of the drop-down list labeled
Data type,
selecting Plain text or Rich text
and clicking on the View/Edit button:
Integrated applications: text editor
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The text edit/view dialog facilitates
The edit/view dialog can be started at any point during the embedding or
extraction dialog by clicking on the arrow of the drop-down list labeled
Data type,
selecting Plain text or Rich text
and clicking on the View/Edit button:
Windows' Rich Text Editor will be used for entering/viewing/changing the data. It has some formatting capabilities, comparable to word processors but in limited extent. Microsoft's Word for Windows as well as WordPad support the rich text format; they can export files in this format and accept it as input. The default file name extention for such files is "rtf".
The editor accepts formatted text through the customary paste function. Moreover, the text or selected parts can be formatted via keyboard shortcuts, which are described in the Rich Edit documentaion of Microsoft. If more sophisticated text formatting is required, it has to be done by a word processor before embedding respectively after extraction.
Rich text vs. plain text
The rich text editor always accepts formatted text pasted by Ctrl+C as well as text formatting keyboard shortcuts. For example selecting a portion of the text and pressing E while keeping pressed Ctrl causes the selected text become centered in the line. The formatting information is kept within the text, not visible during editing.
It is important to understand, that the formatting information increases the size of data. Under circumstances this can be more than the text data itself.
In rich text mode, the formatting information from within the text will be used for formatting; if the data does not contain formatting information, the text will be discarded. In other words, not enriched text can not be displayed, nor edited in rich text mode.
In plain text mode, if there is formatting information in the data, that will be displayed as part of the text, i.e. it will not be used for formatting.
When changing from rich to plain text mode, the text will be displayed without formatting; the formatting information will be discarded. When changing back to rich text mode, the text data will be discarded, because the formatting information is not there any more. Care has to be exercised not to inadvertantly save the data, which has been changed by switching back and forth between rich text and plain text format; the program asks for confirmation before storing the changed data.
The only difference between starting the dialog with Rich text and Plain text is, that the initial setting of the Rich text format checkbox is "checked".
Font selection
A rich text usually contains font specifications as well. Several different fonts (different type-faces, styles and sizes, etc.) may be used in the text; there is no point in changing font globally in the dialog. However, in plain-text mode one can choose between a proportional font (actually "MS Sans Serif") and a fixed-pitch font (actually "Courier New"); the font size can be chosen as well. Note, that the font type and size chosen this way does not become part of the data; it changes only the view, as opposed to the font characteristics of rich text, which are stored along the text data.Customizing the dialog appearance
The text editing window is resizable: it can be stretched or shrunk in any direction by dragging a side or a corner of the window, and it can be minimized, maximized and restored to the previous size.
Wenn exiting the text edit dialog, the actual size and position of the window will be saved; when starting it again in the same session of the main dialog, the previous size and position will be established.
Resizing by stretching or shrinking the dialog window does not change the size of the dialog elements (buttons, checkboxes); only the size of the edit box becomes adjusted to the window's size. However, the relative sizing of the main dialog by pressing Alt+ respectively Alt- effects the text edit subdialog as well. Likewise, the font size and weight on the buttons, etc. changed in the main dialog become effective on the text edit dialog too. However, changing these settings in the main dialog does not effect the text dialog until the main dialog has been stopped and started again.
The text edit dialog window has it's own colorization setting; it can be changed directly in the text edit subdialog by Alt right arrow respectively by Alt left arrow.
See the detailed explanation of changing the dialog appearance.
Examples
After extraction, it may happen that the nature of extracted data is not known. If the data is not enriched text, it can not be shown in rich text mode; when trying to display it in rich text mode, an empty edit box appears.
Any kind of data can be displayed in plain text mode, but the viewer has to identify/recognize what kind of data that is.
The following example shows the data of a JPEG encoded image file (an image too can be embedded in a JPEG image) in plain text mode:
| It is appearant, that a JPEG image in JFIF format has been embedded (or is about being embedded) into the basis image |
On the other hand, enriched text can be displayed in plain-text mode:
| The character string {\rtf1\ansi at the very beginning indicates, that the content is in rich text format |
| Checking the box Rich Edit Format lets the editor interpret the formatting information |
| Switching back to non-rich edit format eliminates the formatting information; now only the plain text will be displayed |
Home Modified: 2005-04-21