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README.1ST
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1994-09-06
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BABYSPOOL
v 2.03
_______________________________________________________________________________
_______
(c) Copyright 1993 ____|__ | (tm)
Budget Software Company --| | |-------------------
P. O. Box 621534 | ____|__ | Association of
Littleton CO 80162 | | |_| Shareware
|__| o | Professionals
Phone: -----| | |---------------------
Voice: (303) 932-1705 |___|___| MEMBER
FAX : (303) 932-0336
BBS : (303) 932-0440
CompuServe: 70033,643 Registration: US$ 22.00
_______________________________________________________________________________
┌──────────────┐
│ INTRODUCTION │
└──────────────┘
BabySpool consists of several functions:
Spooling - Intercepts data being sent to a port, and re-routes
it to a file. Then, if a Despooler is present, the
file is printed in the background.
Despooling - Prints a file in the background.
Monitor - Monitors a specified directory for the appearance of files
meeting a specified skeleton. Then it renames the file
so it has a unique extension, and if a Despooler is
present, starts printing it in the background. The
Monitor is an ideal mechanism for network printing.
Each printer on the network has a Monitor that is
monitoring a unique directory. Workstations around the
network simply place print-ready files into the appropriate
directory. (And they can use the Spooler to create the
files.)
The Spooling, Despooling, and Monitor functions have been bundled into
several different .EXE's so that you can choose the one that fits your
needs. Each .EXE has an associated .DOC which describes it usage.
The following .EXE's are included:
SP3DSP.EXE - Contains only a Despooler. This program is included for
programmers who wish to implement background printing
into their application. Files are enqueued for
background printing via a software interrupt.
SP3SPL.EXE - Contains only a Spooler. Data sent to the designated port
is re-routed to a disk file. Each document sent is
spooled to a seperate file. This program is useful in
cases where you want to manipulate spooled data using
another product, rather than have it sent to the printer.
SP3MON.EXE - Contains only a Monitor. This program is useful in cases
where your application has the ability to create a
specific file. The Monitor will rename the file to a
unique extension so that your application can continue
to create another file, and you don't have to worry about
the first file being overwritten.
SP3SPDSP.EXE - Contains a Spooler and a Despooler. Data sent to a printer
will be intercepted and re-routed to a file name, and then
enqueued for background printing.
SP3DSPMN.EXE - Contains a Monitor and a Despooler. Any file appearing in
a designated directory will be renamed, and then enqueued
for background printing. This program is very useful
along with AutoCad (r) and Windows 3.x (r), where the
application has the ability to create a print image into
a file.
SP3ALL.EXE - Contains a Monitor, a Spooler, and a Despooler. Data
sent to the designated port will be re-routed to disk,
and then enqueued for background printing. And, any
file that appears in a designated directory and having
a designated extension will be renamed, and then enqueued
for background printing.
Also, the file SP3PRT.COM is included as a utility for enqueuing
DOS files for background printing. This program works like DOS' PRINT
command.
┌────────────────┐
│ MULTIPLE PORTS │
└────────────────┘
The programs that you have received function over 2 ports. You
designate at start-up which port/s are being handled.
The Despooler is a very sophisticated background printing engine, and
is capable of background printing to as many as 4 ports simultaneously.
When you register the product, you will receive the 4-port capability.
┌─────────────┐
│ WINDOWS 3.x │
└─────────────┘
BabySpool provides an efficient background printing engine that works
seamlessly across DOS and Windows platforms. In DOS, the most common
strategy is to utilize a combination of both the Spooling and the Despooling
functions (using SP3SPDSP.EXE, for instance).
To make BabySpool function in a Windows environment as well, one of two
strategies can be employed. In both cases, it is necessary to load
BabySpool as a TSR before loading Windows.
Strategy 1 - Spooling
---------------------
With this strategy, you take advantage of Windows' ability to "connect" its
printer output to a port using the LPTx.DOS (or in some older versions of
Windows, to the LPTx.OS2) setting. With this setting, Windows will pass its
output to the DOS Bios routines, and hence BabySpool will be able to
intercept it (i.e. - "spool" it).
Strategy 2 - Using the Monitor
------------------------------
With this strategy, you take advantage of BabySpool's "monitor" function,
and use it in conjunction with Windows' ability to "connect" its output to
a file. When you "connect" a print driver to the setting "File", Windows
will prompt you to enter a file name each time it gets ready to perform
output using this driver. You merely need to key in a filespec in such
a manner that it is recognized by BabySpool's "monitor" (refer to SP3DSPMN.DOC
for details about how to indicate the "monitor" directory and file pattern).
Since it becomes a bit tedious to have to always key in a file name, here is
how to modify your WIN.INI so that a new "connect to" option appears in
the connect list box, which option results in a specific filespec being used
automatically by Windows. Just add the line:
<filespec>.prn=
to the [ports] section. Example: c:\spool\anyfile.prn=
This would make it so Windows will create file c:\spool\anyfile.prn every
time it does a printout. You would initiate BabySpool in this manner in
order for it to pick up this file:
SP3DSPMN /L1: dir=c:\spool\*.prn
Note that BabySpool immediately renames c:\spool\anyfile.prn to a unique
name. That way, when next you do a print job, and another c:\spool\anyfile.prn
is created, the earlier data is not overwritten.