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LPRINT.DOC
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1979-12-31
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7KB
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LPRINT UTILITY PROGRAM -- WRITTEN 6/84, REVISED 1/85
Program name: LPRINT.EXE
Program title: HP 150 / HP 3000 Line Printer Program
Program status: Contributed / free software, unsupported
Development system: HP 150 A
Operating system: Rev A op sys
Base language: Microsoft compiled BASIC
Supporing languages: Assembler
Hardware: For use on an HP 150 connected to an HP 3000
============== WARNING ==========
BRIAN RAINIE MAKES NO EXPRESS OR IMPLIED WARRANTY OF ANY KIND WITH
REGARD TO THIS MATERIAL, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE IMPLIED
WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.
BRIAN RAINIE SHALL NOT BE LIABLE FOR ANY DIRECT, INDIRECT, SPECIAL,
INCIDENTAL OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES, WHETHER BASED ON CONTRACT,
TORT OR ANY OTHER LEGAL THEORY.
SOFTWARE DESCRIPTION:
This program accepts path names (with wild cards) from the user and
sends the files to an HP3000 to be printed on a LASER printer. It
assumes the user has already logged on and COM1 will allow proper
access to the system. Numerous options exist for specifying anything
from the environment type to an alternate device (useful if you do
not have a laser printer).
The program and attached documentation is classified as free software
and may be copied and distributed as such. As stated above, no support
is implied! If you find LPRINT useful, please send a donation for the
amount you feel the software is worth to the author listed below. Your
appreciation will help recover the development costs incurred. In
recognition of your thoughtfulness, you will be put on a mailing list
and notified when new versions are released. New copies will not be
sent to you directly, but the channels of distribution will be noted.
AUTHOR:
Brian Rainie
513 Fern Ridge Ct.
Sunnyvale, CA
94087
PROGRAM DOCUMENTATION:
User input is simply path name specifications one at a time. Replying
to the prompt with nothing but a carriage return initiates transfer.
Options for this program are available as strap settings and are
described below:
Strap description Default spec.
ENV=[<alternate environment file>] ENV=<ELITE or LP>
DEV=<alternate output device name> DEV=PP
<Record length of 80 or 128> 80
<Pages selection of 1, 2, or 4> 1
<Page length of 60, 66, or 60+6> 60
HEAD=<Heading selection of 0 to 9> 0 (No heading)
PAUSE (pause before termination) Not enabled
The default ENV specification is determined by the record length
(ELITE for 80, LP for 128) and number of logical pages per physical
page (eg: 80 col / 4 pages will use ELITE4). If you use your own
ENV specification, make sure that pages and page length match this
environment! (NOTE: The default environment names are fully
qualified with the group.account of HPENV.SYS)
The page length designates how many lines per page. For the default
environment, 60 or 60+6 must be used. The 60+6 assumes that the
source file format is 66 lines per page where the last 6 lines are
blank. Specifying 60+6 causes the program to ignore the last 6 lines
of each page so it can be printed on a 60 line page.
This program allows standard command line format. Rather than
responding to the prompts, all information can be passed through
the command line. The following example will print all .LST files
starting with the letter R on drive A along with all .DOC files
on drive C. The output will be 80 cols wide (default), 4 pages
per physical page, converting 66 lines per page to 60 lines per
page:
LPRINT A:R*.LST,C:*.DOC/4/60+6;
The semicolon at the end shows end-of-input, telling the program
not to ask for any additional path names. The command line method
is most useful when used to invoke LPRINT through batch files.
The heading selection specifies whether or not the name of the
file should appear in line 1. If 1 is selected, the name will
overwrite the far right section of the first line. For values of
2 and higher, the name will appear left justified on its own line
followed by <heading selection - 2> blank lines. The first line
of text will follow this.
If you must include one or more commas when specifying a response
(eg: dev=pp,12), you can enclose the entire response within soft
braces so the comma will not be taken as a command line separator
(ex: {myfile.lst/dev=pp,12},nextfile.lst,...).
HIDDEN FEATURES:
As with most software products, there are several operations which
are hidden from the user. This is seldom a case of hidden function-
altiy, but usually just a nasty habit of forgetting to tell the
user that the software performs friendly functions which may not
be readily apparent. The following is a list of features included
within the software to make life easier:
Echo-Off to Increase Speed
An escape ; is sent to the HP3000 prior to transmission to eliminate
the need to read the information as it is echoed back. If something
goes wrong, you may find the you will have to send the HP3000 an
escape : to turn it back on (seldom necessary).
Pound-sign or Colon
Yes, it will recognize a pound-sign as a system prompt if you are
DSed over to another system.
Special Characters
The FF (form feed) character will generate enough lines to put the
paper at top-of-form. Imbedded carriage returns and line feeds are
handled properly. TAB is converted to spaces, matching the MS-DOS
specification for TAB. The eighth bit of each character is reset
to zero (word processing documents will convert properly).
Control-C
The control-C break feature is always active and will exit you
from the software in a nice clean fashion.
TELLS and WARNS
Messages received from the HP3000 during transmission will cause
the following:
1) Transmission is suspended while message is displayed
2) LPRINT waits for you to hit return
3) Message is removed and program continues
BAT FILES I HAVE USED:
When developing assembly language subroutines, I include a PAGE 60
command in the source and print the listing file by calling the
following bat file (it allows up to 8 file specifications):
LPRINT {/2/132/DEV=PP,12},%1,%2,%3,%4,%5,%6,%7,%8;
If you are not familiar with BAT files, give it a try anyway. Place
the line shown above into a new file called LPRINTA.BAT. When you
are ready to print the file, enter the LPRINTA command followed by
the name of the file to be printed. (NOTE: The BAT file should
reside on the same disc as the LPRINT program.
I have found it quite beneficial to print BASIC crossreference listings
of each program I develop for easy reference. By directing the BASIC
Crossreference Utility to print to a disc file with PAGE EJECTS (under
MAIN SETTINGS), the following bat file command works well:
LPRINT {/4/60+6/DEV=PP,12},%1,%2,%3,%4,%5,%6,%7,%8;