This document has three parts:
1. Using BibleConverter
2. Format of Bible Tag File
3. Book Number Table



USING BibleConverter
====================

Usage:
java BibleConverter <options> <input>

where <input> is the name of an input bible tag file
(with file extention .txt)
e.g. if the name of the input bible tag file is KJV.txt,
<input> is KJV.

where <options> can be the following:

-pbd Create a PDB file for PalmBible+ (default)
-plain Create a plain text file
-thml Create ThML file
-html Create HTML files into the <input>/html/ directory
-rtf Create RTF file into the <input>/rtf/ directory
-monoon Create MoNoon reader format into <input>/monoon/ directory
-sword Create Sword Module into <input>/sword>/ directory
-q Convert in quiet mode (without prior verse checking)
-encode <encoding>
To overide the output encoding
-decode <encoding>
To overide the input encoding

where <encoding> should any Java recognized encoding of text.
e.g. "iso-8859-1".


Remark:
The bible tag file (<input>.txt) must be located in the same
directory of the BibleConverter. BibleConverter will check
the integrity of the source Bible Tag file and give warning
messages. The messages are for reference only and may be
ignored if the version is assumed to be correct.

Example:
java BibleConverter -q -pdb -html web_eng

This will convert web_eng.txt into PalmBible+ PDB and
HTML format.



FORMAT OF BIBLE TAG FILE
========================

The Bible Tag file is a plain text file. Refer to any downloadable
bible source in the download area of PalmBible+ for example.

Like HTML, the Bible Tags are enclosed by '<' and '>' (e.g. <CHAPTER>)
and appeared in pairs. (e.g. <BOOK> ... </BOOK>) Contents are
inserted in between an open tag (e.g. <BIBLE>) and the close tag
(e.g. </BIBLE>).


Tags
----

<PARSERINFO>

Example: <PARSERINFO ENCODE="iso-8859-1" WORDTYPE="SPCSEP">

Description: This is a tag appears in the most front of a BibleTag file,
and it does not need a close tag.

ENCODE -- output encoding for Palm PDB. This should be a Java recognized
encoding. e.g. English is "iso-8850-1", Traditional Chinese is
"Big5" or "Big5_HKSCS", Simpified Chinese is "GBK" and so on.
Refer to the following link for details:
http://java.sun.com/j2se/1.3/docs/guide/intl/encoding.doc.html

DECODE -- (Optional) Encoding of the Bible Tag File itself. If omitted,
it will equal to ENCODE. Refer to ENCODE for details of the
encodings.

WORDTYPE -- can only be "CONT" or "SPCSEP".
"CONT" is used for language does not have break, e.g. Chinese,
Korean or Japanese.
"SPCSEP is used for languages useing space as word separator.



<BIBLE>

Example: <BIBLE NAME="KJV" INFO="King James Version 1611 \nPublic Domain">

Description: It denoted the start of a bible version. Each bible tag file
can only have one bible version. i.e. One pair of <BIBLE>...</BIBLE> tags.

NAME -- Version and name appeared when choose a Bible in PalmBible+.

INFO -- Display copyright information at the version information page of
the PalmBible+. If empty, no version information will be at the
reader program. \n could be used for new line, see the example.

ALIGN -- (Optional) Can only be "LEFT" or "RIGHT". If omitted, default
is "LEFT". "RIGHT" is designed for lanuage like Hebrew that
reads from right to left.



<BOOK>

Example: <BOOK NAME="Matthew" NUMBER="470" SHORTCUT="MAT">

Description: At the start of a book use format of the example above,
while at the end of a book use </BOOK>. Each book should be associated
with a name, shortcut and number.

NAME -- It seems not been used to display in PDB format. Yet,
in the HTML and other output format may be useful. Although
NUMBER is already a good key, but it is a must to include in
the tag. To display the name of a book in the content, refer
to the "Text Format Tags" section at the remark of <VERSE>.

NUMBER -- It is the Book Number. It is important as it is used for
sorting and cross-reference between different versions. See
the "List of Book Number" section of this document for details.

SHORTCUT -- The short form of the book name. It is used in the "Goto
dialogue box" to locate a book in PalmBible+. It is also the
short form displayed on top right hand corner when reading.



<CHAPTER>

Example: <CHAPTER>

Description: At the beginning of a chapter use <CHAPTER>, while at the end
of a chapter use </CHAPTER>. No attribute is required.



<VERSE>

Example: <VERSE>

Description: At the beginning of a verse mark with <VERSE>, while at the
end of a verse mark </VERSE>. No attribute is required.

Remark:

Combined Verse
--------------

If there is combined verse, put an empty <VERSE> tag pairs after the
verse, e.g.:

1-2 This is the combined verse ...
3 This is the following verse ...

in the Bible Tag file should look like :
<VERSE>This is the combined verse ...</VERSE>
<VERSE></VERSE>
<VERSE>This is the following verse ...</VERSE>

in PalmBible+ or other reader programs will have :
1 This is the combined verse ...
3 This is the following verse ...



Text Format Tags
----------------

All the format tags should be placed inside <VERSE> and </VERSE> tags
and they are optional. All the format tags do not have a close tag.
If any format tag is used, <VERSETEXT> must be used to indicate the
starting of normal verse text and only at this point the PalmBible+
will get a verse number for the verse.

Example:
A verse in the beginning of a book looks like the following:

<VERSE><BOOKTEXT>The First Book of Moses, called
Genesis<CHAPTEXT>Chapter 1<DESCTEXT>The First
Day of God's Creation<VERSTEXT>In the beginning
God created the heaven and the earth.</VERSE>


The PalmBible+ or other reader programs will have:

The First Book of Moses, called Genesis

Chapter 1
The First Day of God's Creation
1 In the beginning God created the
heaven and the earth.


Description:
<BOOKTEXT> Usually shows the name of the book.
<CHAPTEXT> Usually shows 'Chapter XX'
<DESCTEXT> This appears usually before some verses.
<VERSTEXT> Start of the verse. This tag appears only
if there is any format tag applied before
the verse.


Typical Layout
--------------
A typical layout of the Bible Tag source file for BibleConverter is
shown below. For easier reading, the text format tags are shown

<PARSERINFO ENCODE="iso-8859-1" WORDTYPE="SPCSEP">
<BIBLE NAME='KJV' INFO="King James Version, 1611\nPublic Domain">
<BOOK NAME="Genesis" NUMBER="10" SHORTCUT="Gen">
<CHAPTER>
<VERSE><BOOKTEXT>The First Book of Moses, called Genesis
<CHAPTEXT>Chapter 1<DESCTEXT>The First Day of God's Creation
<VERSTEXT>In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.
</VERSE>
<VERSE>And the earth was without form, and void....</VERSE>
<VERSE>And God said, Let there be light: .....</VERSE>
... some more verses ...
<VERSE> ... </VERSE>
</CHAPTER>

<CHAPTER>
<VERSE><CHAPTEXT>Chapter 2<VERSTEXT>Thus the heavens...</VERSE>
<VERSE>And on the seventh day God ended his work...</VERSE>
<VERSE> ... </VERSE>
... some more verses ...
<VERSE> ... </VERSE>
<VERSE><DESCTEXT>Adam and Eve<VERSTEXT>And the LORD God formed
man of the dust of the ground ,</VERSE>
<VERSE> ... </VERSE>
... some more verses ...
<VERSE> ... </VERSE>
</CHAPTER>

<CHAPTER>
<VERSE><CHAPTEXT>Chapter 3<DESCTEXT>The Fall of Man<VERSTEXT>
Now the serpent was more subtil than any beast...</VERSE>
<VERSE> ... </VERSE>
... some more verses ...
<VERSE> ... </VERSE>
</CHAPTER>
<CHAPTER>
... some more verses ...
</CHAPTER>
:
... some more chapters ...
:
<CHAPTER>
... some more verses ...
</CHAPTER>
</BOOK>

<BOOK NAME="Exodus" NUMBER="20" SHORTCUT="EXO">
<CHAPTER>
<VERSE><BOOKTEXT>...<CHAPTEXT>...<DESCTEXT>...
<VERSTEXT> ... </VERSE>
<VERSE> ... </VERSE>
... some more verses ...
<VERSE> ... </VERSE>
</CHAPTER>
:
... some more chapters ...
:
<CHAPTER>
... some more verses ...
</CHAPTER>
</BOOK>
:
... some more books ...
:
</BIBLE>



BOOK NUMBER TABLE
=================

Book Number is used at <BOOK> tag. The number are important for
sorting and cross reference among books. The PalmBible+ uses it
internally for handling Dual Version Display.

There are two schemes: the new one is at
      http://prdownloads.sourceforge.net/palmbibleplus/BibleConverterBookNumbers.html?download
The old deprecated one is at
      http://prdownloads.sourceforge.net/palmbibleplus/BibleConverterOldBookNumbers.txt?download


REFERENCE
=========

http://palmbible.sourceforge.net/convert.htm (as at 4th September 2002)
Slightly edited by Yih-Chun Hu, April 14th, 2003.