Looking For Joe DiPaula

[Jim O]

Hi Everyone,

I am brand new to the VectorWorks world. I am currently contracting for a company that needs to upgrade from MiniCAD 6 to VectorWorks 11. I will need to convert from MiniPascal to VectorScript and I understand that there will be some changes required to the source code.

My first goal is to find the author of the MiniPascal programs which were written in the mid-1990's. The author's name is Joseph DiPaula. I don't expect anybody to give me his phone number or address, but I am hoping that somebody out there knows Joe and can please communicate to him that I would like to get in touch with him to ask his assistance with our conversion.

If I am unable to find Joe, is there anybody else out there that has experience translating MiniPascal (under MiniCAD 6.0.4) to VectorScript (under VectorWorks 11)?

Any help will be grately appreciated.

Thanks,

Jim

[MullinRJ]

Hi Jim,

Translating scripts from MC6 to VW11 should not be a terribly difficult undertaking. There are some minor syntax changes, and a few obsolete commands, but in all, it will be pretty straight forward after you do a few. Most of the commands that worked then still work. The biggest change to the language is the addition of many new commands that control all the new features that have been added to the program.

What you may find after you start working with VW11 is that you will want new or modified scripts to make use of the new features. The addition of PIO's (with VW8, I believe) has greatly changed the way people work, and with VW11, viewports seem to be the big buzz.

If you find Joe and he can help you, great. If not, keep writing back. There are many here who contribute a lot of their time just for the asking. Good night Joe DiPaula, wherever you are...

Raymond

[Jim O]

Thank you Raymond for your reply.

Part of my problem is that I don't think that Joe provided the company in question with a "soft" copy of the source code. I have a hardcopy printout of a version of the source code. I am assuming that it is the latest and greatest, but I am not sure.

I searched the hard drive for something that looks like it might be the source code, but could not find anything. I am not even sure what the extension of the file is (i. e. is it a ".txt" file?) Can you please tell me what the extension is on a MiniPascal program so that I can try doing a search on it?

Do you know if there is a way to get the source code out of the "command" that we click on to execute the MiniPascal program?

I am concerned that I may need to retype in the hardcopy version of the program, compile it, and hope that it works the way that it does now. This will add a lot of time to the conversion process.

Thanks again for your help.

Jim

[Petri]

In MC 6, MiniPascal commands were usually incorporated in the documents, in command palettes, but the other alternative was to have stand-alone macros. There may not be an extension at all (Mac users usually do not bother with such arcane concepts), but possiblities include TXT, VS, MP and what have you. The most common location for stand-alone macros was, I think, the MiniCAD folder or a subfolder in it.

Check some old documents to see if they are in palettes; if so, option-clicking the macro opens the editor.

Happy hunting!