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Text File | 1994-02-03 | 13.8 KB | 353 lines

CPRINT.EXE IS A PROGRAM SOURCE CODE AND ASCII FILE PRINTING UTILITY. CPRINT can INTELLIGENTLY handle a print request for MULTIPLE files such that the files are CORRECTLY printed on BOTH sides (optional) of the paper. This is great for printing hardcopy of large documents (eg. PROCOMM.DOC) or many small files (eg. source code for your 200 function C lib). The resulting output is arranged just like a book - page 1 & 2 of the first file are on opposite sides of the same piece of paper. CPRINT will page break when the default line count is reached (/L switch) or when it encounters an ASCII form feed in the file. You can add a top margin (great for EPSON printers). You can print or not print the files date & time info as a page header. You can add a left margin to all lines of the file (allows 3 hole punch without punching through text). File List --------- The distribution files are: CPRINT.DOC - this documentation file. CPRINT.EXE - the executable program. Program Usage ------------- cprint [filespec] [switches] OPTIONAL COMMAND LINE SWITCHES: ( where "xx" equals a number) /Ixxx[,xxx,xxx....] decimal printer initialization code(s). (ex: /I027,013,070 -or- /I027,064 etc.) /Mxx defines left margin to add to every print line (default=0). /Wxx defines total maximum line width (default=80). /Cxx defines number of copies to print (default=1). /H do NOT print file's date/time info as page header. useful for printing pre-formatted documents. /Txx defines top margin to add (default=0). /Lxx defines maximum print lines per page in addition to the top margin (default=54 (66 if /H used)). /Ofile send output to a file rather than the printer (Ex: /Ostuff will send the output to the file STUFF) /1 print pages which go on front side of paper (see NOTES). /2 print pages which go on back side of paper (see NOTES). /S split such that each file is on a unique set of pages. (do NOT print the first page of a new file on the back of the last page of the previous file.) NOTES: Filespec may contain pathnames & wildcards. To print on both sides of paper: print with /1, turn the paper over, re-print with /2. /S only applies to /1 and /2. /C is disabled by /1 and /2. /O output is appended to the file if it already exists, otherwise the file is created. WARNING: -------- If the /O option is used to re-route the output to a file for the purpose of editing or viewing the output prior to printing, some cautions are in order. Because of the way some printers handle the formfeed character, CPRINT always follows a formfeed character with a carriage return character. Be sure your edit or view program will retain/display this character combination or you may get/see incorrect results. Also ensure that your editor will not change or discard any other printer control codes which might be in the text or you may get incorrect results when the output is printed. For example, the control code sequence to put my printer into Diablo 630 emulation mode is ESC CR P (27 13 80 decimal). When my editor reads a file starting with this sequence it interprets the CR as a command and immediately backspaces - erasing the ESC and leaving only the P. Another example would be a line which ENDS with a formfeed. CPRINT puts this line out terminated with a single CR (no linefeed). Some editors will execute the CR upon reading the file and effectively delete the line. Also some file view programs will execute the CR and then display the following line over the top of the line ending with the formfeed-CR (effectively preventing it from being displayed). BE CAREFUL. Some Examples ------------- Print files with file date & time info as page heading, 54 text lines per page, using front of paper only (all defaults). CPRINT D:\LC\USER\SRC\*.C Same as above but add an 8 character left margin and print on both sides of the paper (put your printer in 12 CPI mode first). CPRINT D:\LC\USER\SRC\*.C /M8 /W88 /1 when 1st pass printout is completed flip paper over then enter: CPRINT D:\LC\USER\SRC\*.C /M8 /W88 /2 Notice in the second example I told CPRINT to use an 88 character line width. The default width is 80. If the total print width (left margin + text) is greater than the /W parameter CPRINT will break the line, linefeed, space over by the left margin amount, then print the balance of the line. Since we put the printer in 12 CPI mode we needed to tell CPRINT that 88 characters would fit on the print line so that input lines longer than 72 characters would not be needlessly split. This effectively centers an 80 character wide line on the 96 character wide page with 8 character left and right margins. The /I switch ------------- This switch can be very useful when printing on both sides of the paper. For instance, I use a text formatter which puts a string of printer intialization codes at the beginning of the document to put the printer in LETTER QUALITY mode. When the printer is turned off in order to turn the paper over prior to printing the back side it goes back into DRAFT mode. The /I switch can be used during the second pass to put the printer back in LETTER QUALITY mode (since page one and the control codes it contains won't be printed during the second pass). The /S switch ------------- This switch can be used in conjunction with /1 and /2 to control the interleaving of multiple files when printing on both sides of the paper. Suppose we have two files - FILEA containing 3 pages of data and FILEB containing 2 pages of data. If we wish to print on both sides of the paper we can print the files with or without interleaving: Without /S ---------- CPRINT FILE? /1 then CPRINT FILE? /2 This will produce the following page layout: sheet 1 front side - page 1 of FILEA sheet 1 back side - page 2 of FILEA sheet 2 front side - page 3 of FILEA <--- files sheet 2 back side - page 1 of FILEB <--- interleaved sheet 3 front side - page 2 of FILEB sheet 3 back side - blank Notice that page 3 of FILEA and page 1 of FILEB are printed on opposite sides of the same piece of paper. With /S ------- CPRINT FILE? /S /1 then CPRINT FILE? /S /2 This will produce the following page layout: sheet 1 front side - page 1 of FILEA sheet 1 back side - page 2 of FILEA sheet 2 front side - page 3 of FILEA <--- files sheet 2 back side - blank <--- split sheet 3 front side - page 1 of FILEB sheet 3 back side - page 2 of FILEB Notice that each file is printed on a unique set of sheets when /S is used. Line Length ----------- CPRINT will start a new print line whenever a Carriage Return/Line Feed sequence is encountered in the input file OR the line length (as set by the /W switch) is reached. The program attempts to account for non-printing characters when making these decisions (embedded printer control codes). This is critical only when an input line's length exceeds the /W line length due to embedded control codes. CPRINT does NOT count any of the following as printed characters when calculating printed line length: - Characters less than ASCII Space (32) - ANY single character immediately following an ASCII Escape (27) For instance, if the physical line length is 84, the /W length is 80, and the line contains two 2 character long printer control sequences - the last four characters will NOT be printed on the next line because CPRINT understands that 4 of the characters were control codes and did not move the printhead. However, if the 84 character long line does not contain any control codes then it will be split and the last 4 characters will be printed by themselves on the next line. There is one situation where this falls flat - some printers have control sequences composed of an ESCAPE CHARACTER FOLLOWED BY TWO OR MORE NON-CONTROL CODE CHARACTERS. For example: ESC A H This will be considered TWO non-printed characters (ESC + single character following it - A). Therefore CPRINT will think the printhead has moved right one character more than it actually has (due to the H). The /W switch can be used to compensate accordingly. I have found it virtually impossible to build a program capable of interpreting all of the various control code sequences used by all of the printer manufacturers. I do not see this as a significant problem given the programs intent - to print source code and on-line documentation files. Programmers Example ------------------- Given the following inputs: CPRINT PTD*.C /M8 /W88 /1 then CPRINT PTD*.C /M8 /W88 /2 CPRINT printed 40 some files encompassing 115 pages with page breaks, left margins for 3 hole punch, descriptive file information as page headers, and correctly interleaved on both sides of the 58 sheets of paper. Just like a book. Need I say more? Restrictions ------------ o MS-DOS Version 2.0 or later is required for versions thru 4.6. o OS/2 Version 1.0 or later is required for version 5.0. o MS-DOS Version 2.0 or later -OR- OS/2 Version 1.0 or later is required for version 5.02 and above. CPRINT is supplied for personal, private use. Feel free to distribute CPRINT given these restrictions: o the program shall be supplied in its original, unmodified form, which includes this documentation and all other files in the distribution list. o no fee is charged. o commmercial use is prohibited. o the program may NOT be included - or bundled - with other goods or services. If you are using CPRINT and find it of value, any contribution would be greatly appreciated ($10 suggested). I would like to thank all of the users who have provided feedback and bug reports. I never dreamed how many strange character and format combinations appear in many of the text files floating around out there. I am sure that we have not yet uncovered and addressed all of them. Keep the feedback coming and I'll keep trying to improve CPRINT. Contributions and problem reports may be sent to: Larry I. Smith 808 Shenandoah Dr. Plano, Texas 75023 Revision History ---------------- o v3.9 - First public release. o v4.0 - Added support for embedded printer codes. o v4.1 - Corrected logic to handle lines containing an embedded CR. Some formatters use this method to emulate bold and underlining. o v4.2 - Internal housekeeping. o v4.3 - Corrected a bug associated with lines which start with a CR and contain more than the CR. o v4.4 - Replaced fopen/fprintf function calls with open/write function calls. Some pc clones running versions of MS-DOS 2.x do not always write to the printer correctly using fopen/fprintf. - Added CPRINTS.EXE to the archive. This is CPRINT.EXE with the full screen editor input feature for page layout info (/P switch) removed so that users with non IBM compatible pc's won't crash their system trying to use the full screen mode. o v4.5 - Corrected a logic error that caused the page break for page 2 to be calculated incorrectly for some files. This only affected files which used CR's rather than FF's to space pages. - Added the /O option to allow routing of output to a file rather than the printer. o v4.6 - Added the /I option to allow sending printer initialization codes. - Deleted CPRINT from the archive and renamed CPRINTS to CPRINT. The full screen editor option (/P switch) in the original CPRINT just caused too many problems with too many PC clones. o v5.0 - OS/2 Protected mode only version. o v5.02 - Merged OS/2 and MS-DOS versions into one Family API program which can run under either operating system. Now requires Microsoft C v5.10 or higher and the OS/2 Programmers Tool Kit to compile.