PPWIZARD is a powerful but simple to use free preprocessor that can
greatly simplify the creation of HTML. A fine release by Dennis Bareis. If you are a webmaster that works on OS/2 Warp, Windows 95/98/NT and UNIX and if you want improve your efficiency on HTML, visit PPWIZARD web site and download the files, try and see by yourself. The releases, created at 1997, are very actual today. We just tested it on the new Microsoft platform, Windows 2000 Professional (workstation) and on our Server NT4 SP6 wich have total interactivity with OS/2 formated in HPFS and both running just fine!!!

Photo above shows PPWIZARD running on @Macarlo's Win 2000 Pro

In the photos above you can see that we ("we" its me, @Macarlo, eheheh) entered the command <regina ppwizard.cmd tryme.it>. To see the entire HTML page created by this simples command antered in the directory Test where we unziped the PPWIZARD files, simply click the link bellow:

JUMP TRYME.HTM

 Using PPWIZARD you can create definitions such as:

   #define MyEmailAddress       db0@anz.com
   #define HttpAnExternalSite   http://www.laybrinth.net.au

These are defined once (normally in a seperate file called a header
file) and then referred to throughout your pages.  If you need to change
the address its a simple change to one location and then a rebuild.
PPWIZARD can be told to automatically only rebuild those files that need
to be (it tracks what input files make each output file).

Example of using one of the definitions defined above:

   My email address is <$MyEmailAddress>, please ...

PPWIZARD is powerful (more details below) but just being able to use the
"#define" command to create simple definitions as show above and including
the header files in your pages with "#include" would be more than enough
justification for its use and many people won't use the more advanced
features (at least not initially).  I am more than happy to help anyone
who can provide a detailed description of any problem and what they have
tried to do to resolve it.

PPWIZARD can import data from databases.  It can be extended through a
simple (but very powerful) processing language called rexx.  The following
is an example of me creating a reasonably complex macro and using it
twice to include some images (the height and width of these are determined
by the macro - it would generally be in a seperate header):

****************************************************************************
***************************** START EXAMPLE *****************
****************************************************************************
 ;--- Photo macro will either use passed size or work out correct size for you ---
  #define Photo                                                            \
          ;--- Where is file on local file system? ----------------------  \
          #evaluate+  LocalFileName    ^"..\graphics\{$Image}"^            \
                                                                           \
          ;--- The output depends on this image -------------------------  \
          #DependsOn  INPUT            "<$LocalFileName>"                  \
                                                                           \
          ;--- Start a new table row ------------------------------------  \
          <TR>                                                             \
                                                                           \
          ;--- If user did not pass the size then work it out -----------  \
          #if "{$Size=''}" <> ""                                           \
              #define+   TmpSize {$Size}       ;;User told us size         \
          #elseif                                                          \
              #evaluate+ TmpSize ^GetImageHeightWidth("<$LocalFileName>")^ \
          #endif                                                           \
                                                                           \
          ;--- Generate some code ---------------------------------------  \
          <TD ALIGN=CENTER>                                                \
          <IMG SRC="graphics/clear1x1.gif" WIDTH=1 HEIGHT=1 VSPACE=20>     \
          {$Title}<BR><BR>                                                 \
          <IMG SRC="graphics/{$Image}" BORDER=0 <$TmpSize> ALT="{$Title}"> \
          <IMG SRC="graphics/clear1x1.gif" WIDTH=1 HEIGHT=1 VSPACE=20>     \
          </TR>

  ;--- Start the table --------------------------------------------------------
  <BR><CENTER><TABLE COLS=1 BORDER=10 CELLSPACING=10>
     <TR>
     <TH ALIGN=CENTER>Pictures
     </TR>

     ;--- Use the macro to generate photo cells -------------------------------
     <$Photo Image="dbareis.jpg"  Title="Me hard at work">
     <$Photo Image="kpaw_ff.jpg"  Title="Kangaroo Paws along Front Fence">

  ;--- Complete table ---------------------------------------------------------
  </TABLE></CENTER>
****************************************************************************
***************************** END   EXAMPLE *****************
****************************************************************************

To execute PPWIZARD under Windows 95,98 or NT you need to use the free
"regina" rexx interpreter.

CONTENTS
~~~~~~~~

   PPW?????.ZIP - This contains the actual PPWIZARD program. The name of
                  the zip changes to reflect the version number.

   PPWHDOCO.ZIP - Documentation in HTML format.  Main page is called
                  "PPWIZARD.htm".  Documentation is also online at:
                  "http://www.labyrinth.net.au/~dbareis/ppwizard/ppwizard.htm".

                  Drive must support long filenames for the documentation!

   REXXW32.ZIP  - The free regina interpreter.  For more information please
                  check out:
                  "http://www.labyrinth.net.au/~dbareis/regina.htm".
                  This page also points you to regina's documentation.

To INSTALL
~~~~~~~~~~

To install  the author recommend that you simply create a directory and unzip the
contents of the 3 zip files into this directory. Also ensure that this
readme is put into the new directory.

Photo above shows PPWIZARD running on @Macarlo's Warp 4 FP12

To test the install, execute the command:

   REGINA PPWIZARD.CMD TRYME.IT

This should create "TRYME.HTM", view it in your browser if you wish.  The
command we used left everything as default which is why the output has
the extension ".htm", you can change this to ".html" or tell ppwizard
to place the output into a specific directory if you wish.

There are many ppwizard options that allow you to customise its operation
for your needs, for example leading and trailing spaces are removed by
default (for faster download).  There are situations where you do not
wish to occur, you can turn the space removal and all other ppwizard
magic on and off as required.

CONTACT AUTHOR
Dennis Bareis
e-mail address: dbareis@labyrinth.net.au

PPWIZARD Web Site
http://www.labyrinth.net.au/~dbareis/ppwizard.htm

. 

@Macarlo, Inc.
@Macarlo's Shareware & Web
OS/2
Java Lobby Member
Java Site Accredited

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