The Hex Viewer

The Hex Viewer is a tool for viewing the characters in the sample data file as hexadecimal values. ASCII characters appear on the right side of the Hex Viewer, and the corresponding hexadecimal values on the left side. This is useful when you are selecting an emulation or fine-tuning the size and structure of the data page.

Working with the Hex Viewer

To open the Hex Viewer from PlanetPress Design:

• From the Tools tab in the PlanetPress Suite Ribbon, click on Hex Viewer. The default active data file is automatically opened.
• In the Data Selector, click the Hex Viewer button. Note that this button is not available if you select a database emulation.

To exit the Hex Viewer:

• In the Hex Viewer, choose File | Exit.
• Click the X button at the top-right corner of the Hex Viewer.
• Press ALT+F4 on your keyboard.

To open a different file in the Hex Viewer:

• In the Hex Viewer, choose File | Open then navigate to the file you want to examine and click Open.

To save a file from the Hex Viewer:

• Choose File | Save.

To save the sample data file as a binary or hexadecimal text file:

1. Choose File | Save As and choose one of the following:
   • Bin file: Choose to save the sample data file as a binary file.
   • Hex file: Choose to save the sample data file as a text file, where each two-character text string is the hexadecimal code for a byte of data.
2. Use the Save As dialog box that appears to save the file.

To adjust the view:

• Choose View and set the option:
  • Line size: Choose the number of bytes of input data you want to display on each line. You can choose 16, 32, or 64 bytes per line.
  • Column width: Choose the number of bytes of input data you want to represent in each column of the hexadecimal display area. You can choose 1, 2, or 4 bytes per column.
  • Caret style: Choose a style for the pointer. You can choose among an empty rectangle (Full block), a left line (Left line), and an underscore (Bottom line). You can also choose Auto to switch from one style to another. When you switch from one style to another, the Hex Viewer also switches between insert and overwrite mode.
  • Offset display: Choose the representation for the byte offset numbers that appear on the left of the Hex Viewer. You can choose among Hexadecimal, Decimal, Octal, or None if you want to hide the byte offset numbers.
  • Translation: Choose the character set you want to use to represent the input data in the Hex Viewer. You can choose among ANSI, ASCII 7 bit, DOS 8 bit, Mac, and IBM EBCDIC CP 38.
  • Grid: Choose to toggle the Hex Viewer grid on or off.
  • Show markers: Choose to show or hide all markers. Markers appear in a column between the hexadecimal line number and the first hexadecimal value of the line. You create markers to make it easy to jump to specific lines in the file.
  • Swap nibbles: Choose to swap the nibbles in the hexadecimal representation of each byte of input data.
  • Mask whitespaces: Choose to turn the marking of carriage returns in the input data on or off. When it is on, an empty rectangle appears around each carriage return in the input data.

To navigate through the input data:

• Scroll through the file using the scrollbar on the right.

To get a hard copy of the Hex Viewer presentation of the file:

1. Be certain that you want to print the complete sample data file as it appears in the Hex Viewer. If it is quite large and you only want the first few pages, you may want to cancel the print job after those pages print. Alternatively, you might copy and paste the portion of interest into a separate Hex Viewer file and get a hard copy of that file.
2. Choose File | Print Layout and choose the representation you want to use for the values that represent the input data.
   • Hex: Choose to print the values that represent the input data as hexadecimal values.
   • Decimal: Choose to print the values that represent the input data as decimal values.
   • Octal: Choose to print the values that represent the input data as octal values.
3. Choose File | Print Setup.
4. Choose File | Print.

To determine the hexadecimal value of a byte of input data or vice-versa:

• Click on a value.
  • If you clicked on a hexadecimal value, a rectangle appears around the corresponding byte of input data.
  • If you clicked on a byte of input data, a rectangle appears around the first nibble of the corresponding hexadecimal value.

To search for a hexadecimal value or text string:

1. Position the pointer in the Hex Viewer at the point at which you want to start the search.
2. Choose Edit | Find.
3. In the Find Data dialog box, enter the hexadecimal value or text string. If you are searching for a text string, you can specify the case sensitivity of the search.
   • To enter a hexadecimal value, type the value. You can also precede the value with a dollar sign ($).
   • To enter a text string, enter the letter t or T, followed by the text string. A lower case t specifies a case-sensitive search. An upper case T specifies a case-insensitive search.
4. Click OK.
5. If necessary, choose Edit | FindNext to find the next occurrence of the search term.

To edit the sample data file:

• Type data directly in the Hex Viewer. Click in the input data to enter byte values and in the hexadecimal values to enter nibble values. When you enter nibble values, each byte of data requires two keystrokes.

To copy and paste a portion of the input data into a separate Hex Viewer file:

1. Select the portion of the input data you want to paste into a separate file.
2. Choose Edit | Copy.
3. Choose Edit | New to display an empty file in the Hex Viewer.
4. Choose Edit | Paste.

To undo commands:

1. Choose Edit | Undo.
2. Repeat step 1 as many times as necessary. The Hex Viewer supports multiple Undo commands.