From time to time I create some items that I think might be useful to others. Most of the code has been posted on the public FTP site but that isn't very handy for adding comments and an occasional documentation file for which HTML format is handy.

Microsoft Excel Describes a selection of Excel worksheets and macros that I have found useful.

FinpMod.pm is a perl and curl module I use for getting mostly financial information out of web sites that are hosted by financial instiutions with which I have legitimate accounts that require passwords for access. It could be used for other web sites when all you really want is the contents of HTML tables that change periodically. It runs on a Linux box here as a cron job. You'll need a basic understanding of perl and html to use it.

VectorworksOver the years, as MiniCAD became VectorWorks, I created some scripts that are still useful. They are unlikely to be something an architect would appreciate.

LineEnds is a set of drag and drop AppleScript applications that analyse and change line ends between Macintosh (0D), Unix (0A), and Windows (0D0A) formats. After installation there are four drag-to icons in a folder that will 1) analyse a file telling how many of each line end are present, 2) replace all ends with UNIX, 3) replace all ends with Mac, and 4) replace all ends with Windows. The first option will do nothing to a file and is a good idea to prevent doing something you really don't want to do. The other three will change the file in place. Note that mixed line ends in a file are OK. They will all be replaced with the chosen result. (BBEdit won't do that!) The actual code is in C and requires Mac OS 10.x. If you want to mess with it the source is there to be used. FixEnds downloads the 53 kB *.sit scripts application. ReadMe is a short explanation.

Tview is a set of scripts that were developed to allow AppleScripts to use the curl shell tool to download files from the internet. It is more general than that and has other functions. The way I use it is with BBEdit worksheets in OS 10 which are not too happy with shell-like connections over a Telnet or ssh connection. tViewInit downloads a script that opens Terminal.app and sets up a named window to which commands can be sent. tViewCmd downloads a companion script that allows a running AppleScript to request a download in the Terminal.app window which will show progress of a download in curl. You call it with a do shell script command. tView.text provides a ReadMe file.

Osprep is a BBEdit-based editing scheme for preparing netlists for the Osmond printed circuit board development software. Osmond needs such a file for starting a circuit layout and this software allows preparation with a text editor. The perl scripting language is used. osprep.pl downloads a carefully documented perl script. VASconnects downloads a sample file that shows how it works. There are some other goodies in the OsmondDirectory.

WorksheetOpen came about because BBEdit worksheets do not allow for an "rc" style initialization file that can be used to set up environment variables and other things when a worksheet is opened. The code depends on a modification to the rc file for the user's shell so that when a worksheet is opened commands stored specially in the worksheet will be executed. I use it with the tcsh shell and that part of the code can be considered fully tested. The version for the bash shell may be buggy. The files are; ReadMe, WorksheetOpen for tcsh. WorksheetShopen for bash. The ReadMe file shows what you will have to add to your $HOME/.tcshrc startup file.

PrepAPPL is a tcsh shell script designed to make a shell script into an OS 10 application that can be double-clicked under control of Finder. The script is at PrepAPPL. Infornation about it is at ReadMe.

ListWiszard is a script I put together for a fellow in our local Macintosh user group. It uses perl to send out, via email, text from the Mac clipboard to a predefined list of recipients. It avoids the traps associated with email clients, especially Apple's mail.app which insist on splitting long URL's so they don't work as received. You need access to an SMTP server to use it. The perl code should work under Linux and OS X.

Eudora There are several AppleScripts for use with the Eudora for Mac email client. For not there is just the link to the ftp site. I use Eudora 5.1 in Mac OS 9 on an older machine because I like it. Eudora is going to open source through thundermail - or something like that. I worry about losing a good email client and have downloaded the last version - 6.1 - that will allow me to continue with Eudora. Sigh - The bad drives out the good.

MPW tools 68HC11 tools is a compressed group of tools for assembly language coding of Motorola's 68HC11 microprocessor. MPW - Apple's Macintosh Programmer's Workshop - is a shell-like programmer's editor for the Classic Mac OS. It is not supported in OS X but it provides the general ideas for Bare Bones' BBEdit worksheet. I wish BBEdit could be much closer to the original MPW but it's just not to be.