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╔══════════════════════════════════╗ ║ LABLER v8.4 ║ ╚══════════════════════════════════╝ Ken Koch (c) 1989, 1990, 1991, 1992 DISCLAIMER OF WARRANTIES AND LIMITATION OF LIABILITIES ------------------------------------------------------ The author has taken due care in writing this program, and the program is supplied as is. The author makes no expressed or implied warranty of any kind with regard to this program. In no event shall the author be liable for incidental or consequential damages in connection with or arising out of the use of this program. This program is NOT public domain. It may be distributed and used free of charge by anyone,provided: 1. No charge is made for this program other than a minimal charge for the blank disk, postage, etc... 2. Both the software LABLER.EXE and this short documentation file LABLER.DOC are distributed together and un-altered. 3. This software is not distributed in a manner to provide "added value" to a commercial product which is being sold for profit. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- Included In This Package ------------------------ Filename Original ------------ ---------- 67CONVER.EXE 13552....for Converting Pre-7.0 lists to v7.0 lists. 78CONVER.EXE 56208....for Converting Pre-8.0 lists to current format. LABLER.EXE 109648....Main Program. LABMAINT.EXE 64672....List Maintenance program. (Sort/Delete) LABLER.DOC 26363....This DOC file LABLER.SDR 432....\ Sample Graphics Library LABLER.SHP 15579..../ ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- Purpose ------- LABLER is a labeling program. (the program is not misspelled, just wanted a different way to have people remember it better.) LABLER, will print as many labels to a printer as long as the printer is EPSON or IBM compatible, and of course there is an ample supply of labels. Legend ------ ┌──Current Time ┌─Editing Lines (1-5) │ │ ⌐ │ ┌──────────────────────┬──────┼───────────────────────────────────────────┐ │ Time : 11:00:00 a.m. │ │ LABLER v7.4 │ ├──────────┬───────────┴──────┼─────────────────────────────────────┬─────┤ │LINE MODE│ LINE CONTENTS │ │LINE#│ │──────────┼──────────────────┼─────────────────────────────────────┼─────┤ ┌>│██Normal██│░░░░░░░░░░░ ⌐ ░░░░░░░░░░░│██1██│<┐ │ │ Normal │░░░░░░░░░░░ Maximum Ending Position>░░░░░░░░░░░│ 2 │ │ │ │ Normal │░░░░░░░░░░░ ░░░░░░░░░░░│ 3 │ │ │ │ Normal │░░░░░░░░░░░<Minimum Starting Position ░░░░░░░░░░░│ 4 │ │ │ │ Normal │░░░░░░░░░░░ ░░░░░░░░░░░│ 5 │ │ │ ├──────────┴──────────┬───┬───┬─────────────────────────────────────┴─────┤ │ │ │ Press F8 For Help │ G │ S │ By Ken Koch (c) 1991 │ │ │ └─────────────────────┴───┴───┴───────────────────────────────────────────┘ │ │ ^ ^ ┌────┘ └─Mode │ │ │ Indicator │ └─Sound Indicator Line │ Indicator └─Graphic Mode Indicator Getting Started --------------- Type: LABLER [optional list name] [switches] When LABLER is first called, it will create a Label list called LABLER.LST unless it is already in the current directory. This LST file not only hold labels, but any configurations you have made. Command Line options: -------------------- /S ... Setup /Lnnnn Create List file with nnnn entries. Default is 1000. (Must be between 1-1000) LABLER <list name> This will load a particular Label list at runtime. The default list is LABLER.LST When giving the name, do not include the .LST extension as it will be automatically appended to the name you choose. Setup ----- Specifying /S on the command line, will present you with the Labler setup screen. Here you may change 5 things. 1. Type of screen: 1. Color 2. Composite 3. Mono 2. NextLabel value - this value, in increments of 1/72", is the spacing required between labels. The default is 5. 3. Sound toggle. 4. Backgrounds 1. None - use whatever is on screen at time of execution. 2. Yes w/ANSI screen. Use LABLER.ANS. If it does not exist the default NORMAL background will be used. 3. Yes w/Normal Background. 5. Erase screen upon exiting. Notes ----- In record 0 of the list file, the configuration of LABLER is stored. If you don't have a previous version of LABLER, & a LABLER.LST is to be created, you can specify how many labels will exist in the list by giving the /Lnnnn switch. When specifying the number, and it's below 1000 you must pad that number with 0's. ie. 500 = 0500. You can specify any number between 1 - 1000. If a list is created less than 1000, you can still save more labels in the list, than you initially created it at. For this program to function corectly you must be in the same directory as the LABLER.LST file. When you first run LABLER, it will create the default label list called LABLER.LST, unless one is already there (from a previous version.) If you have one from a previous version, run the included program 67CONVER which will convert pre-7.0 lists to this version. The sytax to use for 67Conver is: Use: 67CONVER [.LST name] to convert from Pre 7.0 lists to Labler v8.x lists. 78CONVER [.LST name] to convert v7.x lists to Labler v8.x lists. If you do not give it a list name, it will use the default of LABLER list. Do not worry if you run this program again using the default. If it has already been converted, the program will abort. The conversion takes roughly 2 minutes so it might be a good idea to maybe Grab a cup of coffee in the interim. Also you will need at least 2 * the size of the list file in bytes to run the conversion. When Labler is finished making or reading the list, the setup screen will appear. After making any changes to the setup, you will then be presented with the normal Labler edit window. If at any time you wish to redo any of the setup options, ESC out of the program & run the /S option switch. If your printer is NLQ compatible, you can use NLQ if this function is enabled before running LABLER, on your printer. ** Note for NLQ ** Remember that with NLQ mode you cannot write condensed NLQ. If you wish to use condensed in a label, the NLQ must be disabled. Also with the graphics in this version, if you are using graphics in a label, NLQ must be disabled. LABLER, will print 5 lines only. So the perfect labels would be the 1x3" kind. It also inserts 1 blank line between labels. Some align- ment of the printer head may be needed, for optimum performance. In this Version I have updated the way to enter the SAVE or LOAD prompt. You need only press S or L depending on the function wanted rather than pressing the RETURN key afterwards. To abort this function just press any key except "S" or "L". ANSI Screen Background ---------------------- You can create a custom background for the LABLER window to sit on. Just create an 80x25 ANSI screen using any ANSI screen creator, & name it LABLER.ANS. When LABLER is invoked it first searched for this file. If one is not found, then the default screen is used. You must have ANSI loaded, and a Color monitor present. If you have a LABLER.ANS file, but wish to use the default screen, specify the /NA option switch, which will not load it. If you are using the ANSI screens, and it does not work, use the DOS commands MODE CO80 before using LABLER. Some programs modify the memory location that holds the value to indicate that ANSI is loaded. If you wish to use another ANSI screen other than LABLER.ANS, first type it to the screen, then use the /NB switch, which will use the startup screen. Function Keys within LABLER --------------------------- F1...Toggle Normal, Condensed, Underlined and Enlarged modes. Note: If the length of the line you are toggling is greater then the allowable length for that mode, you will be advanced to a mode that will allow that length. (ENLARGED Mode: This is for printers that will do ENLARGED printing based on the printer codes: chr$(14). In Enlarged mode, you will only get 17 characters to print out, so if you have more than 17 characters on a line and to go into Enlarged mode, it will not do so, until you get rid of some of the letters. If in Graphics mode, Enlarged Mode decreases to 9 characters per line (CONDENSED mode: This is for printers that will do CONDENSED printing based on the printer code: chr$(18) This is the most lettered line you can get with a maximum of 56 characters. If in Graphics mode, Enlarged Mode decreases to 32 characters per line (UNDERLINED mode: This is for printers that will do UNDERLINED printing with the following codes: chr$(27)+chr$(45)+chr$(1) If in Graphics mode, Enlarged Mode decreases to 19 characters per line This mode, like Normal, will print out 34 characters. (NORMAL mode: This is regular print. This mode will print 34 characters. If in Graphics mode, Enlarged Mode decreases to 19 characters per line F2...Makes the default LABEL list, the one you specify. When giving the list a name, you can enter up to 8 characters. This name must not contain the characters "[]/\:;*." or a space. If it does, the program will strip these characters out. The name you give it will automatically be given the extension .LST. F3...Lets you repeat the line, from the one above it. F4...Blank label. This prints a blank label, so it facilitates easier removal of the regular printed labels. F5...Print Labels. This function has 4 modes. It defaults to ABORT, but may be chosen to do AUTO, SINGLE, and MULTI. In AUTO mode, the program goes thru the current label list for premade labels. When it finds one, It prints one label. If graphics is enabled, (by pressing Alt-S) each label will have the prechosen graphic on it. In SINGLE mode, one label is printed for the current label being edited. If graphics is enabled, (by pressing Alt-S) each label will have the prechosen graphic on it. In MULTI mode, You may enter from 1-1000 labels here. However many you choose it will print that many for the current edited label. If you want to abort press [ESC] or [ENTER]. If graphics is enabled, (by pressing Alt-S) each label will have the prechosen graphic on it. The printer must either emulate an Epson or IBM Graphics printer, as those are the printers that the codes used for specialized type is set to emulate. Check with your printer manual before proceeding. If at any time the printer runs out of paper, or jams up, or is Busy the program will halt until it becomes ready again. In the event its out of paper or jammed, it will await for you to press a key before proceeding. F6...Deletes Current line or if pressed twice will blank entire label. This will also disable Graphics if pressed twice. F7...Left/Center/Right. This will toggle your line between Left justified, Centered, or Right Justified. F8...Help Screen. F9...Save or Load a label. If you try to load a label from a newly created label list this process will return you to editing. If you want to Save a label, you are prompted to enter the name you wish to use for that label. The name can be up to 20 character long. If that name is currently in use, you will have the option of Overwriting that label or create a new name. If you want to load a label, a list of the available labels will list to the screen. Press the Cursor-Up or Cursor-Down keys to select the label, then press Enter to load it. To abort a save, press return at the name prompt or press <ESC> at the Save or Load prompt. F10..To EXIT, press "Y" at the prompt. Any other key will return you to Edit mode. Alt-G..Enter Graphics Mode. This will bring up a window which consists of any Graphics Library files that exists in the same directory you run Labler from. These Libraries must have the extension of .SDR(Graphics) & .SHP(Names). When a Library is chosen, you will then be presented with a list of available graphics within that library. If you don't want to pick one, choose "=NONE=" and this mode will abort. If you want to pick one use the cursor keys to choose the graphic. You will then see what the graphic will look like. You will then have the opportunity to use the cursor keys again to find the exact graphic you want. CTRL-G This will show you the graphic currently selected, if you are using a graphic in the label. Alt-S..Toggles Sound mode ON/OFF. This will only turn off the Windowing sounds. The keyclicking sound will still be on. Editing the Premade Labels within the List ------------------------------------------ Since I have done away with the old PMEDIT program within the LABLER program, there had to be some way to edit the premade labels, and there is. I have written a small program that will let you Delete or Sort the Labels within the list. An accompanying program LABMAINT.EXE has been provided for limited maintenance features. If you wish to sort the List, it will sort it by the Name of the label. Also, before using LABMAINT, there are is 1 requirement. You must either run this program on a data disk with at least 2Meg bytes free. This is required because LABMAINT makes a temporary file to sort & delete the list. One more note about Deleting labels. Try to delete all the labels you want in one pass. Since it take roughly 2 minutes, to read/write the labels to seperate files. Graphics within Labler ---------------------- Starting with version 7.3, I have made available a means of which to add graphics. This is done with PrintMaster Icons because they are the easiest to convert. As stated above, if a graphic is used you will notice that the line lengths decrease dramatically. Try to choose the graphic before creating the label to insure that you have enough space for the words. When your graphic is printed it will be printed in the format below: ----------------------------- ┌─────────┐ This is Line 1 │ │ This is Line 2 │ GRAPHIC │ This is Line 3 │ │ This is Line 4 └─────────┘ This is Line 5 ----------------------------- The box is usually not shown unless it's included with the graphic. History of LABLER ----------------- This program came into being, when I was working at a Computer Retail outfit. The old label making program was being run on a Commodore 64 and since I had gotten out of Commodore all together and into IBM programming, I decided, out of something to do, to improve on that basic program. In it there was no way to edit, or add, or delete the premade labels without going directly into the Source code and modifing it that way. I also experimented with different types so that a good label would be outputted. When I started LABLER, It was a very basic BASIC program. I decided to use Turbo Basic because it used lots of different tools in it. And also it could be compiled into a Executable program, and since all my experience using Commodore basic, which is very similar to IBM basic, this was the perfect medium to do it with. I thought it would make a very professional looking package. Then it was only a project to work on, something to take the boredom out of testing the so many software and hardware I was expected to do at the company. But has since become one of my best efforts. It has gone through alot of changes, as I have. I quit working for that company where all this started. But my LABLER program is still working there. The manager, who was my superior, is still communicating with me, and told me of the many bugs which he found, he is still my Beta tester. I know there is to be some bugs with the program, but until I got feedback on the program from the public, and my beta testers I would never have known the bugs. Versions up to v7.0 were all written using Borland's great Turbo Basic. I have graduated now to a faster, more compact language, Pascal. Since I had written all my previous versions using Borland's compilers I stayed with them. Before I decided on Turbo Pascal I looked at various other languages including 'C' and assembler. Turbo Pascal, even though not as widely used as 'C', is in my opinion far superior. I switched to Turbo Pascal because for one thing it creates a smaller more compact program size and also because it's much faster. Version 7.0, although not released, was my first attempt as a Turbo Basic to Turbo Pascal conversion. (Well enough of the praise of Borland and their fine programs) Version History --------------- Ver 1.0 February 1986 First Version on a Commodore 64. Bugs Reported: Centering / UnCentering Bug If no Label list found program would abort. Ver 5.0 January 1987 First LABLER to introduce Windows Used ALT-Function keys to execute commands Fixed Previous Bugs. Ver 5.5 February 1988 Updated so LABLER could save 10 labels. Include Help Screen Ver. 5.6 May 1988 Included New Windowing techniques Decided on NON-ALT function keys to execute commands, since most other programs used the ALT-key functions. Ver. 5.7 October 1988 Included Label list to be modified or labels to be deleted within. Updated so LABLER could save 1000 labels. Bugs Reported: After deleting Labels, program would still show them. Ver. 5.8 February 19, 1989 Fixed Label List problem Included way to change Label Lists. (so in effect could have 1000 labels in each list.) Included Shell to DOS from program, for any type of DOS commands. Ver. 5.9 February 28, 1989 Fixed PMEDIT, internal LABLER list editor. Fixed Centering problem, found in Ver 5.8 Fixed Insert Mode problem, found in Ver. 5.8 Ver. 6.0 March 3, 1989 (Latest Release) Fixed PMEDIT, internal LABLER list editor. Found that it did not actually delete label when re- quested. Ver. 6.3 July 1990. Minor bugs reported and fixed. Ver. 6.4 August 1990 Never released. Ver. 7.0 October 3,1990 First version of LABLER written in Turbo Pascal v5.5. Added Right Justification. Revised Labels list. Added Label List load at command line. Removed NLQ mode. (Might be available in later version). NLQ mode (thru printer controls) can still be used though. Added Monochrome and Composite Monitor Support. Ver. 7.1 Jan 19, 1991 Fixed minor bugs. Ver. 7.2 Apr 8, 1991 Added Auto-Mode, to Print Options, for entire list printing. Added Single Mode, to Print Options. Added 10K print buffer. Added Error detection for Printer. Ver. 7.3 Apr 24, 1991 Added Graphics Capibilty. Uses Public Domain icons in PrintMaster Format for graphics. Removed SHELL to DOS command. This is because the Graphics Capibility uses alot more memory than previous versions. Ver. 7.4 May 30, 1991 Fixed Home/End Graphics Bug. Fixed On-Screen Clock Fixed Help Window Fixed =NONE= Graphics Load Fixed <No Name> New List Added On/Off Sound Capibility Added On-Screen Sound Indicator Added On-Screen Graphics Mode Indicator Ver. 7.5 Fixed Duplicated Name bug. Ver. 7.6 Added No Pop Sounds when invoking. Added better Video Checking. Added Label List Maintenance program, (LABMAINT.EXE v7.6a) Ver. 7.7 Added Nextlabel LF option for setting lines between labels. (see below) ANSI Screen Background option. Added No ANSI option switch. Ver. 7.8 Substituted all command line options for /S for setup. Ver. 8.0 Feb.7, 1992 Changed Data format (yes. again...) Included in new data format. Way to save graphics Image. added Function CTRL-G to display graphic saved, or selected. Added /L switch to create different sized list files. Ver. 8.1 Feb 10, 1992. Fixed minor bug in loading from list file. Added sample graphics in ARJ archive. Ver. 8.2 Feb 16, 1992 Fixed major bug in loading from list file. (Would not pull in graphic pic from list) Fixed bug in LABMAINT.EXE. Would break with Runtime error, if trying to load a 1000 label list. Ver. 8.3 Feb 20, 1992 Fixed minor CLEAR LABEL bug. Ver. 8.4 Fixed bug where Regular labels were printing on 1 line. =============================================================================== This concludes the Documentation of LABLER. This Program was written on an THE PC+ (IBM XT Clone), with 640K, and a EGA monitor. This program requires a Hard Drive (with at least 1.2Meg of disk space) & 640K memory. (more if graphics are to be used) Any suggestions or ways to improve this program can be mailed to: Ken Koch 507 Whitten Rd. Ingleside, IL 60041