ProfitPress Mega CDROM2 Shareware Freeware (MSDOS)(1992)(Eng)

home *** CD-ROM | disk | FTP | other *** search

/ ProfitPress Mega CDROM2 …eeware (MSDOS)(1992)(Eng) / ProfitPress-MegaCDROM2.B6I / MISC / HANDICAP / TBRL260.ZIP / TBRL.HLP < prev next >

Wrap

Text File | 1990-07-14 | 41.8 KB | 1,473 lines

Turbo Braille Screen 1 Using The Help File You may move around and explore the help file by typing N for the Next screen, by typing P for the previous screen, by typing Q for Quit, or by typing S and a number to jump to a specific screen. Both upper and lower case letters will work. Enter your selection and press the return key. You will return to the Turbo Braille pprompt "TB->" when you are finished. To exit from Turbo Braille, at the TB-> prompt, press return and follow directions. - 1 - Turbo Braille Screen 2 What You May Enter At the TB-> prompt you may enter: (1) an input file name, possibly an ambiguous one with the DOS wild card characters "*" or "?"; (2) a Turbo Braille command, beginning with a slash or a dash to distinguish it from a file name, followed by one or more letters and other information. If you enter the name of a file, Turbo Braille will figure out what kind of file it is from the contents of the file. - 2 - Turbo Braille Screen 3 Types Of Input Files You may enter the name of a WordStar document file, a WordPerfect document file, an ASCII file formatted for printing, or a "Braille Intermediate File" created automatically by Turbo Braille, or directly with the help of an ASCII editor. A "BIF file" contains the text of the original document in ASCII format together with formatting commands used by Turbo Braille. You may edit these formatting commands for precise control over the resulting braille document. - 3 - Turbo Braille Screen 4 Files Not Processed When using wild card characters, it is easy to specify more files than you intend. Therefore files with certain file name extensions will not be processed by Turbo Braille. These are the DOS file extensions .COM, .EXE, .LIB, .OBJ, and .SYS; the backup file extensions .BAK and .BK!; the data compression file extensions .ARC, .LZH, .ZIP, and .ZOO; and the KANSYS Inc. file extensions .BRL, .CFG, and .PV3. Files with these extensions are unlikely to contain text and must be renamed if they are to be - 4 - Turbo Braille Screen 5 processed. Types Of Outputs You may want to create a BIF file automatically from WordStar documents, WordPerfect documents, or ASCII printer files; or you may want to produce a finished braille document from BIF files, or directly from WordStar files, WordPerfect files, or ASCII printer files. You may send the resulting translation to a braille embosser attached to your computer, or write it to a disk file for later printing or further processing. - 5 - Turbo Braille Screen 6 Modes Of Operation The program operates in a batch mode and in an interactive mode. In the batch mode the file names and commands (or "switches") follow the program name on the command line and are processed from left to right. In the interactive mode they are given one at a time at the prompt as needed. The batch mode switches and interactive mode commands are identical with one exception: there is a "/P" command but no "/P" switch. There is a total of less than a dozen commands and switches. - 6 - Turbo Braille Screen 7 To operate Turbo Braille in the batch mode, enter any desired switches and file names on the command line, but do not use the /H switch. If other switches and file names are included as well as the /H switch, Turbo Braille first completes all requested batch mode processing and then enters interactive mode. To operate Turbo Braille in the interactive mode, enter the program name with no switches or file names on the command line, or include the /H switch on the command line. - 7 - Turbo Braille Screen 8 Saving Program Setups The program setup may be saved in your current directory (local setup) or in the directory where the program files are stored (global setup). A saved setup is recalled when Turbo Braille starts execution. A local setup is used if present; otherwise a global one is used. The /SL command saves a local setup, while the /SG command saves a global one. The batch mode switches /SL and /SG are also available. - 8 - Turbo Braille Screen 9 Commands And Switches The following commands and switches are available in batch mode and in interactive mode. The leading slash shown with each switch or command may be replaced by a leading dash. /A -- Add a formatting command (dot command) to the stored setup. Such commands are processed before the first line of each input file, and permit changing the program's defaults. Usage: /A.xx where ".XX" is any legal dot command recognized by Turbo Braille. - 9 - Turbo Braille Screen 10 /D -- Delete a formatting command (dot command) from the stored setup. Usage: /D.XX /D* where ".XX" is any legal dot command recognized by Turbo Braille, and where "*" deletes all stored dot commands. /F -- Format output for a specific printer. Printer #0 is the default printer. Other printers may be defined with the /P command and selected for formatting by the /F switch or command. - 10 - Turbo Braille Screen 11 Usage: /F# where "#" is a digit indicating the desired printer, or may be "?" (interactive mode only) to show the current setting. /H -- Help file (this file) display. Using the /H switch in the batch mode automatically changes the batch run into an interactive run. Usage: /H - 11 - Turbo Braille Screen 12 /J -- Jump over pages at start of braille document before producing output. The default value is 0; no pages are skipped. Usage: /J### where "###" is the number of pages to jump over. /M -- Make .BIF files, .BRL files, or both files, from the original input documents. The default "2" creates a braille document only, with the extension ".BRL", and sends it to the printer or a disk file as directed by the /W switch or command. - 12 - Turbo Braille Screen 13 Usage: /M# where "#" is in the range 0 through 3, or may be "?" (interactive mode only) to show the current setting. "0" makes no output; "1" makes a .BIF file; "2" makes a .BRL file; and "3" makes both. /P -- Printer definition for up to ten printers. These definitions may differ in maximum page sizes, line widths, offsets, paper type, and page break method. This is a command only; not available as a switch. Printer #0 is defined as 25 - 13 - Turbo Braille Screen 14 lines by 40 cells with no offset, continuous paper with form feeds separating successive pages. Printers #1 through #9 are user defined. Usage: /P# where "#" is in the range 0 through 9, or may be "?" to show the currently defined printers. /S -- Show or save the current setup. The three variations /S?, /SL, and /SG are available to show the data in the current setup, to save it locally in the current directory, or to save it - 14 - Turbo Braille Screen 15 globally in the directory where Turbo Braille is stored. If the current directory is the one where Turbo Braille is stored, then /SL and /SG are identical. Usage: /S# where "#" may be "?" (interactive mode only) to show the setup, "L" for local save, or "G" for global save. /V -- Set the verbosity level of the program. The default value "0" produces very few messages during program execution. Usage: - 15 - Turbo Braille Screen 16 /V# where "#" is in the range 0 through 9, or may be "?" (interactive mode only) to show the current setting. /W -- Write braille document to the printer (the DOS PRN device), to a disk file, or to both. The default "2" writes to a disk file for later printing or further processing. Usage: /W# where "#" is in the range 0 through 3, or may be "?" (interactive mode only) to show the current setting. "0" discards braille - 16 - Turbo Braille Screen 17 output, even if requested by /M2 or /M3; "1" writes directly to the attached printer; "2" writes to a file using the .BRL extension; "3" writes both to the printer and to a file. Formatting Commands Formatting is controlled by dot commands and imbedded commands. Turbo Braille automatically inserts some of each when creating a BIF file or a finished braille document directly from a source document; none are inserted when translating a BIF file into braille. You may add other dot commands and imbedded - 17 - Turbo Braille Screen 18 commands to those automatically inserted in a BIF file for more precise control of the finished product. Each dot command in a BIF file is complete on one line; it does not share a line with the text of the document. Dot commands are identified by a leading dot or period, which must appear in position one of the line. Lines starting with two dots or periods are treated as comments, and are ignored by Turbo Braille. The dot commands automatically inserted are: ".CE" center the next line; ".SP" insert a blank line; ".BR" start a - 18 - Turbo Braille Screen 19 new line; ".PP" start a new paragraph; ".PN" new page number in the source document; ".IT" italicize the text on the next line. Imbedded commands may appear on the same line as the text of your document. They may occur between words or even within a word. Imbedded commands are identified by a leading backslash character "\" followed by a single character to specify a particular command. Two successive backslash characters are treated as an ordinary backslash within the document. The imbedded commands automatically inserted are: "\_" begin or end - 19 - Turbo Braille Screen 20 underlining text; "\!" begin or end boldface text; and the three "spring characters" which expand when translated to push surrounding text toward the margins. These are "\:" to spread spaces, "\." to spread the standard braille guide dot, and "\-" to spread a solid line, such as that used for the page separator. Turbo Braille uses italics for both underlining and boldface as well as true italics in the source document. - 20 - Turbo Braille Screen 21 Dot Commands Below is an alphabetic list of valid dot commands with a brief discussion of each one. Each dot command occupies a complete line of the BIF file, and consists of a dot or period in position one, two letters in positions two and three specifying the command, and in many cases one or more optional arguments providing additional information. - 21 - Turbo Braille Screen 22 (1) .BL Bottom Line: The bottom line of each braille page may be used for text or may contain a running title. If used for text it may contain no page number, a roman or arabic braille page number, or a print page number at the right margin. The running title may also specify page numbers. Usage: .BL x,y where "x" is 0 or 1 for text or title, and "y" is 0, 1, 2, or 3 for no number, roman braille page number, arabic braille page - 22 - Turbo Braille Screen 23 number, or print page number. The default is ".BL 0,0" to use the bottom line for text with no page numbers. See also ".TL" and ".RH". (2) .BP Begin Page: This command starts a new braille page. It works when not already at top of page. You may also change the page number of the page to be started by including the desired page number with the command. The page number may be relative to the present braille page or an arbitrary new page number. If no - 23 - Turbo Braille Screen 24 new page number is requested, the present page number plus one is used. If already positioned at the top of a page, or at the start of the file, this command will not skip a page, which would leave a blank page in the document. Usage: .BP .BP n .BP +n .BP -n where "n" is the number of the new braille page, and "+n" or "-n" are relative to the present page number. See also ".PN". - 24 - Turbo Braille Screen 25 (3) .BR Break: Normally, Turbo Braille ignores line breaks in the BIF file and produces filled lines of text in the braille output. This command lets you arbitrarily start a new braille line, even if more text would fit on the current line. It is the Turbo Braille equivalent of the "hard carriage return" used in word processors. Usage: .BR where there are no arguments. See also ".FI" and ".NF". - 25 - Turbo Braille Screen 26 (4) .CC Command Character: (reserved). (5) .CE Center: The next line or lines of text in the BIF file are centered in the braille output. A line too long for the width of the braille page is divided in two at a convenient place, and each half is centered. Usage: .CE - 26 - Turbo Braille Screen 27 .CE n where "n" specifies how many lines that follow should be centered. If no argument is used, one is assumed. (6) .DV Divide: This command places a line of braille dots two and five across the braille page so that the page may later be folded. You may specify one or two lines to fold the page in halves or in thirds. Usage: .DV - 27 - Turbo Braille Screen 28 .DV n .DV n,n where "n" is the number of the line or lines to fill with braille dots two and five. If no arguments are used, any previous request is canceled. - 28 - Turbo Braille Screen 29 (7) .EW End Writing: Usage: .EW where there are no arguments. See also ".WF" and ".RF". - 29 - Turbo Braille Screen 30 (8) .FI Fill: Normally, Turbo Braille ignores line breaks in the BIF file and produces filled lines of text in the braille output. This command restores that condition (called "filling") after it has been suspended. Usage: .FI where there are no arguments. See also ".BR" and ".NF". - 30 - Turbo Braille Screen 31 (9) .GR Grade: The grade of braille translation is selected with this command. Grade 1 uses the same composition rules as Grade 2, but is not contracted. Grade 0 uses the same filling of lines and formation of pages as grades 1 and 2, but passes all text directly to the output. Usage: .GR n where "n" is 0, 1, or 2, for the grade of braille translation desired. The default is grade 2. See also the imbedded commands - 31 - Turbo Braille Screen 32 "\0", "\1", and "\2". (10) .HL Horizontal Line: This command is used to insert twelve cells of dots two and five in the center of a braille line. It produces the standard "termination line" used to separate successive articles, as in magazine format. Usage: .HL where there are no arguments. - 32 - Turbo Braille Screen 33 (11) .IN Indent: This command indents all lines of text that follow, until another indentation level is specified. A value must be specified, which may be given relative to the current indentation or as the number of positions to indent from any page offset. Usage: .IN n .IN +n .IN -n - 33 - Turbo Braille Screen 34 where "n" is the number of positions to indent, and "+n" or "-n" are relative to the current indentation. See also ".PO", ".PP", ".RM", and ".TI". (12) .IP Interpoint: This command causes the commands ".TL" and ".BL" to be used in formatting odd pages only. On even pages, the values ".TL 0,0" and ".BL 0,0" are used instead of specified values. This command is useful in preparing documents for an interpoint braille embosser, which embosses on both sides of the - 34 - Turbo Braille Screen 35 paper. Usage: .IP where there are no arguments. See also ".NI", ".TL", and ".BL". (13) .IT Italics: The line or lines of text that follow in the BIF file are italicized in the braille output. The italicized text is not prevented from being filled with earlier or later text. Lines of text may be both italicized and centered. This command may immediately precede or follow the command for centering. A - 35 - Turbo Braille Screen 36 centered line that is only partially italicized may not use this command; the imbedded commands for underscore and boldface are used instead. Usage: .IT .IT n where "n" specifies how many lines that follow should be italicized. See also the imbedded commands "\_" and "\!". - 36 - Turbo Braille Screen 37 (14) .NE Need: There are times when braille should not appear on a page with too few remaining unused lines. This command specifies a "need" to have a minimum number of unused lines remaining on the current page before proceeding with the output. If fewer than the specified number of lines remain, a new page is started. This is the Turbo Braille equivalent of the "conditional page break" used in word processors. Usage: .NE n - 37 - Turbo Braille Screen 38 where "n" is the number of lines that must remain to permit output of the text that follows. (15) .NF No Fill: Normally, Turbo Braille ignores line breaks in the BIF file and produces filled lines of text in the braille output. This command suspends the filling process so that every new line in the BIF file starts a new line of braille. Usage: .NF where there are no arguments. See also ".BR" and ".FI". - 38 - Turbo Braille Screen 39 (16) .NI No Interpoint: This command causes the commands ".TL" and ".BL" to be applied to both odd and even pages, reversing the effect of the ".IP" command. Usage: .NI where there are no arguments. See also ".IP", ".TL", and ".BL". - 39 - Turbo Braille Screen 40 (17) .PL Page Length: Usage: .PL n .PL +n .PL -n where "n" is the number of lines per braille page, and "+n" or "- n" are relative to the current page length. - 40 - Turbo Braille Screen 41 (18) .PN Page Number: This command lets you keep track in the braille document of print page numbers in the original material. It is used after print page number display has been selected with either the ".TL" or the ".BL" command. If the current position is neither the top line nor the bottom line of the current braille page, a solid horizontal line is inserted across the braille page, followed by the new print page number. If print page numbers advance normally, no argument need be given with - 41 - Turbo Braille Screen 42 this command. You may specify a new print page number if desired. The page number may be relative to the present print page or an arbitrary page number. Usage: .PN .PN n .PN +n .PN -n where "n" is the number of the new print page, and "+n" or "-n" are relative to the present page number. See also ".BL", ".BP", and ".TL". - 42 - Turbo Braille Screen 43 (19) .PO Page Offset: This command specifies the number of leading spaces to add to each line of braille before printing it or writing it to a file. Page offset affects both left and right margins equally, and comprises an area "to the left of position one" which is not available for processing. The argument may specify a change from the current setting, or may specify an arbitrary number of leading spaces. The default is no offset. Usage: - 43 - Turbo Braille Screen 44 .PO n .PO +n .PO -n where "n" is the number of positions to offset the page, and "+n" or "-n" are relative to the current page offset. See also ".IN", ".PP", ".RM", and ".ti". - 44 - Turbo Braille Screen 45 (20) .PP Paragraph: This command causes a break in the text filling process, and indents the next line two positions beyond the current indentation. Usage: .PP where there are no arguments. See also ".IN", ".PO", ".RM", and ".TI". - 45 - Turbo Braille Screen 46 (21) .RF Read File: This command inserts the contents of one file into another during braille translation. The inserted file is assumed to be another BIF file, and may contain text, dot commands, and imbedded commands. It may not contain another ".RF" command. Any number of ".RF" commands may appear in the file, permitting large documents to be created from several smaller files, or the automatic inclusion of standard "boiler plate" passages. Usage: - 46 - Turbo Braille Screen 47 .RF filename where "filename" may specify a file in the current directory, or may specify another device or directory as well as a file. The DOS wild card characters are not supported. See also ".SB", ".WF", and ".EW". - 47 - Turbo Braille Screen 48 (22) .RH Running Header: This command allows a running title to be used in the braille document. Only one title may be in effect at a time. The title may appear at the top of each page, at the bottom of each page, or both, as desired. The first argument of the ".TL" or the ".BL" command determines the appearance of the running title as a header or footer, respectively. Usage: .RH text of title where "text of title" may be any ordinary English text - 48 - Turbo Braille Screen 49 phrase. Spring characters and print enhancements must not be used. Capitalization and punctuation are recognized, and imbedded grade change commands are supported. If no argument is used, any previous title is canceled. See also ".BL" and ".TL". (23) .RM Right Margin: This command specifies the last cell position on a braille line. The argument may give a change from the current setting, or may be an arbitrary cell position. The right margin plus the page offset may not exceed the maximum width of - 49 - Turbo Braille Screen 50 the line the printer can print. The number of cells actually embossed on a line is the right margin less the indentation. Usage: .RM n .RM +n .RM -n where "n" is the rightmost cell position to be embossed on a line, and "+n" or "-n" are relative to the current right margin. See also ".IN", ".PP", ".PO", and ".TI". - 50 - Turbo Braille Screen 51 (24) .SB Substitute: A string of text may be substituted for one of the letters of the alphabet, which may then be used as an imbedded command. The .SB command defines the substitution so that later references to the letter in an imbedded command will retrieve and insert the string at the point of reference. Substitutions may be defined and saved in the Turbo Braille setup for use when processing a BIF file. They may also be defined in one file and invoked in another. Usage: - 51 - Turbo Braille Screen 52 .SB x string of text where "x" is any letter and "string of text" is any desired information. Upper and lower case letters are not distinguished, but case is respected in the string of text. A space must separate the command name from the letter and the letter from the string. No special punctuation marks the start or end of the string. Substitutions may not be nested. See also ".RF" and the section on imbedded commands. - 52 - Turbo Braille Screen 53 (25) .SK Skip: This command inserts one or more blank lines into the braille document. It works even if at top of page. With no argument, one blank line is inserted. Usage: .SK .SK n where "n" is the number of blank lines to insert. See also ".SP". - 53 - Turbo Braille Screen 54 (26) .SP Space: This command inserts one or more blank lines into the braille document. It works only if not at top of page. With no argument, one blank line is inserted. Usage: .SP .SP n where "n" is the number of blank lines to insert. See also ".SK". - 54 - Turbo Braille Screen 55 (27) .TC Table Of Contents: (reserved). (28) .TI Temporary Indent: The next line is indented to the position, or by the number of positions, given in the argument. No lasting effect on indentation occurs. This command permits "hanging indents" or "undents" to be made, by first establishing a permanent indentation of several positions, and then - 55 - Turbo Braille Screen 56 temporarily indenting the next line fewer positions. Usage: .TI n .TI +n .TI -n where "n" is the number of positions to indent the next line only, and "+n" or "-n" are relative to the current indentation and are used to indent the next line only. See also ".IN", ".PO", and ".PP". - 56 - Turbo Braille Screen 57 (29) .TL Top Line: The top line of each braille page may be used for text or may contain a running title. If used for text it may contain no page number, a roman or arabic braille page number, or a print page number at the right margin. The running title may also specify page numbers. Usage: .TL x,y where "x" is 0 or 1 for text or title, and "y" is 0, 1, 2, or 3 for no number, roman braille page number, arabic braille page - 57 - Turbo Braille Screen 58 number, or print page number. The default is ".TL 0,2" to use the top line for text with arabic braille page numbers. See also ".BL" and ".RH". (30) .WF Write File: (reserved). - 58 - Turbo Braille Screen 59 Imbedded Commands Imbedded commands may occur on the same line as text in the BIF file, sandwiched between words, or even imbedded within a single word to achieve some immediate effect. Each imbedded command begins with the backslash character "\" and includes exactly one additional character: either a letter, a digit, or a punctuation mark. If the additional character is also a backslash character, then an ordinary backslash is recognized. - 59 - Turbo Braille Screen 60 "\x", where "x" is a letter: This command inserts a string of text which must previously have been defined in a ".SB" dot command. The resulting string may contain still other imbedded commands, but may not contain other substitutions. "\0", "\1", "\2", the grade change commands: These commands change the grade of braille in the middle of translation. If you know that Turbo Braille incorrectly translates something, you can fix it temporarily with these grade change commands. To prevent "name" from appearing in "ornament" you may use one of several - 60 - Turbo Braille Screen 61 methods. One is to surround the "n" or the "a" of "name" with "\1" and "\2" to change to grade 1 uncontracted braille just for that letter. Another method is to insert "\2" between "n" and "a", or between "a" and "m". This is a request to change from grade 2 to grade 2, which at first glance does not make sense. It does break up the word "name" quite safely, so that Turbo Braille cannot find it in its table of contractions. "\:", "\.", "\-", the spring characters: These expand when processed, inserting as many spaces, guide dots, or solid lines - 61 - Turbo Braille Screen 62 as are required to fill a line. Guide dots use dot #5; solid lines use dots #3 and #6. Springs may be repeated in a line as often as needed and in any order, to achieve special formatting effects. Do not use them in lines being centered, since centering uses a separate and incompatible mechanism. "\@", "\#", "\%", page number characters: These commands let you refer to the current braille page in roman numerals (\@), to the current braille page in arabic numerals (\#), or to the current print page in standard textbook page number format (\%). - 62 - Turbo Braille Screen 63 Page numbers are placed on the top line or the bottom line with the dot commands ".TL" and ".BL", and not with these imbedded commands. If you need to refer to the current braille or print page anywhere else in a document, you may use these commands. They may also be used in the strings of text of the ".SB" command, so that when the letter substitution is made, the correct current page number in the desired format is used. "\!", "\_", print enhancement characters: These commands are toggles and each must be used twice, once to turn its action - 63 - Turbo Braille Screen 64 on, and once again to turn it off. The "\!" controls boldface, and the "\_" controls underscore. Both boldface and underscore are converted to italics in braille. These commands act independently from one another, and independently from the dot command ".IT". You may not, for example, start italics with one command and expect to terminate it with another. The variety of methods for italicizing reflects the fact that there are more methods for enhancing printed text than there are for enhancing braille text. - 64 -