Quick Start

GRAPHCAT is a high-power clip art cataloger for WordPerfect, with support for partial catalogs, directory searching, and complete catalog layout control. GRAPHCAT uses all graphics supported by WordPerfect.

GRAPHCAT requires WordPerfect for Windows, any version from 5.2 through 8, running in Windows 3.1, Windows for Workgroups 3.11,  or Windows 95. A DOS version of Graphcat Clip Art Cataloger is available separately.

Why should you use a clip art cataloger that runs where you use your clip art? So that you can see how your word processor will print your clip art. Modern clip art isn't all pictures--much of it contains mathematically-defined shapes and fill patterns and colors defined by numbers. Pull those files into other catalogers and they will transform into minor variations. Pull those files into Graphcat Clip Art Cataloger, and you'll see what your desktop publishing projects will look like.

Setup

In each version of WordPerfect, go to a blank document screen, press Macro (Alt-F10), type the path to where the files are, and the macro name shown here, and press Enter.

For WordPerfect 8 for Windows 95 or NT, type the path and 'setup832' and press Enter.

For WordPerfect 7 for Windows 95 or NT, use 'setup732'.

For the 16-bit version of WordPerfect 7 for Windows 3.1, AND for WordPerfect 6.1, 6.0a, and 6.0, use 'setup67'.

For WordPerfect 5.2 and 5.2+ for Windows, use 'setup52.wcm'.

For example, to install Graphcat in WordPerfect 8, from a diskette in drive a, press Macro(Alt-F10), type 'a:\setup832', and press Enter.

Next, run the main macro by pressing Macro, and entering GRAPHCAT. Answer the prompts for the drive and directory, file mask, catalog title, number of columns, and graphic height. The default values for columns and height allow 28 graphics per page, and there are default values for every entry (except the file directory in WPWin52), so you can just click on OK, NEXT or FINISH to accept the defaults as you learn the power that Graphcat brings to clip art catalogs.


Orders

GRAPHCAT/Win v. 4.1 is marketed as shareware, or "Try before you buy" software. You may copy the Trial Edition and pass it on unchanged to other WordPerfect users. If you use the program for more than 30 days, you must purchase a copy. GRAPHCAT costs $US 20., and a variety of payment types are listed in the file ORDERS.TXT, including Visa, MasterCard, and American Express.

Send registrations to:

Jerry Stern

Science Translations

PO Box 20234

Baltimore MD 21284-0234 USA

Or Phone or FAX to:

1-410-661-2224

E-mail: jerry.stern@graphcat.comm

Or order online at http://www.graphcat.com

Add $2. shipping on all orders below US$30.

Maryland residents add 5% sales tax.

Support is by mail, FAX, or phone, at the same address and phone number used for orders, or via the Science Translations home page.


What is Graphcat?

I've been collecting clip art for different projects. A small book, some newsletters, signs, and still more pictorial projects. I've drawn some, scanned some paper clip art, and bought some disks of pictures. I was beginning to lose track of which disk had what pictures. I needed an index, a printout of every graphic I had, so I could keep them handy for reference.

The WPG files shipped with WordPerfect have their own printed picture indexes of art in the manual, but disks of PCX or GIF files from computer show rack vendors are escapees from that elusive paperless office we all keep hearing about. And clip art CD-ROMs are uneven; some of them are full disks of excellent art on related topics, but others are totally unrelated pictures. Worse, because there are several flavors of each of the graphics file formats, some files will not be recognized by WordPerfect, and will read as bad. Overall, clip art disks are worthwhile, but a printed index would help sort the good files from the fuzzy junk.

And the commercial clip art isn't much better. Oh, the graphics are better, but the printed indexes are printed too small, or on newsprint, or are all mixed in with the pictures of every other graphic collection sold by that company.

Meanwhile, my co-workers on a newsletter project wanted to see all their clip art. I kept their graphics on a separate disk, but they wanted paper copies to refer to, so they could tell me, "Use that butterfly picture from page two." I began to create a sample document, with every graphic shown, and the file names, and the disk titles, and immediately found that there was too much work involved. I had two options: I could delegate the job, or write a macro to do the job. Since I couldn't find anyone who would spend three hours to create the index for each disk, I wrote GRAPHCAT. It's a lot faster than an assistant; it only takes from a few seconds to a few minutes to complete the job, depending on the speed of the computer and the size of the graphics files.

GRAPHCAT makes this task easy, so easy that nearly no effort is needed to create a new catalog for each directory or floppy of pictures. If the macro is told the drive and path of the files, the computer should do the rest.

With just that information, the WordPerfect macro reads the appropriate directory, identifies the graphics files, sets their sizes, locations, and options in a catalog, and leaves that catalog ready to print. Once the catalog is built, you may preview it, print it, and save it if you want. However, I don't recommend saving these files because they will be slightly larger than the cumulative size of all the graphics in the directory.

Since starting to catalog my clip art collection, I've found pictures I didn't know I had, and I've used some of those in new projects. Now that I don't have to hire extra help to create the listings, I can find the picture I want in no time, and, better yet, I can take the picture notebook with me to a co-worker, a client, or a conference, and I don't need to borrow someone else's computer and be at the mercy of someone else's operating system.


WordPerfect 8, 7, 6, or 5.2?

Throughout this manual, when the keystrokes and procedures are the same for all WordPerfect versions, the steps will be listed only once. However, when the steps are different, you will see this:

WPWin52: Do these steps in WordPerfect for Windows 5.2 or 5.2+.

WPWin6/7: Or these in WordPerfect for Windows 7.0, 6.1 6.0a, or 6.0, in the 16-bit versions designed for Windows 3.1.

WPWin32: Or these in the 32-bit editions of WordPerfect 7 or 8 for Windows, running in Windows 95 or Windows NT.

WPWin6/7 has greatly enhanced macro power, so there are a few features available in the WPWin6 version of Graphcat that are not in the 5.2 edition. Similarly, the WPWin32 editions of WordPerfect add support for Windows-95-style long filenames.

The WPWin6/7 version has these enhancements:

1) The file directory to search can be selected by clicking on the file icon, and double-clicking on the directory name.

2) The extra options screen allows partial file catalogs for inventorying large directories of clip art.

3) Horizontal-format catalogs (left-to-right) are available as an option in WPWin6.

4) Online help.

5) Small margins may be selected to shrink page margins to 1 centimeter (about 4/10ths of an inch) all around.

The WPWin32 version has all the enhancements above, as well as support of long filenames for your graphics, shown as endnotes.

Every question has a default setting in Graphcat for Windows. For the easiest use of Graphcat, type the file path at the first prompt, and press [Enter]. Graphcat will handle everything else.

GRAPHCAT should work properly with ANY WP/Win language module. However, I have not been able to test every possible international combination of software and hardware. Please write if you find that GRAPHCAT fails in any way on your system.


Version History and New Releases of WP

Writing software in a macro language is like controlling a rowboat by towing it from a distance of five parsecs. GRAPHCAT should work in all future interim or patch releases of the WordPerfect versions supported. However, sometimes new "features" disable old features. When this happens, try turning "off" the new features if GRAPHCAT doesn't seem to like the new release. Better yet, call or write for support--there will be either a fix or a new release, as needed, to fix any problems caused by new features. For example:

New in 4.1

Added support for Corel WordPerfect Suite 8 for Windows 95 and NT, and for the 16-bit edition of Corel WordPerfect Suite 7 for Windows 3.1. For users of WordPerfect 6 and above, added online help, and a new layout feature: Small Margins.

The default setting for the 'Filenames to find' or file mask has changed from the old conservative setting of '*.WPG' to '*.*'. Please use it reasonably. Don't use it to catalog non-graphics files in hopes of finding more graphics--loading every file in a directory just slows WordPerfect down.

New in 4.0

Support for WordPerfect 7.0, including long filename support.

The default settings have changed: In WPWin6 & 7, Graphcat now defaults to the "Graphic on disk" selection, and the default catalog is now set at 100 images (28 in evaluation edition).

New Since Version 3.2

Those users who use more than four columns in their catalogs sometimes find that the image names wrap or hyphenate to two lines, throwing off the neat line-ups of images on the page. Graphcat running in WPWin6/7 or WPWin32 automatically shrinks the base font for the document to make it fit into one line. The point size of the page title is not affected. Non-scalable fonts can also be auto-adjusted; Graphcat adds the small or fine attributes as needed.

Due to feature changes in WPWin60 interim release "a" and after, versions of Graphcat 3.0 and 3.01 will fail before completing any catalog pages. That compatibility issue has been allowed for in versions 3.1 & above of Graphcat.

Also fixed are incompatibilities from version 3.00 with full justification in default initial codes, as seen in some UK editions of WPWin60, and error messages that appear when the older Graphcat was used with the Share program, noted mostly by users of MS Excel.


Printing the Manual

If you are reading these files on screen, you may print a manual with the PRINTDOC.BAT batch file. (Don't print them from WordPerfect--the text version is formatted with page breaks for printing from DOS, and the Help file version prints one topic per page.) A Windows-based deluxe manual may also be available when you read this--look in the shipping disk's !README.TXT file for more information, or on our web site.

The easiest way to run the PRINTDOC batch file is to go to DOS by double-clicking on the MS-DOS prompt icon, usually installed in the Accessories group. (Type EXIT when ready to return to Windows.) In Windows 95, press START, and choose MS-DOS prompt; it's usually in the Programs menu.

From the DOS prompt, log to the directory holding the Graphcat distribution files, type PRINTDOC, and press ENTER.


Saving Hard Drive Space

For each edition of Graphcat, there are two or three files that must remain on your hard drive to be used. If you install more than one version, each version of WordPerfect will have its own files. These files are GRAPHCAT.WCM (for all editions), GRAPHCAT.DLL (for WordPerfect 16-bit versions), GRAPHCAT.EXE, (for WordPerfect 32-bit versions), and GRAPHCAT.HLP (for WordPerfect versions 6 and above). The SETUP macros will copy those files for you, and will also create a directory for the optional clip art samples and instruction files. These routines will copy the samples and TXT files to any location you wish.

The clip art images and TXT files need not remain on your hard disk once you have become comfortable with running the software. The macros and `DLL' or `EXE' and the help file must remain in the WP/Win macro directories.


Prompts

Start GRAPHCAT by pressing Macro (Alt-F10), typing GRAPHCAT, and pressing Enter. You must have at least two document screens available, but not to worry: GRAPHCAT checks for work space and will not let you do anything dangerous. A full-screen dialog box will appear, asking five questions. All of these questions are optional, and allow you to customize your catalogs.

At the first prompt, enter the drive name and path for the subdirectory to be searched. You may omit the ending backslash if you like. GRAPHCAT is smart enough to accept the path name either way. Pressing Cancel (Esc) or clicking the Cancel button at any time will end the macro.

The file directory to search can be selected by clicking on the file icon, and double-clicking on the directory name.

The second prompt asks for the file mask. Any type of graphics file readable by WordPerfect may be entered here. What's a file mask? The simplest file mask is the famous "*.*" which means the files with any name and any extension. The asterisk substitutes for any group of characters, and a question mark substitutes for any single character. The period is required.

For example, to inventory all the WPG clip art in a directory, use a file mask of "*.WPG" or to find all the files starting with "BIG-" use "BIG-*.*" as the answer at the second prompt. If you leave this prompt blank, Graphcat will look at "*.*" or all the files in the directory.

It's very easy to just enter *.* as the file mask and try to search every file in a directory for graphics. Don't do it! The wild card extension is intended for cataloging mixed disks of graphics files. If you use the *.* choice for directories containing program files, GRAPHCAT will run far more slowly, because it must load and identify as bad every program file in the directory. For best and fastest results, use the real file mask of the graphics you are looking for, unless you really do intend *.* to mean ALL the files in the directory.

The third prompt asks for a title, and the macro will place that title in a header on each page of the catalog. I recommend entering the name of the graphics collection or the name of the archived backup for that collection, such as "Business Graphics--BUSINESS.ZIP" in this area. You may leave this prompt blank if you wish, and Graphcat will create a title for you, reading "Clip Art in " and the file path and mask from the first two prompts.

The next two prompts request the number of columns and the height to make each graphic. WordPerfect will calculate the width to keep the graphics true to scale, room permitting. If less than about twice the height of a graphic is available for the width, some graphics in horizontal format will be compressed to fit the column. For four columns, a height of about one inch or 2.5 cm  allows ample room, and 28 images fit on one page. Some of the best combinations of columns and image heights are displayed near the right side of the dialog box.

INTERNATIONAL USERS: GRAPHCAT needs to know how tall you would like your graphics printed in your catalog. That measurement is entered in inches if the language WordPerfect detects is US English. For all other languages, including other varieties of English, centimeters are used automatically. If you would like to use a different measurement, you must add a measurement identification letter after the number, using the standard WordPerfect abbreviations. For example, i or " for inches, c for centimeters, or p for points.

WPWin32: GRAPHCAT now uses a counter control to allow you to click the image height up or down, and that control is set in inches if you are running US English, and centimeters otherwise.

Once the last entry has been made, click on OK or NEXT, and GRAPHCAT will go on to the Options menu. As each graphic is loaded, the macro announces the new graphic on the bottom line of the document screen.


The Options Dialog box and CDROM Support

Graphics collections have gotten very large. I frequently hear from customers that they have several thousand images in one directory, and that they want to inventory that one big directory as one group. That is impractical for many reasons, but the most important reason to break a catalog up into pieces is that you cannot expect WordPerfect to run smoothly with ten megabytes of image files in its document memory. It just won't happen.

You can create a partial catalog in WordPerfect 6 & above by entering your choices on the options menu, which will appear automatically once you complete the first dialog box. The menu has three items to fill in. In most cases, you will be able to click on OK immediately without making any changes here.


Starting File Name

This is the file name to begin the catalog with. You may manually type in the name of the image, or you may choose the name from a file list (recommended!) by clicking on the file icon or by pressing Alt-Down Arrow.

You may also enter a partial file name here. For example, to start the catalog with the first image starting with the letter "G", you would just type that letter here.

This box will start out as blank the first time that you run Graphcat in a directory, or the first time in a WordPerfect session. However, if you run Graphcat again in the same directory, this box will automatically hold the next file name to catalog, if the last catalog was of fewer graphics than those remaining in the directory.


Number of Images

Select how many images to catalog here. The default is 60, but you will probably choose to catalog your images in groups of 56 (2 pages of 28 images in 4 columns) or some other number that will fill a set of pages. This number will carry over from one run of Graphcat to the next, within the same WP session.


Page Number

Select what page number to use for the first page of the catalog. If you are cataloging the same directory as a previous run, Graphcat will provide a default choice of the last page that was created, plus one.


CDROM Support

For cataloging a large group of files, and especially for CD-ROM clip art disks, set Graphcat to catalog as many images as will fill one page, or a multiple of pages, with no partial pages. Print the catalog normally when done, and restart Graphcat. Press (Enter) at both screens, and Graphcat will prepare the next set of images, creating a catalog of the same size as the first, and starting with the next image to be cataloged, and the next page number. Graphcat can work all the way through a CD-ROM in this way, simply by breaking up the catalogs into printable sizes.


General Information

If GRAPHCAT and WordPerfect decide that a graphic in your sample directory is not a proper graphics file, GRAPHCAT will add that file name to a list of files that could not be loaded, and that list will be printed at the end of the catalog. You may delete that message after the catalog is prepared, or you may try to convert the bad graphic or edit it with a graphics program, resave it, and run GRAPHCAT again. Because not every version of every graphic format is supported by WordPerfect, I prefer to leave the file list in the catalog to identify a file that may be usable in other software, but not in WordPerfect. (Or the disk may contain non-graphic files, such as a README.DOC, and these files will be listed automatically at the end of the catalog.)

When the catalog is finished, a dialog box will appear to let you know. From this point on, the catalog is just a complex document, and you may edit it or print it as you would any other large document.

GRAPHCAT may be stopped in mid-inventory by pressing Cancel (Esc) just once; there may be a time lag of a few seconds before the macro stops. If you use Cancel to stop GRAPHCAT, the macro will  warn you that the catalog is incomplete.

GRAPHCAT has error trapping routines built in to prevent garbage entries, and to turn off Reveal Codes if needed, and will not try to run if you start them without sufficient work space. If you wish to import the catalog into a document, run the macro first, and then merge the other text or formatting into the catalog.

In general, Graphcat can create a larger catalog of graphics than WordPerfect can print. The maximum catalog size for each user will vary greatly, depending mostly on memory. Try not to catalog more images than will fit in memory. Although WordPerfect will use disk space as extra work space after memory is full, performance and speed will drop dramatically, and your results will be both faster and more reliable if you split large catalogs up into several separate mini-catalogs.


Horizontally Squashed Images

If your images appear to be squashed horizontally when you print or preview, you need to use either fewer columns or a smaller image height. To change the height of the images, clear the document and restart GRAPHCAT. You can change the columns without rerunning GRAPHCAT, but if you are not comfortable with using the Reveal Codes feature, it may be easier to simply run Graphcat again with the new columns setting than to edit the completed document. First, press Ctrl-Home to reach the extreme top of the document, before any codes. Turn on Reveal Codes (Alt-F3), and look for a code that looks like this:

[Col Def: Newspaper...

Place the cursor immediately after that code, and press Layout, Columns, Define from the menu. Change the number of columns and click on OK. You may now delete the first of the two column definition codes, turn off Reveal Codes (Alt-F3), and check your document by printing or previewing again. The images should no longer be squashed, but with extremely wide images, you may need to try still fewer columns, or perhaps none at all.


Wrapped File Names

When using more than four columns in WP52, long graphics names may wrap to the next line, reducing the number of graphics that fit on a page. If the names wrap, reset the base font to a narrow, condensed, or thin typeface, using Layout, Document, Initial Font, choosing a smaller font, and clicking OK when done.


Landscape Printing

If GRAPHCAT detects any codes in your document, even a page definition, it will open a new document before creating your catalog, and the document you started from will be left unchanged. So if you need a graphics catalog on a page size that is not your default paper size, such as a landscape version of A4 or 8 1/2" x 11", then follow these steps:

First, run GRAPHCAT normally. Choose one column so that GRAPHCAT will not insert a column definition code. Next, press Ctrl-Home to go to the top of the document. If you have turned off the Auto Code Placement option in Preferences, you must also use the left arrow key to position the insertion point before ALL of the formatting codes. Select your paper size from the list available after choosing Layout, Page, Paper Size. Click on Select when done.

Next, add column codes, by choosing Layout, Columns, Define, entering the number of columns, and clicking OK. You may also wish to reduce the space between columns at the Distance Between Columns menu choice. Choose Layout, Columns, Columns On to turn on columns, and then press Ctrl-End to go to the bottom of the document. WordPerfect will reformat your document as it travels. Your document is now ready to edit, view, or print normally.


Slow Printing and Half Page Print Jobs

A page full of graphics will print slowly, and most laser printers do not come equipped with enough internal memory to print a complex catalog at the highest resolution settings. On a laser printer, if the entire page does not print, try printing the page at a lower setting for graphics quality, or use fewer columns. Again, note that reducing the size of a graphic does not reduce the complexity of the print job, so a page with one column of larger graphics will print more quickly than a page containing several columns of small graphics.

The newer laser printers frequently use standard SIMM modules, so adding memory can be very cheap--check the printer manual to see if it requires a proprietary cartridge or a standard SIMM. Adding 4 Mb of RAM to a printer is usually fine for letter-sized printouts with full-page graphics at 600 dots per inch.


Troubleshooters Guide
Troubleshooter's Guide

1) "I can't run my macros anymore in WordPerfect 7 for Windows 95. It started when I tried to run them in WordPerfect 8."

WordPerfect 8 will, under certain conditions, ERASE the contents of a WordPerfect 7 macro, usually when it thinks that the macro must be recompiled. Reinstall Graphcat from the original shipping disk. You can identify damaged macros by their file size, which will always be about 2 K.

2) "In WPWin32, some of my image captions are all UPPER case, and some are Mixed Upper and lower case. These files are saved with regular DOS 8+3 (filename.ext) filenames."

No. They're not. A legal 8+3 filename is always all upper case. However, when you started using Windows 95, and thought you were saving files with legal MS-DOS filenames, Windows 95 was busily saving them as you typed them, in lower case, or with a capitalized first letter, like Filename.wpg. Windows 95 feeds as all caps to 16-bit programs like WordPerfect 5.1 or 6.1, but WordPerfect 7 and Graphcat 4.0 can read the mixed case names.

GRAPHCAT handles long filenames like this: If the Windows 95 "long" filename is the same length as a DOS filename, of 12 characters or less, it uses that filename as the image caption. If it is longer than 12 characters, it uses the DOS version of the name (LONGFIL~.TXT) for the caption, and places the full-length file name in an endnote.

3) "Whoa! I just upgraded to WP7 and the new Graphcat from an earlier Graphcat in another WP, and now my catalogs look different!"

Sometimes, yes. Vertical-format catalogs have changed from Newspaper-style columns, that fill each column before going on to the next, to BALANCED Newspaper columns, where WP 7 attempts to keep all the column lengths the same on each page. It succeeds most of the time, but not always. For catalogs of more than one page, only the last page looks different.

Why the change? Easy enough. The endnotes needed to list long filenames don't work well in Newspaper columns, unless you LIKE reading filenames that are hyphenated four or five times.

If your catalog doesn't contain any long filenames, you can easily change it back to Newspaper style: just run Graphcat normally, and then go to the top of the catalog, turn on Reveal Codes (Alt-F3), double-click on the code starting with '[Col.Def' and click on the top selection of column types, Newspaper, and then on OK. You might need to go down to the bottom of the catalog once (Control-End) to convince WP to reformat the pages.

Other appearance changes may occur, based on the version of WordPerfect you are running. In WordPerfect 8, graphics borders generally expand to fill the column. That's not useful, but is caused by a bug in WP 8's macro language, and no workaround has been found to date, other than selecting 'None' for the border selection.

4) "GRAPHCAT loads properly, and the big box appears on screen, but once I click on OK, an error message appears telling me that the macro could not find the DLL or EXE file."

GRAPHCAT.EXE is needed by the 32-bit versions of Graphcat, and GRAPHCAT.DLL is needed by the 16-bit versions. You must run the SETUP macros to place these files in the WP macro directories. No other location will do. See the installation instructions on page  for help.

5) "GRAPHCAT runs perfectly, but I cannot print the result file. The error messages say I don't have enough disk space, or that the swap file is full, or WPWin7 says a memory error has occurred."

This can happen if you are trying to catalog a large file of clip art, and you have very little memory or hard disk space available for WordPerfect to work in. To fix it, from the Windows Program Manager, highlight the WP icon, and choose File, Properties. If you have another hard drive partition available with more space, such as D: or E:, change the Working Directory prompt to that drive, click on OK, and restart WordPerfect. If there is no other partition, you will need to move or delete unneeded files from your hard disk to free up some work space.

In WPWin6 or above, you should try breaking the catalog into page-size chunks; see the Options Menu instructions. Setting the graphics quality to medium or draft also helps reduce the amount of data that must be handled for each page, and eliminates some problems.

Remember that printing images smaller does NOT reduce the amount of memory they use during printing. A page containing fewer large images is easier to print than one with many small images.

6) "Sometimes when I use the *.* file mask, GRAPHCAT loads a file as a graphic that isn't one. The document loads and prints normally, but the box is either empty or contains a random pattern. Or, and much worse, WordPerfect progresses partially through the catalog, asks for a password, and then crashes with a General Protection Fault (usually WPWIN52)."

Both conditions are caused by trying to use the *.* file mask option inappropriately. The * wild card choice was intended for reading disks containing mixed graphics in different formats, such as WPG and GIF and JPG graphics mixed together, NOT for attempting to load every program file on your hard drive in the attempt to see if any of them are graphics. Graphcat will correctly identify nearly every file as a graphic or not a graphic, but there are exceptions.

The General Protection Fault does not occur often, unless an odd combination of factors is present, such as a bad file combined with either the SHARE command in use, or a Hyphenation ON code in the Document Initial Codes area of Preferences. Solution: Don't run SHARE unless you are running software or hardware that specifically demands it, such as some network packages. Or remove that Hyphenation code from Document Initial Codes.

To avoid these problems altogether, when cataloging a directory of mixed graphics and program files, use the appropriate file mask, such as *.PCX or *.WPG on the second line of GRAPHCAT's menu, and save the wild card use for disks holding almost entirely graphics.