For MicroCook to recognize a recipe in a disk file, this
file must be pure ASCII (no control codes), and it must also be
formatted in a certain way. If you have recipes in ASCII files in
a different format than MicroCook's you can format those recipes
very easily and then import them into MicroCook with the MC ASCII
Import feature.
Load the file in a word processor, or any other text editor,
and follow the guidelines below. This editor must be able to save
the final file as a pure ASCII file.
Or you can use MicroCook's ASCII editor, MCEDIT, which is
available to registered users ONLY, and contains macros for
all the "key" lines described below and a help screen where this
format is described.
A sample recipe in the correct format is displayed at the end
of this document.
These lines MUST be in a MC ASCII Recipe for it to import
properly. Exactly as typed here, with same UPPER and lower case
letters and ...:
YOU CAN USE MACROS FOR ALL THE ITEMS THAT APPEAR WITH AN ASTERISK IN FRONT OF THEM. BY PRESSING THE F3 KEY THE FIRST LINE IS CREATED; F4 AUTOMATICALLY WILL PRINT THE NEXT LINE, ETC. AT THE BOTTOM OF THE SCREEN, THE CORRECT FUNCTION KEY TO USE FOR EACH MACRO IS INDICATED.
Line below is FIRST line in the recipe
*@@@@@ ASCII Recipe from MicroCook V.1.3 (or)
@@@@@ V.1.3 <-- must be exact as is here, minimum
*Recipe Name: <-- must be exact as is here
*Category...: <-- must be exact as is here
*Servings...: <-- must be exact as is here
(this line CAN be blank)
*Ingredients: <-- must be exact as is here
(put ingredients here)
(last line CAN be blank)
*Description: <-- must be exact as is here
(put description here)
(last line CAN be blank)
*@@@@@ End of Recipe <-- must be exact as is here
Line above is the LAST line in the recipe.
This line: @@@@@ ASCII Recipe from MicroCook V.1.3
can be shorten down to: @@@@@ V.1.3
"@@@@@ ASCII Recipe from MicroCook V.1.3" should be the only
words on this line. Same with "Ingredients:", "Description:" and
"@@@@@ End of Recipe".
The Recipe Name can be up to 60 characters long, Category up
to 45 characters and Servings 4 characters. The length of the
lines in the Ingredients can be up to 76 characters long.
Anything over 38 characters will be moved down to a new line.
Page 1 of 2
The limit of lines in both the Ingredients and Description
editors is 34 lines. If there are lines containing over 38 characters in the
Ingredients group, beware that they will take two lines when
imported. If there are any leading blank spaces on a line, these
will be removed.
You can have ONE (1) blank line between lines in both the
Ingredients and Description groups, while two blank lines after
each other will abort the importing in that group.
You can also have a few blank lines between the Recipe Name,
Category, Servings and the Ingredients header. The less blank
lines there are, the faster a MicroCook ASCII file will import.
The ^ character is an end of line marker used by MicroCook
when exporting ASCII files from version 1.3. This character is
used when importing an ASCII recipe again to format the text in
the Description to the same as the exported text. When exporting
in a narrow format for transfer over BBS's, like Prodigy where
they can't handle 78 character long lines, the text can easily be
reformatted to the same as the original. The ^ is removed during
MC ASCII Import. If the ^ character is not there, MicroCook will
wrap up all the lines in the Descriptions to fill the whole line.
MicroCook will format ASCII files in version 1.2 format as
before.
If these simple guide lines are followed, you should have no
problems importing any recipe into MicroCook.
Happy Importing!
(Sample recipe)
This MC ASCII file can be Imported into MicroCook. Don't alter this file if
you plan to import it or share it with a friend. Use the MC ASCII Import to
Import this File. Do NOT remove the ^ characters. They are used for
formatting when Importing into MicroCook again. They are removed again during
Import.
@@@@@ ASCII Recipe from MicroCook V.1.3
Recipe Name: Spaghetti Alla Marinara
Category...: Pasta
Servings...: 4
Ingredients:
4 Cloves Garlic, Halved
2 tb Pure Vegetable Oil
28 oz Can Tomatoes, drained
1/2 ts Oregano
1 1/4 ts Salt
1/4 ts Pepper
8 oz Spaghetti
3 tb Chopped Parsley
Description:
If fry pan, saute garlic in oil until lightly brown. Remove garlic from pan.^
Add tomatoes, oregano, salt and pepper. Simmer 20-25 minutes or until sauce^
thickens. Prepare spaghetti in large amount of boiling water. Drain. Pour^
prepared sauce over cooked spaghetti arranged on serving platter.^ Sprinkle
