Technical documentation on the structure of the TreePad file format.

TreePad file format for TreePad .hjt files:

The basic file format is text/ascii.
Inside the ascii file, the start of a TreePad file should be the line:
<hj-Treepad version 2.7>
where the version number can vary depending on the TreePad version which had been used to create/write the file.

each node looks like:

  (Data type indicator)
  <node>
  (Node title)
  (level indicator, 0 meaning at tree level 0, 1 meaning one level up, etc.)
  the following lines are part of the article text, until the closing line ('end node'), which is:
  <end node> 5P9i0s8y19Z

example for one node:

  dt=text
  <node>
  mail from the President
  4
  Dear sir,

  I would like to invite all TreePad users into the Oval Office
  to help me learn how to use TreePad.
  Sincerely,

  G. Bush,
  the White House
  Washington
  <end node> 5P9i0s8y19Z

The data type indicator 'dt=text' has been introduced by version 2.7 and will be ignored by earlier TreePad versions, so that the file format is backwards compatible. 
'dt=text' indicates that the type of data inside the article connected to the next node is 'plain text'. A future RTF-enabled TreePad will be able to have RTF articles, so that dt=RTF or possibly also dt=HTML will be included. 

The string 5P9i0s8y19Z is included to make sure that when someone types
<end node> in the article, the program will not get confused into thinking
the node has ended there (in the middle of the article). 
The chance that someone types <end node> 5P9i0s8y19Z by accident into the article area
is very much smaller. Not a very beautiful implementation, but it's simple
and it works.

The order in which the nodes are listed in the TreePad file is determined
by the order in which they would appear in a fully expanded tree,
beginning at the top, and ending at the bottom.

E.g. a sequence of levels
(the numbers are indicating the node levels):

1 - 2 - 3 - 3 - 3 - 2

will be corresponding to the tree structure
(the numbers are indicating the node levels):

1 ___2
|    |___3
|    |___3
|    |___3
|
|____2


Warning: if you store this text in TreePad, do not include any 
"<end node> 5P9i0s8y19Z" as appearing in this text !!!!!

More information on TreePad file formats can be found in the TreePad documentation and manuals section:
http://www.treepad.com/docs/

TreePad home page: http://www.treepad.com
Freebyte.com home page: http://www.freebyte.com
Contact: http://www.treepad.com/support/