Just Great Software Releases Updated Versions of HelpScribble and PowerGREP
This announcement was prepared by Just Great Software Co. Ltd.
Updated: HelpScribble 7.7.3
HelpScribble 7.7.3 is now available for download. This version brings several minor fixes and improvements.
HelpScribble will now indicate missing images and broken links when compiling into HTML Help format and when exporting into Web Help format. You can find these errors in the log that appears below the topic text after using Project|Make and Project|Export to Web Help. Previously, the only way to find broken links and missing images was to test the generated help file.
On the HTML Help tab in Project Options, there's an additional checkbox to make HelpScribble convert popup links into regular links when compiling into HTML Help format. WinHelp allows you to create popup links to display topics in small, dynamic popup windows that disappear when the reader clicks anywhere. HTML Help does not support such popups. By default, HelpScribble will make popup links open the target topic into a small browser window. Such windows need to be clicked explicitly with the X button. Alternatively, you can turn on the option to convert popup links into regular links. Then popup links will open the target topic in the main help window, replacing the previous topic, just like regular links. This option only affects HTML Help compilation.
BMP and SHG images are converted into GIF or PNG format when compiling into HTML Help format. This conversion is needed because HTML Help does not support the BMP and SHG formats. Using GIF or PNG images directly instead of BMP avoids this conversion step. If the same image is referenced many times in the help project, it is compiled only once into the CHM file. However, HelpScribble converted BMP and SHG files each time they were referenced, instead of just once. Repeatedly compiling a help file that uses a very large number of BMP and/or SHG files into HTML Help format during a single HelpScribble session caused HelpScribble to crash due to a resource leak. Both bugs have been fixed.
If you have already purchased HelpScribble, you can download this free update from http://www.helpscribble.com/download.html
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If you did not buy HelpScribble yet, you can do so for only US$ 99 at http://www.helpscribble.com/buynow.html. You can buy directly from JGsoft, online with a credit card. You can also buy through one of our resellers using various online and traditional payment methods.
You can download a free evaluation version of HelpScribble at http://www.helpscribble.com/download.html.
Updated: PowerGREP 3.5.0
PowerGREP 3.5.0 is now available for download. This is a must-have release if you search through Office 2007 or OpenOffice XML-based formats, or if you search using lists of thousands of search terms.
Microsoft Office 2007 uses new file formats with .docx, .xlsx and .pptx extensions. Technically, these files are .zip archives that contain a number of .xml files and assorted files. OpenOffice uses the OpenDocument Format. ODF files are also .zip archives containing .xml and assorted files, though the XML is not compatible with Microsoft's. If you click on an MS Office 2007 or OpenOffice file in PowerGREP, you'll see that you can expand it just like a .zip archive. The XML files inside are what PowerGREP actually searches through. PowerGREP has had this ability since version 3.4.0.
Though .docx files are technically .zip archives, conceptually they are document files just like Word documents saved in the old binary .doc format. PowerGREP has to treat them differently. PowerGREP treats .zip archives as (compressed) folders, but .docx files as (compound) document files. The Search Archives item in the File Selector menu does not affect Office 2007 files. PowerGREP 3.4.x already did this.
What did not work correctly in PowerGREP 3.4.x was that PowerGREP did not treat the .docx file as a single file when applying the target and backup options you set on the Action tab. E.g. if you set backups to be created with a .bak extension in the same folder as the original, and your action modifies the file word\document.xml inside MyDocument.docx, then the backup would be saved as word\document.xml.bak inside MyDocument.docx. Opening the modified MyDocument.docx caused Word 2007 to complain that MyDocument.docx is corrupted, due to the extraneous word\document.xml.bak file.
PowerGREP 3.5.0 correctly applies backup options to the whole .docx file. Using the same example, PowerGREP 3.5.0 backs up MyDocument.docx as a whole to MyDocument.docx.bak. Then PowerGREP makes your replacements in word\document.xml inside MyDocument.docx. Word 2007 will open the modified MyDocument.docx without complaint.
When executing a "find files" action, PowerGREP now lists only the .docx file itself, rather than all the .xml files it contains. This is true whether you're using a search text or not.
PowerGREP's behavior when dealing with .zip archives is unchanged. When modifying text.txt inside archive.zip, the backup text.txt.bak is created inside archive.zip. PowerGREP treats archive.zip as a (compressed) folder. A "find files" action still lists all files inside the .zip archive rather than the .zip archive itself. The only exception is finding files without a search term, and Search Archives turned off. Then the .zip files themselves are listed.
PowerGREP 3.5.0 includes two major improvements that result in significantly improved performance when searching using a list of thousands of search terms. The "list of literal text" and "delimited literal text" search types are now faster than the "list of regular expressions" and "delimited regular expressions" search types when the option "non-overlapping search" is turned on. You won't notice the difference when searching for a handful of items. But with thousands of search terms, searching for literal text is now significantly faster than in previous versions of PowerGREP.
PowerGREP 3.5.0 uses significantly less memory when searching for thousands of search terms. This equally affects literal text and regular expression searches. In situations where the list of search terms would produce tens of thousands or more search matches, PowerGREP 3.5.0 happily run the search, while previous versions would run out of memory. The Results|Save command produces much smaller .pgr files in this situation.
Because of these changes, earlier versions of PowerGREP cannot open files saved with PowerGREP 3.5.0. PowerGREP 3.5.0 naturally opens files saved with earlier versions just fine.
A number of other minor bugs were fixed as well. Of note is that PowerGREP is now smarter about starting and stopping the conversion manager. This is a background process for converting proprietary file formats like .doc and .pdf to text, prior to searching. Please check the version history at http://www.powergrep.com/history.html for a complete list of fixes and improvements.
If you already purchased or upgraded to PowerGREP 3, you can download PowerGREP 3.4.1 for free at http://www.powergrep.com/download.html.
If you purchased PowerGREP 2.x in the past, PowerGREP 3.4.1 is a major upgrade for you. You can upgrade your license to PowerGREP 3 at http://www.powergrep.com/upgradenow.html for US$ 69.95. This is less than half the $149 price for PowerGREP 3 for new customers.
If you'd like to try PowerGREP 3 before upgrading, you can download the free evaluation version at http://www.powergrep.com/download.html. The free evaluation version of PowerGREP 3 can coexist with the licensed version of PowerGREP 2 on a single computer. Installing or uninstalling either version will not affect the other.
If you haven't purchased any version of PowerGREP, you can purchase PowerGREP 3 for US$ 149 at http://www.powergrep.com/buynow.html.
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