
			-------------------------
				Docserver
			-------------------------

This is a README file for the docserver/docclient project.

The docclient/docserver allow you to convert MS proprietary formats to
readable formats (plain text in the first place). This projects
doesn't aim at writing parsers of the doc* formats, but rather makes
use of the MS application on remote machine. On that machine, you have
to run a doserver that accepts network connections, reads the input
file, uses OLE calls to convert that file and writes the output file
back. On the client (most probably Un*x box) you run a docclient that
gets the input file, sends it to docserver and gets back converted
file.

Installation:
	For the server, I use WinNT with 507 build of ActiveStave
	Perl. You need RPC::PlServer module (of those that do not
	come with AS directly). Different version of Perl or
	different version of OS may run for you but please note that
	I won't be of much help resolving OS problems on this side.
	For the client, any machine is OK, you need the RPC::PlClient
	package here. 

	There are five essential files here:

		bin/docclient.pl
		lib/Docclient.pm
		lib/Docclient/Config.pm		***

	for the client side and

		bin/docserver.pl		***
		lib/Docserver.pm

	for the server side. The configuration files (marked with
	stars) for the client is in lib/Docclient/Config.pm -- edit
	it, for the server the configuration is stored directly in
	bin/docserver.pl -- edit it.

	Then install the software -- make install (it doesn't hurt to
	install the server on the client Un*x machine -- it just
	won't be used).

	Then start the docserver.pl. Then try to run the docclient.pl
	with a doc document on input. If you get ascii file back,
	it's great, you are ready to start hacking. If not, check the
	trace output on the server side.

*** This is ALPHA software! ***

	Don't expect it to do anything usefull for you, not even run.

	On the other hand, it does pretty good job for us at Faculty
	of Informatics, so with a little helps from your friends you
	should be able to get this running and help us to make this
	a stable piece of code.

What it does when it works:
	We are able to convert any doc document that is not "too
	complicated", meaning it doesn't contain other documents
	(Excel tables) in it. The document is formated to < 80
	characters with some beautification. Anything else (other
	formats and options) is on the ToDo list.

Problems and bug reports:
	I know that the documentation needs to be written and that
	many things need to be added, especially in the error handling
	code. Please try to figure out from the source code.

	When reporting error, write to me (adelton@fi.muni.cz) and
	mention the word "docserver" somewhere in the Subject line.
	Add info about version of the modules and output of perl -V,
	on both sides if appropriate. Discussing in clpm* is also fine
	I'll set up a score on docserver in these groups.

	You can also add the input doc file that causes you problem
	(attachment is fine, try to gzip it first).

Available:
	http://www.fi.muni.cz/~adelton/perl/ and from your favorite
	CPAN site in the authors/id/JANPAZ/ directory.

Copyright: (c) 1998--1999 Jan Pazdziora, adelton@fi.muni.cz, with many
	pieces from Michal Brandejs and Pavel Smerk. All rights
	reserved. This package is free software; you can redistribute
	it and/or modify it under the same terms as Perl itself.

