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WPTools Version 5 has an entirely new RTF Engine. This makes it much easier to work with the paragraph text and offers an object-oriented approach whenever such an approach is beneficial.
Please read chapter "Release notes", "Data Structures" and "Quick Start".
The new data model supports a separation between data and editing logic. This makes it possible to attach multiple editors to one text object in order to view different parts of the same text. This feature can be used to create a split view of the same text or, even more interesting, to link different editors to specific pages. This feature can also be used to edit text paths in DTP applications.
The result is a suite of components with a combination of features you will not find available in any other single component package.
New concepts found in WPTools Version 5 include:
| • | storage of character attributes in a special record which is assigned to the character which uses these particular attributes. This makes it easy to copy characters and assign new attributes. Other products use start and end tags to store character attributes with the danger of inconsistency if a tag 'gets lost'. Since WPTools caches the attributes, it does not consume a lot memory for them! |
| • | paragraph storage in a linked list with sub-elements (children) - this reflects the document structure of HTML and makes it possible to support HTML/CSS editing. |
| • | inherited attributes - in WPTools paragraph and character attributes can be added and removed. If an attribute is not defined the 'default' or 'inherited' value is used instead. |
For application designers WPTools Version 5 supports
| • | different types of multiple page layout which can be displayed quickly |
| • | the possibility of editing ONE text in TWO (or more) windows (split-screen) |
| • | effective property dialogs (NEW: The dialogs shade 'undefined' values) |
| • | and all important action classes are included. |
For word processing WPTools Version 5 includes
| • | a vast number of paragraph and character attributes for text (numbering, alignment, indents, spacing - the usual RTF features, but also color and style for various underlines, different border styles, background colors) |
| • | strong table support - including the ability to nest tables (table within a table) and merging of table columns and table rows, with support for page breaks within table rows |
| • | Repeated table header and footer rows |
| • | pictures with text flow on one or (new!) both sides |
| • | powerful support for headers and footers |
| • | extensive support for paragraph styles |
| • | improved support for tab stops - including support for leading signs (.......1.00). |
| • | insertion of foreign pages - i.e. pages which are painted by an owner-provided function. These pages appear in the text, but cannot be accessed with the cursor |
| • | and different layout modes - so powerful that the preview dialog now uses a standard editor which is switched to read only. It still allows thumbnails and side-by-side page layout views! |
| • | Support for "sections" - have different page sizes in one document. |
For HTML/CSS editing WPTools Version 5 enables
| • | loading of HTML/CSS files |
| • | saving of HTML/CSS files |
| • | and powerful CSS support - the word processing engine supports inherited attributes and nested tables and paragraphs. |
For developers WPTools Version 5 is an improvement because it
| • | is not bloatware - in fact WPTools V5 is smaller than WPTools 4! |
| • | offers effective memory management. It also supports many more paragraph and character attributes without consuming more memory than the previous version (under the same OS). |
| • | is safe for multi-threaded applications |
| • | allows the addition of new paragraph attributes |
| • | makes it possible to insert 'external' or 'owner drawn' pages into a document |
| • | offers support of most RTF features in HTML/CSS file format and vice versa. (Notable exception: Tab stops cannot be coded into HTML/CSS.) |
| • | makes it possible to share styles and other properties (color palette, font table) between texts. This makes it easier to work with two synchronized RTF texts. |
| • | allows linking of editors to text paths (the text is never copied between these editors). |
| • | provides support for Delphi 5, 6, 7 and 2005(Win32) |
| • | provides support for C++Builder 5 and 6 |
| • | provides an effective storage format which produces the minimum amount of RTF and HTML/CSS code possible. |
| • | optionally: Support for FastReport 3 & 4 (supports stretching) |
| • | optionally: Support for ReportBuilder 9 & 10 (supports stretching) |
| • | optionally: Support for QuickReport 4 |
Optional in WPTools PREMIUM:
| • | editing and printing of footnotes (WYSIWYG!) |
| • | text boxes (movable boxes with RTF text. Anchor is in text body) |
| • | support for columns (newspaper layout) |
Other products in WPTools family:
| • | WPSpell - spell checking highly integrated into the WPTools environment |
| • | wPDF - perfect and fast PDF creation, not only from WPTools since it also does conversion of metafiles. |
We hope that you are as satisfied with WPTools Version 5 as we are and that the improvement in your product is worth the effort which may be required for the upgrade to this new version. WPTools 5 was built to be the most powerful word processor available on the component market. In addition, it also works as a HTML editor, offering convenient word processing features, while still working as closely to the HTML document model as possible.
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