2011-02-02 20:51:58 -05:00

227 lines
7.8 KiB
Plaintext

The zTXT Format
---------------
The zTXT format is relatively straightforward. The simplest zTXT contains a
Palm database header, followed by zTXT record #0, followed by the compressed
data. The compressed data can be in one of two formats: one long data stream,
or split into chunks for random access. If there are any bookmarks, they occupy
the record immediately after the compressed data. If there are any annotations,
the annotation index occupies the record immediately after the bookmarks with
each annotation in the index having a record immediately after the annotation
index. Here are diagrams of a simple zTXT and a full featured zTXT:
DB Header
0 Record 0
1
2
3
... Compressed Data
36
37
38
DB Header
0 Record 0
1
2
3
... Compressed Data
36
37
38
39 Bookmarks
40 Annotation Index
41 Annotation 1
42 Annotation 2
43 Annotation 3
Compression Modes
-----------------
zTXT version 1.40 and later supports two modes of compression. Mode 1 is a
random access mode, and mode 2 consists of one long data stream. Both modes
work on 8K (the default record size) blocks of text.
Please note, however, that as of Weasel Reader version 1.60 the old style
(mode 2) zTXT format is no longer supported. makeztxt and libztxt still support
creating these documents for backwards compatibility, but you should not use
mode 2 if possible.
Mode 1
------
In mode one, 8K blocks of text are compressed into an equal number of blocks of
compressed data. Using the Z_FULL_FLUSH flush mode with zLib allows for random
access among the blocks of data. In order for this to function, the first block
must be decompressed first, and after that any block in the file may be
decompressed in any order. In mode 1, the blocks of compressed data will likely
not all have the same size.
Mode 2
------
In zTXT versions before 1.40, this was the only method of compression. This
mode involves compressing the entire input buffer into a single output buffer
and then splitting the resulting buffer into 8K segments. This mode requires
that all of the compressed data be decompressed in one pass. Since there are no
real 'blocks' of data, the resulting output can be of any blocksize, though
typically the default of 8K should be fine. The advantage to mode 2 is that it
will give about 10% - 15% more compression.
zTXT Record #0 Definition (version 1.44)
----------------------------------------
Record 0 provides all of the information about the zTXT contents. Be sure it is
correct, lest firey death rain down upon your program.
typedef struct zTXT_record0Type {
UInt16 version;
UInt16 numRecords;
UInt32 size;
UInt16 recordSize;
UInt16 numBookmarks;
UInt16 bookmarkRecord;
UInt16 numAnnotations;
UInt16 annotationRecord;
UInt8 flags;
UInt8 reserved;
UInt32 crc32;
UInt8 padding[0x20 - 24];
} zTXT_record0;
Structure Elements
------------------
UInt16 version;
This is mostly just informational. Your program can figure out what features
might be available from the version. However, the remaining parts of the
structure are designed such that their value will be 0 if that particular
feature is not present, so that is the correct way to test. The version is
stored as two 8 bit integers. For example, version 1.42 is 0x012A.
UInt16 numRecords;
This is the number of DATA records only and does not include record 0,
bookmarks, or annotations. With compression mode 1, this is also the number of
uncompressed text records. With mode 2, you must decompress the file to figure
out how many text records there will be.
UInt32 size;
The size in bytes of the uncompressed data in the zTXT. Check this value with
the amount of free storage memory on the Palm to make sure there's enough room
to decompress the data in full or in part.
UInt16 recordSize;
recordSize is the size in bytes of a text record. This field is important, as
the size of text and decompression buffers is based on this value. It is used
by Weasel to navigate though the text so it can map absolute offsets to record
numberss. 8192 is the default. With compression mode 1, this is the amount of
data inside each compressed record (except maybe the last one), but the actual
compressed records will likely have varying sizes. In mode 2, both compressed
records and the resulting text records are all of this size (except, again, the
last record).
UInt16 numBookmarks;
The definitive count of how many bookmarks are stored in the bookmark index
record. See the section on bookmarks below.
UInt16 bookmarkRecord;
If there are any bookmarks, this is set to the record index number that
contains the bookmark listing, otherwise it is 0.
UInt16 numAnnotations;
Like the bookmark count, this is the definitive count of how many annotations
are in the annotation index and how many annotation records follow it. See the
section on annotation below.
UInt16 annotationRecord;
If there are any annotations, this is set to the record index number that
contains the annotation index, otherwise it is 0.
UInt8 flags;
These flags indicate various features of the zTXT database. flags is a bitmask
and at present the only two defined bits are:
ZTXT_RANDOMACCESS (0x01)
If the zTXT was compressed according to the method in mode 1, then it
supports random access and this should be set.
ZTXT_NONUNIFORM (0x02)
Setting this bit indicates that the text records within the zTXT database
are not of uniform length. That is, when the blocks of text are
decompressed they will not have identical block sizes. If this is not set,
the compressed blocks are assumed to all have the same size when
decompressed (typically 8K) except for the last block which can be smaller.
UInt32 crc32;
A CRC32 value for checking data integrity. This value is computer over all text
data record only and does not include record 0 nor any bookmark/annotation
records. The current implementation in makeztxt/Weasel computes this value
using the crc32 function in zLib which should be the standard CRC32 definition.
UInt8 padding[0x20 - 24];
zTXT record zero is 32 bytes in length, so the unused portion is padded.
zTXT Bookmarks
--------------
zTXT bookmarks are stored in a simple array in a record at the end of a zTXT.
The format is as follows:
#define MAX_BMRK_LENGTH 20
typedef struct GPlmMarkType {
UInt32 offset;
Char title[MAX_BMRK_LENGTH];
} GPlmMark;
In the structure, offset is counted as an absolute offset into the text. The
bookmarks must be sorted in ascending order.
If there are no bookmarks, then the bookmark index does not exist. When the
user creates the first bookmark, the record containing the index will then be
created. If there are annotations, when the bookmark record is created it must
go before the annotation index. This will require incrementing annotationRecord
in record 0 to point to the new record index.
Similarly, when all bookmarks are deleted the bookmark index record is also
deleted. If there are annotations, annotationRecord in record 0 must be
decremented to point to the new index.
zTXT Annotations
----------------
zTXT annotations have a format almost identical to that of the bookmark index:
typedef struct GPlmAnnotationType {
UInt32 offset;
Char title[MAX_BMRK_LENGTH];
} GPlmAnnotation;
Like the bookmarks, offset is an absolute offset into the text. The annotation
index is organized just as the bookmarks are, as a single array in a record.
Note that this structure does NOT store the actual annotation text.
The text of each annotation is stored in its own record immediately following
the index. So, the first annotation in the index will occupy the first record
following the index, and the second annotation will be in the second record
following the index, and so on. The text of each annotation is limited to
4096 bytes.