Import, Export Recipe Guide
************************************************************************
* *
* *
* EXCHANGING MASTERCOOK RECIPES *
* *
* A GUIDE TO IMPORTING AND EXPORTING RECIPES WITH MASTERCOOK *
* *
* Version 1.1 *
* *
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This guide describes, in detail, how to import and export MasterCook
recipes so that you may easily share them with others. And because
recipe exchanges occur frequently via the Internet, this guide also
includes information on exchanging recipes electronically.
Importing and Exporting using the following MasterCook versions will be
covered:
MasterCook II
MasterCook Mac
MasterCook 3.0 Basic*
MasterCook 3.0 Cooking Light*
MasterCook 3.0 Deluxe*
* The MasterCook program is exactly the same in these versions. The
difference lies in the cookbooks that come with each version.
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
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PART ONE: BASICS OF FILE TRANSFER ON THE INTERNET
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1.1 BASICS OF FILE TRANSFER ON THE INTERNET: TYPES OF FILES
________________________________________________________________________
2.1 BASICS OF FILE TRANSFER ON THE INTERNET: TRANSFERRING FILES
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PART TWO: IMPORTING RECIPES
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2.1 IMPORTING RECIPES: ADDING RECIPES TO MASTERCOOK
________________________________________________________________________
2.2 IMPORTING RECIPES: MASTERCOOK IMPORT FORMATS
------------------------------------------------------------------------
2.2.0 IMPORTING RECIPES: HANDLING UNFORMATTED TEXT FILES
FOR MASTERCOOK MAC and MASTERCOOK II USERS
------------------------------------------------------------------------
2.2.1 IMPORTING RECIPES: HANDLING UNFORMATTED TEXT FILES
FOR MASTERCOOK 3.0 USERS ONLY (WINDOWS and MACINTOSH)
________________________________________________________________________
2.3 IMPORTING RECIPES: IMPORTING FORMATTED TEXT FILES
________________________________________________________________________
2.4 IMPORTING RECIPES: IMPORTING RECIPES from EMAIL
________________________________________________________________________
2.5 IMPORTING RECIPES: IMPORTING RECIPES RECEIVED as ATTACHMENTS
________________________________________________________________________
2.6 IMPORTING RECIPES: IMPORTING DOWNLOADED RECIPES
________________________________________________________________________
2.7 IMPORTING RECIPES: DOWNLOADING COMPLETE COOKBOOKS************************************************************************
PART THREE: EXPORTING RECIPES
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3.1 EXPORTING RECIPES: SHARING MASTERCOOK RECIPES
________________________________________________________________________
3.2 EXPORTING RECIPES: MASTERCOOK EXPORT FORMATS
________________________________________________________________________
3.3 EXPORTING RECIPES: HOW TO EXPORT RECIPES
________________________________________________________________________
3.4 EXPORTING RECIPES: SENDING RECIPES via EMAIL
________________________________________________________________________
3.5 EXPORTING RECIPES: SENDING RECIPES AS AN ATTACHMENT
________________________________________________________________________
3.6 EXPORTING RECIPES: UPLOADING COMPLETE COOKBOOKS
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PART FOUR: WHAT WENT WRONG?
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4.1 WHAT WENT WRONG?: CANNOT IMPORT RECIPES
________________________________________________________________________
4.2 WHAT WENT WRONG?: RECIPES IMPORT, BUT NOT CORRECTLY
________________________________________________________________________
4.3 WHAT WENT WRONG?: CANNOT EXPORT RECIPES
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APPENDIX A: MXP FORMAT
________________________________________________________________________
APPENDIX B: MAC FORMAT
________________________________________________________________________
APPENDIX C: GENERIC FORMAT
________________________________________________________________________
APPENDIX D: SUPPORTED RECIPE FORMATS AND TEXT TYPES
________________________________________________________________________
APPENDIX E: IMPORT RESULTS WINDOW
________________________________________________________________________
APPENDIX F: EXPORTING FROM MEAL-MASTER
________________________________________________________________________
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PART ONE: BASICS OF FILE TRANSFER ON THE INTERNET
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If you are planning on exchanging recipes via the Internet, it is
important that you understand the basics of electronic file transfer.
This will be helpful to you in getting started, and this understanding
will be particularly valuable when "things go wrong".
Details on how to exchange MasterCook recipes via the Internet will be
covered in "Part Two: Importing Recipes" and in "Part Three: Exporting
Recipes".If you are an experienced user of email and file transfers on
the Internet, you may wish to skip to the MasterCook specific
discussions.
________________________________________________________________________
1.1 BASICS OF FILE TRANSFER ON THE INTERNET: TYPES OF FILES
________________________________________________________________________
There are two types of data files that you will encounter on the
Internet: "TEXT" and "RAW DATA" (also called "BINARY") files.
-- TEXT files are "readable" by you; that is, they are in a language
that people understand (i.e., English, Spanish, German, etc.). You can
open them, view them, and edit them via any number of text editors (ie,
Notepad, Simple Text, etc.) or word processing programs (ie, MicroSoft
Word or Word Perfect). Email messages are always "text" files. Likewise,
recipes that are "EXPORTED" from cooking programs are also text files.
However, not all text files are alike. Different computer operating
systems expect different controls signalling the "end of line" (EOL) in
text files. Thus, you will encounter three different "end of line"
indicators:
DOS systems: Carriage Return AND Line Feed
Macintosh systems: Carriage Return
Unix systems: Line FeedIf a text file contains the incorrect "end of line" indicator for your
system, you most likely will not be able to view the file correctly with
a text editor; it will appear "garbled". You will typically see the text
lines all run together, and/or a foreign character (such as a black
rectangle or blank square) at the logical end or beginning of each line.
TIP: Incorrect EOL delimiters are not typically a problem in email
because your email program will do whatever translation is necessary
for your system. However, if you receive text files outside of email
(ie, downloaded or attached documents), they may contain the incorrect
control characters and you will need to convert them.
TIP: Incorrect EOL delimiters are not typically a problem for
MasterCook 3.0 users, because, in most cases, the Recipe Translator can
import the recipes correctly even if they contain invalid EOL delimiters
for your system. (For more on this subject, see "APPENDIX D: SUPPORTED
FORMATS AND TEXT TYPES".
------------------------------------------
-- RAW DATA files look like "garbage" if you attempt to view them via a
text editor. They are often executable files (such as applications or
execs), or they are in a format very specific to a program and can only
be viewed via that program. An example of a "raw data" file is a
complete MasterCook cookbook. You can send complete cookbooks to others,
but only users with MasterCook will be able to view them.
TIP: Both text and raw data files may be "compressed" to reduce their
size before being transferred on the Internet. A compressed or "zipped"
file must be expanded or "unzipped" before it can be processed. There
are many different commonly used compression/expansion schemes and
utility programs (such as "PKZIP" and "StuffIt Expander").
Sometimes a compressed file is "self-extracting" meaning that it
contains the information necessary to be expanded without your having
the expansion software. If a compressed file is NOT self-extracting,
then you must have a software program that can read and expand the file.
TIP: Recipes in MasterCook cookbooks will be automatically stored in a
compressed format if you select that option under "Preferences" (under
the "Tools" menu option). This option will significantly reduce the
amount of disk space required by your cookbooks. You may also use a
compression program to further compress a cookbook prior to transferring
on the Internet.
________________________________________________________________________
1.2 BASICS OF FILE TRANSFER ON THE INTERNET: TRANSFERRING FILES
________________________________________________________________________
You can send and receive files on the Internet via three basic ways:
1) EMAIL
Email messages are always "text" files and are sent and received using
an email program such as Eudora, Microsoft Exchange, etc.
When you receive a file, your Email program will perform whatever
"translation" is required for you to be able to read the text. (For
example, if the text originated on a DOS system and was received on a
Macintosh system, the "line feeds" are stripped.) This is why you can
read messages sent from systems different than yours.
The primary and simplest method for exchanging recipes via the Internet
is through email. Typically, recipes you send and receive will be
embedded in the body of an email message. By using email, you will
ensure that in most cases your recipes can be read and vice versa. There
will often be commentary and a signature surrounding the actual recipe,
but that will not impact MC's ability to import. (For details on how to
"process" these recipes, see "Importing Recipes From Email" later in
this document.)
2) "ATTACHED FILES" (to email messages)
Occasionally someone will "attach" a file to an email message. These
files may be either text or raw data files. Some email programs (ie,
Eudora) support sending and receiving "attachments". If your email
program does support attached files, you tell it where you would like
attached files to be stored. When an attached file is received, you will
see a message in your "In" box informing you of receipt and file name.
Sending attached files is a very convenient method of transferring large
text files or raw data files directly to other users. Note that attached
files are not an "email" message, thus, they are not subject to the same
email message size limitations. (There may be a file size limitation
imposed by your service provider, but it will be significantly larger
than an email size limit.) Raw data files sent as attachments will not
translated to text.
It is not recommended that you send recipes as "attachments" to mailing
lists or newsgroups, because many email programs do not recognize and
support attached documents. (Indeed, sending attached files to news
groups and mailing lists is considered to be a "breech" of Internet
etiquette.) Furthermore, there is no one standard on how attachments are
handled. Before sending an attached document, you should confirm that
the recipient can handle it.
3) UPLOADING/DOWNLOADING
When you request a copy of a file be electronically sent from a site on
the Internet to your computer, you are "downloading". These files may be
either text or raw data files and there is a variety of software
programs that enable this transmission. (Examples of these programs are:
Netscape, Fetch, Gopher, Mosaic, or your Internet service provider may
provide their own.)
If you send a file from your system to be stored on another system, that
is called "uploading". Once a file is "uploaded", it may available for
others to "download".
You will typically be downloading either files containing recipes (text
files) or complete MasterCook cookbooks (raw data files) from the
Internet.
************************************************************************
PART TWO: IMPORTING RECIPES
************************************************************************
________________________________________________________________________
2.1 IMPORTING RECIPES: ADDING RECIPES TO MASTERCOOK
________________________________________________________________________
There are three ways in which you can increase your MasterCook recipe
collection.
1) TYPE, or manually "enter" by keying, recipes into a MasterCook "New
Recipe" windowThis method is typically used for recipes that are not currently
available in electronic form. (I.E., they exist only on paper in
cookbooks, magazines, newspapers, old recipe cards, etc.)
MasterCook's "fast fill" feature significantly minimizes the number of
key strokes required to enter a recipe's ingredients. (For more
information, see "Recipes, entering" in your MasterCook User's Guide.)
2) IMPORT recipes from formatted "TEXT" files
Recipes in electronic format as "text" files are typically those that
you received in email messages, scanned in from magazines or newspapers,
downloaded from the Internet, or are entered into another cooking
program.
A recipe must be in a FORMAT that MasterCook recognizes before it can be
"imported" (electronically added) to a MasterCook cookbook. (See
"MasterCook Import Formats" in this document for descriptions of
acceptable formats.)
This document focuses primarily on importing.
3) ADD a complete MasterCook cookbook
You may add a complete cookbook to your collection simply by copying the
cookbook to your system and opening it with MasterCook. Typically you
will receive or download an entire cookbook from the Internet (for
example, from the MasterCook Web page at http://www.mastercook.com ).
These files are not text files, but rather are in "raw data" or "binary"
format. A complete cookbook does not contain "exported" recipes, and,
therefore, does not need to be "imported". To view the recipes, the
cookbook must be opened from within MasterCook.
_______________________________________________________________________
2.2 IMPORTING RECIPES: MASTERCOOK IMPORT FORMATS
________________________________________________________________________
A recipe MUST be in a format that MasterCook recognizes before it can be
imported into a MC cookbook. The MC "Recipe Translator" (or "importer")
is very flexible and supports many different formats, including export
formats from many popular commercial and shareware cooking programs.
However, if a recipe is not in one of the accepted formats which contain
specific delimiters that MC recognizes, it can not be imported.
MasterCook will successfully import, or convert, text files containing
recipes that were exported from the following programs:
MasterCook programs:
MasterCook II ("MXP" format)
MasterCook Mac ("MXP" or "Mac" formats)
MasterCook 3.0 Deluxe ("MXP", Mac", or "Generic formats")
MasterCook 3.0 Cooking Light ("MXP", Mac", or "Generic formats")
MasterCook 3.0 Basic ("MXP", Mac", or "Generic formats")Other cooking programs:
Cookbook USA
Cooking Companion 1.x
Cooking Light Cookware 1.x (Windows & Mac)
From Scratch 3.x
Key Home Gourmet
Meal-Master 7.x and 8.x
Micro Cookbook 1.x (Mac)
Micro Cookbook 3.x (Windows or DOS)
Micro Cookbook 4.x and 5.x
MicroKitchen Companion 2.x and 3.x
TIP: If a recipe was exported from any of the above formats, in most
cases, you will not need to edit it prior to importing. It is ready to
be imported into a MC cookbook as is.
When you look at a text file with formatted recipes, you will see
"beginning of recipe" headers such as the following:
* Exported from MasterCook *
------OR------
MMMMM----- Recipe via Meal-Master (tm) v8.02
Often, a series of dashes ( ----------- ), pound signs ( ### ), or "M"s
(MMMMM) will denote the end of recipe; however, not all formats have
end-of-recipe delimiters
TIP: You will learn to "eyeball" recipes you receive and quickly
determine if they are in a format acceptable to MasterCook or not. (For
example, is each recipe preceded by a formatted header such as those
above?)
TIP: If a file appears to be in an acceptable format, try importing it
and see if MC recognizes any or all of the recipes. The recipes that can
be imported will be presented to you in the "import selection" window.
Recipes that are not included in this list are not in a format that MC
recognizes and need to be edited before they can be imported.
TIP: Any text outside of the recipe "beginning of recipe header" or "end
of recipe trailer" will NOT be imported. This means that there is no
need for you to expend the effort to delete comments or email headers,
etc. MC will take care of that for you.
________________________________________________________________________
2.2.0 IMPORTING RECIPES: HANDLING UNFORMATTED TEXT FILES
FOR MASTERCOOK MAC and MASTERCOOK II USERS
________________________________________________________________________To successfully import recipes with MC Mac or MC II, text recipes MUST
be in one of the formats listed above. If the recipes are unformatted
(for example, they were not exported from one of the above programs),
they must be edited to agree with one of these formats before they will
successfully import.
A text file may contain one or many recipes; however, all recipes must
be in the same format to import. If there is more than one format within
the file, the recipe translator will recognize recipes in only one
format. Likewise, if the file contains unformatted recipes, they will
not be recognized for importing.
If you have recipes in several different formats (such as in a mailing
list digest), you should create a file for each format (i.e., all
recipes exported from MM in one file, all recipes exported from MC in
another file).
NOTE: This does NOT apply to MasterCook version 3. In MC v3 and higher,
all recipes in a valid format will be imported, regardless of the
mixture or order of the formats within one file.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
-- MASTERCOOK II (WINDOWS) USERS ONLY: You must put your unformatted
recipes into the "MXP" format (See the Appendix A for details of this
format). You may, of course, make these format changes manually with any
text editor of your choice. However, there are two shareware programs
available to assist you in readying your unformatted recipes for import.
They are:
Txt-to-MasterCook
(Information available on the MasterCook Web Page:
http://www.mastercook.com )
Makemstr
(Information available from Alan K. Jackson <ALANJ32020@AOL.COM>)
------------------------------------------
EXAMPLE of a recipe in "MXP" format:
* Exported from MasterCook *
Grilled Tossed Vegetables
Recipe By : Jo Anne Merrill
Serving Size : 4 Preparation Time :0:40
Categories : Grill/Camping Recipes Vegetables
Healthwise Amount Measure Ingredient -- Preparation Method
-------- ------------ --------------------------------
6 cups eggplant -- peeled and cubed
1 medium green bell pepper -- chopped
1 large onion -- chopped
1 tablespoon margarine
1/4 teaspoon basil
2 tomatoes
salt -- to taste
pepper -- to taste1. Peel and cube eggplant to make about 6 cups. Mix with the chopped
green pepper and chopped onion.
2. Cut 3 pieces of heavy-duty foil about 12 x 18 inches. Divide the
eggplant mixture evenly on foil. Place 1 teaspoon margarine on
mixture; sprinkle with basil, or if preferred use chopped fresh
basil. Close foil tightly.
3. Place foil packs on grill 3-4 inches from heat; cook for about 35
minutes.
4. Chop tomato and place on another piece of foil. Close foil and
place on grill the last 15 minutes of eggplant cooking time.
5. Remove vegetables from foil; blend together in large bowl. Season
to taste with salt and black pepper.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Per serving: 74 Calories; 3g Fat (36% calories from fat); 2g Protein;
11g Carbohydrate; 0mg Cholesterol; 179mg Sodium
NOTES : Serve with meat or poultry. Good vegetarian dish also.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
-- MASTERCOOK MAC USERS ONLY: You may put the unformatted recipes into
either the "MXP" format (see example above and "APPENDIX A" for details)
or the "Mac" format (see example below and "APPENDIX B" for details).
The "Mac" format is generally an easier format to manipulate manually
because the fields are delimited by "tabs" and are not column dependent.
If you choose to use the "MXP" format, you may also want the assistance
of a shareware program called "Makemstr" (information available from
Alan K. Jackson <ALANJ32020@AOL.COM> ). This program will aid in
converting unformatted text files to "MXP" format.
NOTE: "Makemstr" was written and tested on a DOS system. However, it is
a Perl script and should therefore be portable to Macintosh systems.
NOTE: In the following example, "<TAB>" indicates where the actual tab
character should be.
------------------------------------------
EXAMPLE of a recipe in "Mac" format:
{ Exported from MasterCook Mac }Grilled Tossed Vegetables
Recipe By: Jo Anne Merrill
Serving Size: 4
Preparation Time: 0:40
Categories: Grill/Camping Recipes<TAB>Vegetables<TAB>Healthwise
Amount Measure Ingredient Preparation Method
6<TAB>cups<TAB>eggplant<TAB>peeled and cubed
1<TAB>green bell<TAB>pepper<TAB>chopped
1<TAB>large onion<TAB>chopped
1<TAB>tablespoon<TAB>margarine
1/4<TAB>teaspoon basil
2<TAB>tomatoes
<TAB>salt<TAB>to taste
<TAB>pepper<TAB>to taste
1. Peel and cube eggplant to make about 6 cups. Mix with the chopped
green pepper and chopped onion.
2. Cut 3 pieces of heavy-duty foil about 12 x 18 inches. Divide the
eggplant mixture evenly on foil. Place 1 teaspoon margarine on
mixture; sprinkle with basil, or if preferred use chopped fresh
basil. Close foil tightly.
3. Place foil packs on grill 3-4 inches from heat; cook for about 35
minutes.
4. Chop tomato and place on another piece of foil. Close foil and place
on grill the last 15 minutes of eggplant cooking time.
5. Remove vegetables from foil; blend together in large bowl. Season to
taste with salt and black pepper.
-----
Serving Ideas: Serve with meat or poultry. Good vegetarian dish also.Per serving: 74 Calories; 3g Fat (36% calories from fat); 2g Protein;
11g Carbohydrate; 0mg Cholesterol; 179mg Sodium
###
------------------------------------------
TIP: You always have the option of entering, or keying, your unformatted
recipes directly into MasterCook. Without the use of one of these
shareware "converters", readying your recipes for importing may, in some
case, be more laborious than simply keying them.
Entering recipes manually is surprisingly fast and efficient. You need
key in only the ingredients (taking advantage of MasterCook's fast-fill
feature) and then "copy and paste" the directions section.
------------------------------------------
TIP: No time to key in the ingredients? For a "quick and dirty"
approach, you might try copying and pasting the entire unformatted
recipe into the directions section of a MC new recipe window. Name the
recipe and, optionally, assign categories. You won't be able to do a
nutritional analysis or search by ingredient on recipes saved this way,
but you will at least have an electronic search by recipe name. When you
have the time, you can return to these recipes and properly enter the
ingredients.
________________________________________________________________________
2.2.1 IMPORTING RECIPES: HANDLING UNFORMATTED TEXT FILES
FOR MASTERCOOK 3.0 USERS ONLY (WINDOWS and MACINTOSH)
________________________________________________________________________
In addition to importing recipes that are in any of the above formats,
MasterCook 3.0 will also import recipes in the "Generic Import Format".
This new format provides a very simple method of preparing unformatted
text recipes for import.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
GENERIC IMPORT FORMAT
Following is the EXACT format that MasterCook expects when using the
"generic import" feature. You will find that it takes very little time
and effort to put most unformatted text recipes into this format.
NOTE: The descriptive comments appearing inside the bracket signs,
"\[ \]", are NOT a part of the format and appear here only for
clarification.
1st line: @@@@@ \[that's 5 "at" signs\]
2nd line: TITLE of the recipe
3rd line: BLANK \[this MUST be BLANK, not spaces!\]
4th line: NOTES -- ONE line of text.
5th line: BLANK \[again, no spaces or non-display characters!\]
6th line: amount unit ingredient preparation method
.
. \[amount, unit, prep method are optional\]
.
Last INGREDIENT \[up to 100 ingredients\]
BLANK \[once again, no spaces!\]
DIRECTIONS and any "free form" text you wish to include. These lines are
optional.
NOTE: Everything until the next "@@@@@" will be put in the direction
section. You can add the "recipe by", "serving size", and
"categories" once the recipes have been imported.
NOTE: Even if you do not normally use the "Notes" section, one line of
notes is REQUIRED by this format. You may insert any one or more text
characters to fulfill this requirement.
TIP: Hate the tedium of deleting all those preceding spaces on each line
of your recipe? Well, there's no need to! With the exception of the
"@@@@@", the lines in the generic format do NOT have to be left
justified. Each text line may be preceded by non-printing characters, such
as spaces.
TIP: The easiest way to force the "preparation method" into the
"preparation method field" is to place either a comma or a semi-colon
after the ingredient. (Ex., 1 small onion, chopped --OR-- 1 small onion;
chopped)
TIP: A BLANK line MUST truly be BLANK. The import will not work
correctly if any non-displayable characters, such as spaces, are
contained in a "blank" line. If you are experiencing difficulty
importing a recipe, it may be helpful to view the recipe with an editor
(ex., WordPerfect, MS Word, Notepad, BBedit, etc.) that will display
non-printable characters. Only the end-of-line delimiters (carriage
returns,line feeds, etc) should be in a blank line.
TIP: If a recipe is not left justified in an email message, what appears
to be blank lines are most likely lines with spaces. So, if the original
recipe is indented, be sure to delete and replace every blank line.
TIP: Make sure that where a blank line is required, there is only ONE blank
line. If more than one blank is encountered, the importer may not store
the recipe properly.
TIP: EVERYTHING following the first direction line until the next
"@@@@@" is encountered will be imported as directions. Therefore, you
need to delete any extraneous text (such as email signatures) that you
do not want stored as part of your recipe. When using the generic
format, MC will not strip out trailing text that is not part of your
recipe.
TIP: Recipes are posted on the Internet in a very wide variety of styles
and formats. Sometimes the ingredients are embedded within sentences and
it may be difficult to ready the recipe for importing. In these
instances, you may find it easier to manually enter the recipe using MC
fast-fill feature and doing a copy and paste of the directions.
------------------------------------------
EXAMPLE of a recipe in the "generic" format:
@@@@@
Grilled Tossed Vegetables
Serve with meat or poultry. Good vegetarian dish also.
6 cups eggplant,peeled and cubed
1 medium green bell pepper;chopped
1 large onion,chopped
1 tablespoon margarine
1/4 teaspoon basil
2 tomatoes
salt to taste
pepper to taste
1. Peel and cube eggplant to make about 6 cups. Mix with the chopped
green pepper and chopped onion.
2. Cut 3 pieces of heavy-duty foil about 12 x 18 inches. Divide the
eggplant mixture evenly on foil. Place 1 teaspoon margarine on
mixture; sprinkle with basil, or if preferred use chopped fresh
basil. Close foil tightly.
3. Place foil packs on grill 3-4 inches from heat; cook for about 35
minutes.
4. Chop tomato and place on another piece of foil. Close foil and place
on grill the last 15 minutes of eggplant cooking time.
5. Remove vegetables from foil; blend together in large bowl. Season to
taste with salt and black pepper.
Recipe By: Jo Anne Merrill in from the MasterCook cookbook, "Kitchen
Classics".
------------------------------------------
If you prefer, instead of using the "generic format", you may put your
recipes into the "MXP" format, typically with the aid of one of the
shareware "converter" programs. (See "APPENDIX A" for details of this
format.) There are two shareware "converters" available:
Txt-to-MasterCook (DOS only)
(Information available on the MasterCook Web Page
( http://www.mastercook.com )
Makemstr (Perl script; developed and tested under DOS,
but portable to Macintosh)
(Information available from:
Alan K. Jackson <ALANJ32020@AOL.COM> )Macintosh users also have the option of using the "Mac format". (See
"APPENDIX B" for a description of this format.)
A text file may contain one or many recipes and they do not need to be
in the same format. For example, a mailing list digest may contain
recipes that were exported from MealMaster, others that were exported
from MasterCook, and even some that are in the generic format. As long
as each recipe is preceded with a recognizable header, MasterCook will
add the recipe to the import selection list. Only the unformatted
recipes will be overlooked.
________________________________________________________________________
2.3 IMPORTING RECIPES: IMPORTING FORMATTED TEXT FILES
Once the recipes in a text file are all in an acceptable format, you are
ready to import them into an existing cookbook. You simply need to open
the cookbook into which you wish to import, select "Import" from the
"FILE" menu, and identify the file that contains the recipes you want to
import. The recipe translator will read the file and present you with a
listing of all recipes it recognized. Make your selection of one recipe,
several recipes, or the entire list (see the "TIP" below). (For a
detailed description of this import procedure, see "Importing-recipes
into a cookbook" in your MasterCook User's manual.)
TIP: You may select one, all, or any combination of recipes from the
Import Selection window. To make multiple selections:
WINDOWS USERS: For non-contiguous selections, hold down the CTRL key
while clicking items in the list. For a contiguous selection, click the
first item in the list you want to select; hold down the SHIFT key and
click the last.
MACINTOSH USERS: For non-contiguous selections, hold down the COMMAND
(Apple) key while clicking items in the list. To make a contiguous
selection, click the first item in the list you want to select; hold
down the shift key and click the last.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
FOR MASTERCOOK 3.0 (Windows and Macintosh) USERS ONLY:
You do not have to import into an existing cookbook. If you would like
a new cookbook to be created for the recipes in an import file,
instead of selecting "Import" from the "FILE" menu, select "Open...".
Select the file which contains the recipes you want to import, and then
you will be asked what to name the "converted cookbook" and where you
would like it to be placed. After selecting the recipes you want to
import, a new cookbook containing those recipes will be created.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
TIP: It is often preferable to import into an empty cookbook because
there is no way to distinguish newly imported recipes from existing
ones. You may wish to create an "import" or "temporary" cookbook that
you use solely for importing new recipes. This gives you the opportunity
to inspect the imported recipes and make changes as necessary. When you
are satisfied with the recipes, you need simply copy (or, in the case
of MC 3.0, drag & drop) them into the destination cookbook.
TIP: Often recipes come complete with many "Categories" that you do not
use. By importing into an empty cookbook, it is easier for you to
delete the unwanted categories and assign your preferred categories to
the recipes. (With MC 3.0, this is even more easily accomplished via the
"drag & drop" feature.)
TIP: To remove ALL categories from your recipes at one time, email an
export file to <CAT-STRIP@MASTERCOOK.COM> . This server will
search your message for recipes in MasterCook format, and for each one
it finds, it will replace the recipe's categories with a single new
category called "New Imports", and then mail all the recipes back to you
in a single message. There is a limit of 60K per message.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
DUPLICATE RECIPE NAMES WHEN IMPORTING:
MASTERCOOK II and MASTERCOOK MAC: The importer will inform you when it
encounters an import recipe with the same name as one already in the
target cookbook. You will be asked if you wish to "replace" the old
recipe with the one you are importing, if you wish to "skip" importing
that recipe and continue to the next, or if you wish to cancel the
entire import.
------------------------------------------
MASTERCOOK 3.0 will automatically append a numeric suffix to the import
recipe when it encounters a recipe with the same name in the target
cookbook. (Ex., "Banana Bread" will become "Banana Bread 2") If recipe
names with numeric suffices already exist in the cookbook, the importer
will assign the next numeric value. (Ex., "Banana Bread 1" through
"Banana Bread 4" exist, so the importer will name the import recipe
"Banana Bread 5".)
A warning message will be issued telling you that the importer
encountered duplicate recipe names. The newly imported, renamed recipes
will be placed in the Import Results window for your easy inspection.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
OK, you inspected the text file and you *thought* that it contained
correctly formatted recipes. But they didn't import, or they didn't
import "cleanly". See "PART FOUR: WHAT WENT WRONG?" for trouble-shooting
and problem solving hints.
________________________________________________________________________
2.4 IMPORTING RECIPES: IMPORTING RECIPES from EMAIL
________________________________________________________________________
The majority of recipes you will receive will be embedded in email
messages. An email message may contain one or many recipes and you may
import any or all of these recipes. Of course, each recipe must be in an
import format that MasterCook recognizes (see "2.2 Importing
Recipes: MasterCook Import Formats"). If it is not, then you
will need to edit the recipe and put it in an acceptable format prior to
importing.
When recipes are embedded in an email message and surrounded by other
text (which is common in email messages and mailing list digests), there
is often no need to first edit the file to strip out the extraneous
text. The MasterCook importer will begin importing from the
"beginning-of-recipe" header and will stop when it comes to the
beginning of the next recipe, the end-of-file indicator, or to an
end-of-recipe delimiter. Any other text, such as email headers,
signature lines, or even comments that are not a part of the recipe will
not be imported.
EXCEPTION: If a recipe in the standard "MXP" format contains a "Notes"
section, then all extraneous text that follows a recipe (ie, email
signatures), should be stripped from the text file prior to importing.
If the trailing text is not removed, it will be imported as part of the
"Notes" section.
This is also the case if the recipe contains a "Serving Ideas" or
"Suggested Wine" section.
EXCEPTION: When using the generic format, you should delete all unwanted
text that follows the recipe's directions. If you do not, then all
trailing text will be imported into the directions section of the
recipe.
NOTE: The MC Recipe Translator will strip all text that is not within
the beginning of recipe header and the end of recipe. (See above for the
exceptions to this.) There are occasions when an email message will
contain extraneous characters within the body of the recipe. For
example, if the recipe was "forwarded" or "replied to", it will probably
contain ">" symbols at the beginning of each line. In cases such as
this, the recipe will NOT import as is. You must first edit the recipe
to remove all unwanted characters.
TIP: If there are changes that you would like to make to the recipe
itself (such as changing categories), it is typically easier to make the
changes from within MasterCook, AFTER the recipe is imported. Likewise,
if unwanted text was imported as part of the recipe (ie, email
signatures), it can be easily removed by editing the recipe within MC.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
There are two ways that recipes may be imported from email messages.
Depending on your particular email program, you may be able to use
one or both methods.
------------------------------------------
1) SAVE THE EMAIL message containing the recipes you wish to import as
a text file. Then you follow the normal MasterCook importing procedures,
pointing the MC importer to the saved text file.
TIP: When you save an email message as a text file, make sure that you
do NOT select options such as "Guess Paragraphs" or "Wrap". These
options may alter the format of the recipe, preventing successful
importing.
It does not matter if the email header information is stored with the
recipe; MasterCook will strip that when it imports.
TIP: Many email programs will allow you to save multiple email messages
in one text file. The advantage in doing this is that you can import
many recipes by invoking the import operation only once. Be careful,
however, if you are not a MC 3.0 user that every recipe in one file is
in the same format (ex., they all are from MM or all in MC MXP format).
TIP: Many email programs will separate a large email message into
multiple parts, typically appended with a numeric suffix. This may very
happen when someone posts many recipes in one email message. When you
do the "Save", make sure that you save all parts of the message in the
same file.
TIP: Often users will preface the formatted recipe with interesting
comments that you might like to save with your recipe. In this case, you
should edit the email message and copy and paste the extra comments into
the recipe. In order to prevent altering the recipe format (if you do
change it, it may not import), the safest place to insert these
additional comments is either at the beginning or the end of the
"directions" section.
------------------------------------------
2) IMPORT DIRECTLY from an email mailbox. Some email programs (such as
Eudora) maintain the mailboxes as text files that can be opened and
viewed as normal text files from other programs. If this is the case
with your email program, then you may simply point the MasterCook
importer at the mailbox which contains the recipes you wish to import.
NOTE: Not all email programs store the email messages in a fashion that
you can access from outside the email program. If your email program
stores the email messages "internally" or in a format that only the
emailer can recognize, you must first save the email message as a text
file before you can import it.
TIP: When you import directly from a "mailbox", every message in that
mailbox is searched for recipes in an import format. This has the
advantage of importing many recipes by invoking the import operation
only once. Be careful, however, if you are not a MC 3.0 user that every
recipe in the file is in the same format (ex., they all are from MM or
all in MC MXP format).
TIP: Many email programs will separate a large email message into
multiple parts, typically appended with a numeric suffix. This may very
well happen when someone posts many recipes in one email message. The
emailer will not necessarily break the file at the end of a recipe, so
in order to correctly import recipes from multi-part email messages, you
should first concatenate all parts of the message. One way to do this is
to "save" all parts of the message to one file.
TIP: Some email programs (such as Eudora) permit you to create mailboxes
in addition to your "In" box. If this is your case, you may wish to
create at least one recipe mailbox (for example, "Recipes") and transfer
all recipes that are in a format MC recognizes into that mailbox. When
you are ready to import, point the MC importer to the "Recipes" mailbox.
If you create several recipe mailboxes, it will enable you to pre-sort
recipes prior to importing. For example, if you are not a MC 3.0 user,
you may want to keep one mailbox for MC MXP formatted recipes and one
for MM exported recipes. Or you may wish to separate your mailboxes by
recipe category (such as a main dish" mailbox, a "dessert" mailbox,
etc). Then when you import from any particular mailbox, you already know
in which categories, or cookbooks, the recipes belong.
Another example of creating multiple mailboxes is to create one for each
mailing list from which you receive recipes. For example, you create a
mailbox for the "mc-recipe list", one for the "foodwine" list, etc. This
enables you to easily keep track of the recipe source when importing.
Make use of the "sorting" features of your email program to facilitate
importing your MasterCook recipes. Develop the approach that works best
for you.
TIP: Some email programs will not allow you to edit mail in the "In"
box. So in the cases when you want to edit the recipe prior to
importing, you need to save the email message as a text file first and
then open it for editing. (Reasons you might want to edit prior to
importing: you may want to add the comments from the recipe poster that
were outside of the recipe or you may need to remove some extraneous
characters.)
TIP for Eudora users on a Macintosh: If you wish to edit the recipe
prior to importing, to avoid having to first save the email message as a
text file, "transfer" the message to the "Out" box. Once in the "Out"
box it can be edited. You may then either import it directly from there,
or transfer it to your "import mailbox".
Another way to edit a recipe in Eudora, is to issue a "Resend" on the
selected message. Leave the "To:" blank and proceed to make the edits.
When finished, transfer the message to the mailbox from which you wish
to import.
TIP for Macintosh and Eudora users: Create an "alias" of the Eudora
mailbox that contains the recipes you want to import and put that in
your MC cookbook folder. When it comes time to import, the mailbox name
will be right there and you won't have to search through several
dialogue boxes.
Can't import recipes successfully from email messages? Then see "PART
FOUR: WHAT WENT WRONG?" for trouble-shooting and problem solving hints.
________________________________________________________________________
2.5 IMPORTING RECIPES: IMPORTING RECIPES RECEIVED as ATTACHMENTS
________________________________________________________________________
Your email program may not accept "attached documents"; thus you may not
be able to process recipes that are sent this way. This is why it is
advisable to avoid using attached documents except on a one-to-one basis
and only when you have confirmed that the recipient's system can accept
them. You also typically need to know if the attachment is compressed or
not. (You will not be able to view a compressed file with an editor or
word processor until you expand the file.)
An attached document is placed in the pre-defined directory or folder
once it is successfully received by your email program. You typically
will want to first view the file (via an editor or word processor) to
ensure that it is a text file that contains formatted recipes. If it
does not, then you need to make the necessary changes to ready the
recipes for importing. Once all recipes are in an acceptable format, you
can import recipes from the file following the normal import procedures.
You may receive complete cookbooks (raw data files) as attached
documents. To view the recipes in the cookbooks, you simply need to open
them from within MasterCook. Note that if you do receive a complete
cookbook, you will not be able to view it with a text editor.
TIP: For ease of operation, you may wish to move the cookbook from the
"attachment" directory or folder and place it in the directory or folder
that contains your other cookbooks.
Having problems finding or importing recipes in an attachment? See
"PART FOUR: WHAT WENT WRONG?" for trouble-shooting and problem
solving hints.
________________________________________________________________________
2.6 IMPORTING RECIPES: IMPORTING DOWNLOADED RECIPES
________________________________________________________________________
Many Internet sites have recipes stored as text files that you may
download. Often times these recipes are in format that MasterCook
recognizes. (For example, the recipes were exported from MasterCook or
Meal-Master.)
You may use any of the many programs available that allow you to
download recipes to your computer from the Internet. Some of the more
popular programs include Netscape, Mosaic, Fetch, and Gopher.
All recipes that you wish to import into MasterCook must be in a format
that MasterCook recognizes and must be downloaded into a text file. Once
the recipes are downloaded, you may import them into a MasterCook
cookbook following the normal import procedures.
TIP: Make sure you download the file in the correct format. For example,
it is important that text files are downloaded as "text" and not as
"raw data" ("binary") files. Downloading a file with the incorrect
text type may prevent MasterCook from being able to import the
recipes.TIP: Many Internet sites store files on Unix systems. Depending on how
the text was stored and on your downloading program,the text type may be
wrong for your system. Many network programs will translate the
end-of-line delimiters as it downloads. If the MasterCook importer
doesn't recognize the recipes you downloaded, look at them with Notepad
or Simple Text. If they appear to be "run on" and/or contain foreign
characters (such as black rectangles or blank squares), then the text
type must be converted before the import will succeed. (See "APPENDIX D"
for details on correcting text type.)
If you are having difficulty importing recipes that you downloaded from
the Internet, see "PART FOUR: WHAT WENT WRONG?" for trouble-shooting
and problem solving hints.
________________________________________________________________________
2.7 IMPORTING RECIPES: DOWNLOADING COMPLETE COOKBOOKS
Some Internet sites have complete MasterCook cookbooks available for
downloading (such as the MC Web page: http://www.mastercook.com ).
These cookbooks are NOT text files and should be downloaded as "raw
data" ("binary") files. If a cookbook is downloaded as a text file, you
may not be able to open it from MasterCook.You may use any of the many programs available that allow you to
download files to your computer from the Internet. Some of the more
popular programs include Netscape, Mosaic, Fetch, and Gopher.
Once a cookbook is downloaded, all you need to do is open it with
MasterCook.
If you *thought* you downloaded a complete cookbook, but you cannot open
it from within MasterCook, see "PART FOUR: WHAT WENT WRONG?" for
trouble-shooting and problem solving hints.
************************************************************************
PART THREE: EXPORTING RECIPES
************************************************************************
3.1 EXPORTING RECIPES: SHARING MASTERCOOK RECIPES
There are three ways in which you may share your MasterCook recipes:
1) PRINT Recipes
You may opt to "print" only selected recipes or the entire cookbook.
These may be formatted in a variety of ways and printed on a variety of
paper sizes or recipe cards. (For details, see "printing" in your MC
User's Guide.)
This is, obviously, not an electronic way to share your recipes.
2) EXPORT Recipes to Formatted Text Files
You may "export" one or many recipes from a MasterCook cookbook to a
text file or email message. The formatted recipes in the resulting text
file may be shared electronically via email or file transfer. Recipients
of these exported recipes do not need MasterCook to view the recipes,
however, MC users will be able to directly import the recipes.
Because exported recipes are simply text files, they may be incorporated
into any text document or embedded directly in an email message. This is
the most common way you will be sending recipes over the Internet.
3) COPY a complete cookbook
You may send a copy of a complete cookbook electronically to any
location on the Internet. The recipient must open the cookbook from
within MasterCook in order to view the recipes.
Because MC cookbooks are raw data (binary) files, and not text files,
they cannot be embedded in an email message. Typically they will be
transferred as either attached documents or uploaded as raw data
(binary) to an Internet site.
Of course you may also copy a complete cookbook to a floppy disk, a
"zip" disk or any other media for either sharing or backup.
_______________________________________________________________________
3.2 EXPORTING RECIPES: MASTERCOOK EXPORT FORMATS
_______________________________________________________________________
You may export one, all, or a selected group of recipes from any
MasterCook cookbook. (For details on exporting procedures, see
"Exporting, Recipes" in your MasterCook users guide.)
All recipes selected for exporting will be put in a text file. The
exporter will ask you for the name and location of the file it will
create. You may view or edit this file, using your choice of text
editors (ex., Notepad, Simple Text,etc.) or word processing programs
(ex., MicroSoft Word, WordPerfect, etc.).
Because an exported recipe is simply a text file, it may be embedded
into any text document of your choosing or opened with any editor or
word processing programs. If you intend to share the exported recipes
with other MasterCook users, it is recommended that you do not in any
way change the format of the recipes via an editor. They may not import
properly if you do.
When you export recipes from a MasterCook cookbook to a text file, they
typically will be exported in the "MXP" format. (See "APPENDIX A" for a
detailed description of this format.)
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Macintosh users ONLY (either MC Mac or MC 3.0): You also have the option
of choosing the "Mac" format (see "APPENDIX B" for details). This format
is recommended only if you are exchanging recipes with other Mac users
or if you want to use the exported recipe as embedded text in a word
processing document. If there is a possibility that the recipients of
your recipes may be Windows users, or you plan on sharing recipes via
the Internet, choose the "MXP" format.
------------------------------------------
MasterCook 3.0 Macintosh users ONLY: You may also "drag" one or more
recipes from the cookbook "recipes list" to your desktop or any other
disk. The result will be a "text clipping" of the recipes (in "Mac"
format) on your system clipboard. You may double-click this text
clipping and then copy and paste it. This is a very quick and simple way
to put recipes in the Mac format. Note that the MasterCook importer can
not read this text clipping so you can not import it directly from the
clipboard. You must first copy and paste it into a text file.
________________________________________________________________________
3.3 EXPORTING RECIPES: HOW TO EXPORT RECIPES
________________________________________________________________________
To export one or more recipes from a cookbook to a text file, first
select "Export from" cookbook. Then select the recipes you wish to
export (see the "TIP" below) and select "export" from the MasterCook
menu options. After identifying the location and name of the exported
recipe text file, all selected recipes will be exported. (For details on
the "export" procedures, see "Exporting" in your MasterCook User's
Manual.)
------------------------------------------
For Macintosh users ONLY: You must select either the "MXP" or the "Mac"
export format from the export file dialogue box. It is recommended that
you use ONLY the MXP format if you are planning on sharing recipes via
the Internet. MasterCook II users cannot import Mac formatted recipes
that are sent via email. Furthermore, the Mac format uses tab characters
and some Internet service providers or email programs strip all tabs
from text files.
------------------------------------------
TIP: You may select one, all, or any combination of recipes to be
exported from the cookbook window. To make multiple selections:
WINDOWS USERS: For non-contiguous selections, hold down the CTRL key
while clicking items in the list. For a contiguous selection, click the
first item in the list you want to select; hold down the SHIFT key and
click the last.
MACINTOSH USERS: For non-contiguous selections, hold down the COMMAND
(Apple) key while clicking items in the list. To make a contiguous
selection, click the first item in the list you want to select; hold
down the shift key and click the last.
________________________________________________________________________
3.4 EXPORTING RECIPES: SENDING RECIPES via EMAIL
________________________________________________________________________
There are basically two ways in which you can send recipes via email.
You can use the MasterCook "Recipe Mailer" (MC 3.0 users ONLY) or you
can "export" the recipes to a text file and then embed the recipes in
your email message.
For detailed procedures on how to use the MasterCook Recipe Mailer, see
"e-mailing recipes" in your MasterCook user manual. The primary
advantage of using the Recipe Mailer is that it reduces the steps
necessary to send recipes via email. Note that you can even enter your
email message (that is not part of a recipe) in the Recipe Mailer window.
If you are a MasterCook II or MasterCook Mac user, you must first export
the recipes to a text file, using the standard "export" procedures. Then
open the text file that contains the exported recipes and do
a "Select All". Do a "copy" and then go to the email message you wish to
send. Do a "paste" and the formatted recipes will be inserted into the
body of the email message. Send the email message following your normal
procedures.
NOTE: Many email programs automatically append your email signature at
the end of every email message. Because in some cases, your trailing
signature may be imported as part of the recipe, it is recommended that
you turn off the automatic signature when emailing recipes. If you wish
to include your signature, then put it BEFORE the beginning of the first
recipe.
NOTE: You may exchange recipes from MasterCook via email with both MC
and non-MC users. Exported recipes are simply text files that any user
can view and, optionally, edit. MC users will be able to directly import
your recipes, adding them to cookbooks in their own collection.
TIP: Want to post recipes on a newsgroup directly from MasterCook?
You can do so by using a "mail to news" gateway.
There are a number of public servers that provide this service and some
of them may be found: http://students.cs.byu.edu/~don/mail2news.html .
Here are a few currently known to be working:
group.name@news.cs.dal.ca CONFIRMED Jan96
group.name@news.demon.co.uk CONFIRMED Jan96
group.name@dispatch.demon.co.uk CONFIRMED Jan96
group.name@magus.dgsys.com CONFIRMED Jan96
group.name@berlioz.crs4.it CONFIRMED Jan96
group.name@brushtail.hna.com.au CONFIRMED Mar96
group.name@news.uni-stuttgart.de CONFIRMED Mar96
Example of how to use these gateways:
To post recipes on "rec.food.recipes" using the first server, send an
email message containing the recipes to
<REC.FOOD.RECIPES@NEWS.CS.DAL.CA> .
(You may create the email message with the recipes either by using the
MasterCook Recipe Mailer or by exporting and then copying and pasting
the recipes into an email message.)
________________________________________________________________________
3.5 EXPORTING RECIPES: SENDING RECIPES AS AN ATTACHMENT
________________________________________________________________________
IF your email program supports sending "attached documents", you may
send the text file that contains exported recipes as an "attached
document" to an email message. Simply export the recipes you wish to
send into a text file and then "attach" that text file to your email
message.
Alternatively, you may send an entire cookbook as an attachment. In this
case, you tell the email program to attach the cookbook by providing the
cookbook filename and it's location.
If the attached files are large, you may want to compress or "zip"
them before sending.
NOTE: A MasterCook cookbook file is NOT a text file, so the recipient
must have MasterCook in order to view the recipes. Cookbooks are fully
portable; that is, they may be exchanged and opened with any version of
MasterCook on both Windows and Macintosh systems.
TIP: It is not advisable to send attached documents to mailing lists or
newsgroups because many users will not be able to receive the
attachments. Confirm with the recipient that their email program can
handle attached documents prior to sending recipes this way.
________________________________________________________________________
3.6 EXPORTING RECIPES: UPLOADING COMPLETE COOKBOOKS
________________________________________________________________________
If you are sharing recipes with another MasterCook user, you may wish to
send a complete cookbook as opposed to first exporting the recipes to a
text file. When a user receives a complete MC cookbook, they need only
to open it from within MasterCook in order to view the recipes.
You may either send a complete cookbook to an individual user, a group
of users, or to an Internet site where it is available to others for
downloading. There are a number of network transfer programs available
that you may use to send or "upload" your cookbooks. Popular programs
include Netscape, Fetch, Mosaic, or Gopher.
TIP: MasterCook cookbooks are in raw data (binary) format and should
not be sent as text files. If the transferring program attempts to
transfer them as text, translation may occur rendering the cookbook
unreadable.
************************************************************************
PART FOUR: WHAT WENT WRONG?
************************************************************************
So, you just received some wonderful recipes you want to add to your
MasterCook collection! But you just can't seem to make "import" work.
Perhaps MasterCook didn't recognize any recipes in the file you tried to
import. Or perhaps only some of the recipes appeared in the "Import
Selection" window.
Maybe all the recipes did import, but you received a warning message
from the importer telling you it encountered some difficulty when
importing, or you discovered some of the recipes didn't look right upon
examining them.
Or maybe you just can't figure out how to "export", and you have some
great recipes you want to share with others on the Internet.
MasterCook uses a number of sophisticated methods to try to import
recipes from a variety of formats as accurately as possible. And
exporting is usually very straightforward. However, sometimes things
just go wrong. Following are many of the common symptoms, causes, and
suggested cures that you may encounter when trying to exchange recipes
with others.
If you can't resolve the problem you are experiencing with any of the
methods listed below, contact Sierra Technical Support:
email: support@sierra.com voice: (206) 644-4343
fax: (206) 644 7697 BBS: (206) 644-0112
You may also want to seek help and advice from the large number of
MasterCook users on the Mastercook Mailing List. To subscribe to this
list, send an email message to: <MAIL-SERVER@MASTERCOOK.COM> . The body
of the message should read:
subscribe mastercook
end
________________________________________________________________________
4.1 WHAT WENT WRONG?: CANNOT IMPORT RECIPES
________________________________________________________________________
You want to import some recipes, but they just won't import? Perhaps
MasterCook can't find any recipes in your source file, or perhaps you
can't locate the file that contains your recipes? Locate the symptom you
are experiencing in the following and you may very well find the
solution to your import problem.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
SYMPTOM: INVALID FILE FORMAT or NO RECIPES WERE FOUND to import
You received a message stating that the text file did not contain
anything MC could import or that it did not recognize the format.
Or perhaps you were presented with a blank "Import Selection" window.
CAUSES/SOLUTIONS: The recipes in the file were not in a format or that
the MC importer could recognize. Or MC cannot process the file type.
Examine the file closely and make the necessary changes so the recipes
comply with one of the supported formats or file types.
See "A-I" below for specific causes and fixes.
------------------------------------------
A. The most likely cause is that the text is unformatted. EACH recipe
must be in a MC supported format before it can be successfully imported.
See "2.2 IMPORTING RECIPES: MASTERCOOK IMPORT FORMATS" and "APPENDIX A:
MXP FORMAT" and "APPENDIX B: MAC FORMAT" for details.
------------------------------------------
B. Perhaps you received recipes to import that were indeed formatted,
but the "beginning-of-recipe" indicator was missing. Each recipe title
MUST be proceeded by a header such as "Exported from MasterCook" or
"Exported from MealMaster". If headers are missing, copy one from a
recipe that imported successfully, and paste it in front of every recipe
title.
------------------------------------------
C. The recipes were embedded in an email message that had been
"forwarded" or "replied to". This caused the email program to
automatically insert a character or characters (such as ">" ) at the
beginning of each line. Edit the file and remove all extraneous
characters from each line. (The easiest way to accomplish this is to
do a "find" and "replace all" with a text editor or word processing
program.)
------------------------------------------
D: You edited the recipe text file with a word processing program, such
as MS Word, WordPerfect, or ClarisWorks and did not specify "TEXT" for
the saved file type. By default, word processing programs save
formatting information with the text, which will prevent MC from
recognizing the recipes.
Open the recipe file with the word processing program, and do a "SAVE
AS". Specify "TEXT" or "PURE TEXT" as the file type. This will preserve
the recipe format and you will be able to import successfully.
------------------------------------------
E. Did you receive the recipes in an attached document or were they
downloaded from the Internet? Then the recipe text file may contain the
wrong end-of-line (EOL) delimiters for your system. View the file with a
text editor (such as Notepad or Simple Text). Do the lines appear to be
"run on" and/or are there foreign characters, such as "black rectangles"
or "blank squares"?
If this is the case, then you must correct the "text type". For a
detailed description of this problem and how to fix the recipes, see
"APPENDIX D: SUPPORTED RECIPE FORMATS AND TEXT TYPES".
TIP: You will not encounter this situation with recipes that were
embedded in email messages because your email program will do the
correct EOL translation when it receives the message.
TIP: Although this can occur with attached documents, you are more
likely to encounter this problem with downloaded files. Typically,
attached text files will be translated (like email messages are) so they
will contain valid EOL delimiters.
------------------------------------------
F: The recipes in an email message are in MC Mac format. It is very
likely that the delimiting "tab" character used by this format was
converted by either an Internet service provider or an email program.
You can edit the file and insert "tabs" between every field.
TIP: If you are a MC II user you cannot normally import MC Mac recipes
received in email messages. However, with an editor such as "Editmaster"
that will enable you to specify the file's text type, you can translate
the text type to Mac EOL delimiters. You will then be able to import
these recipes. (See "APPENDIX D: SUPPORTED FORMATS and TEXT TYPES".)
------------------------------------------
G: You may have received an attached document or downloaded a text file
that is "compressed". View the file with any text editor, such as
Notepad or Simple Text. If the file will not open or looks "garbled", it
could be a compressed (or "zipped") file. You must expand or "unzip" a
compressed file before you can import it. Use the appropriate utility
program to expand it, then import as usual.
------------------------------------------
H: You may have received an attached document or downloaded a file in
raw data (binary) format. To determine if this is the case, try viewing
the file in any editor, such as Notepad or Simple Text. If it does not
open or appears "garbled", it may very well be a raw data file.
OOPS, you cannot import a raw data file. However, the file may actually
be a complete MasterCook cookbook. Try opening it from within
MasterCook.
If that doesn't work, then the file may be a text file that was sent as
raw data. Ask the sender to resend the file as a "text" file, or
download the file again, specifying "text" as the file type.
Alternatively, you can try altering the file's text type and then try
importing again. For detailed instructions on how to accomplish this,
see "APPENDIX D: HOW TO CORRECT THE TEXT TYPE".
------------------------------------------
I. You may have received an incomplete file due to a transmission error.
In this case, you most likely will not be able to open a text file with
an editor or a cookbook file with MC. The file must be re-transmitted
before you can import the recipes.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
SYMPTOM: CAN'T FIND the RECIPE TEXT FILE for IMPORTING
CAUSES/SOLUTIONS: You *thought* you had a text file with formatted
recipes to import, but you don't know where it is. You need to find the
file and then point the MC Recipe Translator to the directory (folder)
and file that you wish to import. See "A-D" below for hints on how to
find the import source file.
------------------------------------------
A. You want to import directly from a "mailbox". Your email program must
store mailboxes as independent text files and you need to know the name
of the mailbox file and where that file is located. Then simply tell MC
the file name and in which directory/folder it resides.
TIP for Eudora users: How to find the Eudora mailbox:
------
Windows Users: Each Eudora mailbox will be a separate file with a
mailbox name and a filetype of ".mbx". These will typically reside in
the same directory as the Eudora program.
Select "Import" in MasterCook. In order to see the mailbox files, you
must select the "ALL FILES (.*)" under the "List Files of Type:" option.
Now select the correct disk drive and look for a directory probably
called "Eudora" (it is most likely on your "C:" drive). Highlight the
Eudora directory and you should see a list of several ".mbx" files (such
as "In.mbx", Out.mbx", etc.). Select the mailbox that contains your
recipes and then click "import".
------
Macintosh Users: Your Eudora mailboxes will be in your Eudora folder.
This may be a folder simply called "Eudora" in your "System Folder" or
it may bear a different name and be located in any other folder (such as
a "user folder").
If you do not see the Eudora folder in the System Folder, do a "Find..."
under the Finder for a file called "Eudora Settings". Your mailboxes will
reside in the same folder as your "Eudora Settings" file.
In this folder you will see files with icons that look like addressed
envelopes. These are your mailbox files and they will have names such
as "In", "Out", "Trash", etc. Now that you have found them, simply
select "Import" within MasterCook and indicate which disk, folder, and
mailbox from which you wish to import.
TIP: There may be more than one folder containing "Eudora Settings". If
so, you will need to determine which folder contains YOUR email. The
folder name itself may be a good clue (such as "John's Mail"); or look
for mailboxes with names that you created (such as a "Recipe" mailbox).
------------------------------------------
B. You did not receive either a text file or complete cookbook file that
was sent as an "attached document". Then your email program may not be
able to handle attachments. Ask the sender to resend the recipes to you
embedded in an email message.
------------------------------------------
C: An attached document or downloaded file may be too large for you to
receive. Many Internet service providers or your host server may have
limitations on file size. (Attached documents and downloaded files are
frequently large.) If the file wasn't compressed, ask the sender to
compress the file (but make sure that you have the right utility to
expand it). If it is still too big, ask for the file to be split into
several smaller files.
------------------------------------------
D. Perhaps there was an error in transmission that prevented you from
receiving an attached document or downloading a file. Ask the sender to
resend the file or try downloading the file again.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
SYMPTOM: NOT ALL of the recipes in the file appeared in the Import
Selection window
CAUSE/SOLUTION: The recipes not displayed in the "Import selection list"
are not properly formatted. You must examine the file and make the
required changes. "A-G" below offer some specific problems and
solutions.
------------------------------------------
A. Is EACH recipe preceded by a "beginning of recipe" header? If not,
copy and paste the header from a recipe that you know works. Be sure
that you use the correct header for the format. (Ex., use the MasterCook
MXP header for recipes in the MC MXP format, a MealMaster header for
recipes in a MM format, etc.)
------------------------------------------
B. If you are using MC Mac or MC II, is there more than one supported
format in the same file? (For example, the file contains recipes in MXP
and MM format.) If so, move recipes of like formats to separate files.
Only MC 3.0 will recognize multiple formats within the same import file.
------------------------------------------
C. Are the missing recipes *really* in an acceptable format? Verify that
the recipe has a non-blank title and a valid beginning-of-recipe
header. If the you are suspicious of the header (some require very fixed
formats), then copy and paste a similar header from a recipe that did
import correctly.
------------------------------------------
D. You are using the generic format and the "@@@@@" did not begin in
"column 1". The "@@@@@" MUST be left justified and there may not be any
spaces or other non-printing characters in front of this header.
TIP: ALL text lines following the header (for example, ingredients or
directions) may begin in any column so there is no need to force
left-justification if those lines are indented.
------------------------------------------
E: Ensure that there is nothing except a blank line between the
beginning-of-recipe header and the title. There may be more than one
blank line, but there may not be any non-blank ones. MC assumes that the
first character encountered after the header is the recipe title.
TIP: A blank line is not required, but is often used to improve the
readability of the text.
------------------------------------------
F. Do lines that must be blank contain invisible characters, such as
spaces or tabs? Try deleting the line to eliminate any invisible
characters that might be present. Use an editor or text processor that
will display "non-printing characters" (such as Editmaster, BBedit, MS
Word, WordPerfect) to help you find the extraneous characters.
------------------------------------------
G. Were the recipes received in an email file that was separated into
more than one part? In this case, you must concatenate all parts of the
message (for example, by saving all parts in one file) before you try to
import. Email programs do not break large programs at logical points, so
recipes may be split between two parts.
________________________________________________________________________
4.2 WHAT WENT WRONG?: RECIPES IMPORT, BUT NOT CORRECTLY
________________________________________________________________________
When a recipe does not adhere to a valid import format, it may still
import into your MasterCook cookbook, but it may not import "cleanly".
This section describes the most common formatting errors so that you may
both correct and avoid them in the future.
TIP: By far, the most common cause of recipes not importing correctly,
has to do with BLANK lines. If a blank line is not encountered where a
true blank line is required, OR if a blank line is found where a TEXT
line is required, import errors will very likely occur.
------
A BLANK line MUST truly be BLANK; that is, it CANNOT contain any text
characters, including non-printing ones such as spaces or tabs. Required
BLANK lines MUST contain ONLY the end-of-line delimiter, such as a carriage
return and line feed or a carriage return only.
Ensure that the ONLY characters on a required BLANK line are the
end-of-line (or paragraph) delimiters. The easiest way to do this is to
delete the entire line and insert a blank line by depressing the
"Return" key.
------
A TEXT line MUST contain at least one text character. Non-printing
characters, such as spaces and tabs, do qualify.
If a TEXT line contains only the end-of-line delimiter, insert at least
one valid text character.
TIP: If you do use a non-printing character, it may be more difficult
for you to distinguish a text line from a blank line. Consider inserting
a printing character such as an "*" instead of a space.
TIP: When a recipe does not import cleanly, view the text with an editor
or word processing program that has an option to display non-printing
characters, and inspect all lines that appear to be blank. "Editmaster",
"BBedit", "MS Word" or "Word Perfect" are examples of such programs.
This option is often called "Show Paragraphs", "Show", or "Show
Invisibles".
------------------------------------------------------------------------
HOW DO YOU KNOW IF RECIPES IMPORTED INCORRECTLY?
------------------------------------------------------------------------
MASTERCOOK II and MASTERCOOK Mac users should visually inspect each
newly imported recipe to determine if there were any import errors.
This task is much simpler if you import the new recipes into a temporary
or "import" cookbook. Examine the recipes in this cookbook, make all
desired changes, and then copy the recipes into the target cookbook.
------------------------------------------
MASTERCOOK 3.0 uses the "Import Results" window to notify you that a
possible error was detected when importing a recipe.
The Recipe Translator will place all suspect recipes in the Import
Results window. While in many cases the recipe did, indeed, import
correctly, you should inspect each one listed in this window to ensure
that it is OK. If it is not, then you should correct the format in the
text file and import again, or edit the imported recipe from within
MasterCook.
Most of the symptoms described below will result in the recipe being
"flagged" (placed in the Import Results window). On occasion, you may
find that even though the importer did not detect a problem, a recipe
still did not import correctly. Consequently, it is advisable that you
import into a temporary or "import only" cookbook so you can easily
identify all newly imported recipes.
NOTE: A recipe that is placed in the Import Results window, is still
imported into your cookbook. There is no need to copy or move the recipe
to your cookbook as it is already there. You may open a recipe for
inspection and editing from either the Import Results window or the
cookbook window.
------
MasterCook 3.0 Windows users will NOT receive a warning message that a
possible problem was detected and that a recipe was "flagged".
Therefore, it is recommended that you examine the Import Results
clipboard after each import.
(Exception: When a duplicate recipe name is encountered, MC Windows
users WILL receive a warning and the recipe will be renamed and placed
on the Import Results clipboard.)
------
MASTERCOOK 3.0 Macintosh users will receive a warning message when the
Recipe Translator encounters suspected problems. These recipes will be
then be placed in the Import Results window with an accompanying
icon indicating the nature of the error.
------------------------------------------
See "APPENDIX E: IMPORT RESULTS WINDOW" for details on the nature of
import errors that cause a recipe to be placed in this window. Macintosh
users will also find a description of the associated icons.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
SYMPTOM: TITLE ONLY IMPORTED, everything else was blank
CAUSE/SOLUTION: The recipe did not adhere to a valid import format. In
this case, MasterCook was able to identify the recipe title, but it
could not identify any other parts of the recipe. You need to examine
the recipe and make the necessary changes and then re-import it.
"A-D" below address some specific cases.
------------------------------------------
A. If the recipe is in the "generic" import format, then there MUST be a
BLANK line following the title. The next line MUST be a "NOTE" line
(comments that will appear in the "Note section"), followed by another
BLANK line. Then the ingredients begin.
You may not typically use "Notes", however, it is REQUIRED in the
generic format. If you do not include the specified sequence of Title, a
BLANK line, a non-blank line for "Notes", and another BLANK line, the
Recipe Translator will not recognize the ingredients and/or directions.
Inspect the Blank lines and ensure they contain only the EOL delimiter!
See "2.2 IMPORTING RECIPES: MASTERCOOK IMPORT FORMATS" for details on
the generic format.
TIP: You want to include "Recipe By" information in the generic format?
Enter it on the required "Notes" line. After the recipe is imported, you
can cut and paste the author to the "Recipe By" field, if you wish.
TIP: You absolutely do NOT want "Notes" in any circumstance? Then put a
non-printing character (such as a space or tab) on the required "Notes"
line. Caution: This will result in the APPEARANCE of three blank lines
in a row. It may be confusing or difficult for you to distinguish
between the two blank lines and the line that contains a non-printing
character.
------------------------------------------
B: The Ingredient section delimiter is missing in the format. Even if
your recipe contains no ingredients, the formatted text must still
contain the "Amount Measure Ingredient Preparation Method" delimiter,
followed by a blank line.
For example: In the MXP format, the following ingredient header must be
present (both lines exactly as they appear below), IMMEDIATELY before
the first ingredient:
Amount Measure Ingredient -- Preparation Method
-------- ------------ --------------------------------
------------------------------------------
In the Mac format, the following ingredient header must be present (one
line, exactly as it appears below), IMMEDIATELY before the first
ingredient:
Amount<TAB>Measure<TAB>Ingredient<TAB>Preparation Method
------------------------------------------
In the generic format, which does not use a keyword ingredient
delimiter, TWO blank lines must precede the directions section if there
are no ingredients.
TIP: To ensure "clean" importing by having the recipe format correct, it
is much easier to include at least one ingredient in the recipe. For
example, you might use " **** " as an ingredient. This is commonly used
to denote that everything is included in the "direction" section.
------------------------------------------
C. If you are a MasterCook 3.0 user, this error may indicate that the
text file contains Unix end-of-line delimiters (line feeds only). MC
cannot import these recipes until you change the text type. See
"APPENDIX D: SUPPORTED RECIPE FORMATS AND TEXT TYPES" for procedures on
identifying and changing the text types
------------------------------------------
D. Ensure that all lines (if any) between the recipe title and the next
part of the recipe format are indeed blank.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
SYMPTOM: DIRECTIONS ENDED UP IN THE INGREDIENTS
CAUSE/SOLUTION: There was not a BLANK line between the ingredients and
directions. View the text and insert a BLANK line by pressing the
"Return" or "Enter" key. If a line that appears to be blank exists, it
most likely contains non-printing characters such as spaces or tabs.
Delete the line and insert a BLANK one that contains ONLY the EOL
delimiters, by using the "Return" or "Enter" key.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
SYMPTOM: PART of the INGREDIENTS ENDED UP IN THE DIRECTIONS
CAUSE/ SOLUTION: A BLANK line was encountered in the ingredient section.
The Recipe Translator looks for a blank line to indicate the
end-of-ingredient section. Therefore, everything following a blank line
will be placed in the direction section.
You must remove the blank line or make the line non-blank by entering
one or more text characters on the line, including a space.
TIP: A line that contains a space or other non-printing character (such
as a tab) that appears to be blank, may exist in the ingredient section.
The ingredients will import properly, however, if the recipes are in MXP
format, the line that appears blank will not be preserved on import.
Consequently, if you wish to separate groups of ingredients, use printing
characters, such as "***" or "---", instead of spaces.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
SYMPTOM: ALL of the INGREDIENTS ENDED UP IN THE DIRECTIONS
CAUSE/SOLUTION: The recipe did not adhere to a valid format. Examine the
text and make the necessary changes. "A-D" below address the various
conditions that might cause this error.
------------------------------------------
A: A BLANK line was encountered BEFORE the first ingredient. Delete the
blank line, or make it non-blank by entering one or more text characters
on the line, including a space.
------------------------------------------
B. In the generic format, TWO blank lines were encountered before the
ingredients. One blank line after the "Notes" line indicates the
beginning of ingredients. Two blank lines after the" Notes" indicates
the beginning of directions.
------------------------------------------
C. In the MXP format, the following correct ingredient header was not
encountered. Using any editor, insert BOTH of these lines, exactly as
they appear below, IMMEDIATELY before the first ingredient.
Amount Measure Ingredient -- Preparation Method
-------- ------------ --------------------------------
------------------------------------------
D. In the Mac format, the following correct ingredient header was not
encountered. Using any editor, insert this line, exactly as it appears
below, IMMEDIATELY before the first ingredient.
Amount<TAB>Measure<TAB>Ingredient<TAB>Preparation Method
------------------------------------------------------------------------
SYMPTOM: EXTRANEOUS TEXT at the end of the recipe's "DIRECTION" section
CAUSE/SOLUTION: This text is most likely email signatures and possibly
all of the following headers and complete email messages (if you are
importing from a mailing list "digest").
The Recipe Translator will import all text found after the beginning of
the direction section until it comes to an end-of-recipe delimiter, the
next beginning-of-recipe header, or the end-of-file.
You may edit the text file BEFORE you import, and either:
REMOVE all text following the recipe that is not part of the directions
-OR-
ADD the appropriate end-of-recipe delimiter for the recipe's format.
If you prefer, you may easily edit the recipe AFTER it was imported by
simply opening the recipe and deleting all unwanted text from the
directions.
TIP: The simplest way to add an end-of-recipe delimiter, is to copy and
paste the delimiting line from a recipe that imported correctly.
TIP: The generic import format does not use an end-of-recipe delimiter.
EVERYTHING following the first line of directions will be imported as
directions until the next "@@@@@" or end-of-file is encountered. You may
either add "@@@@@" at the end of the directions to begin another new
recipe, or delete all text that is not part of the recipe.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
SYMPTOM: EXTRANEOUS TEXT at the end of the "NOTES" section
CAUSE/SOLUTION: A "Notes" section existed in the MXP format.
All text following the keyword "Notes :", will be imported as text until
a beginning-of-recipe header or end-of-file is encountered.
You may edit the text file BEFORE you import and remove all text
following the Note that is not part of the recipe. OR you may edit the
recipe AFTER it is imported and simply delete all unwanted text from the
"Notes" section.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
SYMPTOM: PREPARATION METHOD IMPORTED IMPROPERLY: it was placed in the
"Ingredient" field instead of the "Preparation Field"
CAUSE/SOLUTION: An incorrect delimiter was used to separate the
ingredient and the preparation method.
NOTE: This is typically only of concern if you plan on using the
Nutritional Analysis feature of MasterCook. If the preparation method
(ex., "chopped") ends up with the ingredient (ex., "carrots") in the
"ingredient field", MC is likely to not recognize the ingredient
("carrots, chopped") for calculating the nutritional analysis."A-C" below offer possible ways to resolve this problem.
------------------------------------------
A: Edit the import source file so recipes use the correct
delimiter according to the following:
Format Delimiter Example
------ ------------------------------- ------------------------
MXP "space 2 dashes space" (" -- ") 1 cup carrots -- choppedMac <TAB> 1 cup carrots<TAB>chopped
Generic semi-colon (;) OR 1 cup carrots;chopped
comma (,) OR 1 cup carrots,chopped
<TAB> 1 cup carrots<TAB>choppedTIP: The "generic" format and the "Mac" format both support the use of
"TABS" as a delimiter; however, it is advisable that you do NOT use tabs
if you plan on sharing recipes via the Internet. Some Internet service
providers and some email programs strip all tabs from text documents.
This will prevent the preparation method from importing properly.
TIP: MC 3.0 users: In MealMaster recipes, the semi-colon is the ONLY
delimiter recognized by the recipe translator. So if the preparation
method is not importing correctly, insert a semi-colon between the
ingredient and the preparation method.
------------------------------------------
B: Open the recipe(s) in MasterCook and manually move the preparation
method to the correct field.
------------------------------------------
C: Edit the ingredients list and create a new ingredient with a name
that includes the preparation method.
Example: Edit "carrots" and save a copy of the nutritional information
with a new name of "carrots, chopped"
------------------------------------------------------------------------
SYMPTOM: "EMPTY" LINE separating groups of ingredients disappeared when
importing
CAUSE/SOLUTION: Do not use lines with only spaces to separate a group of
ingredients. When a line containing spaces (so it appears "empty") is in
the ingredients section, it will not be preserved when importing an MXP
formatted recipe. To visually separate ingredients, it is best to use
any printing characters in the ingredients field, rather than spaces.
(Ex., "----" or "****")
NOTE: If you skip a line when adding ingredients to a recipe in a
cookbook, MC will automatically insert "spaces" for you on that line. So
even though the line appears "empty" it is not truly a blank line. (See
the discussion under "INGREDIENTS ENDED UP IN THE DIRECTIONS" earlier in
this section.)
------------------------------------------------------------------------
SYMPTOM: "=20" CHARACTER STRING in recipe
CAUSE/SOLUTION: MS Exchange inserts these characters and all non-MS
Exchange users will experience this problem. The recipes may or may not
import, depending on exactly where the "=20"s are located. And if they
do import, you will most likely find "=20" scattered throughout your
recipe. It is best if you edit the text file and remove every occurrence
prior to importing
TIP: If you are a MS Exchange user, you may want to follow the procedure
in "4.3 WHAT WENT WRONG?: CANNOT EXPORT RECIPES" to prevent the
insertion of these foreign characters.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
SYMPTOM: "Bullet" is in the Preparation Method Field (MC 3.0 ONLY)
NOTE: The "bullet" will appear as a blank rectangle on Windows systems
and as a black dot on Macintosh systems.
CAUSE/SYMPTOM: The most likely cause is that the amount and unit
combination is invalid. Typically this will only occur when two amounts
and two units are specified for one ingredient, and one of the units is
not a "container".
For example, "1 (15 oz) can tomatoes" is meaningful; the (15 oz) is
defining the size of the can. Just as "1 (12 oz) package tofu" also
makes sense. Both of these will import correctly with the measurement
descriptor, (15 oz) or (12 oz), being placed in the preparation method
field.
However, "1 (32 oz) quart" contains two pre-defined measurements; it is
redundant and meaningless. This ingredient will be appear in the recipe
with a "bullet" in the Preparation Method field and the recipe will be
placed in the Import Results window.
NOTE: MC makes every effort to import recipes such that accurate
Nutritional Analysis may be calculated. Because of this, amount and unit
are checked for validity. When they do not make sense or are confusing,
the ingredient and the recipe are flagged.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
SYMPTOM: RANGE of AMOUNT didn't import
CAUSE/SOLUTION: The amount specified was a range (Ex., 4-6 cups water,
or 4 to 6 cups water) and only the lower amount was imported.
MasterCook II and MasterCook Mac will not import a range of amounts.
So, if a range is specified, the lower number will be preserved and the
upper end of the range will be thrown away.
MasterCook 3.0 will place the lower end of the range in the "Amount"
field and put the original range in parenthesis in the "Preparation
Method" field.
TIP: MC cannot do Nutritional Analysis on an ingredient unless only one
amount is specified. If you want the N/A do to be calculated using the
upper end of the amount, simply make the change in the Amount field.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
SYMPTOM: NOT ENOUGH RECIPES to import?
CAUSE/SOLUTION: You are having so much success with importing that you
need more recipes?! Subscribe to the MasterCook recipe exchange mailing
list. Send an email message to: < MAIL-SERVER@MASTERCOOK.COM >. The body
of your message should read:
subscribe mc-recipe
end
________________________________________________________________________
4.3: WHAT WENT WRONG?: CANNOT EXPORT RECIPES
Once you have been successful exporting recipes, you will rarely
experience problems. Some of the most common symptoms you may encounter
during your first attempts to export are discussed in this section along
with suggested solutions.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
SYMPTOM: MC Recipe Mailer was unable to send the message
CAUSE/SOLUTION: Either you have not yet performed the "Setup" for the
Recipe Mailer, or the information you provided is not correct. Verify
that the "Setup" contains the correct information for your system,
including the right SMTP host name. If the information is correct and
you still cannot send an email message, check the networking parameters
in your operating system. It may be that they have not been defined or
were defined incorrectly.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
SYMPTOM: "=20" characters appear within the recipes you want to email
CAUSE/SOLUTION: MS Exchange inserts these characters and all non-MS
Exchange users will experience this problem. If MS Exchange users
perform the following procedure, the recipes they send via Email will
not contain these characters.
PROCEDURE for MS Exchange users: Go to Tools...Services. Highlight
Internet Mail and press the Properties button. Press the Message
Format... button. Uncheck the "Use MIME When Sending Messages". Press
the Character Set... button. Make sure that the drop down listbox has
"US ASCII".
------------------------------------------------------------------------
SYMPTOM: File too large to send or be received by intended recipient
CAUSE/SOLUTION: Some Internet service providers and some email programs
have limits on the size of file you may send. It is wise to not try to
include too many recipes in one email message because some users may not
be able to receive them. In addition, many email systems will break a
large file into several smaller components, and then users must take
extra steps to concatenate the message prior to importing.
TIP: If sending recipes embedded in email, send several separate
messages instead of one large one. If sending recipes or a cookbook as
attached document, or uploading, consider compressing or "zipping" the
file first. If it is still too large, break it into several smaller
files. The recipient can concatenate them after receipt.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
SYMPTOM: Extraneous characters (such as ">") appear at the beginning of
each line in the recipe you email.
CAUSE/SYMPTOM: You most likely "Replied to" or "Forwarded" the email
message. When sending recipes embedded in email messages, do not use
either of these email options. Use "Send Again" instead.
************************************************************************
APPENDIX A: MXP FORMAT
************************************************************************
Following is the description of the MXP import/export format. This
format uses a combination of spaces and keywords rather than tabs as
recipe section and field delimiters. If you are planning on exchanging
recipes via the Internet, this is the format you should use. All
MasterCook users, regardless of the version they use, will be able to
import recipes in this format.
NOTE: The MXP format IS position/column dependent in MasterCook II and
MasterCook Mac. That is, field position is very specific and they MUST
adhere to the format EXACTLY as it is shown below.
The Recipe Translator in MasterCook 3.0, does NOT require that fields
begin in specific columns. The removal of this position dependency
introduces great flexibility and eliminates many possible import errors.
(Instructional comments appear within brackets, "[ ]", below a line and
are NOT part of the format. All lines are REQUIRED unless the comments
indicate otherwise.)
------------------------------------------
* Exported from MasterCook *
BLA
************************************************************************
APPENDIX C: GENERIC FORMAT (MasterCook 3.0 Users ONLY)
Following is the description of the Generic import format. It is by far
the easiest format to use if you are preparing unformatted text files
for import.
This format uses only blank lines as recipe section delimiters. Consequently,
the order of blank lines and text lines is rigid. However, because no
keywords are used in this format, the position of text on any line is
extremely flexible. Additionally, there are three possible delimiters that
can be used in the ingredient section.
(Instructional comments appear within brackets, "\[ \]", below a line and
are NOT part of the format. All lines are REQUIRED unless the comments
indicate otherwise.)
------------------------------------------
1st line: @@@@@
\[that's 5 "at" signs\]
2nd line: TITLE of the recipe
3rd line: BLANK Line
4th line: NOTES -- ONE line of text
5th line: BLANK Line
6th line: amount unit ingredient preparation method
\[You may repeat this line up to 100 times;there must be NO blank lines
between ingredients.\]
BLANK Line
Directions. Free form text. Blank lines may exist in this section.
@@@@@
\[Optional. Will end this recipe and attempt to import the next recipe.\]
------------------------------------------
NOTE: The generic format uses any of the following delimiters to
separate ingredient and preparation method is: comma: 1 cup carrots, chopped
semi-colon: 1 cup carrots; chopped
<TAB> : 1 cup carrots<TAB>chopped
************************************************************************
APPENDIX D: SUPPORTED RECIPE FORMATS AND TEXT TYPES
************************************************************************
You received formatted recipes from the Internet and you want to import
them into MasterCook?
First, give it a try! In most cases the MasterCook importer will
successfully import recipes, even if they contain the wrong end-of-line
delimiters. But if the recipes cannot be imported or they do not
imported "cleanly", you may be trying to import recipes that are a
combination of format and text type that MasterCook does not import.
Check the following chart for the version of MasterCook you are running
and locate the exact RECIPE FORMAT and TEXT TYPE you are trying to
import. (See "HOW TO IDENTIFY RECIPE FORMAT" and "HOW TO IDENTIFY TEXT
TYPE" below.)
If the box says "NO", then you will need to edit the recipes so they are
in an acceptable combination of both format and text type.
TIP: It will generally be easier to change the text type than the recipe
format. (See "HOW TO CORRECT TEXT TYPE" below.) Of course, if a recipe
format is not supported by your version of MasterCook, then you must
change the recipe format to one that is acceptable.
If the box says "YES", then the format and text type are NOT the
problem. Even if the recipes contain EOL delimiters that are invalid for
your system, MasterCook will be able to read the recipes and it will
convert the EOL delimiters as it imports. See "PART FOUR: WHAT WENT WRONG?"
for other possible problems and solutions.
TIP: If the text type is incorrect, the recipes were most likely
downloaded and a text file was downloaded as raw data (binary) file type
so text translation did not occur. Instead of changing the text type
yourself, you may wish to download the recipes again, this time
specifying "text" as the file type. Your downloading program will, in
most cases, do the text translation for you.
_______________________________________________________________________
| | | | |
| MC EXPORT FORMAT | | | |
| & END-OF-LINE | MASTERCOOK 3.0 | MASTERCOOK II | MASTERCOOK MAC |
| DELIMITERS | (Windows & Mac) | (Windows) | (Mac) |
|__________________|_________________|_______________|________________|
| MXP Format | | | |
| DOS EOL | Yes | Yes | Yes |
|__________________|_________________|_______________|________________|
| MXP Format | | | |
| Mac EOL | Yes | No | Yes |
|__________________|_________________|_______________|________________|
| MXP Format | | | |
| Unix EOL | No** | No | No |
|__________________|_________________|_______________|________________|
| Mac Format | | | |
| DOS EOL | Yes* | No | Yes |
|__________________|_________________|_______________|________________|
| Mac Format | | | |
| Mac EOL | Yes* | Yes | Yes |
|__________________|_________________|_______________|________________|
| Mac Format | | | |
| Unix EOL | No** | No | No |
|__________________|_________________|_______________|________________|
| Generic Format | | | |
| DOS EOL | Yes | No | No |
|__________________|_________________|_______________|________________|
| Generic Format | | | |
| Mac EOL | Yes | No | No |
|__________________|_________________|_______________|________________|
| Generic Format | | | |
| Unix EOL | No** | No | No |
|__________________|_________________|_______________|________________|
* The recipe is imported, however, the preparation method is placed in
the ingredient field rather than the "preparation method field". (The
<TAB> is not being recognized.) This is a "bug" and will be corrected in
a future release of the Recipe Translator.
** It will appear to import correctly, however, only the title is
imported. All else is blank.
IN SUMMARY:
-- MasterCook 3.0 can import ALL formats with either DOS or Mac EOL
delimiters.
-- Unix delimiters (line feeds only) can NOT be successfully imported by
any version of MasterCook, regardless of format. See "HOW TO CORRECT
TEXT TYPE" below.
-- MasterCook II can import MXP formats ONLY with DOS EOL delimiters and
Mac formats ONLY with Mac EOL delimiters
-- MasterCook Mac can import MXP formats with either DOS or Mac EOL
delimiters. MasterCook Mac can also import Mac formats with either DOS
or Mac delimiters.
________________________________________________________________________
HOW TO IDENTIFY RECIPE FORMAT:
________________________________________________________________________
View the recipes in the text file with any editor or word processing
program.
-- MXP formatted recipes will begin with:
* Exported from MasterCook *
-- Mac formatted recipes will begin with:
{ Exported from MasterCook Mac } -- Generic formatted recipes will begin with:
@@@@@
________________________________________________________________________
HOW TO IDENTIFY TEXT TYPE:
________________________________________________________________________
The following systems use these end-of-line (EOL) delimiters:
DOS: Carriage Return, Line Feed
Mac: Carriage Return
Unix: Line Feed
HINTS on how to determine the text type:
How did you receive the recipes?
-- via EMAIL: The text type will match YOUR system type regardless of
the system it came from. The email program translates the text type
when a message is received. For example, if you use a DOS system, all
of your email will be converted to contain DOS EOL delimiters.
-- via ATTACHED DOCUMENTS or DOWNLOADED: View the recipes with a text
editor (such as Simple Text or Notepad):
If the recipes look correct, then the text type matches YOUR system
type. For example, if you are a Macintosh user, then the recipes will
contain Mac EOL delimiters.
If the lines appear to be run-on and/or contain non-text characters such
as "black rectangles" or "blank squares", then they contain EOL
delimiters that your system does not recognize. For example, you are a
DOS user and the file came from either a Macintosh or Unix system.
TIP: Some editors (such as BBedit on a Macintosh system and
Editmaster on DOS) will show you what type text a file contains. An
editor with this capability is an invaluable tool if you do a lot of
text file exchange outside of email.
TIP: Files on the Internet are often stored on Unix systems. Because of
this, there is a likely chance that recipes you download will contain
Unix EOL delimiters. If you specify "text" as the file type when you
download, your downloading program should do the translation for
you.
________________________________________________________________________
HOW TO CORRECT TEXT TYPE
________________________________________________________________________
Once you have determined that a file's text type is preventing recipes
from importing, you will need to convert the EOL delimiters. Following
are several methods that you may use to correct the text type.
1) Download the file again, specifying "text" as the file type.
2) Use an editor or word processing program to automatically convert the
text type.
TIP: Some editors (such as BBedit on a Macintosh system and
Editmaster on DOS) will show you what type text a file contains. If
you have such an editor, it will also convert the file to contain the
correct EOL delimiters for you.
TIP: Many word processing programs will translate the text type for
display when you open the file.(MicroSoft Word, WordPad, Word Perfect,
and ClarisWorks are some examples.) After opening the text file, do a
"save as" and specify a file type of "Text". The "pure text" format will
be preserved and the file will be stored with the correct EOL
delimiters.
An alternative to saving the file as text, is to do a "select all" and
"copy" the file. Then simply do a paste into a text file. This will
effectively convert the text type for you.
To verify that the file was converted, open it with NotePad or Simple
Text and make sure the text looks OK. If not, then you will need to
convert the text manually.
3) Manually change the end-of-line delimiters on each logical line.
WINDOWS USERS:
Required EOL Delimiters:
Carriage Return AND Line Feed
Symptoms of wrong EOL delimiters:
-- Lines all run together across the page with one black rectangle
appearing after each logical line. This text contains either carriage
returns only (Mac EOL delimiters) OR line feeds only (Unix EOL
delimiters) at the end of each line. A carriage return AND line feed
need to be at the end of each logical line. (Note that a black rectangle
with no text before it indicates a blank line that must be inserted.)
Procedure to Correct the Text Type:
TIP: Some editors (such as Editmaster) will automatically convert the
EOL delimiter for you. If you have such an editor, simply select the
text type and save the file.
TIP: Many word processing programs will translate the text type for
display when you open the file.(MicroSoft Word, WordPad,and Word Perfect
are some examples.) After opening the text file, do a "save" and it will
be stored with the converted end-of-line delimiters. (To verify that the
file was converted, open it with NotePad and make sure the text looks
OK.) If not, then you will need to manually convert the text.
To manually correct the text type:
-- Select the foreign character (black rectangle) at the end of each
logical line.
-- Delete the character using the delete key. If two or more rectangles
appear together, delete each of them.
-- Press the "Return" key. Make sure you press "Return" once for each
rectangle you delete. This will add the correct carriage return and
line feed.
-- Repeat this process for every foreign (non-text) character you see.
-- Save the file. Import it into MasterCook.
------------------------------------------
MACINTOSH USERS:
Required EOL Delimiters:
Carriage Return
Symptoms of wrong EOL delimiters:
-- Format appears OK, except there is a "blank square" preceding each
line. This text contains both a carriage return AND line feed (DOS EOL
delimiters). The line feed needs to be deleted at the beginning of each
line.
-- Lines all run together across the page with one "blank square"
appearing after each logical line. (A "blank square" with no text before
it indicates a blank line that must be inserted.) This text contains
line feeds only at the end of each line (Unix EOL delimiters). The line
feed needs to be deleted and a carriage return inserted at the end of
each logical line.
Procedure to Edit the recipes:
TIP: Some editors (such as BBedit) will automatically convert the EOL
delimiter for you. If you have such an editor, simply select the text
type and save the file.
TIP: Many word processing programs will translate the text type for
display when you open the file. (MicroSoft Word and Word Perfect are
some examples.) After opening the text file, do a "save" and it will be
stored with the converted end-of-line delimiters. (To verify that the
file was converted, open it with Simple Text and make sure the text
looks OK.) If not, then you will need to manually convert the text.
For files containing both carriage returns and line feeds (DOS EOLs)
-- Select the non-text ("blank square") at the beginning of each line.
-- Delete the character using the delete key.
-- Repeat this process until the first position of every line has
been deleted.For files containing line feeds only (Unix EOLs):
-- Select the non-text ("blank square") character at the end of each
logical line.
-- Delete the character using the delete key. If two or more squares
appear together, delete each of them.
-- Press the "Return" key. Make sure you press "Return" once for each
square you deleted. This will add the correct carriage return.
-- Repeat this process for every "blank square" you see.
-- Save the file. Import it into MasterCook.************************************************************************
APPENDIX E: IMPORT RESULTS WINDOW
************************************************************************
(MASTERCOOK 3.0 ONLY)
When the Recipe Translator detects a possible import error, the recipe
in question is placed on the "Import Results" window.
Import errors are handled identically in MC 3.0 for Windows and MC 3.0
for Macintosh. That is, the same errors will result in recipes being
placed in the Import Results window on both systems.
However, Windows users WILL NOT receive a warning message that a
possible problem was detected and that a recipe was placed in the Import
Results window. (Exception: a warning message WILL be issued when a
duplicate recipe name is encountered, renamed, and placed in the
window.)
Macintosh users WILL receive a warning message when the Recipe
Translator encounters suspected problems. These recipes will be then be
placed in the "Import Results" window with an accompanying icon
indicating the nature of the error.
Following is a description of the reason a recipe may be placed in the
Import Results window, and it's probable condition:
NOTE: The associated icon description applies ONLY to Macintosh users.
1. "NOTE" Error:
CAUSE: Fields in the original recipe were truncated because the
ingredient or preparation method was too long. Or other
limits, such as number of categories, were exceeded. CONDITION: The recipe is most likely OK. This typically is only to
inform you that some changes were made to the recipe. If
a field was truncated, it was wrapped to the next line.
There could be some loss of data, in which case you will
need to refer back to the source text to correct the
recipe. ICON: Explanation (Person saying something icon)
EXAMPLES: Too many categories (limit is 10)
Too many ingredients (limit is 100)
Preparation Method field is too long (limit is 20
characters)
2. "CAUTION" or "ALERT" Error:
CAUSE: Invalid data was found in one or more of the fields. If the
error was recoverable and the translator continued, the
caution will be used. Note that if the error occurred in
an ingredient, the error line will have a "bullet" in the
preparation method field. (This will appear as a blank
rectangle on Windows systems and a black dot on Macintosh
systems.) CONDITION: Recipe may be OK but it is advisable to look it over. The
problem is usually in the ingredients and is very often
resolved by the translator. On occasion there may loss
of data, so you will need to refer back to the source
file to correct the recipe. ICON: Caution (Red triangle with exclamation point icon)
EXAMPLES: Invalid amount and unit combination, such as
1 (16 oz) lb butter (This is invalid because it doesn't both of the units are pre-defined
measurements. Whereas "1 (16 oz) can tomatoes" IS valid because the
size of a container is being defined.)
3. "STOP" or "FATAL" Error:
CAUSE: The Recipe Translator could not find or recognize the
next part of the recipe. In this case, the remainder of
the recipe is not imported. CONDITION: The recipe is NOT fit for human consumption. Go back to
the original text file & look for obvious errors such as
missing required blank lines. ICON: Stop (Stop sign with hand icon)
EXAMPLES: The correct "Amount Unit Ingredient Preparation Method"
delimiter is missing. Text file contains Unix EOL delimiters.
4. DUPLICATE RECIPE NAME Error:
CAUSE: The Recipe Translator encountered a recipe in the target
cookbook with the same name as one it is importing. The
importer will rename the new recipe by appending a numeric
suffix to the name.CONDITION: The recipe is fine. It is placed in the Import Results
window only to alert you that a duplicate recipe name had
been encountered and that the recipe was renamed. ICON: Blue striped "recipe cards" with a red title.
************************************************************************
APPENDIX F: EXPORTING FROM MEAL-MASTER
************************************************************************
>From the Main Menu select Utilities.
Choose Export Recipe from the Utilities menu.
In the "Export Recipe" window, type a name for the file that you will be
exporting. Select the type of file to export:
Create a new file
Append the end of the last file
Replace an existing file.
Select the recipes you will be exporting:
Individual recipe
Marked recipes
Range of recipes specified
Type the number of the recipe(s) you wish to export (Example: (1-15)).
Select an export formats:
Normal Format
BB Format
MM Format
Export the ingredients in:
Single Columns
Dual Columns
Select Go, or Exit.
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