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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.
-
-
-
-
-