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E N V E L O P E M A K E R Version 3.3 Copyright (c) 89, 90, 91 William R. Bauder 5 June 1991 ----------------------------------------------------------------- Envelope Maker is an easy to use, full feature envelope printing application that makes the job of printing envelopes a breeze. ----------------------------------------------------------------- Features of Envelope Maker are: - All pull-down menu driven functions. - Automatic detection of adapter type (color or monochrome). - Sixteen foreground and background screen colors. - Print up to four print attributes on address title lines. - Mix print attributes in any combination. - Ability to print an offset attention name line. - Built in full function editor. - Automatic Title Line record management. (Added Rel 2.1) - All LQ mode printing with most printers. - Label maker with printer attributes. (Added Rel 2.2) - Font selection (Added Rel 2.4) - Print envelops of any size and shape. (Added Rel 2.4) - Grab address data from any text file. (Added Rel 2.6) - 4 or 6 LPI Delivery Address line spacing. (Added Rel 2.61) - Print single or continuous feed envelopes. (Added Rel 2.62) - Automatic "smart" positioning of delivery address and attention name lines on any envelope size. (Added Rel 2.63) - Dump address records to printer or file. (Added Rel 2.64) - Bulk envelope or label printing. (Added Rel 3.0) - Bulk print any one of four tag lists. (Added Rel 3.0) - Automatic address record sorting. (Added Rel 3.0) - Address record search argument. (Added Rel 3.1) - Attention line flip when label printing. (Added Rel 3.1) - Automatic selected record adjustment after Add or Edit. - Print Title-lines in color with a color printer. Files on the disk are: ENV.DAT - This file stores the address data ENV.DOC - This document ENV.EXE - The main Envelope Maker program ENV.IDX - Index file - keeps the order of records ENV.PRO - Profile file - Stores program defaults GRAB.COM - The grab utility TSR program GRAB.DAT - Temporary grab data file made by GRAB.COM TITLE.DAT - Title line data file README.1ST - Shareware notice, order form, ETC. Note: All the above files except GRAB.COM, ENV.DOC & README.1ST must be installed on the same drive and directory. Installing Envelope Maker --------------------------------------------- You may install Envelope Maker in any directory on your hard disk or on a floppy disk drive. Envelope Maker makes a lot of disk reads in it's operation. So, faster performance will be obtained when installed on a hard disk. The only requirements are that the files ENV.EXE, ENV.DAT, ENV.IDX, ENV.PRO and TITLE.DAT be on the same drive and directory. Page 1 Installing on a floppy only system: With your DOS system disk in drive A and a blank diskette in drive B, type: Format B: <Enter> After formatting put this disk in drive A. Put the Envelope Maker distribution disk in drive B, and type: Copy B:*.* A: <Enter> You're now ready to run Envelope Maker. Installing on a hard disk system: At the C> prompt and with Envelope Maker distribution disk in drive A, type: Copy A:*.* C:\<directory of your choice> <Enter>, CD \<same directory as above> <Enter> You're now ready to run Envelope Maker. Proceed to the "Installing Grab" section... Registered users receive one of two versions of the program file (ENV.EXE). The first, optimized for CPUs 8088 thru 80186. This version will have a /U suffix, marked after the version designation on the disk. The second version is for 80286 thru 80486 CPUs. This version will have a /F suffix, marked after the version designation on the disk. If you didn't designate your CPU type when you registered, or you're not sure of the type, you'll receive /U type. This is the universal version that will run on all IBM and compatible computers. NEVER attempt to run the /F type on a computer that has an 8088 through 80186 CPU! It will only run correctly if your computer has an 80286 or higher CPU. Installing/Running GRAB.COM ------------------------------------------- --------------------------- Installing Grab -------------------------- Hard drive users: GRAB.COM MUST be on the SAME DRIVE (C:, D:, etc.) as ENV.EXE. It doesn't have to be in the same DIRECTORY as ENV.EXE though. It must be in a directory accessible via PATH or else it will not load. Floppy drive users: GRAB.COM MUST be on the same drive or can access the drive where ENV.EXE is (A: or B:). To install Grab type: GRAB <Enter> To uninstall Grab type: GRAB U <Enter> GRAB.COM is a memory-resident (TSR) program that may be loaded from your AUTOEXEC.BAT, or other BAT file before running the application in which it will be used. Since GRAB can be easily uninstalled, a good strategy would be to install GRAB before your application, then uninstall GRAB when you exit your application. This way, it only uses RAM when needed. Grab will only use 1536 bytes of RAM while resident. If you load another TSR program after GRAB, it will NOT uninstall. Page 2 Before GRAB installs itself, it first does a disk-wide search for the file ENV.EXE. After finding ENV.EXE, GRAB remembers the path to the file. This path will be where GRAB writes the saved data to the GRAB.DAT file. GRAB will only install when finding ENV.EXE. So, it is imperative that GRAB.COM is on to the same drive as the Envelope Maker program. It doesn't matter what drive/directory the ENV.EXE, GRAB.COM, or your application is. It always writes the GRAB.DAT file to the directory where ENV.EXE is. ---------------------------- Running Grab ---------------------------- The Default "Hot Key" is Alt-G. Grab will copy up to a 32 column, 5 row portion of a text screen to the file, GRAB.DAT. These dimensions are the same as address data fields. When GRAB pops up (by pressing ALT-G), it creates its own cursor, moved around by the four cursor keys. To mark an address, first move the GRAB cursor to the upper-left hand corner of the address, then press the ENTER key to anchor the corner. The cursor keys now open the reverse videoed window. Pressing the ENTER key again will pop up a mini help menu showing the two command options. After marking the desired block of text, pressing the "S" key saves the address to the GRAB.DAT file. GRAB then automatically terminates, putting you back into your application. The "ESC" key will abort GRAB, returning you to your application. When address data writes to the GRAB.DAT file, it appends the data to the end of file. You may mark and save any number of addresses you wish. The only limit is available disk space. Running Envelope Maker ------------------------------------------------ Floppy disk system: With your working diskette in drive A: and at the A> prompt, type: ENV <ENTER> Hard Disk system: Change to the directory you copied the Envelope Maker files to and type: ENV <ENTER> Floppy and hard disk systems: The program will automatically detect whether you have a Monochrome or Color display adapter and act accordingly. If you have a Monochrome adapter, or an EGA/VGA adapter in monochrome mode then normal and high intensity video are the defaults. If you have a Color adapter in color mode, then the screen may be adjusted for three colors. Proceed with the Color Adjust option under the Setup menu to adjust the display colors to your choice. Continue with Setup selecting your printer type, envelope size, and font choices. Changes made take full effect when you exit the Setup menu. Page 3 Envelope Maker - Detailed Description: Main Menu functions ------------- Most functions are self explanatory and easy to use with Envelope Maker's menu system and prompts. To take advantage of Envelope Maker's many features, read the following detailed descriptions. All main functions allow you to back-out of the function by pressing the ESCape key. The Delivery, Return, Edit and Label functions deselect the address, then returns to the main screen after pressing the ESCape key. Pressing ESCape at (Y/N) prompts is the same as pressing the "N" key. ----------------------------- Delivery ------------------------------- - The Delivery menu selection allows you to select the data you wish to print as a delivery address. You also may do a record search, tag or untag address records, and select or name any one of four tag lists. - Each address selection screen of the Main menu functions, Delivery, Return, Label, and Edit has the same pull-down menu. This menu has five commands (Get, Tag, Search, Name, and Clear). Select commands by moving the reverse video highlight with the left or right cursor keys, or by entering the first letter of the command. Details on these commands will follow. - The address selection screen displays six records at a time from the data base in ascending alphabetical order. To the left of each address, there may be one or two numbers. The first number, in reverse video is the record number. You may see another number, below the record number. This number is the attribute number for that record. If the record lacks an attribute number, no number will be displayed. On the bottom of the screen is four tag list names. The active tag list will be displayed in reverse video. The following keys control address selection functions: Page-Down - Scrolls the address records up six records. Page-Up - Scrolls the address records down six records. G - Get Delivery address selection. - Enter the record number, then press the ENTER key. You'll then see the address placed on the main screen in the delivery address location. T - Tag/Untag a record. To tag a record, enter the record number, then press the ENTER key. A tagged record displays a √ mark in front of the record number on the screen. To Untag a record, enter the record number, then press the ENTER key. Note the √ mark disappear by the record on the screen. S - Search for record by name. This function will find a record by searching on an argument. Enter the name you want to search for at the prompt, then press the ENTER key. The screen with the closest record-match will pop-up. You don't need an exact match with the search argument. The search is case insensitive, and only made on Title lines (first line of data). The search will be made on the characters you enter at the prompt, for the same number of characters into each Title line. Page 4 Envelope Maker - Detailed Description: Main Menu functions ------------- N - Name/Rename the active tag-list. You have thirteen characters to name the active tag-list to anything you wish. Enter the name you want at the prompt, then press the ENTER key. Note the name change on the bottom screen line. C - Clear all tag marks. - After making this selection, press the ENTER key. This will untag all address records from the active tag-list. Note that there are four tag-lists. This command will ONLY clear tag marks from the active tag-list. The remaining three tag-lists are not affected by this command. F1, F2, F3, F4 - These function keys select the active tag-list. F1 selects list 1, F2 selects list 2, ETC. The active tag-list name is in reverse video on bottom of the screen. The addresses that print during Bulk printing, will be those addresses tagged from the active tag-list. ESC - Pressing this key will return you to the main screen and also deselect any Delivery, Return, or Label address. - Tag marks will be saved in the ENV.DAT file. The only way to remove a tag from a record, is to untag the record, by using either of the two above procedures. ------------------------------- Return ------------------------------- - The return address defaults to the address selected, the last time you ran Envelope Maker. You may select any address from the database you wish. If you don't want a return address, enter this function then press the ESCape key. This will deselect the Return address. -------------------------------- Label ------------------------------- - This function allows you to select an address for printing on 3 1/2 X 15/16 inch labels. Upon selecting this function the first thing you'll see is the same screens of address data seen when selecting data for an envelope. Only now, you'll be choosing the data you wish to print as a label. Enter the address record number, then press the ENTER key. The main screen with a window will appear, and the Selected Label in it. - Suppression of the double-high attribute during label printing is conditional upon the number of lines of address data. If the address has less than five lines of data, the double-high attribute is active. This attribute will be suppressed when the address has five lines of data. Only five 1/6 inch spaced lines will fit on a 3-1/2 X 15/16 inch label. - When label printing special processing will be done to address data when the data has an attention name line. An address with an attention name line will print to a label like this: Page 5 Envelope Maker - Detailed Description: Main Menu functions ------------- Acme Widgets, Inc. Acme Widgets, Inc. 1234 N. Main Street <-- This Address Attn: John R. Doe Gotham City, ST 12345 will become --> 1234 N. Main Street Gotham City, ST 12345 ~Attn: John R. Doe --------------------------------- Add -------------------------------- - This function is for adding address data to file, and if using the attribute symbol "^" (caret, see below), to the title data file. The first thing you'll see is the edit window pop open on the screen. The small box below the edit window will show the number of title records on file. On the bottom of the editor window, there is a status line. This line shows the status of the Insert/Delete, Caps Lock, Number Lock and Shift keys. Follow the screen prompts to add address data. - After adding a record, it will be sorted and placed in the list in ascending alphabetical order. The sort is case insensitive, and only on the first line of address data. The last four lines of address data are ignored during a sort. Any selected recorded is pushed up on the list if the added record has a lower record number. ----------------------- Use of the Flip-bar (|) ----------------------- - This feature allows you to maintain your address data with names of people sorted on last name, while names of companies or other businesses sorted regularly. - Use of the Flip-bar (it looks like this |) will allow you flip the text that's in front of the bar, with the text that is after the bar. A name entered like, Lastname |Firstname MI, will output this data to the screen, Title data file, or printer, Firstname MI Lastname. ------------------- Use of the Attribute Symbol (^) ------------------ - Use the attribute symbol when you want customized Title Lines. The term "Title Line" simply means the FIRST line of either the return or delivery address. To have good looking title lines with print attributes, it is important to understand the function of the attribute symbol (^) and the Title Line Editor. Title Line Editor coverage starts on page 11. - When the print routine starts to print an envelope, it first checks the record for an attribute number. When finding a number, it then reads the number. The number found is the record number of the TITLE.DAT file. The print routine then reads the TITLE.DAT file record, processes the data, adding printer attribute control codes. When not finding an attribute number, the data sent to the printer comes from the ENV.DAT file. This string will print normally, with no attributes, like the remaining address lines. Page 6 Envelope Maker - Detailed Description: Main Menu functions ------------- - The rules for using the attribute (^) symbol is as follows. 1. The first line must begin with the symbol (^). 2. A number MUST follow the attribute symbol (^). 3. Numbers entered MUST be in sequence starting with 1. 4. When adding address data, and want a Title Line with printer attributes, enter the attribute symbol (^) plus number that's ONE MORE THAN the number shown in the information window. This window shows the number of title records ("There are XX Title Records on file"). 5. You may use the same attribute number in any number of addresses by using the same ^ + number in each record. For example, if you address letters to different persons/departments in the same company. 6. To delete an attribute number, enter ^0. - After adding an attribute number you no longer will see it as part of the address data. The attribute number will be displayed below the record number on the address selection screens. When adding data with a new attribute number, a record is automatically added to the TITLE.DAT file. You should next use the Title Line Editor under the Setup menu, to add the attribute symbols for the desired printer attributes. Coverage of the Title Line Editor is on Page 11. - Another use of the attribute symbol is to enable you to print extra long Title lines. If the normal field length of 32 characters is not long enough, add an ^ + number to the Title line. You then may go to the Title Line Edit under Setup, select the record, and edit the Title line. You can now have a Title line up to 51 characters long. Normally Title Line Edit is only for adding print attribute symbols into the Title line but isn't mandatory. - The printer and record management routines can handle up to 32,760 Title Line records. - The only limitation to the number of address records is the space on the disk drive that you're using. Both ENV.DAT and TITLE.DAT files are random access files. ------------------- Use of the Tilde Character (~) ------------------- - You may print an attention name line when an address record is used as a delivery address. The rules for using this feature are as follows: 1. The attention name line MUST be the last or fifth line of data. 2. The line MUST begin with the "~" (tilde) character. 3. Do NOT use as a return address. Adherence to the above conditions will print the attention name line offset below and left of the delivery address. It is important to have the correct envelope size selected. Different offsets will be printed for the envelope size selected. Page 7 Envelope Maker - Detailed Description: Main Menu functions ------------- -------------------------------- Edit -------------------------------- - Use this function when you wish to edit an address that is already in the data file. First you'll see the same screens of address data when you select an address for printing. Only now, you'll be choosing the data you wish to edit. After making your selection, the main screen appears with the same window as the Add function. The address you chose to edit is in the editor window. Make the changes you want, then follow the screen prompts to save the edited data. - If you remove an attribute number by entering ^0, the corresponding title line record will be automatically deleted. This record deletion will be completed, when the attribute number is the only one of that number on file. When adding a new attribute number, a title line record will be automatically added to the file. - The Delete option does not remove address or title records from the disk. The record remains in the ENV.DAT and/or TITLE.DAT file. Only the the record number in the index file (ENV.IDX) will be deleted. If you've accidentally deleted an address record, it can be recovered by using the Envelope Maker Utility program. This utility is only distributed to registered users. - If a deleted address record has the only attribute number on file, only then is it possible to delete the title line record from the index. The Automatic Title Line management routines will renumber all attribute numbers that are HIGHER than the title line record deleted. -------------------------------- Grab -------------------------------- - The Grab function imports address data marked and saved by the Grab Utility TSR program. When the grab data file (GRAB.DAT) is empty, you'll see an error message, not allowing you to proceed. - When there's data in the GRAB.DAT file, you'll see the first record in the window. A description of each active key function is as follows: Y - Puts you immediately into the editor, allowing you to edit the address before adding it the data base. After adding a record you're shown the next grab record, if any. After you've added the last record, you're returned to the main menu. N - Pressing the N key will show you the next grab record, if any. After shown the last record, you're returned to the main menu. D - This key will allow you to delete the GRAB.DAT file from the disk. You should delete the GRAB.DAT file only after you have added the records you want in the data base. Use of this key is the only way to delete the GRAB.DAT file. ESC - This key will abort Grab, allowing you to return later to add the Grab data to the address data base. Page 8 Envelope Maker - Detailed Description: Main Menu functions ------------- -------------------------------- Print ------------------------------- - Select this function when you're ready to print an envelope or label. If you've selected a label, the print function assumes that you want to print a label. With no label selected, Print assumes you want to print an envelope. Selecting Print with a label selected, but wanting to print an envelope, abort the function by pressing the ESCape key. Then select Label from the main menu and press the ESCape key. This will de-select the label, enabling you to print the envelope. - Before proceeding with a Print operation, be sure the Step option setting is correct for the type of envelopes you'll be printing. See the Step option under Setup Menu functions on page 13 for details. - When the active Tag list has tagged addresses, you'll see a prompt, asking if you want to Bulk print the tagged addresses. If you answer yes at this prompt, all the tagged addresses will be printed to envelopes or labels, dependent upon having a label selected or not. You will notice that the first tagged address appears in the delivery address position of the screen, or label window. Bulk printing only prints tagged addresses, and ignores any normally selected delivery or label address. When answering no "N" at this prompt, only the single selected envelope or label address will print. The Bulk prompt only appears when finding tagged addresses in the active tag-list. - Without a label selected, you'll next see a prompt asking you to position the envelope in the printer. With a label selected, you'll see a prompt asking you how many labels to print. During Bulk printing, the number entered at this prompt, should be the number of each tagged address that you want to print. You may enter a number no higher than 99 at this prompt. - Envelope Maker will allow you to print an envelope with the return address only, the delivery address only, or both addresses. With neither address selected, or no tagged addresses in the active tag list, the print function will abort. - If your printer's off or off-line, an error message will appear. Envelope Maker also will detect an out of paper condition on some types of printers. After the program detects a printer error, you can back-out to the main menu by pressing the ESCape key. - The actions taken during printer initialization are; (1) reset, (2) buffer clearing, (3) NLQ/LQ mode enabled, and then font selection. After initialization printing will start. - The printer will not move the envelope or label before printing starts. Therefore, it is IMPORTANT to position the envelope or label(s) in your printer to EXACTLY where you want printing to start. Always position the envelope in the printer as if it were to print a return address, though none may be selected. Positioning to the delivery address area is automatic, and determined by (1) the envelope size, (2) the number lines of address data, and (3) the Delivery @LPI (4 or 6) setting. It may be a good idea to test the print-out on regular paper before committing to an envelope. Page 9 Envelope Maker - Detailed Description: Main Menu functions ------------- - After an envelope prints, it either advances 5 1/2 inches from the return address starting point, or it will eject from the printer. This action depends on the Step option setting. When delivery address and attention name line positioning interferes with this advance, a form feed command will eject the envelope from the printer. - During Bulk printing, after each tagged address prints, you'll see the next address appear in either the delivery address location or label window. If you have the Single Step option in effect, you'll see a prompt telling you to load the next envelope. When the Continue Step option is in effect, all the tagged addresses will be printed without interruption. After printing all tagged addresses, the program returns to the main menu. The Step option doesn't affect label printing. Label printing's normally done on continuous feed label stock. ------------------------- Quit - (Main Menu) ------------------------- - Quit is the last selection on the Main Menu. ALWAYS exit Envelope Maker with this selection! When you quit Envelope Maker, all changes made during a session will be saved in the ENV.IDX and ENV.PRO files. Then the video adapter will be reset for normal eight color back-ground video. If you've made changes under the Setup Menu, or added/deleted records, and do not exit with Quit, the ENV.PRO and ENV.IDX files may become contaminated. The fix for this problem will be covered in the section titled ("What to do . . ."). Envelope Maker - Detailed Description: Setup Menu functions ------------ ----------------------------- Setup Menu ----------------------------- The Setup menu is a pull-down smart-menu providing many useful functions. The following describes each menu selection in detail: --------------------------- Printer Select --------------------------- - It is important to select your printer from this menu before doing any printing. When you select a printer from the Printer Selection Menu, this sets the correct control sequence strings for the print routines. - It is only necessary to make this selection the first time running Envelope Maker, or if you change printer type. With subsequent runs of the program, your printer selection will remain the same as from the previous session. - Select the printer from this menu that most closely matches or your printer emulates. Because the ALPS printer prints double-high characters below the normal line, this selection will suppress this attribute. All but the Epson LQ and Star NX-2400 selections, select control codes for compressed attribute print. When selecting compressed print with either the Epson LQ or Star NX-2400 printers, they'll print at 15 CPI pitch. Page 10 Envelope Maker - Detailed Description: Setup Menu functions ------------ ---------------------------- Envelope Size --------------------------- - It is important to select the envelope size you'll be using. This selection sets the main variables that position the delivery address and attention name line on an envelope. The delivery address positioning is measured from the first character of the return address. Three factors decide positioning of the delivery address on fixed size envelopes; (1) the envelope size, (2) the number of lines of address data, and (3) the Delivery @LPI (4 or 6) setting. When using the Manual Position Adjust option, the only variables that position the delivery address, is the numbers that you enter. - If your envelope doesn't match any of the fixed size choices, move the selection bar to Manual Position Adjust, then press the ENTER key. Upon answering yes, to the want to change question, you will be prompted to enter two numbers. - The first number is the number of spaces, at 10 cpi, where you want the delivery address to start printing. For instance, if you want the delivery address to start printing 4 1/2 inches to the right of where the return address starts, enter 45 (10 X 4.5). The maximum number you can enter at this first prompt is 70 (7 inches). - The next prompt asks you how many lines down, at 6 lpi, from the return address, you want the delivery address to start. For instance, if you want the delivery address to start printing 3 1/2 inches down from the first character position of the return address, enter 21 (6 X 3.5). The maximum number you can enter at this prompt is 30 (5 inches). - It's only necessary to make this selection once, or if you change envelope size. Once you select an envelope size, it remains in effect until making another selection. The next time you run Envelope Maker, the envelope size selection will be the same as the previous session. -------------------------- Title Line Editor ------------------------- - The Address Title Line Editor has two screens, record selection and editor. The top line of the first screen will show the number of records in the TITLE.DAT file. Use the up and down cursor keys and/or enter the record number to select the record to edit. Let's say you entered 10 at the prompt. You can then press the up cursor key for record 11, or the down cursor key for record 9. If you first press a cursor key, then a number key, the number key adds to the displayed number. Let's say you first press the cursor key once to display record number 2, then the 5 key. Record number 25 will display. Whenever pressing a number key, and there's not that many records on file, you'll hear an error sound. The screen will then go back to displaying record number 1. Pressing ESCape at this screen will back you out to the main Setup menu. - After entering the record to edit, press the ENTER key. You'll see the main editor screen. The record chosen to edit will be in the select- ion/edit window on the bottom. Pressing ESCape at this screen will back you out to the record selection screen. Pressing the up or down cursor keys will alternately display the attribute or color codes. Page 11 Envelope Maker - Detailed Description: Setup Menu functions ------------ - BE CAREFUL not to confuse the ^ symbol (caret) with the Control key. The ^ symbol is on the shifted 6 key. The available attributes are dependent on the selected printer, so you may, or may not see all the possible attribute codes. To start an attribute hold down the shift key, type ^ then the letter C, I, H, or W to start the desired attribute. To end the attribute, type the ^ plus letter key again. The proportional print code (^P) should only be used at the start, and at the end of the Title-line. Each individual attribute code is as follows: C - Start/Stop Compressed print (15 cpi for LQ class printers) I - Start/Stop Italic print B - Start/Stop Blue/Cyan print H - Start/Stop Double-high print V - Start/Stop Violet print W - Start/Stop Double-wide print Y - Start/Stop Yellow print P - Start/Stop Proportional print O - Start/Stop Orange print R - Start/Stop Red/Magenta print G - Start/Stop Green print - Failure to stop any of the above attributes, will automatically put the appropriate stop-code after the title-line. Let's say you put a ^P start-code at the start of the title-line, but omitted the ^P stop-code at the end. The ^P stop-code will be automatically inserted after the title-line. - You may use attributes in any combination, and for any length of text. Bracket a single letter, or a complete line of text with one or more attribute symbols. To print "Acme Widgets, Inc." in double-high, double-wide letters, enter "^H^WAcme Widgets, Inc.^H^W" (no quotes). If you want to print the A, W, and I of Acme Widgets, Inc. in double-high, double-wide letters, enter "^H^WA^H^Wcme ^H^WW^H^Widgets, ^H^WI^H^Wnc." (no quotes). The only limitation on entering attributes and text in the editor window is the physical length of the window that is 51 characters long. Turning attributes on and off often can make you run out of space quickly, on a not-so-long title-line. - Upon completion of the edit, press the <ENTER> key. The next prompt asks if the changes you made are correct? You may press the ESC key to return to the Setup menu main screen. ------------------------------ Record Dump ----------------------------- - This utility will allow you to download the Envelope Maker address data file to a printer, or text file. When you choose to download to a text file, this file can be easily viewed, edited, or printed by your favorite text editor. This file will be named RECORD.DOC. If you choose, download to printer, address records will be printed twenty four records per page on standard 8 1/2 X 11 inch paper. You may press the ESC key to return to the Setup menu main screen. - The first prompt asks if you want to dump to a file or printer. A file named RECORD.DOC will be made when you select dump to file. Page 12 Envelope Maker - Detailed Description: Setup Menu functions ------------ - If you want to dump to the printer, be sure the Step (See the Step option below) selection is correct for the type of paper you're using. With Step set for Single, printing will stop at every page full so that you may change paper. --------------------------- Delivery @ XLPI -------------------------- - This selection allows printing of the delivery address with a line spacing of either 4 or 6 LPI. Either press <Enter>, with the selection bar on this selection, or the "D" key, and you'll see LPI toggle between 4LPI and 6LPI. The delivery address automatically positions for either line spacing. --------------------------------- Step --------------------------------- - This selection controls how an envelope or paper advances in your printer. Use the "Single" option for single feed envelopes during envelope printing, or single sheet paper during a Record dump. Use the "Continue" option for continuous feed envelopes while printing envelopes or continuous feed paper during a Record dump. - Either press <Enter>, with the selection bar on this option, or the "S" key, and you'll see Step toggle between Single and Continue. --------------------------- Font Selection --------------------------- - This menu selection is only active when a printer has selective fonts. You won't see this menu choice when a selected printer doesn't have font control. The Setup pull-down menu will be resized dependent on the printer selected. - The font selections shown are all the possible fonts that a printer can produce. The selections may be resident in your printer, or the printer may need one or more optional cartridges to produce the font. Envelope Maker cannot detect optional font cartridges. Be sure your printer can produce a font before selection. - Make your font selection choice, then press <ENTER>. If you don't want the program to disturb a font selection you make with your printer control panel, choose the Null String option. - Make a font selection BEFORE printing a label or envelope. Page 13 Envelope Maker - Detailed Description: Setup Menu functions ------------ ---------------------------- Change Colors --------------------------- - This menu selection is only active with computers that have a color adapter and are in color mode. With monochrome adapters, or with EGA/ VGA adapters in monochrome mode, this selection is not active, nor seen on the Setup menu. The menu size is dependent on the type and active mode of your video adapter. - Use by following the screen prompts to adjust the three screen colors to your choice. You have sixteen colors available for foreground and background video. -------------------------------- Quit -------------------------------- - The last remaining selection of the Setup Menu is to return to the main Envelope Maker screen. Also you may return to the main menu by pressing the ESCape key. All changes made under Setup are in full effect after returning to the main menu. - When you quit, all selections made under the Setup menu are fully functional. These settings will remain the same when you quit Envelope Maker and run the program again. The only way to make a Setup menu change is to enter this function, then make the change. Page 14 ----- What to do in case of difficulty -- or when all else fails. ----- Much effort has gone into making Envelope Maker easy to use and trouble free. Program prompts for key-board input only accept a correct response, or what the program is looking for. Keyboard input routines just keep looping until receiving a correct response. As with most things in life, something always happens that we have not planned, or doesn't make any sense. If there is ever a problem with Envelope Maker that you can't fix, work around, or figure out, I want to know about it! Please write me a letter describing the problem in detail. Bear in mind that whether I can fix your problem or not will depend largely on how well you describe the problem. Before you do that, there's a few things you may try. The Envelope Maker program and all support files must always be on the same drive and directory. These files are ENV.IDX, ENV.DAT, ENV.PRO, and TITLE.DAT. ENV.DAT and TITLE.DAT are random access files and if you boot the program without these files, Envelope Maker will make new ones. These files will be empty of data. The record length for ENV.DAT is 166 and TITLE.DAT 51. You can find out how many records either file contains by dividing the size of the file by it's record length. This may not be accurate for either file. The reason for this is, when you delete a record, it remains in the file. The ENV.PRO file is a sequential access file and can be a source of some strange problems, if for some reason the file becomes contaminated. If this happens, it's possible that the program won't run. If these problems occur, the easiest way to fix this is, first delete the ENV.PRO file, then reboot Envelope Maker. The program has an error trap that will make a new ENV.PRO file when not found. While the program is booting, you will first hear the error sound, then the main screen will appear. You should then go to Setup and make your initial settings again. ENV.IDX is the index file. This file contains the order of active address and title-line record numbers. A problem with this file could be encountered if you don't exit Envelope Maker normally, or loose power in the middle of an Envelope Maker session. When you add or delete records while running Envelope Maker, only changes are made to a numeric arrays in memory. When exiting the program, the index file in updated from this array. The only way to fix an index file problem is to use the Undelete option in the Envelope Maker Utility. This utility is only available to registered users. Other problems can be compatibility in nature; (1) your printer doesn't work, or (2) print the way you think it should. The printer port that Envelope Maker will output to is LPT1. Use of the DOS MODE command will be required when connected to a port other than LPT1. If your printer doesn't work correctly with any of the available printer select- ions, please let me know. If you can send me enough information, I'll gladly add your printer to the selection menu. Good luck and Happy Envelopes. William R. Bauder Page 15