home
***
CD-ROM
|
disk
|
FTP
|
other
***
search
/
Shareware Grab Bag
/
Shareware Grab Bag.iso
/
090
/
bookl110.arc
/
BOOKLET.DOC
< prev
next >
Wrap
Text File
|
1986-01-07
|
22KB
|
468 lines
┌───────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ │
│ BOOKLET │
│ Version 1.10 │
│ Users Guide and Manual of Operation │
│ │
└───────────────────────────────────────────────┘
Copyright 1987 by Woodrow Smith
All Rights Reserved
Distribution Notice
Booklet is distributed under the concept of USER SUPPORTED
SOFTWARE. User Supported Software is a distribution method to
bring quality software to users at the least cost possible. Under
this distribution concept Booklet is yours to freely use, copy and
share with other computer users. If, after evaluating Booklet,
you find it a program you use, a volunteer donation of about $5.00
would help to offset the cost of bringing Booklet to you. If you
use Booklet with out donating, you are not supporting the concept
that bought it to you and the concept of User Supported Software
will not survive. Donations should be sent directly to the author
at:
Woodrow Smith
10908 Oleander Street
Fontana, Ca. 92335
Also please include your name and city and any comments or
suggestions for future versions of Booklet.
If Booklet has no use in your computer environment you are
still encouraged to copy and distribute Booklet to other computer
users. As Booklet is copyrighted, please observe the following
restrictions:
1) Booklet.com and Booklet.doc are distributed in unmodified
form.
2) No charge be made for coping or distributing the Booklet
Package, except the cost of the diskette, handling, and/or
mailing charges.
3) Booklet, or any part of the Booklet Package, may not be
distributed as part of another software package, without
written agreement with the author, Woodrow Smith.
5) No group, organization or individual has the right to act
for the author as agent in the collection of donations,
fees or any other remuneration for the Booklet package or
any part there of, except by written agreement with the
author.
6) By accepting and using the Booklet package the user accepts
all responsibilities and liabilities for any damage created
to files, loss of data or legal consequences resulting from
the use of Booklet.
Introduction
Booklet is a program that divides text files into even-page
and odd-page files. The text files that Booklet can handle are
any printable file (ei: documentation files you received on
diskette or files you created with your favorite word processor).
The even-page and odd-page files can then be printed back to back
to form pages very similar to pages in a book. When these pages
are assembled in a binder the text file can be read like a book.
Many people find this easier and more pleasant to deal with than
the fan fold that normally results from printing a text file.
Booklet Page -1-
Requirements and Limitation
-Booklet can be used with either monochrome or color monitors.
-Booklet is not memory resident, so it will should not conflict
with any other program you are using.
-Booklet will run on any computer with a minimum of 64K memory.
-Booklet will only work with text file pages of 66 lines or
less. This is based on the standard page length of a 8.5 x 11
page if using the standard printer setting of 6 lines-per-inch.
-Booklet will work with page widths of 1 to 132 characters.
-Although Booklet will divide a text file with the computer alone,
a printer connected to your computer is necessary to realize the
full potential of Booklet.
-To use Booklet, your system must have one or two floppy disk drives.
How Does Booklet Work?
First a few words about printers. Printer have a default
spacing of 6 lines per inch. This makes the regular 8.5 x 11 inch
page is 66 lines long. When you print a page of text that is less
than 66 lines long, a special symbol is used after the last line
to signal the printer to move to the top of the next page. This
special symbol is the Form Feed symbol. It looks like a small
circle with a plus sign under it, or the the medical symbol for
female. This symbol forces the printer to advance to the top of
the next page before starting to print the next page. This is how
files of non-uniform length pages are handled.
When the page has 66 lines of text (even if some of them are
blank lines) the printer fills each page of paper with the
appropriate 66 lines and the Form Feed symbols are not needed.
This is how standard ASCII code files are structured. Your
favorite word processing program may handle page breaks in a
similar or very different way.
Booklet reads a text file from a disk drive. It then looks
in the text file for the Form Feed symbol or alternately counts
the lines needed per page. This is what defines a page for
Booklet. Booklet also allows you to include the Form Feed symbol
in the even-page and odd-page output files, if it is needed for
your printing setup. Booklet then divides the text file into the
even-page and odd-page files; SIDE1.DOC and SIDE2.DOC.
Booklet Page -2-
How do I Use Booklet?
Step One
If you have not already done so boot your computer. Also
copy the text file you want to divide onto a blank, formatted
diskette. Use this copy to work on so if anything goes wrong you
will still have the original text file available to create another
copy from.
Step Two
Determine what defines a page in the text file you want to
divide. First check the text file for the Form Feed symbol. Using
the DOS TYPE command view the file (ei: A> TYPE SAMPLE.DOC ). To
stop the screen hold the Ctrl key down and press the s or Num Lock
key, a <CR> will restart the screen. Carefully look at the text
in the area between pages. If you see the Form Feed symbol at the
left margin then your text file uses Form Feed symbol to define
the pages. If you did not find the Form Feed symbol your text
pages may be organized by lines-per-page.
The easiest way to test if your text file is line-per-page
format is to call part, or all of it if isn't too large, with
your favorite word-processing program. Use your word-processing
program to automatically set page breaks at various lines-per-
page counts and see where the page breaks fall. When they seem to
be a aesthetics pleasing and logical points in the text file, you
know the line-per-page definition of a page in your text file.
(Hint: A common format is full page or 66 lines-per-page. Many
other files are formatted at 52 or 53 lines-per-page to allow for
a blank header and footer on each page.)
If your text file does not have Form Feed symbols and does
not seem to be a lines-per-page format then your file is one of
those very unusual and also very rare files. The easiest way to
handle these files is to use your favorite word processing program
to add blank lines in appropriate places so to form pages of 66
lines long. Due to the variety of word processors available
detailed instruction for this step are beyond the scope of this
documentation.
If your text file has Form Feed symbols in it and you want to
divide it by lines-per-page you must use the find-replace function
of your favorite word processor to remove the Form Feed symbols.
However, be cautioned that this may result in division of the text
file in places that are not pleasing to you.
STEP THREE
Now that your know about your text file, it is time to use
Booklet to divide it. Booklet can be used in two ways. A one-
disk drive method and a two-disk drive method. In both methods
Booklet and the text file you are dividing must be in the same
disk drive. Also the two output files, SIDE1.DOC and SIDE2.DOC,
will always output to drive A.
One Disk Method
The one-disk method has the advantage of being the most
convenient to use, however the text file being divided can be no
larger than half the the capacity of your disk drive. For
example if your disk drive is a 360K, the maximum size of a text
file you can divide with the one-disk drive method is
approximately 150K.
Booklet Page -3-
To use the one disk method, copy Booklet.com and the text
file you want to divide onto a blank, formatted diskette. Place
this diskette in drive A. At the dos prompt type BOOKLET (ei: A>
BOOKLET ). Drive A will start to whirl and the screen will
display the opening message and the statement "Type the name of
the text file to divide.". Type the name of the text file you
want to divide,and <CR>. Do not include a drive prefix. If you
make a mistake, and have not pressed the <CR> key yet, use the
backspace key to remove the error and retype the name. The name
MUST be an exact match with the name of the text file on the
diskette. Disk drive A will whirl some more and the screen will
change to the Parameter Screen.
The first question of the parameter screen is "What defines
the end of a page in text file?". When you looked at the text
file earlier if you found the Form Feed symbol type 1 and <CR>,
Booklet will ask the next question. If your text file has a
specific number of lines-per-page, type 2 and <CR>. The question
"How many lines per page?" will appear. Type the number of lines
that defines a page. Please note that each and every page will be
this number of lines long. Booklet will then ask the next
question.
With either type of page definition the next question is
"Should Form Feed symbols be in files SIDE1.DOC and SIDE2.DOC?".
Type "Y" and <CR> if the original text file had them, the pages
will be printed with a word processor program that needs them or
the pages will be printed using the dos command TYPE or COPY. In
all other situations type "N" and <CR>. Booklet is not case
sensitive and will accept upper or lower case responses.
Now Booklet will start to divide your text file and display
the lines-per-page. Watch this display to see if there are any
strange occurrences, like a page with 1 or 0 lines. This usually
indicates a stray Form Feed symbol in the text file being divided.
If you selected the line-per-page option and the pages are listing
as various lengths, this indicated that there are Form Feed
symbols in the original text file.
Two Disk Method
The two-disk method has the advantage of being able to divide
a text file as large as your disk drive capacity, however this
method is not quite as convenient. For example if your disk
drives are 360K the maximum text file you can divide is
approximately 300K.
To use the two dive method copy Booklet.com and the text file
you want to divide onto a blank, formatted diskette. Place this
diskette in drive B. Place a blank formatted diskette in drive A.
Change the active drive to drive B (ei:A> B: <CR>). At the dos
prompt type BOOKLET (ei: B> BOOKLET <CR> ). Drive B will start to
whirl and the screen will display the opening message and the
statement "Type the name of the text file to divide.". Type the
name of the text file you want to divide and a <CR>. Do not
include a drive prefix. If you make a mistake, and have not
pressed the <CR> key yet, use the backspace key to remove the
error and retype the name. The name MUST be an exact match with
the name of the text file on the diskette.
Booklet Page -4-
Disk drive B will whirl some more and the parameter screen
will appear. The first question is "What defines a page in text
file?'. When you looked at the text file earlier if you found the
Form Feed symbol type 1 and <CR> and Booklet will go to the next
question. If your text file has a specific number of
lines-per-page type 2 and <CR>. The question "How many lines per
page?" will appear. Type the number of lines that defines a page.
Please note that each and every page will be this number of lines
long. Booklet will then ask the next question.
With either type of page definition the next question is
"Should Form Feed symbols be in files SIDE1.DOC and SIDE2.DOC?".
Type "Y" and <CR> if the original text file had them, the pages
will be printed with a word processor program that needs them or
the pages will be printed using the dos command TYPE or COPY. In
all other situations type "N" and <CR>. Booklet is not case
sensitive and will accept upper or lower case responses. Now
Booklet will start to divide your text file and display the
lines-per- page. Watch this display to see if there are any
strange occurrences, like a page with 1 or 0 lines. This usually
indicates a stray Form Feed symbol in the text file being divided.
If you selected the line-per-page option and the pages are listing
as various lengths this indicated that there are Form Feed symbols
in the original text file.
Step Four
Inspect the files SIDE1.DOC and SIDE2.DOC to make sure the
text file has been divided to your satisfaction. This is most
easily done with the dos TYPE command (ei: TYPE SIDE1.DOC). If
the files are not acceptable, reevaluate what determines a page in
your text file and rerun Booklet using different parameters.
Step Five
Print the pages of your booklet. If the original text file
was generated by your favorite word processing program it may
contain non-ascii code. This is almost guaranteed if you used
functions like underlining, bold or shadow printing, subscripts,
et cetera. In this case the pages of the text should be printed
using the print-function of the word processing program that
generated the original text file. This way the embedded non-
ascii code will be interpreted correctly.
However if the original text file is standard ASCII code, as
is most documentation files you receive on diskettes, then the
pages can easiest be printed using the dos TYPE command and
redirects it to the printer (ei: TYPE SIDE1.DOC > PRN ).
With either method of printing, it is advisable to use the
printer's tractor, if the printer is so equipped, as this prevents
the paper from drifting better than the friction feed of the
paper. Also you may want to offset the paper in the printer to
make the left margin 1/4 inch wider than the right margin. This
allows space for the binding of the pages in a notebook.
Because of the variety of printers and text files, you are
encouraged to experiment with the size of print and margins until
you find the combination that is satisfactory to you before
attempting to print the pages of your text file.
Also make sure enough paper is available to the printer to
complete the printing of the number of pages reported by Booklet
as it divided the text file.
Booklet Page -5-
Using one of the two printing methods mentioned above, print
the file SIDE1.DOC. Please note the position on the printer
platen where the left edge of printing begins.
When the printer is finished with the file SIDE1.DOC. Remove
the paper, turn it over and feed it into the printer with the top
and reverse side of page one under the print head. At this point
you may want to adjust the paper so the left edge of printing will
be about the same place as the right margin edge on the reverse
side. Do this by off centering the paper in the printer until the
point on the platen where the left edge of printing begins is at
the same place where you want print on the paper. Using the same
method of printing used for SIDE1.DOC, print the file SIDE2.DOC.
STEP SIX
Assembling your booklet. The paper should now have sequential
pages printed on both sides of the paper. Remove the paper from
the printer. Remove the perforation strip from the edge of the
paper and separate the pages. Assemble the pages in numeric
order. In the left margin, paper punch holes to match the
attaching mounts of a binder or report cover. Install the pages
in the binder or report cover.
For the finishing touch, type a label for the outside of the
binder or report cover. This should include the program name,
version number, and title. For Booklet the label might be:
Booklet
ver X.XX
A Text Dividing Program
User's Manual and Guide for Operation
This completes the creation of a booklet from your text file.
I think you will find the booklet approach makes text files far
less frustrating to deal with than the fan fold printing you get
when text files are printed one page after another. ENJOY.
Version History
──────────────────────
Version numbers indicate which features are in the Booklet
you are running. Major program changes are reflected in the left
number. Version refinments are reflected in the first decimal
number. Minor or cosmetic refinements are reflected in the second
decimal number.
ver # comments
1.00 This was the original Booklet.
1.10 Could now handle any inbedded print commands. Including
subscripts, underlining, bold, double strike or shadow
printing.
1.20 Corrected occassional glich in error checking for "disk
to full to continue" operation.
Comments and question concerning Booklet can be sent to
Woody Smith by:
(postal mail) (electronic mail)
Woody Smith Woody Smith,
10908 Oleander St. FBBS,
Fontana, Ca. 92335 U.S. Mailbox section
(714) 822-9424
USER SUPPORTED SOFTWARE works because users support the concept.
Booklet Page -6-