Favourites To Bookmarks And Back
(c) 1996 Jonathan Potter

v1.04

** See bottom of this file for history information **


1. Purpose

This program converts Netscape Bookmark files into Internet Explorer
'Favourites' directories, and vice versa. With the continual leap-frogging
of these two packages over each other, I often found the Bookmarks and
Favourites getting out of sync. This program solves that problem.


2. Installation

No special installation is needed - just copy the executable to somewhere
nice and safe (c:\Program Files is a good place). To uninstall, just delete
the executable.


3. Usage

When run, FTBAB opens a dialog box that lets you select the type of conversion
you want. It also has two fields, which let you enter the path of the
Favourites folder, and of the Bookmark file. FTBAB fills these with default
values which it obtains from the registry.

If you want to convert from Favourites to Bookmarks, select that option in the
"Convert From" box. The 'Favourites folder' field should contain the complete
path of your Favourites folder. The 'Bookmark file' field should contain the
path and filename of your Netscape Bookmark file. Once you have these values
set, click the OK button. Barring any errors, the conversion will then be
automatic. Note that if you specify a Bookmark file that already exists, FTBAB
gives you the option of overwriting it or appending to it.

To convert from Bookmarks to Favourites is a similar process; select the path
of the Favourites folder and Bookmark file, and choose 'Bookmarks to Favouries'
in the "Convert From" box. If you specify a path for the Favourites folder that
does not exist, FTBAB will give you the option of creating it.


4. Notes on conversion

v1.01 of FTBAB automatically handles the conversion of URLs with ampersands (&)
in their names - when going from Bookmarks to Favourites, a double && is 
converted to a single &, and a & is converted to a && when going the other way.
This is for those people who use a && to produce a real ampersand under
Netscape.

Also, illegal filename characters are now filtered out of URL names when
converting to Favourites. These characters include ":\<>*?|.

When converting from Favourites to Bookmarks, the resulting Bookmark file is
sorted alphabetically, automatically. You can set the title for the
resulting Bookmark file from the dialog.


5. Automation

v1.03 of FTBAB can take parameters on the command line to automate the
conversion process. Why you might want to do this is up to you, but the
parameters are :

    /auto		- specify automatic mode
    /ftb		- convert favourites to bookmarks (default)
    /btf		- convert bookmarks to favourites
    /fav <path>		- specify path of favourites folder
    /book <name>	- specify name of bookmark file
    /quiet		- quiet operation, no progress display
    /title              - title for Bookmarks file

As a brief example,

    ftbab /auto /btf /fav c:\internet\favourites /book d:\bookmark.htm /quiet


6. Requirements

Windows 95. FTBAB uses some functions from the Windows 95 Shell, and so will
not run under Windows NT. As soon as I get NT 4.0 I will fix this (it will
never run under NT 3.5 though).


7. Copyright

This program is freeware, but not public domain, and is (c) 1996 by Jonathan
Potter. You may do with it what you wish. Any comments, bug reports, etc, are
welcome. Please email me at jpotter@lss.com.au.

- Jon



History :

	1.0	(6-Sep-96)   - Initial release

       1.01     (8-Sep-96)   - Fixed problem with illegal filename characters.
                               Now converts ampersands automatically.
                             
       1.02    (11-Sep-96)   - Oops, missed / as an illegal filename
                               character.

       1.03    (18-Sep-96)   - Now works properly if the Favourites folder is
                               more than two levels deep. Add automation of
                               conversion via command line.

       1.04    (19-Sep-96)   - Added /title parameter and title configuration.
                               Dialog window now accepts dropped files
                               (drop a folder to set the Favourites location,
                               and a .htm file to set the Bookmark file).
                               Fixed bug which would cause an exception
                               occasionally when converting favourites to
                               bookmarks.
