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Hot Dots 3.0 Manual Produced and distributed by Raised Dot Computing, Inc. 408 S. Baldwin St. Madison, WI 53703 Business Telephone: (608) 257-9595 Technical Support: (608) 257-8833 Licensing and Warranty Raised Dot Computing, Inc. hereby grants you a non-exclusive license to use the enclosed Hot Dots program subject to the terms and restrictions set forth in this agreement. Copyright The Hot Dots program and documentation are copyrighted and you may not copy or reproduce any part unless explicitly allowed by this agreement. R-DOC/X is a copyrighted program of Advanced Computer Innovations. All RIghts Reserved by Advanced Computer Innovations. Disk Copying The user may make disk copies of the Hot Dots program as deemed necessary to work on a single computer. Treat this program disk as you would a book. If you need more than one copy for use, purchase the additional copies as necessary. Under no circumstances can copies of Hot Dots from a single purchase be used or in the possession of others simultaneously on different computers or at different buildings or locations. Do not distribute any Hot Dots disk or documentation. Limited Warranty for Diskettes To the original licensee only, the magnetic diskette on which the program is recorded is warranted to be free from defects and faulty workmanship under normal use and service for a period of ninety days from the date the program is delivered. No Warranty of Performance Raised Dot Computing, Inc. does not and cannot warrant the performance or results that may be obtained by using the program. Accordingly, the program and its documentation are sold "as is" without warranty as to their performance, merchantability or fitness for any particular purpose. The entire risk as to the results and performance of the program is assumed by you. Should the program prove defective, you assume the entire cost of modification or repair. Customer Support Plan By holding to the terms of this license agreement, the user is entitled to customer support as set forth in the current customer support plan. Acknowledgment of Support Raised Dot Computing would like to acknowledge the support of the National Sciences Foundation. An SBIR grant from the National Sciences Foundation made Hot Dots 3.0 possible. Additional support by IBM is also gratefully acknowledged. Production Credits Hot Dots 3.0 was written by Caryn Navy, David Holladay, and Aaron Leventhal based on the work of Lee Kamentsky. The Hot Dots 3.0 manual was written by Caryn Navy, David Holladay, and Phyllis Herrington. Sample file written by Phyllis Herrington. Audio manual read by Phyllis Herrington. Logistical support by Susan Murray and Carolyn Briggs. Manual typeset by David Holladay using production tools written by Jesse Kaysen. Creditors kept happy by Linda Millard. Scheduling done by argument. Trademarks Hot Dots 3.0 is a trademark of Raised Dot Computing, Inc. MS-DOS is a trademark of Microsoft Corporation. Arkenstone is a trademark of Arkenstone, Inc. WordPerfect is a trademark of WordPerfect Corporation. The various devices and braille equipment are trademarks of their respective vendors. Contents Section 1: Welcome to Hot Dots .............................. 1-1 What Hot Dots Does ...................................... 1-1 What You Get in the Hot Dots Package .................... 1-1 System Requirements ..................................... 1-2 Where to Go From Here ................................... 1-2 Section 2: Installation ..................................... 2-1 Installation Instructions If You Have a Hard Disk ....... 2-1 Installation Instructions If You Do Not Have a Hard Disk 2-2 If You Have an Arkenstone ............................... 2-2 Section 3: Tutorial ......................................... 3-1 File Extensions in Hot Dots ............................. 3-1 Getting Started ......................................... 3-1 Exploring the Hot Dots Main Menu ........................ 3-2 Importing Data Files .................................... 3-2 Print to Braille Translation ............................ 3-3 Specifying Files ........................................ 3-3 The Formatter ........................................... 3-4 Output to Embosser or Printer ........................... 3-4 Running Hot Dots from a Batch File ...................... 3-5 Editing An .HD$ File .................................... 3-6 Moving Text In and Out of WordPerfect ............... 3-6 View a File ............................................. 3-7 Global Search and Replace ............................... 3-7 Writing a Rules File ................................ 3-8 Making Changes with a Previously Written Rules File . 3-8 Braille to Print Translation ............................ 3-9 Section 4: Using the Batch Files ............................ 4-1 The Works: DOTS1234 ..................................... 4-1 Importation Only: DOTS1 ................................. 4-1 Finishing the Job After Importation: DOTS234 ............ 4-2 Use PRETEXT on ASCII Textfiles with Tables of Contents .. 4-2 Section 5: Text Importer .................................... 5-1 Overview ................................................ 5-1 Two Ways to Import Files ................................ 5-1 Importing Files Using the DOTS Menu ................. 5-1 Importing with the Batch files ...................... 5-1 Special Handling: Hyphens and Underbars ................. 5-1 Paragraphs with Hanging Indent in WordPerfect ........... 5-2 File Importation: A Black Box Process ................... 5-2 File Importation Trade-Offs ............................. 5-3 Section 6: Braille Translation .............................. 6-1 What translation into Braille means ..................... 6-1 Three ways to translate a File into Braille ............. 6-1 Translation from the DOTS Menu ...................... 6-1 Translation from a batch file ....................... 6-1 Translation at the Command Line ..................... 6-1 Quick Experiments ....................................... 6-2 Special Handling: Carriage Returns, Dashes, Discretionary Line Breaks, and Accented Letters ............... 6-2 Translating Nonliterary Punctuation into Braille ........ 6-2 Translator Codes for Print to Braille Translation ....... 6-3 Translation Modes ................................... 6-3 Other Translation Codes ............................. 6-4 Underlining and Italics ............................. 6-5 Report any Irregularities in Braille Translation ........ 6-5 The Back Translator ..................................... 6-5 Two Ways to Translate a File from Braille into Inkprint ........................................ 6-6 Improving the Back Translation ...................... 6-6 Processing a File After Back Translation ............ 6-7 Section 7: Formatting ....................................... 7-1 Overview ................................................ 7-1 Braille vs. Inkprint Formatting ......................... 7-1 New Line Commands ....................................... 7-1 Three ways to Format a File ............................. 7-2 Formatting from the DOTS Menu ....................... 7-2 Formatting from a Batch File ........................ 7-2 From the Command Line ............................... 7-2 Dollar Dollar Format Commands ........................... 7-2 Format Commands ......................................... 7-3 Tabs .................................................... 7-7 Page Size ............................................... 7-8 Format Commands Placed by the File Importer ............. 7-8 Page Numbering ...................................... 7-9 Soft vs. Hard Carriage Returns ...................... 7-9 Tabs ................................................ 7-9 Emphasis ............................................ 7-9 Centering .......................................... 7-10 Indent and Runover ................................. 7-10 Tables of Contents and Menus ....................... 7-10 Section 8: Output to an Embosser ............................ 8-1 Four Embossers That Need Special Treatment .............. 8-1 The Supplied Batch Files ................................ 8-1 Using the DOTS Menu ..................................... 8-2 Using the DOS commands PRINT and COPY ................... 8-2 Section 9: Global Search and Replace ........................ 9-1 What You Can Do With Global ............................. 9-1 The tools you need .................................. 9-1 Using Global Search and Replace ......................... 9-1 Loading a rules file from disk ...................... 9-2 Creating a Rules File ................................... 9-2 Entering control characters in transformation rules . 9-3 Correcting mistakes ................................. 9-3 Saving a rules file ................................. 9-4 Editing a rules file ................................ 9-4 Things to Think About ................................... 9-4 Cascading rule Problems ................................. 9-4 Section 10: Hot Dots at the Command Line ................... 10-1 Overview ............................................... 10-1 Our Batch Files ........................................ 10-1 Working at the Command Line ............................ 10-1 Section 11: Interfacing Braille Equipment to your MS-DOS computer ........................................... 11-1 Two Kinds of Interfaces ................................ 11-1 Cables ................................................. 11-2 Bookmaker .............................................. 11-2 Braille Blazer ......................................... 11-2 Braillo ................................................ 11-4 Cranmer Brailler ....................................... 11-4 Dipner Dots ............................................ 11-4 Dipner Dots, Embossed .............................. 11-5 Dipner Dots, Inkprint .............................. 11-6 Index .................................................. 11-6 LED-120 ................................................ 11-6 Marathon ............................................... 11-7 MBOSS-1 ................................................ 11-7 MBOSS-35 ............................................... 11-7 Ohtsuki ................................................ 11-7 Personal Brailler ...................................... 11-8 RESUS .................................................. 11-8 Romeo .................................................. 11-9 TED-600 ................................................ 11-9 Thiel .................................................. 11-9 VersaBraille (tape based) ............................. 11-10 VersaBraille II (disk based) .......................... 11-11 Another way to transfer data ...................... 11-12 VersaPoint ............................................ 11-12 Section 1: Welcome to Hot Dots Congratulations! Braille production is easy and fast with Hot Dots. Hot Dots enables novice users as well as those with experience to produce well-translated and well-formatted braille from a variety of file formats. What Hot Dots Does Hot Dots is a braille translation program for MS-DOS computers. Using Hot Dots, you can import files from many different word processing programs and from ASCII textfiles, translate print into grade 2 braille, format for output, and then output to your braille embosser. You can create files with your favorite PC word processor and quickly translate them into braille. Or, you can use files that other people have created on their word processor. Hot Dots also contains a back translator to take braille back to inkprint, and a powerful global search and replace utility. Hot Dots is not a word processor or text editor program. You must create files in a word processor or text editor for use with Hot Dots. What You Get in the Hot Dots Package Included with the Hot Dots software are four copies of the manual: in print, on audio tape, on disk in a file formatted for braille embossing, and on disk in a file formatted for inkprint printing. You can use your voice synthesizer with the print file. The braille file is for embossing with a carriage width of 40 characters per line. If you need a braille copy but your brailler does not accommodate this carriage width, contact us for a braille file formatted for narrower paper. If you ordered the software on 3.5 inch disks, you have received two disks. One disk contains the Hot Dots software, and the other disk contains the disk files of the manual. If you ordered the software on 5.25 inch disks, you have received three disks. One disk is the Main Program disk, one disk is the Supplemental Program disk, and one disk contains the disk files of the manual. At the back of your binder is a registration card. We ask that you complete it and return it or send us a letter containing your name, address, phone number, and Hot Dots registration number. When we receive your registration card, or a letter containing the same information, we will send a disk containing some useful utility programs. If you have found any helpful public domain or shareware programs, please let us know so that we can pass them on to others. The Hot Dots Program disk (Main Program on 5.25 inch disk) includes a file called READ.ME. Read this file for any important notes, such as notes on program changes. System Requirements Hot Dots is designed to work with a wide variety of MS-DOS computers with at least 256K of memory. Hot Dots works with MS-DOS 2.0 and higher. We recommend running Hot Dots on a hard disk, although it does run on a dual floppy system. Hot Dots will not run on a system with only one floppy and no hard disk. Where to Go From Here Section 2 of this manual explains how to install Hot Dots on your hard disk and how to make backup copies of your floppy disks. Section 3 is a tutorial. It shows two different methods of processing a WordPerfect file to create braille, and it introduces you to all of the options on the Hot Dots Main Menu. Section 4 explains how to perform a variety of tasks with Hot Dots using the supplied batch files. Sections 5-9 give more detailed information on each of the main functions of Hot Dots. Section 10 gives a summary of using Hot Dots at the command line. Section 11 contains some notes on interfacing a variety of embossers to your computer. Section 2: Installation If you have a hard disk, install the Hot Dots software on the hard disk first. Then make a backup copy of the Hot Dots floppy disk(s). If you do not have a hard disk, make two sets of copies: one as a backup, and one disk as a working copy. If you have any difficulty following these instructions, please call our technical help line at (608) 257-8833. If you are also interfacing an embosser to your computer, see Section 11 of this manual. Installation Instructions If You Have a Hard Disk As shown below, make a new directory called C:\HOTDOTS. Next, copy the Hot Dots software to the newly created directory. Insert the Hot Dots Program disk (Main Program disk in the 5.25 inch disk package) in your A drive. At the C:\> prompt, type: MD C:\HOTDOTS <enter> CD C:\HOTDOTS <enter> COPY A:*.* <enter> The last command copies the contents of the floppy onto the HOTDOTS directory on the hard disk. If you have Hot Dots on 5.25 inch disks, repeat the last command with the Supplemental Program disk in drive A. Next, include the HOTDOTS directory in your path (the path lists all the directories that are searched when the computer wants to find a program.) Usually, the path is set in your AUTOEXEC.BAT file. Edit the file to add C:\HOTDOTS to your path. Find a line in your AUTOEXEC.BAT file that looks like this: PATH C:\;C:\DOS;C:\TOOLS;C:\WP5; ... (or it may start with SET PATH=C:\; ...). Edit the line by adding a semicolon followed by C:\HOTDOTS. Actually you can use a directory other than C:\HOTDOTS for your Hot Dots software directory. If you do so, change the above commands accordingly. In addition, you must add an extra line to your AUTOEXEC.BAT file: If your Hot Dots software directory is D:\DOTS, for example, add the line SET HOTPATH=D:\DOTS. Before you begin using Hot Dots, make a backup copy of Hot Dots and put the original away for safe keeping. If for some reason something happens to the backup copy, you have the original disk for making another copy. There are several ways to make a backup copy. If you have a 3.5 inch disk drive, you can copy all of the files from your new HOTDOTS directory onto one 3.5 inch disk. If drive B is your 3.5 inch disk drive, insert a formatted disk in drive B and type: COPY C:\HOTDOTS B: <enter>. If you do not have a 3.5 inch drive, you can use the DOS DISKCOPY command. If you have two floppy drives, place the first Hot Dots disk in drive A and a fresh disk in drive B, and type: DISKCOPY A: B: <enter>. Press enter to tell DOS that you are ready with your disks in place. When DOS asks if you want to copy another disk, answer yes to copy the other Hot Dots disks in the same way. If your only drive is for 5.25 inch floppies, use DISKCOPY to copy from drive A to drive A. Place the first Hot Dots disk in drive A and type: DISKCOPY A: A:. This is your source disk, and a fresh disk is your target disk. Press enter to tell DOS that your source disk is in place. Be careful to insert the correct disk, the source disk (with the Hot Dots label) or the target disk, when DOS tells you to. When DOS asks if you want to copy another disk, answer yes to copy the other Hot Dots disks in the same way. Installation Instructions If You Do Not Have a Hard Disk These instructions assume that you have two floppy drives. First, make backup copies of your Hot Dots distribution disks, as described below. Then make a working Hot Dots program disk. Format disks in drive B for the backup copies of your Hot Dots distribution disks and for your working Hot Dots disk. Place a DOS disk in drive A and type: FORMAT B:. Once you have formatted disks, copy each Hot Dots disk to a formatted disk by typing: COPY A:*.* B: <enter>. Copy the Hot Dots Program disk (Main in the 5.25 inch package) a second time for your working disk. The next step is to copy a file from your DOS disk to the Hot Dots working disk in drive B. Place your DOS disk in drive A and type: COPY A:PRINT.COM B: <enter>. If the disk in drive B is not the size of disk that you want for your working disk, copy the files from drive B to a formatted disk in drive A. Insert a formatted disk in drive A, and type COPY B:*.* A:. Finally, you need to add two lines to the AUTOEXEC.BAT file on the disk with which you boot. These are: SET HOTPATH=A: SET HOTDATA=B: To run Hot Dots with a two floppy system (no hard disk), place the Hot Dots disk in drive A and your data disk in drive B. The data disk needs to have extra room on it for temporary files. If you fail to use the SET commands described above, the data files will go on the program disk instead of your data disk. If You Have an Arkenstone The new Arkenstone II reader contains a program called EasyScan. EasyScan has the capability to scan an inkprint page, and then translate it, and output the braille before scanning the next page. The Arkenstone II software has a file called READOUT.BRL that tells it how to use your translation software. Unfortunately, the READOUT.BRL file is designed to work with earlier versions of Hot Dots. Your Hot Dots 3.0 disk contains a revised version of READOUT.BRL. Copy this file from your Hot Dots directory to your Calera directory. Type: COPY C:\HOTDOTS\READOUT.BRL C:\CALERA\BIN <enter>. The revised READOUT.BRL makes use of the DOTS1234 batch file in Hot Dots 3.0. We set the READOUT.BRL file to use the ASCII document files (notice the abbreviation ASCD). If you have set your Arkenstone for any other file type, you need to change READOUT.BRL. DOTS1234 depends on three enviromental variables. There are HOTPATH, HDWIDTH, and HDFORM. In order for the Arkenstone to use DOTS1234 successfully, you must define all three variables in your AUTOEXEC.BAT file. Here is what you need to add: SET HOTPATH=C:\HOTDOTS SET HDWIDTH=40 SET HDFORM=25 Of course, if you can vary these if you have to (for example, you can use a width of 34 if you have a Braille Blazer). But you must define all three. To make use of this machinery, type !TOBRAILL <enter> in EasyScan. To switch back to Browse mode, type !TOBROWSE <enter>. Section 3: Tutorial We assume that you have installed Hot Dots as described in the previous section. If not, please turn to Section 2 and follow the instructions. In this section of the Hot Dots manual, we give a step-by-step trip through the Hot Dots Main Menu, called the DOTS menu. On your Hot Dots disk we've supplied you with a sample data file with which to work. (It's on the Supplementary Program disk in the 5.25 inch disk package.) Using this file, you will examine each option of Hot Dots. You will also run a batch file which automates the following steps for producing braille from an inkprint file: importing, braille translation, formatting, and output. File Extensions in Hot Dots MS-DOS allows file names to be up to eight characters long before a period and up to three characters long after the period. By tradition, the characters before the period identify the file, and the characters after the period (called the file extension) describe the type of file. Hot Dots makes use of this tradition. If you do not name files using the recommended extensions, various parts of Hot Dots will not work correctly. The file extensions created by or required by Hot Dots are: .HD$, .BRL, .BFM, and .BDV. Here are the different ways that Hot Dots uses these file extensions: .HD$ -- an imported, inkprint file containing Hot Dots format commands. .BRL -- an unformatted braille file; usually just a translated HD$ file. .BFM -- a braille formatted file ready for output. .BDV -- a formatted braille file modified for one of the special output systems (Dipner Dots, Ohtsuki, LED-120, or Cranmer Brailler). In some Hot Dots applications, the software will automatically pick the correct file extension. In other applications (like using the DOTS menu), you are free to choose a file name, including the extension. But we recommend that you stick to the list of approved file extensions. Getting Started Before looking at the options on the Hot Dots Main Menu, format some floppy disks. If you are using Hot Dots from a hard disk, keep your data for these tutorial exercises on drive A. Copy the file SAMPLE.WP5 from your HOTDOTS directory onto a formatted floppy disk in drive A by typing COPY C:\HOTDOTS\SAMPLE.WP5 A: <enter>. At the DOS prompt, make drive A your current drive by typing A: <enter>. The Hot Dots software on your hard disk is still available because your modified AUTOEXEC.BAT file includes the HOTDOTS directory in your path. If you are using a system without a hard disk (with two floppy drives), put your Hot Dots (Supplemental if 5.25 inch) Program disk in drive A. Keep the data for this tutorial on drive B. Copy SAMPLE.WP5 onto a formatted disk in drive B by entering COPY SAMPLE.WP5 B: <enter>. If you are using Hot Dots on 5.25 inch disk, put your Hot Dots Main Program disk in drive A. Make drive B your current drive by entering B: <enter>. In addition, enter PATH A: <enter> to help the system find your Hot Dots software on drive A. It is also important that you added to your AUTOEXEC.BAT file the lines described in Section 2 setting HOTDATA and HOTPATH. Exploring the Hot Dots Main Menu Hot Dots can work as a menu driven program. As you will find out later, you can also use Hot Dots at the command line. The name of the menu program is DOTS. At the DOS prompt, type DOTS <enter> to get to the Hot Dots Main Menu. The following is displayed: Hot Dots Main Menu Enter a number: <enter> Select one of the following: 1 Import file from Word Processor 2 Translate print into braille 3 Format file prior to output 4 Output to embosser or printer 5 View file to the screen 6 Global search and replace 7 Back translate braille into print 8 Quit Enter a number: 8 <enter> Choices 1 through 4 on the Hot Dots Main Menu are the most frequently used. The Import option (1) creates a file that Hot Dots can use from files in other file formats. The Braille translator option (2) translates a print file into a braille file. The Format option (3) creates a file which no longer contains format commands but instead contains the carriage returns, spaces, page numbers, and other elements that will appear in the hardcopy output. The Output option (4) outputs that file to the embosser you specify. The View option (5) makes it easy to see how a file will emboss. Global search and replace (6) allows you to make changes in text by replacing certain characters with others. The Back translation option (7) translates a braille file into an inkprint file. The remainder of this section steps you through processing SAMPLE.WP5. Importing Data Files At the Hot Dots Main Menu, press the digit 1 followed by the enter key. This selects Import files from Word Processor. The computer dialogue now reads: Hot Dots Main Menu Enter a number: 1 <enter> Import files from Word Processor Source file: SAMPLE.WP5 <enter> Output file: SAMPLE.HD$ <enter> Word Processor Type: WPF5 <enter> (the file is imported) Hot Dots Main Menu Enter a number: If you didn't know what to type at the "Word Processor Type:" prompt, you could type a question mark followed by the enter key to get a list of the choices and their meanings. The code phrase WPF5 stands for WordPerfect 5.0 or 5.1. The importation process has now read in the WordPerfect file and created a new file called SAMPLE.HD$ which Hot Dots can manipulate. Print to Braille Translation The next step is to translate SAMPLE.HD$ into braille. At the Hot Dots Main Menu, select Print to braille translator by pressing 2 <enter>. The display now reads: Hot Dots Main Menu Enter a number: 2 <enter> Print to braille translator Print source file: SAMPLE.HD$ <enter> Braille destination file: SAMPLE.BRL <enter> (the file is translated) Hot Dots Main Menu Enter a number: The resulting file is named SAMPLE.BRL. The .BRL extension signifies that the file is a braille file. For more information about braille translation, see section 6. Specifying Files When you specify a file in the Hot Dots menu, you can use the usual DOS techniques to specify where to find or to put the file. For example, typing A:SAMPLE.WP5 asks for SAMPLE.WP5 on drive A. Typing \MEMOS\SAMPLE.WP5 asks for SAMPLE.WP5 in the MEMOS directory on your current drive. Sometimes it is useful to give a device name when prompted for an input or output file. For example, CON (for console) means the keyboard as an input file or the screen as an output file. Using CON as the input and output files for the Print to braille translator, you can check specific translations. The translator takes inkprint words that you type on the keyboard and shows the braille in ASCII on the screen. Press enter to translate a trial line, and press control-Z followed by enter to get back to the Main Menu. The Formatter The next step in processing a file for output is formatting. The Hot Dots formatter interprets the Hot Dots format commands, and the output file contains the appropriate paragraph indent, line spacing, centering, etc. as they appear in the hardcopy output. Option 3 of the Hot Dots Main Menu is Format prior to output. At the Main Menu press 3 <enter>. With your data disk in your data drive follow the computer dialogue and enter the appropriate values and names. In this example, we select the default values of a carriage width of 40 and a form length of 25 (i.e., 40 characters per line and 25 lines per page). If you need different values, you can just enter them at the appropriate prompts. Hot Dots Main Menu Enter a number: 3 <enter> Format prior to output What is the carriage width (default is 40)? <enter> What is the form length (default is 25)? <enter> (C) Copyright 1991 by Raised Dot Computing All rights reserved Input file: SAMPLE.BRL <enter> Output file: SAMPLE.BFM <enter> (formatting) Hot Dots Main Menu Enter a number: The formatted file appears as SAMPLE.BFM on your data disk. The Hot Dots text formatter has created an output-ready file (ready for your embosser). All the $$ commands have been interpreted, and the carriage width and form length requirements have been obeyed. We have not yet explained what the format commands are and how they work. If you want to improve on the way that Hot Dots places braille on the page (adding or removing skipped lines, changing the page numbering, changing indent and runover, etc.), you need to learn about these format commands. They are described in Section 7. Output to Embosser or Printer Make sure that your embosser is on-line and ready to receive data. If you have not connected your embosser yet, see Section 11 for the details. At the Hot Dots Main Menu, press 4 <enter> to select Output to embosser or printer. Once you are at the Output Menu, you're asked to enter a letter. You can select from a list of 16 printers. Press enter to get the list of choices. Make a selection from this list. Output Menu Enter a letter: <enter> Output Menu - output to one of the following devices: A Bookmaker B Braille Blazer C Braillo D Cranmer Brailler E Dipner Dots F Index G Inkprint printer H LED-120 I MBOSS-1 J Ohtsuki K Other brailler or Unknown brailler L Personal Brailler M RESUS N Romeo O Thiel P VersaPoint Q cancel (go to Main Menu) Enter a letter: P <enter> (C) Copyright 1991 by Raised Dot Computing All rights reserved Input file: SAMPLE.BFM <enter> Output Device or file: COM1 <enter> Hot Dots Main Menu Enter a number: 8 <enter> After printing is completed, you're returned to the Hot Dots Main Menu. To learn more about outputting to an embosser using Hot Dots, see Section 9. Running Hot Dots from a Batch File As you've seen, you can use Hot Dots as a menu driven program. You get into the Hot Dots menu and select the options you wish to execute. However, the Hot Dots process can be automated through the use of batch files. A batch file contains a series of commands that the computer can execute at the DOS prompt. When you run the batch file, the system executes the series of commands without your intervention. You can use batch files to simplify and speed up routine tasks, letting the batch file carry out a number of steps without further instruction from you. Hot Dots includes several batch files which make Hot Dots processing easier and more automatic. In this Tutorial you'll examine only one of these batch files: DOTS1234. DOTS1234 automates the first 4 options on the Hot Dots Main Menu (import, braille translation, format, and output). You use DOTS1234 at the DOS prompt. Type the name DOTS1234 followed by three or four parameters: the name of the file to process, the word processor type, the output device, and an optional rules file name for an optional global replace operation just before braille translation. For the vast majority of files, you will need only the first three parameters (and no rules file name). You can get some on-line documentation by just typing DOTS1234 <enter> without any parameters. If you forget the codes for the word processor types or the devices, just enter a question mark for the appropriate parameter. To see how this batch file works, we'll run SAMPLE.WP5 through this process. Make sure your braille embosser is connected to your computer and is ready to roll. At the DOS prompt, type: DOTS1234 SAMPLE.WP5 WPF5 LPT1 <enter> If your embosser is connected to a serial port, enter COM1 or COM2 instead of LPT1. Hot Dots processes SAMPLE.WP5 through import, braille translation, formatting, and output. You don't have to do anything but watch the fireworks. On your data disk you'll find two files created by this procedure: SAMPLE.HD$ and SAMPLE.BFM. For further information about batch files and Hot Dots, read Section 4 of this manual. Editing An .HD$ File Sometimes you may want to edit the .HD$ file. You may want to change the Hot Dots formatting commands placed during the importation step, delete text, etc. DOTS1 is the batch file which begins the braille production processing but stops with the creation of the .HD$ file. When you type just DOTS1 <enter> (with no parameters), Hot Dots gives you some information on how to use this batch file. Since Hot Dots does not contain a text editor or a word processor, you must perform these editing tasks with your own word processing program or editor. If your word processor or text editor uses a file format other than ASCII textfiles, you need to import the .HD$ file into the format for your program. When you've finished your editing, you need to export the file into an ASCII textfile format. Below we explain how you accomplish this task in WordPerfect. Consult the manual for your own word processor for instructions for importing and exporting textfiles. Moving Text In and Out of WordPerfect WordPerfect uses a file structure different from that of an ASCII textfile. To edit a Hot Dots file in WordPerfect, you must first import it back into WordPerfect format. These instructions are based on WordPerfect 5.0. Enter WordPerfect. Press Ctrl-F5 followed by 1. Ctrl-F5 accesses the Text in/Text out Menu. Selecting number 1 from this menu accesses the DOS Text menu. You use the DOS Text menu to import and export files into and out of WordPerfect. The DOS Text Menu has three options: 1. Save; 2. Retrieve (CR/LF to hard return); 3. Retrieve (CR/LF to soft return). Use option 3 to retrieve a .HD$ file. When you are finished with your editing, save the document as an ASCII textfile, to complete processing it with Hot Dots. Type Ctrl-F5 followed by 1 and then by another 1. This takes you to the DOS Text Menu again. But this time choose option 1 to save the file as a textfile. WordPerfect prompts you to name the textfile. You must end the file name with .HD$. You may wish to give the textfile the same name as the .HD$ file created by Hot Dots. Once you've created this file, you can continue processing it in Hot Dots (using the batch file DOTS234). To see how DOTS234 works, just enter DOTS234 <enter>. View a File The View function shows on the screen how a file will emboss. To see how it works, select option 5 from the Hot Dots Main Menu. When Hot Dots asks for an input file, enter SAMPLE.BFM <enter>. The display on the screen shows you exactly what is on each line of each page of braille. If something does not look right, you can change it before wasting any braille paper. Advance through the file by pressing the spacebar to get to the next page, until you get back to the Main Menu. Also, when the page has too many lines for the screen display, press the down arrow key to scroll down and view the rest of the page (or the next 25 lines). The right side of the screen shows the page number, line numbers on that page, and a reference list of the print ASCII characters and which braille cell each represents. Working from the menu, you cannot suppress this cheat sheet. (To suppress it, you must use the Hot Dots View command at the command line with the /S switch.) Global Search and Replace Hot Dots contains a very useful and easy-to-use global search and replace capability. In a rules file, you specify a list of From and To segments of text. The Global option replaces every occurrence of the From text with the To text. You can use this capability to customize braille contractions, to correct commonly misspelled words, to systematically change formatting commands placed by the file importation step, etc. At the Hot Dots Main Menu select option 6. When prompted, type the name of the input file. Hot Dots then prompts you for the output file. The output file is a modified copy of the input file. To tell Hot Dots what changes to make, you can call up a previously created Rules file, or you can key in the list of changes directly. Global prompts you "Load global replacements from disk?". Answer with Y or N followed by <enter>. You're going to use Global twice: first making changes by keying in a list of changes, and second making changes using a previously created rules file. Writing a Rules File What if you want to make some replacements in a file, but the rules file for those changes does not exist? You have to key in the changes (write the rules file) yourself. You have the option of saving this file if you so desire. Let's say you want to change all occurrences of "use" to "utilize", of "using" to "utilizing", and of "affect" to "impact" in SAMPLE.HD$ (to make the lingo more trendy). At the Hot Dots Main Menu proceed as follows. Press 6 <enter> to select the Global option. Global search and replace (C) Copyright 1991 by Raised Dot Computing All rights reserved Input file: SAMPLE.HD$ <enter> Output file: SAMPLE.HD1 <enter> Load rules file from disk? N <enter> Enter a blank rule to end rules file. From: <space> use <space> <enter> To: <space> utilize <space> <enter> From: <space> using <space> <enter> To: <space> utilizing <space> <enter> From: <space> affect <space> <enter> To: <space> impact <space> <enter> From: <enter> Save this rules file to disk? (Y/N) Y <enter> Rules file name: HD.RUL <enter> You can now use this rules file over and over again. Now copy the modified file SAMPLE.HD1 to the file SAMPLE.HD$, because you need to use SAMPLE.HD$ for further processing. Enter: COPY SAMPLE.HD1 SAMPLE.HD$ <enter> Making Changes with a Previously Written Rules File In the above example, you made changes to SAMPLE.HD$ by writing a rules file. You changed every occurrence of "HD" to "Hot Dots". Having saved this rules file to disk, you can use it again to make the same changes in any file. For fun let's take SAMPLE.HD$ and use this rules file again. At the Hot Dots Main Menu press option 6 <enter> to use Global search and replace. Proceed as follows. Global search and replace. (C) Copyright 1991 by Raised Dot Computing All rights reserved Input file: SAMPLE.HD$ <enter> Output file: SAMPLE.HD2 <enter> Load rules file from disk? Y <enter> Name of rules file: hd.rul <enter> Search and Replace started ... # matches found Hot Dots Main Menu Enter a number: If there are words you routinely misspell, you can create a rules file containing these common misspellings. The next time you process a document through Hot Dots, you can load this rules file from disk to make sure these misspellings are corrected. For further information about Global search and replace, read Section 8 in this manual. Braille to Print Translation Hot Dots also contains a Braille to print translator. This translator translates braille into print for inkprint output. This is very useful if you have a grade 2 braille file that was created on a braille device, such as a VersaBraille or a Braille 'n Speak. In this example, you'll perform this translation from braille back to print on SAMPLE.BRL. We're going to back translate this file and then output it to your inkprint printer. Connect your printer to LPT1 or COM1. Hot Dots Main Menu Enter a number: 7 <enter> Braille to print translator (C) Copyright 1991 by Raised Dot Computing All rights reserved Input file: SAMPLE.BRL Output file: SAMPLE.HDP Back translating Hot Dots Main Menu Enter a number: 3 <enter> Format file prior to output What is the carriage width (default is 40)? 80 <ENTER> What is the form length (default is 25)? 56 <enter> Text formatter (C) Copyright 1991 by Raised Dot Computing All rights reserved Input file: SAMPLE.HDP <enter> Output file: SAMPLE.FMT <enter> formatting Hot Dots Main Menu Enter a number: 4 <enter> Output Menu Enter a letter: G (C) Copyright 1991 by Raised Dot Computing All rights reserved Input file: SAMPLE.FMT <enter> Output device or file: LPT1 <enter> Hot Dots main Menu Enter a number: 8 <enter> As your inkprint copy shows, Hot Dots faithfully back translated what was in the braille file into an inkprint file. Any mistakes in back translation can be fixed via Global search and replace or even in an editor. For more information about Braille to print translation read section 6 of this manual. Section 4: Using the Batch Files The batch files DOTS1234, DOTS1, DOTS234, and PRETEXT probably meet virtually all of your processing needs. The Works: DOTS1234 DOTS1234 does everything. The name is a reference to the DOTS menu options. DOTS1234 performs options 1, 2, 3, and 4 (file importation, braille translation, formatting, and output). DOTS1234 has 3 or 4 parameters. The parameters are the file name, the word processor type, the output device, and an optional global rules file (to be executed right before translation). If you do include an optional rules file not in your current directory, specify its full pathname. If you enter a question mark for the word processor type, DOTS1234 lists the choices and prompts you for your code. If you type: DOTS1234 LETTER.DOC WPF5 LPT1 <enter>, then the file LETTER.DOC is converted from WordPerfect format into Hot Dots HD$ format. The file is translated and formatted into a BFM file. Finally, the braille formatted file is output to your embosser attached through your parallel port. When processing the file <base>.<ext>, DOTS1234 creates the files <base>.HD$ and <base>.BFM in your current directory. The file <base>.HD$ is the Hot Dots dollar file. It is an inkprint file containing Hot Dots dollar sign commands. The file <base>.BFM contains the formatted braille file ready for output. If you give CON or SCREEN as your output device, the output is to the screen (using the View option). If you give NULL as your output device, the batch file stops after creating the .BFM file. Importation Only: DOTS1 One application is to read a file into Hot Dots and then edit it. Perhaps you want to delete portions or improve the format. If you want to do some editing before translation, use the batchfiles DOTS1 and DOTS234. DOTS1 has 2 or 3 parameters. The parameters are the file name, the word processor type, and an optional global rules file (to be executed right before translation). If you do include an optional rules file not in your current directory, specify its full pathname. If you enter a question mark for the word processor type, DOTS1 lists the choices and prompts you for your code. If you type: DOTS1 LETTER.DOC WPF5 C:\TOOLS\FIX.RUL <enter>, then the file LETTER.DOC is converted from WordPerfect into Hot Dots HD$ format. The rules file FIX.RUL is executed after file importation to improve the file. When processing the file <base>.<ext>, DOTS1234 creates the file <base>.HD$ in your current directory. The file <base>.HD$ is the Hot Dots dollar file. It is an inkprint file containing Hot Dots dollar sign commands. Finishing the Job After Importation: DOTS234 DOTS234 takes an existing Hot Dots dollar file and does everything. The name is a reference to the menu options of DOTS. DOTS234 performs options 2, 3, and 4 (braille translation, formatting, and output). DOTS234 has 2 parameters. The parameters are the base name of an .HD$ file (do not include the .HD$) and the output device. If the optional rules file is not in the same directory as the Hot Dots software, enter the full pathname. For example, if you type: DOTS234 LETTER LPT1 <enter>, the file LETTER.HD$ is translated, formatted, and output to your embosser through your parallel port. When processing <base>.HD$, DOTS234 creates the file <base>.BFM in your current directory. The file <base>.BFM contains the formatted braille ready for output. The output devices CON, SCREEN, and NULL are the same as with DOTS1234. Use PRETEXT on ASCII Textfiles with Tables of Contents When you import a textfile containing a table of contents, you may not get a new line for each new entry in the table of contents. You can remedy this problem by using the batch file PRETEXT before importing the file. It has only one parameter, the file name. For example, type: PRETEXT FISHY.TXT <enter> to improve FISHY.TXT before importation. The modified file has the same name as the original file (overwrites it). This batch file uses the global rules file PRETEXT.RUL. Section 5: Text Importer Overview Importing a file means taking a file from a word processor or an ASCII textfile and turning it into a Hot Dots file. The imported file contains all the characters (and words) of your original file. Much of the format information of the original file is transformed into format commands that Hot Dots 3.0 can understand. For information about modifying the imported files, see Section 7: Formatting. To assist in the file importation task, Raised Dot Computing has licensed the Software R-Doc/X from Advanced Computer Innovations. This software can convert file formats between all of the programs listed in the file importation menu. For information about buying a full-featured version of R-Doc/X, call Advanced Computer Innovations at (716) 383-1939. Two Ways to Import Files There are two ways to import files. You can use the DOTS menu, or you can use one of our batch files. Importing Files Using the DOTS Menu Pick option 1 from the Hot Dots menu. You are asked for the name of the file you want to import, and for the name of the new Hot Dots file you want to create. You are also asked for a code for your word processor type. If you do not know the code, just enter a question mark followed by <ENTER>. You are presented with a list of over 30 different word processor file types. If you have a textfile (sometimes called a print image file), pick option ASCD for ASCII file, document style. Importing with the Batch files Two batch files import files. DOTS1 just imports files. Just type DOTS1 <file name> <word processor type> to import the file. This program creates a file with the HD$ extension containing Hot Dots formatting commands. The other batch file is DOTS1234. This batch file does all the steps including braille output. Just enter DOTS1234 <file name> <word processor type> <output device name>. Special Handling: Hyphens and Underbars On a printed page, words can be broken with a hyphen at the end of a line to bring text closer to the right margin. When you import material that came from an optical scanner or from an ASCII textfile, the importer may encounter these hyphens which would not be meaningful after the importation. Therefore, when the file importer finds letters followed by a hyphen and a soft return, it removes the hyphen and the soft return to reconstruct the word which was separated. You may encounter situations where the importer removes the hyphen from a word, like "long-lasting," which was meant to be hyphenated. When the importer encounters two or more underbar characters in a row, it replaces all of them with a braille double dash (four cells of dots 3-6) to indicate a blank to be filled in. Paragraphs with Hanging Indent in WordPerfect A paragraph with hanging indent is one where the start of the paragraph is at the left margin, and all subsequent lines start a few characters to the right. In WordPerfect there are two ways to enter a paragraph with hanging indent. You can start each paragraph with the commands Indent (F4) and Margin release (shift-Tab, called back tab). Or you can position your screen cursor a bit later in the paragraph and press Indent only (F4). In the second, "delayed Indent" approach, you can press Indent at the start of the second screen line of the paragraph, or at the start of the second word of the paragraph (after the first space). Hot Dots ignores the presence of an Indent and a Margin Release at the start of a paragraph. If you want Hot Dots to preserve the hanging indent (outdenting) in braille, you must use the delayed Indent approach (pressing Indent somewhere after the first word and space and before the second screen line). If you have a document which uses the Margin Release technique, then you can fix the paragraph style in Hot Dots. Place the format commands $$ml2 $$i-2 just before the first paragraph you want to hang. Place the format commands $$ml0 $$i2 before the paragraph where you want to return to standard paragraph format. File Importation: A Black Box Process There really is no way to control the file importation process. (A black box is an engineering term for a device you can use but cannot modify easily.) As you get more experienced at using Hot Dots 3.0, you may have some questions about some of the things you have noticed happening during file importation. If you would like us to improve the software, we will need the disk containing the file from your word processor. Send us a note in a textfile with the name of the file, the kind of file it is (WordPerfect 5.0 or whatever), and what goes wrong in the braille output. Since we may not have a copy of your word processing program, please enclose a copy of the inkprint output of the file so we can see the intended inkprint format. If you import a file and are disappointed by the resulting format, try to import the same document as a textfile. This is possible only if you have access to the original word processor that created the file and can convert the document into a textfile. Load the program and the data file, and tell the word processor to save the file as a textfile. Now import the textfile using file code ASCD (ASCII document textfile). This technique will omit forms of emphasis, but some formats may work better. Your feedback can help us improve our software. When you import an ASCII textfile that includes a table of contents, using the batch file PRETEXT before importation improves the results. File Importation Trade-Offs Sometimes you can choose the file format from which to import a document to Hot Dots. For example, when you use an Arkenstone Reader, you can choose from many different file formats for saving your document, and many of these are supported by the Hot Dots file importer. Your preference is probably to use the format for your own word processor. If you are not satisfied with this, you can try other formats. It is our experience that saving an ASCII textfile works fairly well, as does saving a file in XY-Write format. You may, in fact, find that different kinds of material work better when saved in different formats. When you import a file created in a word processor that you use, you also have choices. You could import directly from that file format (if it is supported). Alternatively, you could use the word processor to write an ASCII textfile and then import the textfile. In importing a file from WordPerfect, for example, there are trade-offs between these two approaches. Some data supplied automatically by WordPerfect gets lost when you import directly from a WordPerfect file. For example, outline labels created automatically by WordPerfect get lost during importation. However, if you save the same document as an ASCII textfile and import the textfile, the labels are retained in the Hot Dots file. On the other hand, when you import an ASCII textfile, the importer may not do as good a job at keeping hard returns and turning soft returns into spaces (see Section 7). In addition, when you save a document as an ASCII textfile, you lose emphasis markings, so that you do not get braille italics indicators. Your choice of the route for importing a document to Hot Dots may depend on the type of material that is in the document. For a wide range of material, the direct route works fine.