MEAL-MASTER IMPORT FILE SPECIFICATIONS


The Meal-Master import function is designed to import recipes that
were exported from the program.  However, the export format is a
simple text file that can be created by most text editor programs.
Many people have found that recipes from other sources can be edited
to look like a MM export file, allowing them to be imported to MM with
little or no retyping.  The format required is described below.

FIXED FORMAT (LINES 1 THROUGH 6)

  Line 1  The first line of a valid recipe is a "recipe header" line.
          This line must begin with at least 5 hyphens ('-----'), and
          must contain the words "Meal-Master" somewhere on the line.
          Any lines found prior to this "recipe header" line will be
          ignored by Meal-Master.
          
          (Note: If this line is missing, Meal-Master will attempt to
          locate the "Title: " line described below, and continue with
          the import process.  However, it is recommended that header
          lines be used when possible)

  Line 2  The word "Title:" must begin the line in any position before
          column 7, and be followed by one blank space.  The recipe
          title must start after the blank space, and may be a maximum
          of 60 characters in length.

  Line 3  The word "Categories:" must begin the line, in any position,
          and be followed by one blank space.  A maximum of 5 category
          names may be entered, beginning after the blank space.  A
          comma should immediately follow each category name except
          the last one; for example "Cakes, Desserts".  Category names
          should start with a capital letter, with the remaining
          characters in lower case letters.

  Line 4  A numeric quantity between 1 and 9999 (number of servings)
          must appear somewhere on this line.


VARIABLE FORMAT - LINES 5 AND GREATER

  Beginning with line 5, Meal-Master will attempt to identify each
  line as being an ingredient line, direction line, or the "end of
  recipe" trailer line.

  If a line is found that starts with 5 hyphens, and contains no
  characters other than hyphens and spaces, the program considers this
  the "end of recipe" trailer line.  It will store the current recipe
  and begin searching for another "recipe header" as described in
  "Line 1" above.

  If all the following are true, the line will be interpreted as an
  ingredient and loaded into Meal-Master:

     1) Positions 1-7 contain a valid numeric quantity, either
        expressed as a whole number, decimal fraction, or common
        fraction, or are blank.


     2) Positions 9-10 contain one of the valid Meal-Master unit of
        measure codes, including blanks. (see list in program).

     3) Positions 12-39 contain text for an ingredient name, or a "-"
        in position 12 and text in positions 13-39 (the latter is a
        "continuation" line for the previous ingredient name).


     NOTE: Beginning with v8.03, Meal-Master will attempt to align
           the quantity, unit, and name information prior to import.
           This means that ingredient lines do not have to follow the
           column alignment above, as Meal-Master will automatically
           align the quantity, unit, and name fields as long as they
           contain valid data.


  If all the following are true, the line will be interpreted as an
  ingredient heading line:

     1) Positions 1-5 contain hyphens ("-----").

     2) The line is at least 40 characters long.

     3) The center three characters of the line are not blank or
        hyphens.

     Note: The easiest way to format a line that will be accepted as a
        heading is to start with 5 hyphens, then the heading text,
        then some other special character (like "=" or "@") to at
        least position 40.

  If the line does not qualify as an ingredient line, heading line, or
  end of recipe line, as specified above, data in positions 3-77 (or
  1-75 if positions 1-2 are non-blank) will be imported as a direction
  line.

  Note: One of the most common errors in formatting a recipe for
  import is an ingredient line that has been improperly formatted.
  When this is encountered, the line is usually interpreted as a
  direction line by the program.  To help guard against this, the
  program will display an error message if it finds a line that
  appears to be a direction line FOLLOWED by a valid ingredient line.

  Note: A less common error is starting a direction line in positions
  12 or 13.  Such a line "looks" like an ingredient line with no
  quantity or unit of measure, so an error message is given if it is
  found in the Direction section.  Make sure that direction lines
  start before column 12 or after column 13.

Files can contain multiple recipes, so long as each begins with a
"header line" and ends with a "trailer" line.  Any text in the file
that is not between the header and trailer lines is ignored.

NOTE:  THIS SPECIFICATION IS ONLY VALID FOR MEAL-MASTER VERSION 7.0
       AND HIGHER, AND WILL NOT WORK PROPERLY WITH EARLIER VERSIONS.
       PLEASE OBTAIN VERSION 7.0 OR GREATER FOR PROPER RESULTS!