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Page 1 D R . F O R M (tm) _________ ______|__ | (R) Version 3.2 __| | |__________________ | ______|__ | Association of Copyright 1991-1995 | | |___| Shareware |__| O | Professionals by Russ Irwin _____| | |______________________ |____|____| MEMBER Shareware Magazine Editor's Choice Award (Nov/Dec 1993) DR. FORM is a trademark of IrwinWare ________________________________________________________________________ TABLE OF CONTENTS Page Chapter 1 INSTALLING DR. FORM..................................2 Installing Dr. Form..............................2 Using Dr. Form With Windows......................3 Chapter 2 INTRODUCTION.........................................3 Introduction To Dr. Form.........................3 On-line Lessons..................................4 Chapter 3 MENU PAGE............................................5 Fill In A Form...................................6 New Master Form & Edit Master Form...............7 Delete A Form....................................8 Exit.............................................8 Chapter 4 WORKING ON A FORM....................................8 Typestyle.......................................10 Option Line.....................................11 IBM Extended Character Set......................12 Other Useful Keys...............................12 Moving Around In A Form.........................14 Time And Date...................................15 Making Labels...................................16 Overlay Form....................................17 Chapter 5 MAJOR FUNCTIONS.....................................17 Highlighting Areas..............................17 UNDO Feature....................................18 Move............................................18 Copy............................................18 Erase...........................................19 Make Grid.......................................19 Draw Lines......................................20 Duplicate.......................................20 Fill............................................21 Set Columns.....................................22 Other Options...................................22 Page 2 Chapter 6 TABS................................................23 Chapter 7 SAVING A FORM.......................................23 Chapter 8 PRINTING A FORM.....................................25 Chapter 9 PRINTING WITH LASER PRINTERS........................26 Landscape printing with laser printers..........29 Chapter 10 POSSIBLE PROBLEMS AND SOLUTIONS.....................29 Chapter 1 --- INSTALLING DR. FORM --- There is a file that comes with Dr. Form called PACKING.LST It lists all the files and forms that should be on your disk. You may want to print it out. To print it on your printer, type PRINT PACKING.LST If you downloaded Dr. Form from a Bulletin Board and unZIPPED in the directory that you will be using it from then it is ready to go. No installation is necessary. If you are installing Dr. Form from a floppy disk, or want to install it to a different directory on your hard disk, just type INSTALL and follow the directions on the screen. The install program will create the file DF.BAT in your root directory so that you can run it from there. Install will also copy the file DF.PIF to your Windows directory if it exists (see using Dr. Form With Windows). When installation is complete, just type DF to run Dr. Form. UPGRADING FROM EARLIER VERSIONS If you are currently using an earlier version of DR. FORM, use the INSTALL program to upgrade to DR. FORM 3.2. You might also want to check the names of the files in PACKING.LST against any forms that you have created yourself with an earlier version. In any case, the first time you use the program, make sure that your printer selection hasn't changed. If it has, then simply re-select it. Page 3 USING DR. FORM WITH WINDOWS Dr. Form now comes with its own Windows install program called WINSET.EXE. If you used the INSTALL program to install Dr. Form, WINSET will be run automatically afterwards, otherwise you can run WINSET by itself later. WINSET will create a Program Group and Icon to run Dr. Form in Windows. (You also have the choice not to use it) IMPORTANT NOTE: To use WINSET you *MUST* have installed Dr. Form to the default directory C:\DR_FORM If you installed to a different directory, then you will have to add your own Program Group. (See your Windows users guide) Dr. Form is now ready to use with Windows. NOTE: DF.PIF is set up to tell Windows to look for Dr. Form in the directory C:\DR_FORM. If you have installed Dr. Form in another directory, you will have to use Windows' PIF EDITOR to reflect the Path to Dr. Form. For example, if you have Dr. Form in the directory C:\FORM, you will have to change PROGRAM FILENAME to C:\FORM\DF.EXE Chapter 2 --- INTRODUCTION --- Dr. Form is an easy to use, comprehensive program, that will have you designing your own forms in very little time. At first, Dr. Form may seem a little complicated, but that is only because Dr. Form DOES SO MUCH. You needn't learn everything at once, and there are features that you may never use. On the other hand, the HELP screens are so good that most people can be up and using Dr. Form in just minutes, without ever reading this manual. The HELP screens are also "context sensitive". This means that you get help with JUST what you are doing at the time. For example, if you are in Draw Lines Mode, you will only get help with drawing lines. If you ask for HELP (always available by pressing ALT-H, or Clicking Help) when ready to print out a form, you will get help on printing. Dr. Form makes forms up to 81 Rows, by up to 136 Columns, with column settings at 80, 96, 110, 132 and 136. These values (except for the 96) were selected because they happen to be the printing width of Page 4 most printers on the market, but you will learn tricks to printing forms greater than your printer width and still have them fit. An 80 Column printer can print 96 characters when printing at 12 CPI (characters per inch). See the section on printing (Page 25). Dr. Form includes features such as Move, Copy and Erase blocks of characters. Duplicate characters, Draw Lines with the Mouse or cursor keys and Fill in areas. It also has an Automatic Grid Maker. Load ASCII files saved from other programs and dress them up. Save your forms in an ASCII format to import into other programs. Dr. Form gives you access to the entire IBM Extended Character Set. Create a Master Form and then fill it in with FILL IN Mode. Depending on your printer, Dr. Form will print Normal, Bold, Italic, Underline, Condensed, Superscript, Subscript, Double Width, Double Height and in combinations of these. To make using Dr. Form even easier, there are Lessons that you can load in, and then following the instructions on screen, you will get "hands on" experience using some of the functions of Dr. Form. With Dr. Form you have the ability to print on pre-printed forms. Make Master Forms and then make copies of them, or take them to your local Print Shop and have copies made. Then use Dr. Form to fill in the form "on screen". Next use the "Fill In Only" feature to fill in the pre-printed form. There is no need anymore to print out the entire form, but that is still available if you desire it. You can also create "templates" to fill in forms such as American Express Forms. One is included in the forms that you received. You now can switch back and forth between color and monochrome when in "FILL IN Mode". This makes it a little easier on your eyes when filling in a form. The parts that you fill in will still be in color, but all of the Master Form will be the same color. Make labels and pre-address envelopes. (See the section on MAKING LABELS. Page 16) You have the option of having the cursor location given in Row & Column, or in Inches. You can also select whether the Screen cursor or the Mouse cursor is tracked. This can be very useful when designing your forms. You can print multiple forms (up to 99) without exiting Print Mode. You also now can change your printer selection without exiting Print Mode. Dr. Form has both a manual and automatic TIME & DATE Stamp. (See Time and Date. Page 15). All these features are available with the Click of the Mouse or only one or two keystrokes "while" you are working on your form. ON-LINE LESSONS To make learning Dr. Form even easier, there are 7 On-line Lessons. Experience is the best teacher, so with these lessons you can learn by 'hands on' experience. Just follow the directions on the screen. The first 6 Lessons should be loaded by the third menu choice: Page 5 "Edit Master Form". Lesson 7 should be loaded by the first menu choice: "Fill In a Form". At the end of each lesson you are cautioned not to save any changes. This is in case you (or someone else) want to go back over them again for more practice. If you have backup copies of the Lessons, then go ahead and save them if you want. Chapter 3 --- MENU PAGE --- Mouse users can just "Click" on any function. Keyboard users can use the TAB, in combination with the Arrow keys, or press the ALT key and the highlighted letter. The Menu Page is the first screen that you will come to. The Menu choices are: Fill In a Form New Master Form Edit Master Form Delete a Form Exit (ALT X) To the right of the Master Menu is the File List. This lists the Forms in alphabetical order. to scan the files use the Page Up, Page Down, Arrow Keys, or with the mouse, use the scroll bar on the right. If you know the first letter of the file you are looking for just press that letter on the keyboard. To select the form just press ENTER, or with the mouse "Double Click" on it. This and the "Path" box are the ONLY two occasions where you need to Double Click. Everything else is performed with a Single Click. Dr. Form files will have one these extensions: .FM_ A Master Form .FMS A Form saved in Fill In Mode .FM@ A Form saved in an ASCII format ALT H - Always available for Help. Help is context sensitive. That is, it will be given for whatever area of the program that you are in. ALT R - Allows you to change the Path and Drive so that you can load & and save Forms from, and to, different paths and drives. ALT A Left Clicking the down arrow in the Drive Box will drop it down to show what valid drives your computer has. In the Path Box your must "Double Click", or press ENTER to make a selection. ALT F - Toggles back and forth between Dr. Form Files and All Files. When All Files are shown you can load any Ascii file as long as it doesn't contain lines longer than 136 characters maximum. An Ascii file will be truncated after the 63rd line if it is longer. Page 6 About the only time you would use this is to load an ASCII file from another program. For example, let's say you had a LOTUS 123 file that you had saved in ASCII format as MYFILE.TXT. You would use ALT-F and load MYFILE.TXT. When you Save it with Dr. Form it will make a Dr. Form File with one of the Dr. Form extensions. MYFILE.TXT will "still" exist. Dr. Form will attempt to load any file that is not a .COM, .EXE, .FM_, or a .FMS file, as if it were an ASCII file (with .BAK files, a check will be made first to see if is a .BAK file of a Master Form). ALT P - Use to select the Printer you are using. If you can't find yours, experiment to find the one closest to it. Look in your printer manual to find out which Epson or IBM model it will emulate. Selection Plain Printer will work on almost any printer but will only print the Ascii characters and will not support Bold, Italics, etc. Plain Printer is the default that Dr. Form comes with. There is a file called PRTTEST.FM_ that you can load that will test the capabilities of your printer. If your printer is not listed, you can use this test to select the printer that most closely matches yours. ALT U - Will return to the default drive and path that Dr. Form was run from. ESC - Will cancel any activity that you are doing. NOTE: When working on a Form, Right Clicking the mouse is the same as pressing the ESC key. However, when a WINDOW is open, the right mouse button has no effect. The window must be closed first. Now lets go back to the Menu: FILL IN A FORM You can load forms that have already been created as a Master Form in this mode to fill in. If you select a Master Form with the .FM_ extension you will notice that it now has the extension .FMS and when you save it it will be saved with this extension, however, the Master Form "will still exist" with the .FM_ extension. The next time that you want to fill it in, just select the filename with the .FMS extension. You can partially fill in a form, save it, and come back later to finish. You may want to fill in the information that won't change, such as your name, address, company name, etc. Then save it with the .FMS extension. This will keep you from having to retype this information each time you fill in a form. You can also use the CTRL-A and CTRL-E functions to clear from part of a line, up to the whole form. In Fill In Mode these two CTRL keys "only" affect the parts that have been filled in, and have no effect at all on the protected characters of the Master Form. These two CTRL keys will also be covered later. Page 7 All of the characters of the Master Form are "protected" in Fill In mode and cannot be written over. The exception to this is the "Underline" character (_). Underlines can be written on and, when printed, will underline anything that was written on them. Even though, on the screen, it seems that the underline is written over, it still retains the underline attribute. You will notice that when you space (or backspace) over these characters that the underline is still there. The spacebar will "go through" protected characters without harming them. All blank spaces can be written on in FILL IN Mode. If you have set TABS (setting Tabs will be covered later; See Page 23) at the locations that you want to fill in, then just press the TAB key to go to the next location (or Shift-Tab to back up). The ENTER key will go to the first tab below the Row that you are currently on. This makes filling in forms a breeze. In this mode you can use CTRL-M to toggle back and forth between color and monochrome for the protected characters. Master Forms can tend to get pretty colorful, and while this is useful in visualizing what the finished product will look like, it can be a hindrance when you just want to fill in the form. When in the monochrome mode, all the protected characters will be one color, but the parts that you fill in will still be in whatever color they would normally be. This tends to be easier on the eye when filling in forms. Also, in this mode, you can choose to print the entire form, or just to fill in the blanks on pre-printed forms. We will cover that under "Printing" (Page 25). NEW MASTER FORM & EDIT MASTER FORM As the titles indicate, these two selections either create a new Master Form or let you edit a Master Form. It is advisable to only load files with the .FM_ extension. To load an ASCII file from another program, either rename it in DOS with the .FM@ extension, or do an ALT-F, find it on the list, and then load it. Once an ASCII file is loaded and saved with Dr. Form, it will become a Master Form with the .FM_ extension (the original ASCII file will still exist). In both of these selections "Anything Goes"! You have access to all of the functions of Dr. Form. These will be covered one by one as we go on. You may load a .FMS form in MASTER Mode. Unlike when you load an ASCII file, the "unprotected" characters (if there are any) will stay "unprotected" and the protected characters will stay protected. Anything that you change, however, will become a part of the Master Form. When you save it now, it will be saved with the .FM_ extension and NOT the .FMS extension it was loaded under. The original .FMS form won't be changed. Sound confusing? That is why it is "not recommended" to load a .FMS form in MASTER Mode. The preferred way is to make any Page 8 changes to the original Master Form, save it, and then reload it in FILL IN Mode. The ability to do this, however, is there because it can (at times) be an advantage for advanced users. When you select New Master Form you will be asked to specify how many columns that you want it to be. Use the cursor keys to make your choice. You can always change it later while working on the form by selecting "Columns". When you save a form, the number of columns is saved with it. NOTE: The 110, 132 and 136 Column settings are for use on "wide carrage" printers. If you have an 80 Column printer (or a laser printer) don't exceed 96 columns. DELETE A FORM Delete a Form does just what it says so be very careful when using this function. Dr. Form has a built in safeguard in that .COM files and .EXE files cannot be deleted, but everything else is fair game. So, once again, be careful when deleting. EXIT (ALT X) Exits back to DOS. ALT X will also exit to DOS. Chapter 4 --- WORKING ON A FORM --- MOUSE USERS There is one major rule when using the mouse: DON'T DRAG THE MOUSE. While it won't hurt anything, you won't get the desired results. Dr. Form is set up to "point and click". The ONLY exception to this is that when a "Window" is showing, it may be moved around the screen by positioning the cursor in the title bar and dragging it around. Windows will stay in the position that you put them. When working on a form, and none of the Major Functions are invoked, Left Clicking the mouse will reposition the screen cursor to that position. Right Clicking the mouse is the same as pressing the ESC key. The only exception is that when a "Window" is showing, Right Clicking has no effect. The Window must be closed first. Page 9 THE FIRST ROW The first row lists the Major Functions of Dr. Form. It will be covered in the next Chapter. THE 24th ROW The 24th row is mainly for mouse users although when a feature has a "highlighted" letter it is available to keyboard users by pressing the ALT key plus the highlighted letter. On the left and right sides are the scroll characters. The arrows will scroll 1 row, or 1 column, while the others will scroll a full page. Left Clicking on "IBM Character Set" will toggle the window immediately below it open and closed. When it is open, Left Clicking on the "+" and "-" will scroll through the IBM Extended Character Set. The numbers 1-10 correspond to the function keys. Pressing the corresponding function key will print that character on the screen. "MouseSc" turns MouseScroll on and off. When MouseScroll is on, scrolling is accomplished by simply pushing the mouse cursor against the edges of the screen. When a Major Function is in use, MouseScroll is "Locked" on. To invoke a Major Function on the 1st row when MouseScroll is turned on, first Right Click the mouse once. This will "temporairly" turn off MouseScroll to give you access to the 1st row. To the right of MouseSc is an area that will display, when appropriate, either "End" or "UnDo". When "End" is displayed, Left Clicking on it is the same as pressing the END key. When "UnDo" is displayed, it will UNDO the last major thing that you did. To activate "UnDo" from the keyboard press ALT O. To the right of this is "Help". Left Click on it, or press ALT H, to invoke Help. THE 25th ROW The 25th line is the STATUS LINE. On the far left will be the name of the form that you are working on. A Master Form will be in light red while a .FMS form will be in light blue. Next will be the type of form - MASTER or Fill In - with the same color scheme. The next area will either be how many columns, or 10 of the IBM Extended Character Set. This area is toggled by Left Clicking on it or by doing a CTRL 0 (above the letter keys on the keyboard). This will be covered shortly. Page 10 Now comes the type of print you will be using (Normal, Bold, etc.). This will be shown in the color that appears on the screen as you are typing. Normal will show up as green and anything you type will be in green. Italic will be red, and so on. Anything bold will have a blue background. The last thing on the status line is the cursor position. This will either be in Row & Column, or in inches. This is toggled back and forth by doing a ALT-J and is remembered between sessions. Using inches can be very useful when laying out a new form. TYPESTYLE Dr. Form uses a color code to show what kind of typestyle you are using. This is very helpful in that you can see at a glance what will be printed as normal, bold, italic, etc. To select a typestyle use the ALT and letter key for the typestyle that you want, or select "Other" from the first row. NOTE: When using the CTRL & ALT keys, "hold down" the CTRL or ALT key, press whatever keys that you desire, and "only then" release the CTRL or ALT key. Here are the typestyles, ALT-key combination and colors associated: Normal ALT N Green Normal Bold ALT N + B Green (Blue Background) Normal Underline ALT N + U Light Green Normal Bold Underline ALT N + B + U Light Green (Blue Bkgd) Italic ALT I Red Italic Bold ALT I + B Red (Blue Background) Italic Underline ALT I + U Light Red Italic Bold Underline ALT I + B + U Light Red (Blue Bkgd) Double Width ALT W Brown Double Width Bold ALT W + B Brown (Blue Background) Double Width Underline ALT W + U Yellow Double Width Bold Underline ALT W + B + U Yellow (Blue Background) Double Height ALT T Magenta Double Height Bold ALT T + B Magenta (Blue Background) Double Height Underline ALT T + U Light Magenta Double Height Bold Underline ALT T + B + U Light Magenta (Blue Bkgd) Double Width Double Height ALT D White D-Wide D-High Bold ALT D + B White (Blue Background) D-Wide D-High Underline ALT D + U Bright White D-Wide D-High Bold Underline ALT D + B + U Bright White (Blue Bkgd) (ALT X may be substituted for ALT D) Superscript ALT S Light Blue Subscript ALT P Blue Page 11 Condensed ALT C Gray SHORTCUTS: If you are already in a particular typestyle, it is not necessary to do the first ALT Key if you are going to stay in that typestyle. For example: If you are in Italic and want to do Italic Bold, just do an ALT B (it is not necessary to do the ALT I again). NOTE on Double Width & Double Height characters: All Double Width characters are followed by a small dot. This is for continuity on the screen, and more importantly is used for printing purposes (don't worry, the dot isn't printed). This small dot is NECESSARY and you will notice that the cursor can't be placed under it. It is possible with the MOVE, COPY and ERASE functions to erase the dot without the character that goes with it, so be "careful" when using these functions. A Double Width character without it's corresponding dot (or vice versa) will print with erratic results. You must (on your own) leave a blank space above each Double Height character (for obvious reasons). Because of this you can't have a Double Height character on the first line. THE OPTION LINE When you are done working of a form Right Click the mouse or press ESC. This will give you the Option Line. You now have five choices of what to do: 1. SAVE This option will let you save the form to disk. See chapter 7 - Saving a Form 2. QUIT Press the letter "Q" or Left Click on it to quit working on a form and go back to the Menu Page. If you have made any changes and forgot to save them, you will first be asked if you want to save them. The line will read: Enter Y to Save Changes. N to Discard Pressing the letter "Y" will take you to the choices for saving a form. Pressing the letter "N" will leave the form as it was when you loaded it and take you back to the Menu Page. 3. PRINT This option will let you print out your form on your printer. See chapter 8 - Printing a Form 4. TABS This option will let you set Tabs on your form. See chapter 6 - Setting Tabs 5. ESC Will return you to working on your form. Page 12 IBM EXTENDED CHARACTER SET Dr. Form has access to the entire IBM Extended Character Set except for characters 249 and 255. Character 249 is the small dot used with Double Width characters. Character 255 (a blank) is used for internal purposes. To open the window for the IBM Extended Characters either Left Click on it or do an ALT 0 (the number 0 that appears above the letter keys on the keyboard). Press ALT 0 again to close it. To scroll through these characters Left Click on the "+" and "-" or use ALT + or ALT - (the two keys to the right of the 0 key). You will notice that these characters are numbered 1 thru 10. Each number corresponds to the Function Key of that number. Just press the Function Key corresponding to the number of the character and that character will be printed on the screen. Many printers do not support the lower part of the IBM Extended Character Set (although some support the heart, diamond, club & spade). The characters that are not supported by the printer that you have selected will appear gray on the screen. You can still put them on your form, but if they are not supported, a space will be printed instead of the character. OTHER USEFUL KEYS CTRL SHIFT F9 INSERT COLUMN. This function "inserts" a blank vertical column at the cursor location. Everything, starting at the column where the cursor is, is pushed to the right one column. To insert a column: Hold down the CTRL and SHIFT Keys together and then press the F9 Key. The reason that this function requires three keys is to prevent accidental use of it. You can mess up a form much more by inserting or deleting a column accidentally, than by inserting or deleting a row. Even still, be careful that you don't lose anything off of the right end of the form when inserting a column. NOTE: N/A in FILL IN Mode. CTRL SHIFT F10 DELETE COLUMN. This function "deletes" a column at the cursor location. It is the opposite of INSERT COLUMN. Everything in the column at the cursor location will be deleted and everything to the right of the cursor will shift left one column. To delete a column: Hold down the CTRL and SHIFT Keys together and then press the F10 Key. Page 13 NOTE: N/A in FILL IN Mode. SHIFT INSERT INSERT ROW. Inserts a new blank row immediately above the cursor. NOTE: N/A in FILL IN Mode. SHIFT DELETE DELETE ROW. Deletes the row that the cursor is on. NOTE: N/A in FILL IN Mode. CTRL C This centers either the whole line, or text within a box. To center the whole line, position the screen cursor on the "first" column in that line. When the whole line is centered, it is centered according to how many columns the form has (80, 96, 110, 132 or 136). Centering within a box works like this. When CTRL C is pressed, each position to the left and right of the screen cursor is checked looking for a "verticle line drawing character". Text is then centered between the two line drawing characters. If only one line drawing character is found, text is centered between it and the first or last position on the line. If no line drawing characters are found then the whole line is centered. NOTE: Centering is N/A in FILL IN Mode. CTRL A This erases everything on the form, starting at the cursor location, up until the end of the form. For example, if the cursor is in the middle of the form, that's where erasing will start. Anything before that location is unaffected. NOTE: In "FILL IN Mode" all protected characters of the Master Form are unaffected. Only the parts that you have filled in will be erased and all "underlines" from the Master Form will be restored. CTRL E This is the same as CTRL A, except it only affects whatever is on the same "Row" as the cursor. All other rows are untouched. CTRL F This prints a cyan highlighted space on the form. It is a non-printing character. It is used to disable the Form Feed when the form is printed. See the section on "Making Labels" at the end of this chapter (Page 16). CTRL D This prints the current date or time starting at the cursor & location. It is only as accurate as the date and time in CTRL T your computers memory. NOTE: In "FILL IN Mode" if there is not enough room to fit the whole date or time before a protected character is Page 14 encountered, then printing stops at the protected character. See section on Time & Date Stamps (page xx). CTRL M This feature is only active in "FILL IN Mode". It toggles the screen between color and monochrome mode "only" for the protected characters of the Master Form. What you fill in is still in color. ALT J This toggles the cursor location (shown on the 25th line) between "Row & Column" and "Inches". When set to Inches, horizontal measurement is made according to how many CPI (characters per inch) you have selected in your printer setup. To check this press ESC, or Right Click the mouse, and then select "Print". Select "Cancel" to go back to working on your form. ALT K This toggles whether the "screen" cursor or the "mouse" cursor is tracked. ESC The ESC key always exits whatever you are doing. Pressing ESC while you are working on a form will give you the "Option Line". This line gives you the choice to Quit, Save, Print or Set Tabs. This will be covered later. SHIFT ENTER Places the character at the cursor location in the duplicate buffer. (see DUPLICATE and FILL) INSERT Inserts text. The cursor will become larger and anything typed will move everything to the right of it by one position. DELETE Deletes text. MOVING AROUND IN A FORM There is a "Quick Reference Guide" that comes with Dr. Form. It is on your disk as QK_REF.FM_ You may want to load it (in any mode) and print it out to refer to as you are getting used to Dr. Form. These keys make it easy to move around in a form: CURSOR KEYS Move the cursor PAGE UP Moves the screen up 20 lines. PAGE DOWN Moves the screen down 20 lines. SHIFT PAGE UP Moves screen to Home position and cursor to upper left. SHIFT PAGE DOWN Moves screen and cursor to the last row in use. Page 15 SHIFT UP ARROW Moves screen up one row SHIFT DOWN ARROW Moves screen down one row SHIFT RIGHT ARROW Moves screen right one column (if form has more than 80 columns) SHIFT LEFT ARROW Moves screen left one column (if form has more than 80 columns) CTRL RIGHT ARROW Moves screen to far right (if form has more than 80 columns) CTRL LEFT ARROW Moves screen to far left (if form has more than 80 columns) TAB Moves the cursor right 8 spaces. NOTE: In FILL IN Mode the TAB moves the cursor to the next TAB position. If no Tabs are set, then it has no effect. SHIFT TAB Back Tab. ENTER Moves the cursor to the first position on the next line. NOTE: In FILL IN Mode the ENTER key moves the cursor to the first TAB position "below" the current Row. If no Tabs are set, then it has no effect. HOME Moves the cursor to the first position on the line. NOTE: In FILL IN Mode it moves the cursor to the first Tab position on the form (shifting the screen if necessary). If no Tabs are set it goes to the upper left of the form. END Moves the cursor to the last character on the line. SHIFT HOME Moves the cursor to the upper left corner of the screen. SHIFT END Moves the cursor to the lower left corner. TIME & DATE There are two ways to enter the time and date. The first is to enter it as a part of your form. As it is now a part of the form it will not change. In other words, no matter when you print a copy of the form, the time and date will be the same value as when you originally entered them. The two key combinations to do this are: CTRL T Will print the current time. CTRL D Will print the current date. The time always requires 8 spaces and the date requires 12 spaces. Make sure there is room for them. In FILL IN Mode if there is not enough room to fit the whole time or date in before a Protected Character is encountered the printing will stop at the protected character. The same goes for the far right side of the form. The time is always in this format: 10:11 AM The date is always in this format: Mar 11, 1993 The second way to print the time and date is to make a Time or Date "Stamp" on your form. This must be done in MASTER Mode. When you make a Time or Date "Stamp", when you print out the form in Page 16 FILL IN Mode, the time or date at the "time of printing" will be printed, no matter when that may be. The key combinations to do this are: CTRL SHIFT T Will put a Time "Stamp" on the form. It will have a green background and will say: Time-Stp CTRL SHIFT D Will put a Date "Stamp" on the form. It will have a green background and will say: Date---Stamp In place of Time-Stp & Date---Stamp the current time or date will be printed. Once again make sure you have enough room. Also remember that this is printed only in "FILL IN Mode". In MASTER Mode spaces will be printed instead. This is so that if you want to get copies made of your Master Form, this space will be left blank. Then when you "Fill In" the form, the time and date will be printed. MAKING LABELS Dr. Form is also an excellent "label maker". Use ALT J to change the cursor location to "inches", and then design your label. If you are designing labels, you are not going to want to generate a Form Feed at the end. Dr. Form puts a Form Feed after the last character on the form (even if the form is only one line long). To disable the Form Feed, press CTRL F at the end of your label. It will print a blank, cyan highlighted space. This is a "non-printing" character. You can use this to disable the Form Feed on any form. It is only active while you are printing the form that has it. NOTE: If you disable the form feed on a laser printer, the paper will not eject. The CTRL F also serves a second purpose. Let's say that you are making a label that is 2 inches vertically. This would be 12 Rows (or lines) since there are 6 Rows to an inch. Now let's say that you are only printing on Rows 5 & 6, and do a CTRL F after Row 6 to disable the Form Feed. You must print another 6 blank Rows (carriage returns), and Dr. Form ignores everything after the last (non-space) character. You should do the CTRL F on Row 12 (2 inches). This tricks Dr. Form into thinking that you actually have 12 Rows to print, and after printing Rows 5 & 6, Dr. Form will then do another 6 carriage returns. Depending on what you set the counter to, Dr. Form will print up to 99 labels (more if you make multiple labels on the same form. The COPY feature comes in useful here). NOTE: You may have to use the "Micro Feed" on your printer to adjust the "Top Of Form" when making labels. You can also use Dr. Form to pre-address envelopes, or just to put your return address on blank envelopes. This can be a big convenience for things such as bills that you send out every month to the same address. Page 17 OVERLAY FORM For added convenience there is an Overlay Form included with Dr. Form. It is on you disk as OVERLAY.FM_. This is a large grid, marked off in rows and columns. To use this Overlay, first get a sheet of tracing paper. You should be able to find tracing paper in any Art Supply store (ideally, a complete transparency would be best, but that might be hard to come by). Insert the tracing paper into your printer and print out the Overlay Form on it. Now, if you are making a form from an existing one, or a making a template (such as the American Express one), just lay the Overlay over the form that you are working from, and you can instantly see which row and column that each part of the form will occupy. Another way to use the Overlay is to feed the form that you want to copy (or make a Template for) into your printer and print the Overlay "onto" the form. Now your coordinates are right on the form. The Overlay is 80 columns wide and based on 10 CPI. You can edit it to make it wider if you want. If you do, the COPY feature comes in very useful. Chapter 5 --- MAJOR FUNCTIONS --- NOTE: The first 8 Major Functions are only available when working on a Master Form. They are unavailable in Fill In Mode To repeat a bit of advice again here. DON'T DRAG THE MOUSE. While it won't hurt anything, you won't get the results you desire. Point and Click. Whenever a MAJOR FUNCTION is invoked, MouseScroll is "Locked" on. Scrolling is done by pushing the mouse cursor against the edges of the screen. The Major Functions are invoked by Left Clicking on them, or by pressing the ALT key and the highlighted letter of the function. To remain consistent with previous versions, the CTRL-Function Keys still work. For example, to select MOVE, Left Click on it, press ALT V or press CTRL F1. Right Clicking or pressing the ESC key at any time will exit the function that you are in. HIGHLIGHTING AREAS MOVE, COPY, ERASE and FILL require "Highlighting" an area first. Before you invoke any of these functions you must "first" position the "screen cursor" to the upper left corner of the area to be highlighted. Page 18 To Highlight an area: With the mouse Left Click the bottom right of the area to be "Highlighted". If the area that you want to "Highlight" is beyond the physical boundaries of the screen, just push the mouse cursor against the edges of the screen. With the keyboard, use the cursor keys for highlighting. NOTE: You cannot highlight an area that is above, or to the left of your starting point. When you position the mouse in this area, the mouse cursor will turn red with a black "X" in it. UNDO FEATURE Whenever "UnDo" is visible on the 24th row, Left Clicking on it or pressing ALT O will UNDO the last thing you did. 1. MOVE This function is used to "Move" blocks of characters. First position the cursor at the "upper left" corner of the area that you want to MOVE. This must be done "before" you invoke MOVE. Press ALT V or CTRL F1 to invoke MOVE. Highlight the area that you want to MOVE. Next Left Click on "End" or press the END key. A white rectangle will appear, outlining the area to be "Moved". Use the cursor keys, or just move the mouse until the rectangle is in the new position that you want it to be. Now Left Click the mouse, or press the INSERT key. The old area will be erased and the block of text will be moved to the new area. If you want to reposition it, just move the mouse again, or use the cursor keys to move it to another area. Right Click the mouse or press the ESC key when you are finished. NOTE: MOVE is not available in "Fill In Mode". 2. COPY This function is identical to the MOVE function with the exception that the old area will "not" be erased, althought parts of it could be copied over. Press ALT Y or CTRL F2 to invoke COPY and follow the directions for "Move". NOTE: COPY is not available in "Fill In Mode". Page 19 3. ERASE This function starts out the same as MOVE and COPY. The difference is that when you press END after you have highlighted an area, the entire area is "Erased". Press ALT E or CTRL F3 to invoke ERASE and follow the highlighting directions for "Move". NOTE: ERASE is not available in "Fill In Mode". 4. MAKE GRID This is one of the most useful functions in Dr. Form. It is the ability to lay out and then automatically make a GRID. Almost every form makes use of grids. To make a grid, first position the cursor in the upper left corner of where you want the grid. This must be done "before" you invoke GRID. Now press ALT G or CTRL F4 to invoke DRAW GRID You will notice that a bright white asterisk (*) appears where the cursor was. The default is for a grid with single lines. To change this: Press S for Single Lines Press D for Double Lines The co-ordinates for the grid are now laid out along the top row and left column. If you are using the keyboard, the cursor will only move along these two axis. Use the cursor keys, spacebar, tab key and enter key to move the cursor. Press any letter key (except the S or D) to place an asterisk at each location where there will be intersecting lines. With the mouse, Left Click on each position to place an asterisk. If the GRID will extend beyond the physical boundaries of the screen, just push the mouse cursor against the edges of the screen. NOTE: An asterisk can only be placed below and to the right of the starting point, and it must be exactly vertical or horizontal to it. If you move the mouse cursor outside of these limits it will turn red with a black "X" in it. Left Clicking when the mouse cursor is red will have no effect. Left Click on "End" or press the END key when finished and watch the GRID draw itself. Right Click or press the ESC key to cancel. "UnDo" will UNDO the "Grid" and restore the screen as it was before you started. Page 20 HINT: If you are going to use column headings, it might be better to space and lay out the headings first, and then draw the grid around them. NOTE: The GRID function is not available in "FILL IN Mode". 5. DRAW LINES The DRAW LINES function is another very useful function of Dr. Form. To enter the DRAW LINES mode: Press ALT L or CTRL F5 to invoke DRAW LINES Press S for Single Lines (You can mix and match Press D for Double Lines single and double lines) Keyboard users use the cursor keys to draw lines. With the mouse lines are drawn FROM the starting point (which is the "screen cursor") TO the "mouse cursor". A line must be exactly vertical or horizontal with the starting point. If you go outside these boundaries, the mouse cursor will turn red with a black "X" in it. Left Clicking when the mouse cursor is red will make that position a "new starting point". You can draw lines beyond the physical boundaries of the screen by pushing the mouse cursor against the edges of the screen. All Users: SHIFT plus one of the cursor keys will draw a line in that direction from the screen cursor, to the first position that is not a "Space". Press E to Erase. The cursor keys will erase anything in their path. Press P to Pause. You can now move the cursor to a new location. Press R to Resume drawing lines. "UnDo" will UNDO the last line that was drawn. Right Click the mouse or press the ESC key when finished. NOTE: DRAW LINES in not available in "Fill In Mode". 6. DUPLICATE The DUPLICATE function is very similar to the DRAW LINES function, except that instead of drawing lines, the cursor keys will leave a trail Page 21 of whatever character is in the duplicate buffer. To enter the DUPLICATE mode: Press ALT A or CTRL F6 to invoke DRAW LINES Instead of drawing lines, the cursor keys will now print whatever is in the duplicate buffer. The duplicate buffer holds a single character which appears on the 25th line. To put a different character there, press the letter "P" and move the cursor under whatever character that you wish to place there. Now hold down the SHIFT Key and press the ENTER Key. You will hear a soft "click" and that character will now be in the duplicate buffer. You don't have to be in this mode to change the character here. You can do this "anytime" while you are working on a form, by placing the cursor under the character that you wish to place in the duplicate buffer and then doing a SHIFT ENTER. Then whenever you enter DUPLICATE mode, that character will be there waiting for you. Pause and Erase are the same as in DRAW LINES. Just press the letter "P" or "E". "UnDo" will UNDO the last thing done. Right Click the mouse or press the ESC key when finished. NOTE: DUPLICATE is not available in "Fill In Mode". 7. FILL This function works just the same as ERASE, except that instead of erasing the highlighted area, all "blank" spaces in the highlighted area are "Filled" with whatever character is in the duplicate buffer (see DUPLICATE). Place the cursor at the top left of the area that you want to fill (as in the MOVE, COPY & ERASE functions). Do this "before" you invoke FILL. Press ALT F or CTRL F7 to invoke FILL and follow the highlighting directions at the beginning of the chapter. Left Click on "End" or press the END Key. All "blank" spaces will now be filled in with whatever character is in the duplicate buffer. "UnDo" will UNDO the last line that was drawn. Right Click the mouse or press the ESC key when finished. NOTE: FILL is not available in "Fill In Mode". Page 22 8. SET COLUMNS The SET COLUMNS function lets you change the column width of the form that you are working on, while you are working on it. For example you may be working on a form set for 80 columns and find that you need 110 columns to do the job right. To enter SET COLUMNS mode: Press ALT M or CTRL F8 to invoke SET COLUMNS. A window will open on the screen. Use the mouse or cursor keys to select the new column width. If you are reducing the number of columns, be careful that you don't cut off any of the right side of the form that you are working on. Choose OK when your selection is made. NOTE: SET COLUMNS is not available in "Fill In Mode". 9. OTHER OPTIONS (Always available) All of these options are also available from the keyboard while you are working on a form by using the ALT key plus the highlighted letter. PRINT TYPE & ENHANCEMENTS Selects how the text will be printed on your printer. Only one option under PRINT TYPE can be selected. One, both or neither option under ENHANCEMENTS can be selected. "Sample Text" will show what the text will look like on the screen. NOTE: Superscript, Subscript and Condensed do not support Bold or Underline. CURSOR LOCATION Determines whether the cursor location is given in Row & Column or in Inches. When you select Inches it is horizontaly accurate according to how many CPI (characters per inch) your "Printing Options" are set for. ALT J will toggle this when you are working on a form. WHICH CURSOR Determines whether the screen cursor or mouse cursor is tracked. ALT K will toggle this when you are working on a form. FILL IN MODE ONLY This option is only available when you are in "FILL IN Mode". It will be grayed out when in MASTER Mode. When you select "Master Form in Monochrome" the protected characters of the MASTER Form will be in monochrome, but the parts you fill in will still be in color. This makes it easier to see what you are doing when filling in a form. CTRL M will toggle this when you are filling in a form. Page 23 Chapter 6 --- SETTING TABS --- Setting Tab Stops in your form is a nice convenience when you go to fill in the form in "FILL IN Mode". Tab Stops are able to be set in both FILL IN and MASTER Modes. Press the letter "T" or Left Click on it to set Tabs. Any existing Tab Stops will now be highlighted in brown. (Tab Stops are normally invisible) To set a new Tab Stop just position the cursor to where you want the Tab Stop to be and Left Click or press any letter key to set it. To remove a Tab Stop just do the opposite. Place the cursor under the Tab Stop that you want to remove and Left Click or press any letter key. Pressing CTRL Z will erase all Tab Stops. You can put a Tab Stop anywhere you want "except" on a protected character of the Master Form. You can, however, put a Tab Stop on any underline character. When you are finished setting Tabs just Right Click or press ESC to go back to the option line. When you load a form in FILL IN Mode, the cursor will automatically go to the first Tab Stop. Now when you press the TAB key the cursor will go to the next Tab Stop. Pressing the ENTER key will ignore any more Tab Stops on the line you are on and go to the first Tab Stop "below" that line (no matter how far down it may be). Pressing the HOME key will take you back to the first Tab Stop on the form, shifting the screen if necessary. Chapter 7 --- SAVING A FORM --- From the Option Line, press the letter "S" or Left Click on it to save the form that you have been working on. This brings up the choices of how and where the form will be saved. In most instances, unless you are making a new form, you will not want to change anything. If everything is OK just press ENTER or Left Click OK. If you want to change something, the TAB key will step you through the three different areas. If you change your mind, either TAB to Cancel or Left Click on it. In the top left of the window is the name of the form. If you are making a new form you will have to give it a name. This can be from 1 to 8 characters long. The extension can't be changed. It will always be .FM_ for a Master Form and .FMS for a form saved in FILL IN Mode Page 24 (or .FM@ for an ASCII file). You can also save a form that you are editing under a different name by either adding to it or backspacing over the existing name. Don't worry about losing a Master Form if you change the name, or if you load it in FILL IN Mode and then save it with the .FMS extension. Here are two examples of what will happen. 1. You load MYFORM.FM_ in MASTER Mode and then save it under the name MYFORM1.FM_ . You now have "two" Master Forms. MYFORM.FM_ and MYFORM1.FM_ . 2. You load MYFORM.FM_ in FILL IN Mode (notice that the extension changes to .FMS). Now you save it in FILL IN Mode. You once again have "two" forms. MYFORM.FM_ and MYFORM.FMS. When you save a form that you are editing in MASTER Mode, a .BAK file will be made also. Some people consider .BAK files a nusense, but they can save the day if you accidently delete a form or really mess it up. If you do accidently delete one of your Master Forms, just select "All Files" on the Menu Page and load the .BAK form. It will then become a .FM_ form. Dr. Form can tell the difference between a Master Form .BAK file and a .BAK file from an other program. .BAK files are not made in FILL IN Mode, nor when a file is saved in ASCII format. To the right of the filename are the Drive and Path that the form was loaded from. This is also where the form will be saved to. You probably will not want to change this, but if you do just TAB over to either Drive or Path. The same rules apply as on the Menu Page. "Default Path" will return you to the Drive and Path that Dr. Form was run under. For example, if you loaded your form from the Path C:\DR_FORM and want to save it to a floppy disk, then change the Drive to A: Dr. Form will not let you specify an invalid path. Your MSDOS manual will give you all the specifics that you need on setting Paths. On the bottom left of the window is the choice of whether to save your form formatted or not. The default is "Y" for formatted. The only time that you would want to choose "N", for non-formatted, is if you want to save your form in an ASCII format so that it can be read by other programs. When you save your form in an ASCII format, you loose all of Dr. Form's formatting. This includes things such as Italic, Bold, Underlined, Protected and Non-Protected characters, etc. However, only the .FM@ form looses formatting. If you saved the file MYFORM.FM_ in an ASCII format, you would have "two" forms. MYFORM.FM_ and MYFORM.FM@. Page 25 Chapter 8 --- PRINTING A FORM --- From the Option Line press the letter "P" or Left Click on it when you are ready to print on your printer. This will bring up the "Printing Options" window. Options not supported by your printer will be grayed out. The print driver that you are currently using will be displayed at the top of the window. Printing is the same for FILL IN Mode and MASTER Mode, except in FILL IN Mode you have the option to print on "pre-printed" forms. Let's discuss this first. FILL IN MODE ONLY If you choose "Print Entire Form" then Everything will be printed. This includes the protected characters of the Master Form and everything that you have filled in. Choose this option when you are printing on blank paper. If you choose "Fill In Only" then ONLY the parts that you have filled in will be printed. The protected characters of the Master Form will be ignored. Choose this option if you are printing on "pre- printed" forms. This will usually be much faster as the printer has much less to print. If you are using pre-printed forms, make sure that the form lines up correctly in the printer. Most of the newer printers do an "excellent" job of lining up the paper vertically to the top of the form. Make sure that form is also aligned horizontally. This setting is remembered between sessions. FILL IN & MASTER MODES CHANGE PRINTER This option allows you to change the print driver that you are using without going back to Main Menu. This is very helpful for new users who are trying to determine which print driver works best on their printer. COPIES This option selects the number of copies to be printed. The default is always 1. To change this, just use the number keys (the same as on a commercial copier) to enter any value up to 99. Pressing the letter "C" will clear the counter back to 1. Page 26 PRINT STYLE Valid choices for this option vary according to which printer you are using. If you wish to select this from your printer itself, select "Manual". "Manual" is not available for laser printers because of many inherent problems that it could cause (such as choosing a proportional font). PRINT DIRECTION This option lets you choose whether to print bi-directional or uni-directional. Choose uni-directional (this makes your printer print from left to right only) when your form has tables and charts, to ensure that the vertical columns will be in alignment. CHARACTERS PER INCH This option allows you to select how many characters per inch to print (CPI). The default (and standard) choice is 10 CPI. You can change this to 12 CPI and 15 CPI if your printer supports them. Choose "Manual" to control this manually from your printer. You can also use one of these choices to squeeze more characters on a line that your printer would normally support. For example, if you have an 80 column printer and the form you are working on "needs" 96 columns to complete it properly, just choose 12 CPI and it will fit. You will notice that some of the included forms have 96 Column widths. You can print them on an 80 Column printer if you choose 12 CPI. Below is a chart giving printer width and the number of characters that will fit using this option. Printer Width 80 Columns 110 Columns 132 Columns 136 Columns 10 CPI 80 Char. 110 Char. 132 Char. 136 Char. 12 CPI 96 Char. 132 Char. 136 Char. 136 Char. 15 CPI 120 Char. 136 Char. 136 Char. 136 Char. LASER PRINTERS Allows Landscape printing (sideways on the paper). This option is only available with laser and inkjet printers. (see Chapter 9) PAPER SIZE Chooses between Letter size paper (8.5" X 11"), Legal (8.5" X 14"), and A4 size (297mm). Letter size is up to 63 Rows. Legal size is up to 81 Rows. A4 size is up to 68 Rows. Choosing "Letter" will only print the first 63 Rows, no matter how long the form is. Chapter 9 --- PRINTING WITH LASER PRINTERS --- Dr. Form supports the HP LaserJet series of printers and compatibles. There is one technicality however. The LaserJet uses a separate "Font" for each variety of typestyle, and the selection that comes with your Laser Printer may be limited, especially if it is an earlier model. Dr. Form "requires" the PC-8 (or PC) family of Fonts to be resident in your printer, whether internally, in a Font Cartridge or as Page 27 a Soft Font. This is because only the PC-8 family has all of the IBM Extended Character Set, which includes all the line drawing characters necessary in creating a form. To determine what fonts are resident in your printer, take your printer Off Line and push the PRINT FONTS button. The PC-8 family will be designated with a "10U". The earlier HP models did not come with the PC-8 family. Starting with the LaserJet II this was made standard. Here are the different models and what they support. LaserJet Requires a cartridge for PC-8 LaserJet + Requires a cartridge for PC-8 and 500 + LaserJet II PC-8 included, but only in 10 Pitch (no italics) LaserJet IID PC-8 included, with 10 and 12 Pitch (no italics) LaserJet 2000 PC-8 included, with 10 and 12 Pitch (no italics) LaserJet III PC-8 included, with 10 and 12 Pitch and italics (no bold italics). Also has Roman-8 "scalable" fonts. LaserJet 4 Scalable fixed pitch PC-8 fonts included. Also can print Roman or Letter Gothic. HP Font Cartridges 92290S1 & 92290S2 have the PC-8 family of fonts. Version 3.0 adds new enhancements for laser printers. The "HP-LaserJet/X" driver has been upgraded, and the "HP-LaserJet 4" driver has been added. While Dr. Form was originally designed for dot matrix printers, the print "quality" to be had from a laser printer can't be beat. This brings up a dilemma. What about Double Width, Double Height and Double Width & Double Height characters? First of all, the fonts used by Dr. Form must be "fixed spacing". This means that each character takes up the same horizontal space, which is necessary to making a form. Double Width and Double Height characters are sort of an odd-ball size. There are three print drivers included with Dr. Form. They are the "HP-LaserJet", "HP-LaserJet/X" and the "HP-LaserJet 4". The latter two have work-arounds for this problem. If your laser printer can emulate an Epson printer, then you may want to set it to that mode and choose an Epson Printer for Dr. Form. However, "do" try out the "HP-LaserJet 3" driver, and if you have a LaserJet 4, the "HP-LaserJet 4" driver. HP-LaserJet Try this driver if you have an older LaserJet. For Double Width, Height and Double Width & Height, Dr. Form will ask your printer for the proper size fonts. If they are not found, then they will not be printed as such. Change any of these fonts in your form to standard size (i.e. instead of double width, make it Normal Bold). Page 28 HP-LaserJet (Clone) Use this driver only as a "Last Resort" if you have a laser printer (other than a HP) and are experiencing the 1st line and the last few lines not printing. A "True" HP-LaserJet is able to print out all of the possible 63 lines of a Dr. Form form. Some of the clones will not do this. NOTE: Use of this driver will limit your forms to 62 lines. HP-LaserJet 3 Try this driver first if you have a LaserJet III or later model. If you have Roman-8 "scalable" fonts (standard with the LaserJet III), Dr. Form will substitute a size approximately 1 1/2 times the size you are using for Double Height. A size 2 times this size will be substituted for D-Width D-Height. Double Width is not used. These fonts are, however, "proportionally" spaced. That is, each character is a different width (i.e. a "W" will take up a lot of space, while an "i" will take up very little). For this reason you will have to experiment with positioning on the paper. You can, however, place these fonts "anywhere" in the form (including inside boxes) without messing up the line spacing. HP-LaserJet 4 This is basically the same as the "HP-LaserJet 3". The main differences are that Letter Gothic has been added as a print style and D-Width D-Height characters are "fixed pitch" PC-8 characters. Therefore you can print the IBM Extended Character Set in D-Width D-Height. NOTE: Double Width is not used with LaserJet printers. Any Double Width characters in your form will be printed Single Width with a space between them. Since Double Height characters use Roman-8 fonts, the characters of the IBM Extended Character Set will be different. The same is true of D-Width D-Height characters except when using the "HP-LaserJet 4" driver. Roman-8 Fonts are designated as "8U" Dr. Form also includes drivers for the HP-DeskJet and the HP-PaintJet. Neither of these drivers support Double Height characters. The DeskJet, however, will support Double Width characters. While the HP-DeskJet will support "all" DeskJets and the HP-PaintJet will support "all" PaintJets, read your printer manual to see if they are compatable with one of the higher-end laser printers. For example, the DeskJet-1200 includes all the fonts that a LaserJet-4 does, so if you have a DeskJet-1200 you will get a better font selection if you use Dr. Form's "HP-LaserJet 4" driver. Page 29 LANDSCAPE PRINTING With Laser Printers Landscape printing is selected from the PRINTING OPTIONS screen. Landscape will print sideways on the paper. The vertical length of the form will be reduced to 47 Rows (46 when using the HP-LaserJet Clone driver). The horizontal width will be increased to 106 Columns at 10 characters per inch, and 127 Columns at 12 characters per inch (the LaserJet II and earlier models do not support 12 charcters/inch). Choose a Column Width accordingly for your forms. NOTE: Landscape is only valid with laser printers. Chapter 10 ---POSSIBLE PROBLEMS AND SOLUTIONS--- PROBLEM: I have a LaserJet II and still experience the first line of my form not printing. SOULTION: Use the HP-LaserJet (Clone) driver. REASON: The LaserJet II and earlier models only support 62 lines of text and will not print on the second line of the page (which is where Dr. Form starts printing). PROBLEM: I have a DeskJet 1200C and some of the lines on my form randomly get pushed to the right of the page. SOLUTION: Power down your printer and then power it on again. REASON: For some reason the DeskJet 1200C (at least the one tested) experiences this problem if you print a form to it with one of the printer drivers and then change to another driver (i.e. Print first with the DeskJet driver and then change to the LaserJet 4 driver). Even doing a Reset from the printer control panel will not correct this (Dr. Form also sends a Reset before it prints). Powering it down and then back up again does fix the problem. Page 30 PROBLEM: I have a DeskJet 1200C and a LaserJet 4. Double width characters are printing double high on both of them. SOLUTION: Never use Double Width characters with LaserJet or DeskJet printers (The DeskJet 500 does, however, support double width). If you have a DeskJet 1200 you will get better results by using the HP-LaserJet 4 driver. Read the manual on Printing with Laser Printers. REASON: The DeskJet 1200 has all the fonts of the LaserJet 4, so the effects will be the same with both. PROBLEM: I have an old Epson FX80 and it prints letters where the lines should be. SOLUTION: None. REASON: The FX80 is one of the "few" printers that do not contain the line drawing characters necessary to make a form.