Binary objects

[A.C.T.]

Hi, revoluzzers :-)

I am "brand new" to Revolution, my first contacts with hypercard-like 
tools also were my last: Toolbook on Windows, about 12 years ago. I am 
currently trying to get comfortable with Revolution - or, more 
precisely, with "Transcript" - to minimize the work needed to get 
cross-platform tools.

As a "starter" I plan to "port" some older tools I did in C, which read 
in JPEG files and parse the attached headers (JFIF etc) according to 
some specific rules, handling Photoshop-chunks etc.
I understand that rewriting the decoding in "Transcript" would be best 
to get a cross-platform version. I have to admit that I find Transcript 
extremely difficult to read, at least imagining a larger project with 
complex "parsing functions". Most likely this is a question of getting 
used to Transcript.

My question now is: I have browsed the documentation but did not find a 
detailed description about how to handle binary objects. So that is why 
I described my "test project" above: I need to read in a JPEG file (no 
display needed or wanted), eventually decode it into a bitmap memory 
area (I understand this decoded bitmap is available as an object after 
the JPEG has been read in, I found something about that in the docs). 
And I need access to all header chunks in the file, so I can parse them. 
I would love to have a "C-like" language for that, since I am used to 
that for about 20 years or longer, but learning something new may be fun :-)

Could someone here point me to the right place in the documentation 
where handling binary objects and parsing them is described?

Erm, and: Is there a plain text version of the docs? I find the short 
chapters and the help-browser (on Windows) some kind of unsuportive :-)


Many thanks for your assistance,
Marc Albrecht
A.C.T. / level-2
Glinder Str. 2
27432 Ebersdorf
Deutschland
Tel. 04765-830060
Fax. 04765-830064