This message will be of interest to those who post encoded XPL programs to the list, as well as to those who decode and use those programs. (Encoding translates XPL code into plain text, for safe transmission via e-mail. Decoding reverses this process.) Although U2 has long offered several methods of encoding XPL for users of XyWrite 4 and Nota Bene for Windows, the recent discussion here about cross-platform compatibility has led me to revisit Wally Bass's XYENC and XYDEC. I was a big fan of these utilities when Wally introduced them several years ago, and I confess I was disappointed that they didn't catch on. Besides being dead accurate and astoundingly fast, these utilities make XPL encoding/decoding possible in all flavors of XyWrite and Nota Bene. After rigorous testing on several real and virtual Windows and DOS platforms (with help from Harry B. and Kari E. -- acknowledged with thanks), I've decided to adopt the Bass utilities as my standard, and I urge others to follow suit. To that end, I've written an XPL program, XYENCODE.PM, that encodes and decodes in XyWrite 3+, XyWrite 4, NB3 for DOS (probably NB4 as well), and NB for Windows (tested in v8). So: if you produce or consume any of the XPL programs posted here, please take a moment to install the Bass utilities and XYENCODE.PM. Download XYENC.ZIP here: <http://users.datarealm.com/xywwweb/xyenc.zip> Unzip all of the files into your XyWrite program directory -- the directory that contains EDITOR.EXE. You're done! To decode a XYENCoded program posted to the list, paste it into XyWrite, set the cursor ahead of the "Start" boundary and RUN XYENCODE.PM with argument "D" for Decode: RUN [d:\path\]XYENCODE.PM D<cr|XC> To encode an entire file or DeFined block, RUN XYENCODE.PM with argument "E" for Encode: RUN [d:\path\]XYENCODE.PM E<cr|XC> U2 users should take two additional steps: - MErge the contents of XYENC.FRM into your U2 file (near the top of the file but below the initial ";U2;" file label). Do NOT SAve the file; rather, with the modified file still in the current window, issue LOADHELP<Helpkey> then ABort the file. - MErge XYENC.INF into XYWWWEB.INF. SAve XYWWWEB.INF. U2 users can then decode with XYDEC<Helpkey> and encode with XYENC<Helpkey>. There are several other, related U2 frames, of interest primarily to XPL programmers. Command HELP XYENC<Helpkey> to review the detailed Help screen. XYENC.ZIP includes a short Readme, which I hope will be helpful to users at all levels. You can browse it here: <http://users.datarealm.com/xywwweb/-readme-.txt> Thanks. -- Carl Distefano cld@xxxxxxxxxx