Sisulizer's Kaboom - The conversion utility

What is Sisulizer's Kaboom?

Sisulizer's Kaboom is a converter utility for files and Clipboard data in text format. The convertor is essential for your daily development and localization work. You can download and use Kaboom for free.

• The file converter in Kaboom fully supports ANSI, UNICODE, and DBCS code pages.
• Multi-Converter. Converts a file list in a batch
• The Clipboard converter fully supports UNICODE code pages.
• The Clipboard converter's text input field is available for the current ANSI codepage (8-bit) of your Windows installation.
• Support for drag'n'drop of files and text.
• NEW in 3.0: Support for plug-in filters on script basis. Please contact sales (at) sisulizer.com if you have a custom filter request.

Kaboom is a classic Visual Basic application with multi-language string resources localized with Sisulizer. Currently, Kaboom has English and German strings. Your operating system chooses the language displayed at startup.

Please donate and get the command-line option

If you like Sisulizer's Kaboom you can support the development of new features with a donation. Donate what ever it is worth for to you. (A common donation is between USD 15 and USD 25)

As a little thank you we send you instructions how to use Kaboom's command-line option. With this instruction you are able to use Kaboom as command-line tool, eg to convert multiple files out of other programs, or batch files. Please be aware that sending the instructions to you is a manual process and can be done while our business hours.

Download

System Requirements

Sisulizer's Kaboom needs an operating system with full UNICODE support like Windows 2000, Windows 2003, Windows XP, Windows Vista, Windows 7 or better.

Online Manual

After installation, Kaboom is ready to use. You can start it from the Windows Start menu. On opening, Kaboom shows its main menu with three entries.

• File Converter. This opens the file converter in Kaboom.
• Clipboard Converter. This opens the Clipboard converter
• NEW in 2.5: Multi-Converter. This menu entry opens the batch mode of Kaboom.

You can close Kaboom with the red x-button in the title bar. The F1 key opens the manual.

File Converter

The file converter allows you to convert text files stored in one code page into another. You can convert a file written on a Japanese computer using Shift-JIS into a UNICODE file. Kaboom checks which conversions are available on your computer and offers these for your use.

Converting a file

Converting a file with Kaboom is simple. Just follow these steps:

1. Select the text file in the foreign code page with the three-dots button "...". Kaboom allows you to browse and find the file you want to convert.
2. If your file is marked with a BOM (Byte-Order-Mark), then Kaboom selects the correct code page for you. Most files you convert will not have a BOM. Therefore, you must select the correct code page with the Code page group and Code page options for the source file. The sorting of the code pages should help you to find the correct one.
3. In the preview, you can see right away if you selected the correct code page.
4. Sometimes files have additional unique specifications. For example, the line feed encoding of UNIX and Macintosh files is different. The Additional Filter feature takes care of this. BASE64 encoding is sometimes used in e-mails.
5. Kaboom creates a name for the target file for you. You can use the three-dots "..." button if you want to choose a different name for "Target Filename".
6. Using the Code page group and Code page options, you can select the code page of the target file.
7. If the target code page is UTF-7, UTF-8, UTF-16-LE or UTF-16-BE, then the target file can have a BOM (Byte-Order-Mark). The checkbox allows you to write a BOM or not.
8. You can now click the Convert button to start the conversation.

Attention: Not all conversions make sense! For example, if you convert an 8-bit file written with a Cyrillic code page like KOI8 into an 8-bit file for code page 1252 (Windows Western), the information will be lost. However, you can convert the file into a Cyrillic file for the Macintosh (Code page 10007) or a UNICODE format like UTF-7, UTF-8, or UTF-16. The UNICODE formats are always a good choice because they can hold up to 65535 different characters, while ANSI files can only have 256 different characters.

Clipboard Converter

The Clipboard converter knows the following conversions and filters.

Converting Clipboard data

Converting a text with Kaboom is simple. Just follow these steps:

1. Select the text you want to convert in some other application, such as Windows Notepad, and use the shortcut Ctrl+c to copy it to the Windows Clipboard.
2. Switch to Kaboom's Clipboard converter and, from the Source list, select one of the Clipboard sources.
3. In the Filter group and Filter lists, select the conversion you want.
4. Click the Convert button.
5. The converted text appears in the Target area. If you have select Clipboard in the Target list, the result is already copied to the Clipboard. If you select Preview, you can click the Copy button to transfer the result to the Clipboard. Copying to the Clipboard also changes the content of the Source area.
6. Select the application where you want to paste the text, such as Notepad.exe. You can press Ctrl+v on the keyboard to paste the converted text into Notepad.

If you want to manually enter text into Kaboom, you must select Input Field (ANSI) in the Source list. Now, Kaboom can convert what you type into the text field if you click the Convert button. If you want to add text to existing text in the source text field, you should use the standard Windows shortcut for the Clipboard like the Ctrl+v keys on the keyboard. You can only use your current code page in the input field. If you want to use UNICODE, please use select one of the Clipboard types from the Source list.

Available filters in Kaboom

Char Filters

Clean Up String

Replaces white chars (characters) from a string with underline chars _.

Lower Case

Changes all upper chars to lower chars.

Make Caps

Makes the first char of every word in the string upper case.

Remove White Chars

Removes all punctuation and other chars from the input. In Kaboom, white chars are the following chars: <Blank><Tab><CR><LF>,;:./(){}[]<>+-~#*&%$§!=\'"

Tabs to Blanks

Changes tab chars into blank chars.

Upper Case

Changes all lower case chars to upper case chars.

Checksums

CRC16

The filter calculates the CRC16 checksum for the string in the source field.

CRC32

The filter calculates the CRC32 checksum for the string in the source field.

Internet Checksum

The filter calculates a so-called Internet checksum for the string in the source field.

Code page Filters

Char to OEM

Converts a string from an ANSI char set into a char set used in a DOS session.

UTF-16 to UTF-7

Converts a text in UTF-16 into UTF-7. The target field shows the escape chars used in UTF-7 instead of interpreting them.

UTF-16 to UTF-8

Converts a text in UTF-16 into UTF-8. The target field shows the escape chars used in UTF-8 instead of interpreting them.

OEM to Char

Converts a string from the char set used in a DOS session into ANSI char set.

UTF-7 to UTF-16

Converts a text using UTF-7 escaped into UTF-16. The source field shows the escape chars used in UTF-7, instead of interpreting them.

UTF-8 to UTF-16

Converts a text using UTF-8 escaped into UTF-16. The source field shows the escape chars used in UTF-8, instead of interpreting them.

Code page Finder

This group does not contain classic filters. The functions here are service functions to find a code page for a number and vice versa.

Code page Name from Code page Number

This function finds the code page number used by Windows for a code page name; for example, "shift_jis" or "shift-jis" results in 932. For some code pages, Kaboom knows more than one name

Code page Number from Code page Name

This function finds the code page name used by Windows for a code page number; for example, 932 results in "shift_jis". While there can be more than one name for one code page number, Kaboom returns the name used in the headers of Mime or HTML-files.

Filenames

This group is also not a classic filter. Nevertheless, the functions can be sometimes handy in your daily development work.

Calc full filename

This filter can convert a filename like

c:\windows\system32\..\..\test\test.dat

into

c:\test\test.dat.

Long Filename to Short

Modern Windows uses long filenames. However, sometimes the short 8.3 filename representation is needed. This function finds the short filename.

Path with Drive to UNC

This filter finds the UNC representation of a network path using a drive letter.

Short Filename to Long

Modern Windows uses long filenames. Sometimes the short 8.3 filename is given. This function finds the long filename.

Hex Decoder

Hex-Stream

This filter changes a string with hexadecimal numbers into characters.

Hex Encoder

Hex-Dump

This filter changes the character char values into their hexadecimal representation or vice versa. The output is formatted in columns and rows so a human can easily read them. There is no decoder for this format.

Hex-Stream

This filter changes the character char values into their hexadecimal representation.

Internet Decoder

International Domain Names (IDNA/PunyCode)

There is a new standard for using special chars in URLs called IDNA, if you want to register a domain name having special chars, like Japanese, Spanish or French accents or German umlauts. You can use this filter to remove the computer coding and see the text in human text. Please be aware that this part of Kaboom is ANSI-based. Some IDNAs from China do not render correctly on some Western computers and vice versa.

Internet Encoder

International Domain Names (IDNA/PunyCode)

There is a new standard for using special chars in URLs called IDNA. If you want to register a domain name having special chars, like Japanese, Spanish or French accents or German umlauts, you can use this filter to get the actual text to register. You can use only special chars your actual system allows for display in your current ANSI char set.

Mail Data Base64

Base64 encryption is sometimes used in the body of e-mails.

Mail Data Quoted Printable

Quoted printable is found in the body part of e-mails. QP encodes special chars in a way that they can be transported as 7-bit ANSI.

Mail Header Quoted Binary (RFC1522)

Binary (Base64) encoding is found in the header part of e-mails. QP encodes special chars in a way that it can be transported as 7-bit ANSI.

Mail Header Quoted Printable (RFC1522)

Quoted printable encoding is found in the header part of e-mails. QP encodes special chars in a way that it can be transported as 7-bit ANSI.

URL

A URL in the browser encrypts special chars; for example, <Blanks> become %20. Some spammers try to use this to deceive you. If you see a URL encoded this way in your e-mail, you will not know where it links to. Kaboom can decrypt this for you.

CERs and NCRs into Chars

This changes Character Entity References (CER) and Numeric Character References (NCR) into UNICODE chars. CER and NCR are used in HTML to describe special characters like umlauts, accented chars, or signs like < > & and so on. Kaboom supports all 252 for UNICODE defined CERs, like Ü = &Uuml;, ™ = &trade;, Á = &Aacute;, Ω = &Omega;, etc. This filter can be used to decode strings encoded with AntiHarvest, Character Entity Reference (CER), and HTM Character Entity Reference (CER) to their originals.

Internet Encoder

AntiHarvest (complete NCR)

AntiHarvest changes every char in the input field into Numeric Character Reference (NCR). NCR is used in HTML to describe special characters like umlauts, accented chars, or signs like < > & and so on. Usually, only the special chars are encrypted as NCR. The AntiHarvest filter encrypts all chars of the string. The result can be used for links to e-mail addresses on web sites. This helps to protect you e-mail address from e-mail harvesters visiting your web site to grab e-mail addresses. The grabbed addresses will be used to send spam to your postbox.

International Domain Names (IDNA/PunyCode)

There is a new standard for using special chars in URLs called IDNA. If you want to register a domain name with special chars, like Japanese, Spanish or French accents, or German umlauts, you can use this filter to get the actual text to register. You can use only special chars your actual system allows to display in your current ANSI char set.

Mail Data Base64

Base64 encryption is sometimes used in the body of e-mails.

Mail Data Quoted Printable

Quoted printable is found in the body part of e-mails. QP encodes special chars in a way that it can be transported as 7-bit ANSI.

Mail Header Quoted Binary (RFC1522)

Binary (Base64) encoding is found in the header part of e-mails. QP encodes special chars in a way that it can be transported as 7-bit ANSI.

Mail Header Quoted Printable (RFC1522)

Quoted printable encoding is found in the header part of e-mails. QP encodes special chars in a way that it can be transported as 7-bit ANSI.

Character Entity Reference (CER)

This changes special chars in the input to their character entity reference (CER). CER is used in HTML to describe special characters like umlauts, accented chars, or signs like < >, &, and so on. Kaboom supports all 252 characters for UNICODE-defined CERs, like Ü = &Uuml;, ™ = &trade;, Á = &Aacute;, Ω = &Omega;, and so forth.

HTML Character Entity Reference (CER)

This changes special chars in the input to their character entity reference (CER). CER is used in HTML to describe special characters like umlauts, accented chars, or signs like < >, &, and so on. Kaboom supports all 252 characters for UNICODE-defined CERs, like Ü = &Uuml;, ™ = &trade;, Á = &Aacute;, Ω = &Omega;, and so forth, making it usefull for HTML files.

URL

A URL in the browser encrypts special chars; for example, <Blanks> become %20. Some spammers try to use this to deceive you. If you see a URL encoded this way in your e-mail, you will not know where it links to. Kaboom can decrypt this format for you.

Line Feeds

CR to CRLF / CRLF to CR / CRLF to LF / LF to CRLF

Different operation systems have different new line definitions. While Windows uses CRLF (Carriage Return plus Line Feed), UNIX uses only CR. Sometimes you must work with a UNIX document where everything seems to be printed in one line in Windows Notepad. These filters solve the problem.

CRLF to <BR>

This filter changes every new line into an HTML <br>-tag.

CRLF to Blanks

This filter changes every new line into a single blank char (" ").

Other Filters

RLE Encode/Decode

This is a simple running length encoding. If a string contains the same chars in a row, this encoding shrinks the string.

ROT13

Encrypts a string in a way that a human cannot read it. If you use the function twice, the effect is reversed.

Soundex

This is not a classical filter. Soundex calculates the "Soundex" value of a text. Texts with the same Soundex value sound similar if spoken.

Strip Tags from HTML

Removes tags from HTML and returns the plain text information.

Get HTML

If Kaboom finds HTML format in the Clipboard, Kaboom shows the complete data on the Clipboard. This contains some header information and surrounding HTML data. Kaboom can use this header information to extract the HTML from this data.

Get HTML-Fragment

If Kaboom finds the HTML format in the Clipboard, Kaboom shows the complete data on the Clipboard. This contains some header information and surrounding HTML data. Kaboom can use this header information to extract the HTML fragment from this data.

Copy

Copy does nothing other than copy the source to the target. This is useful if the HTML format is found on the Clipboard and you want to get the data, including all headers. Most applications remove the headers when pasting the data. (See also Get HTML and Get HTML-Fragment.)

NEW in 2.5: Multi-Converter

Basically the multi-converter works like like the file converter. The difference is that you can drop multiple files to the list box and then convert them in a batch.

The settings are global for all files in the list with one exception. The code page setting of the source file is overwritten by the (optional) Byte-Order-Mark of a file or from the (optional) Content-Type of a HTML file. If none of these exist the code page setting for the source file is used. The code page actually used to read a specific file can be found in parentheses behind its file name.

For a description of the additional filter please read the section about the file converter.