Claris XTND System
What. . .
Where. . .
How do I. . .
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What is the Claris XTND System?


XTND is a technology developed by Apple and Claris to allow applications to read multiple file formats. Guide Maker uses the Claris XTND System to read word processor files such as those created with Microsoft Word 5.1. Without XTND, Guide Maker can only read plain text files and the abilty to style text on a panel is severely limited. For more information on styling text see the Panel Formatting FAQ or consult Apple Guide Complete.

Where can I get the Claris XTND System?


Most Claris products, such as ClarisWorks, ship with and install the Claris XTND system. If you don't have it already you can download XTND from the guideWorks ftp server.

ftp://ftp.guideworks.com/public/Authoring/ClarisXTND.sit.hqx.

Where can I get additional translators?


The only basic translators that I've found to work well with Guide Maker are MacWrite II and Microsoft Word 4-5, If you've got XTND you've probably already got these. If you are using a different word processor you can save your source files in one of these formats.

DataViz makes a product called MacLinkPlus that works with XTND to provide additional translators. MacLinkPlus 9.0 has translators for Word 6.0 and ClarisWorks 3-4 but I haven't personally tried these. In order to get these translators you have to buy the MacLinkPlus product.

How do I install XTND?


The XTND system consist of the three parts that go in folders within the System Folder. If you downloaded the files from the guideWorks ftp site follow the instructions on the folders. If you got XTND some other way it should be installed for you automatically. You should end up with a folder called "Claris" in your System Folder. This folder should contain the file "Claris XTND System" and a folder called "Claris Translators" that contains the translators such as "MacWrite II", and "Microsoft Word 4-5." If you are using a PowerPC system you should also have the extension "XTND Power Enabler" in the Extensions folder.

Why is XTND not working on my PowerPC machine?


On a computer with a PowerPC processor (e.g. a PowerMac) XTND requires that you have the extension "XTND Power Enabler" installed in the extensions folder. You can get this extension from the guideWorks ftp site.

Why is Guide Maker crashing when reading files?
Why is Guide Maker not reading files correctly?


Many Guide Maker problems are actually XTND problems. If a crash happens near the beginning of the compile process (while Guide Maker is reading files) it might be XTND. If Guide Maker is not reading your files correctly it could also be an XTND problem.

Some translators, most notably the RTF translator, are quite buggy. If you open up one of your source files in an application that uses XTND (such as ClarisWorks) and the application crashes or the file does not display properly, you can bet that it's XTND.

Saving with Fast Saves enabled in Microsoft Word 5.1 can also cause XTND to crash or files to be read incorrectly. Disable Fast Saves in the Open and Save section of MS Word's Preferences dialog.

Why is the styled text not showing up on my panels?


The <Define Format> command can cause Guide Maker to override the style choices in your source files. For more info on formatting panels see the Panel Formatting FAQ or consult Apple Guide Complete.


© 1997, guideWorks, LLC -- Last updated: 970325 GPB