Compressed grf files

[jsc]

Speaking of compression, I really like the option. However, and I should have asked before the horse left the barn, but would it have made more sense to put the compressed grf file in a wrapper, kind of like xml and odt files are? That way, the file inside can still be manipulated externally from DPlot like an ascii file if needed or wanted. It might also be a way to add the settings file info when desired (haven't used that feature, but the feature that takes on settings from an ini or set file if the file is in the same directory and has the same name (I may not be explaining that correctly...))

Also, using the wrapper approach would allow the user to change the file extension and use winzip or some other packer to extract the file as if it was a simple zip file.

(But now I'm wondering if that might not be as fast or as seamless for DPlot to accomplish...?)

Jon

[DPlotAdmin]

Jon,
There's nothing magic about the file extension. You can call it whatever you want, but WinZip still won't open it as it isn't a zip file. The compression is the same, but zip files are more like folders than files.

I'll give all of your comments some thought, but I think it's likely this won't change much.

If you want to compress/decompress DPlot files w/o DPlot you can do so with this utility:
http://www.dplot.com/zlib/zpipe.exe

Syntax:

zpipe.exe -d <inputfile >outputfile

to decompress a compressed file, or

zpipe.exe <inputfile >outputfile

to compress a file.

I'll eventually write a user-friendlier version of this that doesn't require going to a command prompt and will allow you to convert gobs of files at once... just ran out of time and wanted to get the update out.