Documentation version 1.4 for SuperDoc version 1.4
Contents
SuperDoc is a Palm document reader which uses a sophisticated new
font technology, SuperFont, providing clearer text
than ever seen before on a Palm. SuperFonts use anti-aliasing and special
support for colour displays to avoid the blocky, 'pixelated' appearance
of the standard Palm fonts. You can create your own SuperFonts from any
Windows font using the Windows
SuperFont Converter program supplied with SuperDoc. Moreover, SuperDoc
provides all the conventional document reader features such as support for
text searching, auto-scrolling, bookmarks and categories.
Top
SuperDoc offers a wide variety of features:
- SuperFonts. SuperFonts give clear text on both
colour and greyscale Palm devices. Windows fonts can be converted
to a SuperFont using the supplied
converter program (Windows only).
- Doc format support. Read any document written in the
standard Palm Doc format.
- NEW! Auto-scroll. Documents can be automatically
scrolled continuously, much like film credits or a teleprompter.
- NEW! Expansion card support. Documents and SuperFonts
can be read from any expansion card that uses the Palm VFS system,
including the m500, m505, Sony CLIÉ.
- NEW! Memo reading. Memos created with the built-in
Memo Pad application can be read using SuperDoc.
- Categories. Documents can be arranged in convenient
categories, with full creation,
renaming, merging and deletion of categories supported.
- Bookmarks. You can jump to bookmarks placed within your
documents and add new bookmarks where you like. Bookmarks are automatically
generated for documents that contain 'auto-scan' bookmark markers.
- Find. Fast find capability with case sensitivity option.
- Percentage jumps. Jump quickly to the start or end of the
document and to any position into the document.
- Document and font management. Delete individual SuperFonts
and documents from within the SuperDoc program itself.
- Position memory. SuperDoc stores the last viewed position
in each document on your Palm device, ready for the next
time you access the document.
- Free trial version. Try out SuperDoc before you buy it with
the 30 day free evaluation version.
- Plus much, much more...
Top
SuperDoc requires PalmOS 3.5 or later. At the time of writing, this
meant the following devices are supported:
- Handspring Visor Prism *
- Handspring Visor Platinum
- Handspring Visor Edge
- Kyocera 6035 SmartPhone
- Palm IIIc *
- Palm IIIxe
- Palm Vx (later models only)
- Palm VIIx
- Palm m100
- Palm m105
- Palm m500
- Palm m505 *
- Sony CLIÉ PEG-S300
- Sony CLIÉ PEG-S320
- TRGpro (later models only)
* SuperDoc uses colour-aware anti-aliasing on these devices for
enhanced clarity.
If your device is not in the list above, or you have an early
Palm Vx or TRGpro, you may be able to upgrade
it to version 3.5 or later of the PalmOS. Upgraded models may work,
but only if
your device supports 4 colour greyscale mode.
SuperDoc does not currently offer special support for high resolution
screens, such as used in some models of Sony CLIÉ and the Handera 330. Expansion
card support is only available on those models that use the Palm VFS system
for accessing the cards. This includes the m500, m505 and Sony CLIÉ, but
excludes the Springboard system used on certain Handspring models.
Codemill has not tested SuperDoc on devices with hacks, overclocking
utilities or other low-level operating system modifying utilities. For
optimum stability Codemill recommends against using such utilities when
SuperDoc is running.
Top
SuperDoc is supplied in two ways:
- A self-extracting ZIP file (supdocz.exe, Windows only).
- A plain ZIP file (supdocz.zip).
You only need download one of these two files.
To extract the installation files from the self-extracting ZIP file,
run it e.g. by double-clicking in Explorer.
To extract the installation files from the plain ZIP,
use WinZip or equivalent.
The unzipped contents are:
- superdoc.prc, the SuperDoc program.
- SuperFontConvert.exe, a program for converting Windows
fonts into SuperFonts
- BlueHighway8.pdb, the Blue Highway font at point size 8.
- BlueHighway9.pdb, the Blue Highway font at point size 9.
- BlueHighway10.pdb, the Blue Highway font at point size 10.
- BlueHighway11.pdb, the Blue Highway font at point size 11.
- SuperDocHelp.pdb, the help file in Palm Doc format.
- superdoc.htm, the help file in HTML (web browser) format.
- main_notes.gif, open_notes.gif and font_notes.gif, graphics for
the HTML help file.
To install SuperDoc from the unzipped archive, install the *.pdb files
and superdoc.prc
to your Palm device. One
way to install a file to a Palm device is to double-click
the file within Windows Explorer and choose 'Done' from the Palm Desktop
dialog box
that appears. Then, when you have done this for all files you wish
to install, synchronise your device.
In the event of difficulty installing SuperDoc, the manual that
came with your Palm device will provide further
information on how to install software.
If you are upgrading from a previous version of SuperDoc, your
existing registration details are maintained - you do not need to
enter your registration code again.
Top
SuperDoc is free to try out for 30 days. After 30 days you must
register it if you wish to continue using it. Registration is
a very straightforward process that requires your Palm HotSync
ID, which is given in
the SuperDoc About dialog box. You can purchase a
registration code from the following web site.
When you have your registration code, bring up the registration
dialog box by tapping the 'Register...' button in the About dialog
box, or by selecting the 'Register...' menu item. Enter the
registration code in the space provided and click OK. If your
registration was successful, a thank you message will appear.
Top
In the unlikely event that you should wish to uninstall SuperDoc,
the procedure is as follows:
- Use the SuperDoc Open screen to delete any documents you no
longer wish to keep on your device. Do not use the Palm Launcher
to do this unless you wish to delete all your documents.
- Use the SuperDoc Choose Font dialog to delete any SuperFonts
you no longer wish to keep on your device. Do not use the Palm
Launcher to do this unless you wish to delete all your
SuperFonts.
- Use the Delete... menu item on the Palm Launcher's App menu
to delete the SuperDoc application, just as you would for any
other Palm application.
Top
Once SuperDoc is installed on your Palm device, launch it by
tapping on the SuperDoc icon from the Palm Launcher screen.
First you will see the About screen which contains information
about the product and a button to allow you to register. To start
SuperDoc, click Done.
You will be prompted to choose a document to load. Tap your chosen
document, for example the "SuperDoc Help" document,
and then tap the OK button. Next you will be asked to choose
a font. Once you are happy with the font you have chosen, click OK.
You will now see your chosen document displayed in your chosen
font. To navigate the document, press the up and down hardware
scroll buttons. On most Palm devices these are positioned centrally
just underneath the Graffiti handwriting area. You can also navigate
through the document by:
- Pull Scroll. Tap and hold down the stylus in the main screen
area and drag the
document in the direction you wish to scroll.
- Tap Scroll. Tap the stylus on the text and quickly release
it to scroll by a whole page. If you tap in the top half of the
screen you scroll up a page, if you tap in the bottom half you scroll
down a page.
- Auto-Scroll. Tap the Play icon at the top of the screen. It
will change to the Stop symbol and
SuperDoc will continuously scroll the document for you. Use the hardware
up and down buttons to change the speed of the auto-scroll. Press the
Stop icon to stop the auto-scroll.
- Jog Wheel. If your device is equipped with a Jog Wheel, you
can use this to scroll up and down a page and to control auto-scroll
speed.
- Jump To Percent. Tap the percentage drop down list in the
top right of the screen area and select a percentage entry to jump
to that position within the document.
- Go To. Select the Go To... menu item from the Options
menu, enter any percentage from 0 to 100% to move to that position
within the document.
- Bookmarks. If the document contains bookmarks you can tap
on the bookmark icon on the top row of the screen and select a
bookmark name from the popup list to jump to the bookmark position.
Adding your own bookmarks to a
document is described in the
next section.
To load a different document, bring up the Open screen by either
tapping on the leftmost icon or selecting the Open... item from the
Options menu.
To change fonts, bring up the Choose Font dialog box by either
tapping on the second to left icon or selecting the Choose Font...
item from the Options menu.
Top
SuperDoc's main screen is used for reading documents.
Along the top of the screen are several icons,
used for quickly accessing some of SuperDoc's main
features:
- Open. Switches to the Open screen, which is used to
open and organise documents.
- Choose Font. Opens the Choose Font dialog box, used for
choosing and organising SuperFonts.
- Find. Open the Find dialog, used for searching the
current document for a particular word or phrase.
- Auto-Scroll. Toggles auto-scroll on and off.
- Bookmarks. Brings up a list of bookmarks. Click on
an item to move to the location associated with that
bookmark.
- Percentage List. Brings up a list of percentages. Click
one to move to that point within the document. Also displays the
current percentage position.
|
Click on the Open icon to switch to the Open screen.
The main list box lists the documents. The category list at the top right
is used for organising documents. You can select
whether you wish to read Palm Doc documents or memos using the Type buttons.
|
Close the Open screen using Cancel. When you return to the main screen, click
Choose Font to move to the Choose Font dialog box.
Experiment with all the lists and style options, watching the
font preview area to see how the different choices affect the
appearance of the displayed font.
|
Top
SuperDoc is designed to be intuitive to use and follows many of
the conventions established by the built-in Palm applications. So
feel free to try things out to see how everything works. For those who
prefer a more structured approach, we have prepared a few advanced
tips.
To access documents stored on an expansion card, select the
Expansion Card category from the category list in the top right
of the Open screen.
Note that expansion card documents may take several seconds
to load. They always remain in the Expansion Card category and
cannot be assigned to other categories.
To access SuperFonts stored on an expansion card, select either
the Expansion Card or All settings from the From list in the
Choose Font dialog box.
To avoid long waits when searching large expansion cards, SuperDoc
avoids searching every single directory. For SuperDoc to
recognize a document or SuperFont on an expansion card ensure
it is in one of the following directories:
- The root directory, /
- /Palm/Launcher/
- Any immediate sub-directory of /Palm/Launcher. For example,
/Palm/Launcher/Sub1 would be searched, but /Palm/Launcher/Sub1/Sub2
would not.
Not all Palm devices support expansion cards and not all that
do support them use the Palm VFS system required for SuperDoc
to recognize them. m500, m505 and Sony CLIÉ device expansion
cards should be recognized, but Springboard cards will not be.
SuperDoc documents can be organised in categories from within the
Open screen. You can change which category the selected document
belongs to by clicking the Category button, selecting the category
and clicking OK. You can change which category of documents is
currently displayed using the popup list in the top right of the Open
screen - select All to see all documents regardless of their category.
To add, delete and rename the categories themselves, pull down the
category list and select Edit Categories... .
Documents stored on expansion cards are not displayed in the
All category, only in the Expansion Card category. Their category
cannot be changed.
Some documents contain bookmarks which can be jumped to using the
bookmark popup list, accessed by clicking the bookmark icon on the
main screen. More contain 'auto-scan' bookmark markers, which SuperDoc automatically
spots and turns into real bookmarks the first time the document is
loaded.
SuperDoc also allows you to add your own bookmarks by selecting
New... from the Bookmarks menu. This brings up the New Bookmark dialog
box where you type in the label for your
bookmark. The position of the new bookmark is taken as the first
character on the screen when the New Bookmark dialog is activated.
To rename and delete bookmarks, select Manage Bookmarks... from
the bookmarks menu - this brings up the Manage Bookmarks dialog box.
Note that memos do not support bookmarks.
SuperDoc allows you to search the document for a specific word or
phrase. To start a find, click the Find icon or select Find... from
the Options menu. This brings up the Find dialog box where you enter
the search text and choose whether you wish the find to be case
sensitive or not. For example, if you search for 'codemill' with
case sensitivity turned on, 'codemill' would match, but not
'Codemill', whereas with case sensitivity off, both would
match.
When a match is found, it is displayed in highlighted text starting
on the second row of the screen. A message box appears asking if you
wish to search for the next occurrence of your search phrase. If no
match is found, the search will reach the bottom of the document and
you will be prompted to see if you wish to resume the search from the
top of the document.
SuperDoc can read memos created using the built-in Memo Pad
application. Select the Memo button on the Open screen in order to
list memos rather than Palm Doc format documents. Memos can be
categorised, deleted, loaded and read just like other types of
documents. However memos cannot contain bookmarks.
Top
In order to give a wider choice of fonts when using
SuperDoc you can convert Windows TrueType or OpenType fonts to a SuperFont.
This is done using the supplied
SuperFontConvert.exe program, which runs on modern versions of Windows
including Windows 95, 98, NT 4.0 and 2000.
Conversion is a simple 4 stage process:
- Run the SuperDocConvert.exe program on your Windows computer.
- Select the font to be converted. This involves selecting the font
name, point size and style (regular, bold, italic, or bold italic). As
SuperDoc is capable of synthesizing bold, italic and bold italic styles
from regular style fonts, usually it is only necessary to convert the
regular style font.
- If required, change the database name of the font. In most
circumstances, it is better to leave this alone.
- Save the font output file somewhere on your Windows computer.
Once the font is converted, the output file can be installed onto your
Palm device in the same way as any other Palm database e.g. by
double-clicking within Windows Explorer, clicking Done and
synchronising.
Experiment to find the fonts that you find clearest. Generally, sans-serif
fonts appear clearer than serif fonts. Some users of greyscale Palm devices
have reported drastic differences in readability from adjusting their
device's screen contrast control. We also recommend you try the
reverse video (a.k.a. white on black text) mode to see if you find
this clearer than normal. This is activated using the R style button in
the Choose Font dialog box.
Top
- Start SuperDoc.
- Open the Choose Font dialog box e.g. by tapping the 'Ab' icon
on the main screen.
- Select the SuperFont you wish to delete.
- Click the Delete... button and click OK in the confirmation dialog box.
Do not to attempt to delete a SuperFont using the Palm
Launcher screen. This deletes all the SuperFonts
on your device!
You will not be able to delete any SuperFonts that are marked
read-only or that are stored on a read-only expansion card.
Top
The Palm Doc format used by SuperDoc is widely supported. The best web
site we have found for obtaining free documents is
MemoWare which contains thousands
of documents, a large number of which are free and in the Palm Doc format.
Other general Palm download sites such as
PalmGear and
Handango also contain a selection of
free and commercial document offerings.
Typing the search phrase "+Palm +Doc" (without the quotes) into any search
engine (e.g. Google) will bring back a
large number of sites that offer Palm Doc format documents.
Don't forget that, as SuperDoc now supports the Memo format, you can
create SuperDoc-compatible documents on your Palm device using the
Memo Pad application. Moreover, other format
conversions are possible using suitable
desktop computer software.
Top
- Start SuperDoc.
- Go to the Open Document screen e.g. by tapping the leftmost icon
on the main screen.
- Select the document you wish to delete.
- Click the Delete button and click OK in the confirmation dialog box.
Do not to attempt to delete a document using the Palm
Launcher screen. This deletes all the documents
on your device!
You will not be able to delete any documents that are marked
read-only or that are stored on a read-only expansion card.
Top
To convert a plain text document to Palm Doc format use the
excellent freeware converter program, PalmDoc. This is available from download
sites such as Tucows.
Another possibility in the future may be to use the free
AbiWord word processor. This
supports Palm Doc format as well as most other text formats, including
Microsoft Word Doc format and is available on a number of platforms
including Windows and Linux. At the time of writing, using AbiWord 0.9.0,
the program contained a bug that affected the accuracy of its Palm Doc
writing, so cannot currently be recommended. However, new versions
are being released quite often so hopefully this problem will be
corrected soon.
Top
Registered versions of SuperDoc come with 90 days free technical support.
We welcome your feedback. Please send any comments or bug reports to
support@codemill.net.
If you are requesting technical support, please remember to include the
following in your query:
- Your name
- Your email address
- Product name
- Product version number
- Complete and accurate description of any problem
If you are a licensed user, please also include:
- Your licence number
- Date licence obtained
This will enable us to deal with
your query through our highest priority channels.
Please note that our top technical support priority is to deal
with issues raised by licensed users.
Occasionally, product support information may be posted on our web site,
www.codemill.net.
Top
Thanks to Ray Larabie of Larabie Fonts for
permission to use his Blue Highway font.
Thanks to the Gibson Research Corporation for
the helpful discussion of sub-pixel rendering techniques on their web site.
Thanks also to all those who helped beta test SuperDoc.
SuperDoc is licensed under two licence agreements, one governing
its use during the free 30 day evaluation period, and one governing
its use once fully licensed. By using SuperDoc you agree to abide
by the appropriate licence agreement.
- This Licence applies to the evaluation version of Codemill SuperDoc
(“the Software”).
- If you have purchased a licence for the registered version of the Software
then please refer to the section Licence Agreement below.
- The following terms and conditions govern the use of the Software and
your use of the Software indicates acceptance of this licence agreement
and warranty.
Terms and Conditions
- You are licensed to use the Software for one period of 30 days for
evaluation purposes without charge. If the Software is used beyond the
30 day period then a registration fee is payable (such fee being set out
in the attached Schedule and payable in the manner detailed in such
Schedule).
- The Software must not be altered or modified in any way. The
Software may be distributed by the licensee to other potential users
provided that such users accept this licence agreement
and warranty.
- For the avoidance of doubt, unregistered use of the Software beyond
the 30 day evaluation period is in violation of this Evaluation Licence
and Licence Agreement and legal action shall be taken.
- This Agreement shall be governed by the laws of England and Wales.
- The Software is sold as seen and without warranty as to the
performance or merchantability or any other warranty whether expressed
or implied. There is no warranty of reasonable fitness for a
particular purpose.
- The use of the Software is entirely at the risk of the licensee.
The liability of the licensor shall be limited to product replacement
or refund of the purchase price.
- All copyright shall remain in the exclusive ownership of Codemill
Limited.
Schedule
| Software |
A - Codemill SuperDoc |
| Fee |
£14 for software A |
| |
Software may also be purchased in certain foreign currencies.
See the Codemill website for
more details. Codemill reserves the right to alter the price of
our software at any time without notice. |
Method of Payment
The following methods of payment are supported:
- Credit card payment through the
Codemill web site.
- Payment through an authorised reseller.
- Other forms of payment may be possible.
Contact Codemill for further
details.
- This Licence Agreement applies to the registered version of
Codemill SuperDoc (“the Software”).
- If you have requested an evaluation version of the Software then
please refer to the section Evaluation Licence above.
- The following terms and conditions govern the use of the Software and
your use of the Software indicates acceptance of this licence agreement
and warranty.
Terms and Conditions
- You are licensed to use one copy of the Software by one person who
uses the Software personally on one or more computers or installed on
one single computer used by multiple people but
not both.
- The Software must not be altered or modified in any way. Under no
circumstances shall the Software be distributed by the licensee to other
potential users.
- This Agreement shall be governed by the laws of England and Wales.
- The Software is sold as seen and without warranty as to the
performance or merchantability or any other warranty whether expressed
or implied. There is no warranty of reasonable fitness for a
particular purpose.
- The use of the Software is entirely at the risk of the licensee.
The liability of the licensor shall be limited to product replacement
or refund of the purchase price.
- All copyright shall remain in the exclusive ownership of Codemill
Limited.
Schedule
| Software |
A - Codemill SuperDoc |
| Fee |
£14 for software A |
| |
Software may also be purchased in certain foreign currencies.
See the Codemill website for
more details. Codemill reserves the right to alter the price of
our software at any time without notice. |
Method of Payment
The following methods of payment are supported:
- Credit card payment through the
Codemill web site.
- Payment through an authorised reseller.
- Other forms of payment may be possible.
Contact Codemill for further
details.
Top
All version numbers given are SuperDoc version numbers. The version numbers
of the documentation may differ.
Version 1.4: Added following new features: auto-scroll and
smooth scrolling; expansion card support; memo reading; reverse
video text; Go To dialog box; tap scroll; native 16 bit support; some
JogWheel support; in-program help. Plus various bug fixes.
Version 1.1: Fixed bug that caused crash when loading uncompressed
doc files. Fixed incompatibility with files saved by QuickWord. Fixed bug that
caused crash on pre-3.5 version ROMs - now exits gracefully with an appropriate
error message. Added Blue Highway point size 10 to distribution to help those
with low vision get more out of SuperDoc. Updated documentation in several
places.
Version 1.0 (later revision): Modified SuperFontConvert.exe to
work correctly with Windows 95, 98 and NT 4.0. Earlier version only worked
on Windows 2000.
Version 1.0 (early revision): First public release.
Top
Thank you for using this Codemill product.
Thank you even more if you bought a licence for it! Licensing our
software helps keep Codemill in a position to carry on developing
high quality software.
Top
© Codemill Ltd 2001. All rights reserved.