This ensures that the PC user gets a correctly typed file when it is decoded. For example a gif file "mum" should be called "mum/gif" before dragging it to 64coder. It will be encoded with the PC file name of "mum.gif". 64coder will save the RISC OS filetype with the file so that its RISC OS filetype can be restored if it is decoded by 64coder or Marcel.
- 64coder will encode the file.
- Edit the file name supplied by 64coder to the name you wish to save the file under, and drag the file icon to a Filer directory display or to another application. Alternatively enter the full pathname and click select on the 'OK' icon.
Features
- 64coder will accept coded files direct from other applications so, for example, you can use the 'Save File' option of TTFN to decode files by dragging them to the 64coder decode icon rather than saving them on disc first.
- 64coder will save coded files to other applications so, for example, you can insert an encoded file (or section of file) into a message being composed by TTFN.
- 64coder will also transfer decoded files directly to and from other applications which accept direct transfer.
- Double clicking a decoded file will attempt to load it into an application that accepts that filetype. Note that some applications (e.g. Spark) do not take possession of files loaded this way so it is vital that the file is processed and saved elsewhere before 64coder is closed down - as all 64coder working files in the Scrap directory are deleted on closedown.
- Closing the main window part way through any operation will destroy the unsaved data (as per Acorn's guidelines). To keep the data while closing the 64coder main window, hold the shift key down when closing it. This will iconise the window on the pinboard allowing it to be reopened by double clicking select on the window icon.
- 64coder uses solid sprite dragging if you have it enabled on your machine.
- 64coder will translate PC-type file extensions to RISC OS filetypes according to the host machines DOSMap settings and (if no DosMap setting exists) with supplied translations in the file Resources.Mapping. This means that output files can be double clicked to load them into image translators such as ChangeFSI, Translatr or FYEO2 (.jpg, .gif and tif), an MPEG viewer (.mpg) or a de-archiver such as Spark (.arc .tar and .zip).
- Interactive Help is supported for the main window, dialogue boxes and menus.