Help Contents
 PackXTract Help Contents

Getting Started

What is PackXTract?

License agreement: Read before using PackXTract

Warning: Read this before deleting any package from your Newton!

The PackXTract Main Window

How To...

Open a NCK backup file

Extract a package

Get information about a package

Commands

File menu

Help menu

Miscellaneous

Tips and Troubleshooting

Ordering Info

Contacting the Author

PackXTract is copyright 1995 by Bernd Flachsbart

Newton is a registered trademark of Apple Computer, Inc.


Ordering Information

At this time, there are two ways to register your copy of PackXTract:

Ordering by sending money:

Currently the registration fee for this way of ordering is 10$.
To register send this order form and money (in a thick brown envelope) to:

Bernd Flachsbart
Fasanenstrasse 1
38102 Braunschweig

Germany

To print this order form, click on Print Topic in the File pull-down menu.
Payments must be in US dollar bank notes, coins or cheques are not accepted.

You will receive a Registration Notification along with the registration key
by e-mail (preferred), fax or snail-mail

Note

If you are a German resident you can send DM 10,- instead of $10.

CompuServe Registration:

Currently the registration fee for this way of ordering is 12$.
To have the registration fee added to your CompuServe bill type GO SWREG at the ! prompt and follow the menus. PackXTract's registration ID is 8619.

You will receive a Registration Notification along with the registration key by e-mail.

Order Form:

PackXTract	_____copies at $10 each 	=______

Total payment	=______US$

Date: __________

Name:	____________________________________

Company:	____________________________________

Address:	____________________________________

City, State, Zip:	____________________________________

Country:	____________________________________

Fax:	____________________________________

E-Mail address:	____________________________________

How did you hear about PackXTract?	______________

__________________________________________________

__________________________________________________

Comments:	____________________________________

__________________________________________________

__________________________________________________

__________________________________________________

See also:

Contacting the Author


Contacting the Author

If you have any questions or suggestions regarding PackXTract, you can contact me the following ways:

E-Mail:

CIS:	100576,2645
Internet:	100576.2645@compuserve.com

WWW:

http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/BFlachsbart

Snail-Mail:

Bernd Flachsbart
Fasanenstrasse 1
38102 Braunschweig

Germany

Fax:

+49 5306 4403


License Agreement

PackXTract License Agreement

Be sure to read the following agreement before using the software.

IF YOU DO NOT AGREE TO THE TERMS OF THIS AGREEMENT,
DO NOT USE THE SOFTWARE

PackXTract is distributed as Shareware. You are free to use it for a trial period of up to 10 days.
If you want to use PackXTract after this time, you need to register it.
Registered users will get free support and updates.

LEGAL DISCLAIMER

The Product and Documentation are provided "as is" without warranty of any kind. To the maximum extent permitted by applicable law, the author further disclaims all implied warranties including without limitation any implied warranties of merchantablity or of fitness for a particular purpose.
The entire risk arising out of the use or performance of the PRODUCT and documentation remains with you. To the maximum extent permitted by applicable law, in no event shall the author be liable for any damages whatsoever (including, without limitation, damages for loss of business profits, business interruption, loss of business information or other pecuniary loss) arising out of the use of or inability to use the PRODUCT or documentation, even if the author has been advised of the possibillity of such damages.


What is PackXTract?

PackXTract is a program that enables you to extract Newton packages out of a NCK backupfile.
This is especially useful if you got your Newton with preinstalled software, but you don't have the install disks for the software.

If you develop software or create Newton books directly on the Newton, e.g. with Newt or Newt's Cape, then you'll be able to extract your programs and books from your NCK backup file.
This will result in a stand-alone package which could be distributed to others or kept as a backup

PackXTract lets you:

•	Extract packages from NCK backup files.

•	Get a list of packages contained in your NCK backup files.

•	Get additional information about a package (useful for developers).

See Also:

License agreement: Read before using PackXTract

Ordering Info


Open a NCK backup file

To open a NCK backup file:

Choose Open from the File menu, or click the Open toolbar button [image], or use the Ctrl+O keyboard shortcut. Then type the name of the NCK backup to open in the File Name text box, or, using the Directories and Drives areas of the dialog box, navigate to the directory that contains the file you want to open. Select a file and choose OK.

If you want to open a package containing file, which is not a NCK backup file, you should change the File Type to All Files so the file is shown in the Files listbox.

Shortcuts:

• Toolbar:

• Keys: 	Ctrl+O

Note   Default directory

PackXTract will remember the last directory where you opened a NCK backup file. So even after you exit the program the next time this will be the default directory for opening a NCK backup file.

See Also:

Tips and Troubleshooting


File Menu Commands

The File menu contains the following commands:

Open	Open a NCK backup file

Extract Package	Extract the selected package

Package Info	Display more info about the selected package

Exit	Exit the program


Help Menu Commands

The Help menu contains the following commands:

Contents	Displays the Help contents.

Search for Help On...	Search for a specified topic.

How to Use Help	Describe how to use the Help system.

Ordering Information	Display Information how to order PackXTract

About PackXTract...	Displays Information about PackXTract (don't miss this !)


Extract a package

To extract a package:

Select the package you want to extract in the package list.
Choose Extract Package from the File menu, or click the Extract toolbar button [image], or use the Ctrl+E keyboard shortcut. As a very quick shortcut you can also Double-click with the left Mouse Button on the package you want to extract.

You might change the proposed name for the package file in the File Name text box. Navigate to the directory where the package file should be saved and choose OK.

Shortcuts:

• Toolbar:

• Keys: 	Ctrl+E

• Mouse: 	Double-click

Note   Default directory

PackXTract will remember the last directory where you saved a package file. So even after you exit the program the next time this will be the default directory for saving a package file.

Important

You should make sure the extracted package installs and works
properly before deleting the original from your Newton.
See Tips and Troubleshooting for details

See Also:

Warning: Read this before deleting any package from your Newton!

Tips and Troubleshooting


Get information about a package

To get more information about a package:

Select the package you want information about in the package list.
Choose Package Info from the File menu, or click the Info toolbar button [image], or use the Ctrl+I keyboard shortcut. As a very quick shortcut you can also click the right Mouse Button.

A information window is shown with further information for the selected package than in the package list.

Shortcuts:

• Toolbar:

• Keys: 	Ctrl+I

• Mouse: 	Right-click


Exit

This command exits from PackXTract.

Shortcuts:

• Toolbar:

• Keys: 	Alt+F4


Contents Command

This command displays the opening screen of Help. From the opening screen, you can jump to step-by-step instructions for using PackXTract and various types of reference information.

Once you open Help, you can click the Contents button whenever you want to return to the opening screen.

Shortcuts:

• Toolbar:

• Keys: 	F1


Tips and Troubleshooting

This chapter discusses several Tips and Troubleshooting techniques.

Extracting from a new NCK backup

Due to the fact that the format of a NCK backup file is not documented, I can not guarantee that each extracted package is a valid package and will install properly on the Newton.
I did my best to avoid invalid packages being shown in the package list, but there is still the chance that the package you extract is not valid and won't install again.

The most reliable, though slowest, way to extract packages is from a new NCK backup file, which means that there is no existing backup file in the NCK directory during the sync.
A new backup will take considerably longer than any following backup, since NCK only stores the changes after the first sync. But the advantage is that you get a "fresh" backup file, which minimizes the chance of corrupt or invalid packages showing up in the package list.

Multiple occurences of a package

Especially when you are compiling programs and books on your Newton, there is the chance that you see multiple occurences of your created package in the NCK backup file after a normal sync. To avoid this you can make a new sync with no old backup file present in the NCK directory. Though PackXTract tries to detect these multiple and sometimes invalid entries, doing a "fresh" sync is the safest way.

See Also

Extracting from a new NCK backup (previous paragraph)

Packages missing in the package list

If you install a package on your Newton and do a normal sync afterwards, your just installed package might be missing in the packge list. This does not mean that the package isn't contained in the NCK backup file, since PackXTract only shows those packages which can be extracted without a problem. In this case you have to make a new sync with no old backup file present in the NCK directory to get your missing package shown in the package list.

See Also

Extracting from a new NCK backup (last but one paragraph)

Verifying the extracted package

Before you delete a package from your Newton, please make sure the extracted package can be installed again and works properly. Since you can not install a package twice, you must "hide" the original package on the Newton. This can be done one of the following ways:

•	If you have a PCMCIA Card:

1.	Move the package to the card using one of the common Newton utilities
(e.g TrashPak, ScrollEx or NewtCase).

2.	Reboot your Newton without the card.

3.	Now download the extracted package with NCK or another package installer

4.	Check out if it installs without error and if it works properly.

5.	If it works you may delete the original package. (Do this at your own risk!)

•	If you have a package archiving tool:

1.	Archive the package with your package archiver (e.g. NewtCase or ScrollEx).

2.	Download the extracted package with NCK or another package installer

3.	Check out if it installs without error and if it works properly.

4.	If it works you may delete the original package. (Do this at your own risk!)

Using PackXTract to remove MacBinary Header

Though PackXTract was designed to extract packages from NCK backup files, you can open virtually any binary file and search it for packages.

For example you can remove the MacBinary Header from packages you downloaded from CompuServe or a FTP site by opening the file and extracting the found package. It's that simple!


Warning

Important

Make sure you read this before deleting any package from your Newton!

Due to the fact that the format of a NCK backup file is not documented, I can not guarantee that each extracted package is a valid package and will install properly on the Newton.

I did my best to avoid invalid packages being shown in the package list, but there is still the chance that the package you extract won't install again.

Before you delete a package from your Newton, please verify the extracted package can be installed again and works properly.

See Also:

License agreement: Read before using PackXTract

Tips and Troubleshooting


The PackXTract Main Window

The following screen shot shows the PackXTract main window with a opened sample NCK backup file.

You can point with the mouse on any item you want information for. If information is available for a specific item, the mouse cursor will turn into a hand. To get a information pop-up window just click on the item.


Newton Connection Kit


The file format apps and books are
stored in outside the Newton.


The process of making a NCK backup on your PC.
During a sync, the information of your Newton and your PC is synchronized.


Mac Binary is a binary file format used for storing Macintosh files.

MacBinary files contain the data and resource forks of a Macintosh file in one file,
so that these files can be stored in computer systems (such as PCs or UNIX systems)
that support only one-fork files.

Files in this format begin with a MacBinary header which is not needed on a PC and
prevents MacBinary encoded packages from getting succesfully downloaded to the Newton.
Mostly those packages will cause a -10401 error.


This is the Open button.

It represents the Open command on the File menu.
Clicking on it takes you to a File Open dialog where you can
open a NCK backup file.


This is the Extract button.

It represents the Extract Package command on the File menu.
Clicking on it takes you to a File Save dialog where you can extract
the selected package.


This is the Info button.

It represents the Package Info command on the File menu.
Clicking on it displays a Window with more information about the
selected package.


This is the Help button.

It represents the Contents command on the Help menu.
Clicking on it shows you the contents of the PackXTract help file.


This is the Exit button.

It represents the Exit command on the File menu.
Clicking on it exits from PackXTract.


This is the file information box.

It shows you the file name, file size and file date of the opened file.

If you hold the mouse pointer over the box for a few moments,
the entire path of the opened file will be displayed.


This is the statusbar.

It displays various information depending on the program context.


This is the File Menu.

It lets you choose from the File Menu commands


This is the Help Menu.

It lets you choose from the Help Menu commands


This is the Number column.

It shows the current number of a package.

You can change the width of the columns by moving
the header column separator with the mouse.


This is the Package Name column.

It shows the name of a package as stored on the Newton.

You can change the width of the columns by moving
the header column separator with the mouse.


This is the Copyright column.

It shows the copyright of a package.

You can change the width of the columns by moving
the header column separator with the mouse.


This is the Size in Byte column.

It shows the size of a package in Bytes.

You can change the width of the columns by moving
the header column separator with the mouse.


This is the Package Type column.

It shows the type of a package. There are three basic package types:

•	Application = A program with a icon in the Extra Drawer.

•	Autopart = A program without a icon in the Extra Drawer,
e.g a patch or a addition to the Formula Roll.

•	Book = A Newton Book.

You can change the width of the columns by moving
the header column separator with the mouse.


This is the Package List

It shows a entry for each package found in the opened NCK backup file.

You can change the width of the columns by moving
the header column separator with the mouse.