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*********************************** * PRINT FORMATTER * * Version 1.1 * * by * * Raymond W. Andrews, Jr. * *********************************** Program and Documentation Copyright 1987 by Raymond W. Andrews, Jr. <> All Rights Reserved LICENSE PRINT FORMATTER is copyright 1987 by Raymond W. Andrews All versions of PRINT FORMATTER are not public domain software, nor are they free software. Non-registered users are granted a limited license to use PRINT FORMATTER on a trial basis to determine if PRINT FORMATTER is suitable to their particular needs. Use of PRINT FORMATTER for any other purpose requires registration. The use of PRINT FORMATTER by any person, business, etc. for any other purpose, without registration, is forbidden. Registration allows a user to use the software on any computer, but not more than one computer at a time. PRINT FORMATTER may be obtained from any source for the purpose of using the program on a trial basis so long as the following conditions are met: PRINT FORMATTER must be copied in unmodified form, complete with this licensing information. This documentation must be included with the copy. PRINT FORMATTER may not be distributed or bundled with any other software. No charges or fees may be accepted or requested by any registered user. PRINT FORMATTER may be distributed by electronic bulletin boards as long as all of the above conditions are met. Distributors of public domain or user supported software may distribute PRINT FORMATTER subject to the above conditions on the conditions that no more that $6.00 be charged for disks and/or distribution. Corporate and site licensing is available. Please write. WHAT PRINT FORMATTER DOES Print Formatter is yet another attempt to make the printing of files easier and more flexable. My version is a little different in that it is done in menu form. I have a hard time remembering all of the necessary switches necessary to print each file a certain way. I have also tried to make installation as painless as possible. Probably the easiest way to show the main features of Print Formatter is to show you the options as they appear when the program is run. P R I N T F O R M A T T E R Version 1.1 by R. Andrews Main Menu _ Print file as is _ Set format options _ Print file with options set below _ Open another file to print _ Redirect Output to a file ------------------------------------------------------------------------ * OPTIONS * | _ Input title to print | _ Print Lines Per Page = 60 | _ Left Margin = 0 | _ Print page numbers = OFF | _ Compress Print = OFF | _ Line Spacing 1/8 inch = OFF | _ Print Cntrl Char as Alpha = OFF | _ Strip High Bit (eg. Ws codes) = OFF | _ Add Line Numbers = OFF | _ Add Forms Feed at End of Output = ON | _ # of Copies = 1 | ------------------------------------------------------------------------ File ***** is open. Output - Printer Title - As you can see, Print Formatter offers many options for changing the looks of your print and making it more readable. Each of the options will be discussed in detail later in the document. One of the nice features of the program is the ability to change the name of the main program and have more than one copy residing on disk with different defaults set. You can even install a copy for each one of your printers if you have more than one. I will discuss each of the menu options above in the following paragraphs. I advise that you read over the discriptions and then go to the install section. You may see some things you wish to change in the defaults. Files Needed The files that are included in any package that I send out are: PRNT.EXE PINSTALL.EXE PRNT.DOC PREAD.ME The file names may have been changed if you receive this program from someone else. I will refer to "PRNT.EXE" in several areas of this documentation. If your programs are different, remember to substitute your file names where applicable, or rename your files back to the original names above. STARTING PRINT FORMATTER There are two ways to start this program. The first is to type the name of the print file after the program name on the DOS command line (eg. "PRNT FILENAME.EXT"). If you do not enter the second file name, you will be asked to enter a file name in the first window that appears on the screen. If the print file name is found and opened successfully, the main program menus will appear on the screen. NOTE: All DOS path conventions are supported in the file names. CHOOSING A MENU OPTION To choose a menu option, move the cursor up or down with the arrow keys. When the cursor is beside the choice you want, hit "NEWLINE". If you are in the Main Menu, the operation you have chosen will be carried out. If you are presently in the Options Menu, hitting "NEWLINE" will cause the menu option to toggle if it is a "ON" or "OFF" flag, or ask for information if you have chosen a variable such as TITLE to be input. When "NEWLINE" is pressed at any option in the Options Menu, the cursor moves to the next menu choice. The ESCape key will return you to the Main Menu from the Options Menu. ENDING PRINT FORMATTER To exit the program, use the ESCape key while the cursor is in the Main Menu. This will close all files and clear the screen. If the cursor is in the OPTIONS menu, hit ESCape twice to exit. MAIN MENU OPTIONS Print file as is This option is use to print a "mirror image" copy of a file. No formatting is done and no top of form is sent at the end if it is not included in the print file. This option is handy if you have a document such as this one that has already been formatted. Set format options Choosing this option will put you into the Options Menu. Here you can change the different print format options that will be in effect when you print the file with the Print option below. To return to the Main Menu from the Options Menu, press the ESCape key. The format options will be discussed in detail later. Output file with options set below This choice causes the print file to be output to the device or file specified in OUTPUT at the bottom of the screen. All format options in the Options Menu are in effect and being checked as each character is output. If a file is designated as the output, # of copies is automatically set to one. The # of the copy being output is displayed in the info screen at the right. If the output is to a printer, the last thing sent to the printer will be the printer clear function code that can be installed with "PINSTALL". Open another file to print You may wish to print more than one file without leaving "PRNT". This option allows you to enter another file name to print, then tries to open the file. If the file cannot be opened, an error message will appear and you will have another chance. The current input file is displayed at the bottom of the screen. All print options are still in effect, including the title. Redirect output to a file When you choose this option, you will be asked for the name of a file you wish to send the output to. You may enter any legal path, drive, and file name recognized by DOS. After you have entered the name, the program will search to see if the file already exists. If it does, you will be asked whether you want to overwrite the file. If you choose to do so, THE FILE WILL BE DESTROYED WHEN THE OUTPUT IS STARTED. The new output file is not opened until one of the output routines is started. You may abort or change the name of the output file to keep from destroying data up to the point when you choose the output option. For this reason, if you have entered an illegal parameter or file name for the redirection, an error will not occur until the output is started. When the output to the file is finished the program will automatically direct output back to the printer. This makes sure you do not forget and overwrite the same file again and again. OPTIONS MENU Input title to print This option allows you to enter a title to print at the heading of each page of print. The title will print at the top of every page in the printout. Print lines per page The number entered here determines the number of lines that will actually be printed on the page. If a title or page numbering is in effect, 2 lines will be taken up at the top. These two lines are included in the printed line count. The character string installed in PINSTALL for the Top of Forms will determine how this number can be changed. If 13 10 is used, (see installation) this number and the LINE FEEDS TO END PAGE (also installed in PINSTALL) must add up to the total paper length. If the string is installed as a 12, you change the PRINT LINES PER PAGE at random without messing up Top of Forms setting on 11 inch paper. If there are any doubts as to what the PRINT LINES PER PAGE should be, toggle the 1/8 inch line spacing option. The lines per page are automatically changed to the correct default when that option is changed. If paper other than 11 inchs long will be used, install the Forms Feed string as 13 10 and reconfigure the LINE FEEDS TO END PAGE and LINES PER PAGE. These two figures must add up to the total lines per page. If 1/8 inch line spacing is to be used, toggle this option "ON" and then enter Lines Per Page. Otherwise the page size will default back to 11 inchs. If you enter 0 for PRINT LINES PER PAGE, the program will not insert page breaks at all. The only page breaks printed will be forms feed characters embedded in the print file. If a forms feed is encountered while LINES PER PAGE = 0, the page size will always default to 11 inches. This cannot be changed. Left Margin Determines the number of spaces printed before the first character is printed. Useful in printing source code with a left margin that is large enough to punch holes in without punching into the print. Print page numbers This is a toggle option that enables and disables page number print at the top of the page. This count is the actual count of the pages printed by Print Formatter. It has no reflection on any page numbering or page number print in the print file itself. The page number prints on the same line as the title, and a blank line will be inserted after this line is printed. Compress print This toggle being "ON" will cause the compress print string installed with "PINSTALL" to be sent to the printer before printing starts. The printer will be restored back to normal print at the end of the output according to the clear printer string also installed in "PINSTALL". Line spacing 1/8 inch This toggle behaves just like compress print above. The only real difference is that besides sending the 1/8 inch line spacing code to the printer, it also automatically causes PRINT LINES PER PAGE to change value. The PRINT LINES PER PAGE value will reflect the toggle between 66 lines per page and 88 lines per page on 11 inch paper. Print Cntrl Char as Alpha This is an option that I haven't seen in any other program. It allows you to print a file with a lot of control characters without sending the characters to the printer. Instead of sending the characters to the printer and causing the printer to change functions accordingly, the control character will be substituted by its ascii string equivalent. For example, if an escape character, decimal 27 or hex 1B, is encountered in the print file, "<ESC>" will be sent to the printer instead of the 27. This allows you to see exactly what is in the file without having to strip control characters and without having you printer changing functions every time a new control string is sent. I have used it several times creating command files (such as SC3 execute files) with printer control codes imbedded in the control strings. Carraige Returns, Form Feeds, and Tabs are not printed as control characters, but print as normal. Strip High Bit (eg. WS codes) This function does exactly what it says. All print characters are seven bit in length. Some programs, especially word processors, use the eighth bit for control purposes. With this option "ON", these extra bits are stripped off. This can be helpful if you accidently open a program source file in the wrong mode when editing. Redirect the output to a file and the extra bits will disappear. Add line numbers Adds a line number for every new line printed from the file. Comes in handy when printing program source files. Add forms feed at end of output When "ON" causes a forms feed to be added to the end of the print file. If a forms feed is already present, an extra sheet of paper will be used. It is especially useful when printing more than one copy of a file. If the file does not end with a forms feed, the first line of the next copy will not fall at the top of a page. See # of Copies on next page. # of Copies When output is being sent to a printer from the PRINT FILE WITH OPTIONS choice in the Main Menu, this number determines how many times the file will print. The number is not used if output is to a file. Only one copy will be sent to the disk. If you wish to print more than one copy of a file that you have not printed before, print 1 copy to determine whether a forms feed is needed between copies. Set the ADD FORMS FEED option above as needed and then print the remainder of the copies. The current copy being output will be displayed in the window to the right of the OPTIONS menu. Installing Print Formatter. CAUTION - MAKE A BACKUP BEFORE RUNNING "PINSTALL". Installing the program is designed to be as painless as possible. The only materials you may need are the printer control codes that came with your printer. (Unless someone has changed the codes before you receive this program, it should come formatted for IBM/EPSON compatibles.) All other installation options are personal preferance. None of the installed options will take affect until you exit the program and answer "Y" to the "SAVE" option. You may play with screen colors, etc., and abort without changing the main program. To start the install process you must know the name of the main PRINT FORMATTER file. It is shipped as "PRNT.EXE". The program will be referred to as "PRNT.EXE" throughout the rest of this document. If you are using a program that has been renamed, remember to substitute that name for "PRNT.EXE" where it is necessary. It is also assumed that all programs are on the default drive. If not, use the correct drive designator and path to access the programs. To install "PRNT.EXE", type "PINSTALL PRNT.EXE" on the command line, or just type "PINSTALL" and you will be asked for the name of the file you wish to install. The install program menus are arranged like the "PRNT" programs to make installation easy. The install screen has added an Installation Options menu and changed the information visible at the bottom of the screen. The options menu appears as follows: Installation Options 1. Main Menu Default 2. Options Menu Defaults 3. Compress Print String 4. 1/8 Line Spacing String 5. String to Clear Printer 6. Forms Feed String 7. Change Screen Colors (may not appear) 8. Line Feeds To End Page We will go thru each option one at a time. 1. Main Menu Default This install option determines where the cursor will appear when the program is initially brought up. You may wish for the cursor to be in the "Print file with options set below" all the time if you are using the program to print program source listings. Move the cursor in the main menu to the option you want and hit "NEWLINE" or "ENTER" on the keyboard and that choice will be marked. 2. Options Menu Default Here you are able set all Options Menu flags and variables except Title. Move the cursor thru the menu and chose the defaults you wish to have set each time you load the program. As an example, I set 1/8 line spacing, Print page numbers, Compress print, and Add line numbers in one version just to print out program source code in a neat, paper saving format. See the Options descriptions in this document for more info on each individual option. *NOTE: You will need your printer instruction book for the next three menu options. 3. Compress Print String The string you enter here will be sent to the printer whenever you have the Compress Print option ON in the OPTIONS MENU. You will be asked to enter a string of control codes at the bottom of the screen. THE FORMAT MUST BE CORRECT!! Enter the control string as a group of TWO digit numbers seperated by a space and ending with a "NEWLINE". The codes may be listed in your book in any of three ways. As an example, one of my printers lists the compress print command as follows: ____________________________________________________ | Command | Decimal Data | Hex. Decimal Data | |------------|------------------|--------------------| | ESC Q | 27 81 | 1B 51 | |____________|__________________|____________________| The numbers you must enter are in the Decimal Data column. This set of numbers is also used in the Basic programming examples given in most printer manuals. To enter the function code in the example above, you would enter "27 81" and "NEWLINE" on the data entry line. If one of the numbers is single digit, precede the number with a zero to make the input work correctly (eg. 09). When you hit "NEWLINE" the string will be displayed at the bottom of the screen and the Install Menu will reappear. Make sure thet "NEWLINE" the string will be displayed at the bottom of the screen and the Install Menu will reappear. Make sure the numbers agree with what you want to send to the printer. Again, make sure you use the DECIMAL DATA or the results will be unpredictable. 4. 1/8 Inch Line Spacing String This option allows you to install the control string that switches your printer to 1/8 inch line spacing, or 88 lines per 11 inch sheet. Most printers have this option, and it can save a lot of paper when printing out source code or unformatted documentation. The install instructions are basically the same as #3 above. Use the same procedure except enter the DECIMAL codes for 1/8 inch line spacing found in your printer manual. 5. String to Clear Printer This control string is sent at the end of every file sent to the printer. It is NOT sent if the file is redirected to another file. The purpose of the string is clear the printer if 1/8 line spacing has been invoked, and also clear the printer if compress print mode was used. Some printers have a code to reset all functions to a default. If your printer a code like this, use it. Other printers force you to clear each function seperately. Using the procedures outlined in #3, enter the control code to clear compress print, and then enter the control code to set the printer to 1/6 inch line spacing. The order that the two codes are entered is not really important. For example, one of my printers uses DECIMAL 18 to clear compress print, and DECIMAL 27 50 to set line spacing to 1/6 inch. When you enter this on the input line at the bottom of the screen, you can enter 18 27 50 "NEWLINE", or 27 50 18"NEWLINE". Either way will reset the printer correctly. 6. Forms Feed String Although the concept of forms feed is simple, this can be the most tricky part of this installation. There are two questions that must be answered before this installation can take place. 1. Does your printer automatically set top of form to 88 lines when the printer is set to 1/8 inch line spacing. 2. Will you always be using paper that is 11 inchs deep. The answer to the first question may have to be found by trial and error. Of my two printers, one does not set the top of form automatically when line spacing is changed, and the other one does. The books usually do not tell if this change is automatic. To determine how your printer works, install the Forms Feed string as a 12 (Forms Feed) and try it (after setting the control codes above). Print something with the 1/8 line spacing option ON. If the printer starts each page correctly at the top, the top of form was set automatically. If it does not or if you intend to print any other size paper than 11 inches deep, you must use 13 10 (Carraige Return, Line Feed) as the Forms Feed string. Using 13 10 as the line feed string will allow you to print custom length pages (eg. 5x7). When 13 10 is installed, you will also have to be concerned with the bottom margin. The margin is set in Install Option #8 below. If this margin is set to 6, then the program automatically adds 6 line feeds between the end of one page and the start of another. For this reason, the Print Lines Per Page option in the Options Menu must be set to 60 at 1/6 inch line spacing and 82 for 1/8 inch line spacing. This will result in the pages starting at the same place every time a page break is encountered. These figures will be calculated automatically for you when you toggle the 1/8 inch line option. If a 12 is installed, the lines per page can be set at random and the page alignment will not be affected (11 inch pages only). NOTE: Option #8 below will not appear if 12 is installed as the forms feed character. 7. Change Screen Colors If you are using a color moniter and do not like the colors of any or all the windows, you can change most parts of the screen with this option. (You will be given an error message if the computor is not in the color mode.) The parts of the screen in the Color Install menu are pretty much self-explanatory and I don't feel that it is necessary to go into detail on them. I will give the procedure for changing colors, and it will apply to all parts of the screen. When the new menu comes up, you can enter the number of the screen section you wish to change. You will then see the available background colors at the bottom of the screen. Enter the number of the color you wish to have as the background. Now a second line of colors will appear and you will be asked for a foreground color. Entering a two digit number for the color or entering 1 digit and "NEWLINE" will end this entry (eg. to enter blue you can press "1 NEWLINE" or press "01"). The menu will appear back on the screen and the screen updated with the new colors. The colors that appear on the screen when you exit "PINSTALL" will be the colors installed in "PRNT" if you "SAVE" the installation. 8. Line Feeds to End Page This option has already been discussed in option #6 above. You will not see this line if 12 is entered for the Forms Feed string. It will appear automatically when you set the string to 13 10. The number entered here will determine the number of lines between print at each page break. (If a Forms Feed is encountered in the middle of a page, the correct number of line feeds to reach the top of the next page will be figured automatically.) See #6 above for a detailed explanation. To Exit Install Program When all options have been set to your satisfaction, press the ESCape key to exit. At this point you will be asked to answer (Y)es or (N)o to save the installation and update "PRNT.EXE". If you press "Y" the changes will be written into the "PRNT.EXE" file and the program will end. No other files will be created, as all changes are written directly into the program file (Saves directory space). If you hit (N) to answer the question, no changes will take affect and the program will end. PINSTALL will not be used again until you wish to make a change in the main PRINT FORMATTER program. You can remove the PINSTALL program from your work disk and save it elsewhere until you need it again. WARRANTY PRINT FORMATTER, whether it be named "PRNT.EXE", or changed to any other name, plus all support files, including PINSTALL and this documentatin, are copyright 1987 by Raymond W. Andrews. This program and documentation are distributed "as is". There is no warranty, implied or expressed, of any kind regarding the programs and/or documentation distributed in this package. The user(s) of these programs and documentation agree to hold neither the distributer(s) (bulletin boards,etc.) nor the author responsible for any damages of any kind resulting from the use of this product. WORDS AND HINTS FROM THE AUTHOR This program was not designed to replace the print formatting capabilities of the many different word processors on the market. It can be used in conjuction with them however. Many word processors do not allow for printing multiple copies. You have to sit in front of the computer and output each copy seperately. Many have provisions to direct output to a file however. If you send the print to a file and then use this program to get multiple copies, you should get most of the formatting available from the word processor. You may lose special print functions such as boldface or underline. You will have to experiment with this. Print 1 copy as outlined in the # of copies to determine if you end on a full page. The install program lets you get inventive if you want to. If you have no need to use compress print or 1/8 inch line spacing, you can substitute any function string when you run PINSTALL. If you would rather have an option to toggle near letter quality print mode, you can install this string instead. You can also send several functions at once. By installing the correct string, you can invoke near letter quality and compress printing at the same time (if your printer supports both functions together). Just remember to install the clear strings necessary to clear all functions installed. If you wish to print multiple copies of a pre-formatted file such as this document, set the OPTIONS as follows: NO TITLE Print lines per page = 0 Left Margin = 0 Print page numbers = OFF Compress Print = OFF Line Spacing 1/8 inch = OFF Print Cntrl Char as Alpha = OFF Strip High Bit = OFF Add line numbers = OFF Add Forms Feed print 1 copy to determine I hope you find many uses for this program and find it easy to use. If you find any problems or have any suggestions that might improve the performance, usabilty, or looks of the program, please write and let me know. I will try to answer each inquiry as quickly as possible, registered users of course getting first priority. If you are a non-registered user, please send a SASE for a reply. Raymond W. Andrews 6406 Whitt Rd. Durham, N. C. 27712 Order Form Please send: ______ Standard registration (no disk) @ $10.00 _____ ______ Registration and latest version @ $15.00 _____ on disk. (DOS 2.X and higher) Double sided disk (360k). Total Enclosed ______ Make checks or money orders out to (No COD or charges): Raymond W. Andrews 6406 Whitt Rd. Durham, N.C. 27712 NAME ___________________________________________________ ADDRESS ________________________________________________ CITY _________________ STATE __________ ZIP _________ Please list any suggestions or comments about the program in the space below.