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- What is a Word Processor?
-
- Whether you're a student facing a term paper, a business professional
- with frequent reports to write, or an aspiring novelist, ST Writer can
- help you beat those deadlines -- with time to spare. No more tedious
- typing and retyping of drafts; ST Writer lets you edit and reorganize
- your copy until it's just right.
-
- What exactly can ST Writer do for you? One advantage is that you
- never have to press the [Return] key to end a line of text while
- typing -- the program does it for you automatically. Also, you can
- change all or any incidences of a given word in your text to another
- word -- for instance, you can instantly change the word "pleased" to
- "glad" anywhere it appears in your text with just a few keystrokes.
- ST Writer lets you center text or print it flush against the right
- margin, and you can print with left and right justification. You can
- mark a block of text and then delete, copy it, or move it to anywhere
- else in the text (or to another file!). Made a mistake? Just press
- the [Undo] key and start fresh! There's lots more, and you'll find
- out about it by reading this manual.
-
- Quickly and step by step, this guide shows you everything you need to
- know to use ST Writer. The first section tells you how to load ST
- Writer into your ATARI ST computer, and presents an overview of the
- program. The second section gives you a brief text to enter, edit,
- and print, along with how-to instructions for each step; after
- printing your first ST Writer document, you'll also learn how to store
- and retrieve what you write using a disk drive. By working with a
- longer passage in the third section, you'll learn about the advanced
- editing, formatting, and printing features of ST Writer. Finally,
- you'll find a complete, alphabetical Reference Guide to all the
- features of ST Writer in the back of the guide.
-
-
-
- Getting Started
-
- Here's how to load your ST Writer word processing program into your
- Atari ST computer.
-
- 1. With your computer turned off, turn on your monitor and disk
- drive(s). Insert your ST Writer disk. If you do not have TOS in ROM,
- you will have to insert your TOS System Disk instead. Turn on your
- computer.
-
- 2. When the GEM desktop appears, remove your TOS System Disk (if you
- have used it) and place your ST Writer disk in the drive, or if you
- have two drives, place the ST Writer disk in the second drive. Open a
- window for the disk drive by double-clicking on the icon for that
- drive.
-
- 3. Run ST Writer by clicking twice on the icon (or text filename)
- labelled STWRITER.PRG.
-
- Note: You can run ST Writer in any of the ST's three resolutions: low,
- medium, and high. Low resolution gives you 22 lines and 40 columns;
- with medium resolution, 22 lines and 80 columns, and with high
- resolution you get 25 lines and 80 columns. Also, using high
- resolution gives you the option of 37 screen lines. Simply use the
- GEM desktop to set the resolution you desire before running ST Writer.
- You may also wish to change the default screen colors and key repeat
- rate from the desktop before running ST Writer, although you can
- change these once ST Writer is running if you are in GEM mode (GEM
- mode will be explained later).
-
- What's on the menu?
-
- Take a minute now to look over the selections available and see what
- you can use each one for. While working with ST Writer, you can
- return to this menu at any time by pressing the [Esc] key in the upper
- left corner of your computer keyboard.
-
- CREATE File - Start writing a new text file.
-
- DELETE File - Erase a file that you've stored on diskette.
-
- EDIT File - Revise a file that you've just printed or loaded from
- diskette.
-
- FORMAT Disk - Format a data diskette for storing text files you write
- with ST Writer.
-
- INDEX of Files - Call up a listing of the text files on a diskette.
-
- HIRES Flip-flop (high res only) - switch high res display between 22
- lines and 37 lines.
-
- LOAD File - Load a file from diskette into your computer.
-
- PRINT File - Print a text file on the printer, the screen, or to a
- disk file.
-
- SAVE File - Save a file on diskette.
-
- RECEIVE AtariWriterTM - Receive file transmitted from 8-bit Atari
- Computer using Atari 850 Interface Module and null modem cable, or
- load in an intact AtariWriter file obtained by other means (eg., from
- a bulletin board).
-
- TRANSFORM Colors - reverse screen colors -- black to white and
- vice-versa.
-
- QUIT - Stop using ST Writer and exit to the desktop.
-
-
- Talking to ST Writer...and making it run.
-
- With the ST Writer menu on the screen, type C for Create File. Take a
- few minutes to become familiar with the edit screen that now appears.
-
- The small flashing rectangle (or square) near the upper left corner of
- the screen is the cursor. It shows you where you are on the screen
- while you're working with ST Writer -- whether you're writing,
- editing, or responding to the prompts and questions that appear in the
- Message Window at the bottom of your screen.
-
- Many of the questions that ST Writer asks you require a yes or no
- response. You can answer by typing Y or N.
-
- If ST Writer finds a mistake in an entry or command, or detects a
- problem in your computer system, it displays an error message in the
- Message Window. In most cases when you see an error message, you must
- press a key before continuing.
-
- In this guide you'll find several instructions such as "press [control
- P]" or "press [Shift Tab]." To execute these keystroke combinations,
- hold down the first key while typing the second. You may already be
- familiar with this technique; if not, you'll soon get the hang of it.
-
-
- Clean copy in minutes
-
- When they first learn to use a word processing system, many people
- want to tell their friends about it. So here's a letter for you to
- type, edit, and print that won't just teach you about ST Writer -- you
- can also use the finished copy to show a friend what a fine word
- processor you are using.
-
- But first, a couple of features of ST Writer that you'll need to
- understand to type your letter.
-
- With ST Writer you don't use the Return key on your computer keyboard
- the way you do on a conventional typewriter. When you're typing a
- word that will overflow the right margin of the screen, ST Writer
- automatically moves the cursor -- and the word -- to the beginning of
- the next line. Press [Return] (or [Enter]) at the end of each
- paragraph, or to insert blank lines in what you're writing. ST Writer
- inserts an inverse video "less-than" sign (<) (colored red in low and
- medium res) at that point to show the [Return] and moves the cursor to
- the left margin of the next screen line.
-
- To mark the beginning of a paragraph, press [Control P]. ST Writer
- displays an inverse video (red in low and medium res) letter P at that
- point on the screen.
-
- Now you're ready to go. Select Create File from the ST Writer menu,
- if you haven't already. The display switches to the editing screen.
- For now, ignore the Print Formatting Block at the top of the screen.
- Just enter today's date on the first line, fill in the name of the
- person you want to write to after the word "Dear," and type away. And
- don't worry about typos -- you'll be able to fix them in a jiffy when
- you edit with ST Writer.
-
- Today's date [Return]
-
- [Return]
- [Return]
-
- Dear .........[Return]
- [Return]
- [Control P] As you can see, I'm not writing this letter on
- my old typewriter. Instead, I'm breaking in my new
- ST Writer word processing program, composing
- and editing on my monitor screen. When I've finished
- writing, I can print a copy -- or dozens of copies -- just
- by pressing a few keys on my computer console.
- [Return]
-
- [Control P] And no more typos -- or at least, no more
- retyping to get rid of them. I can easily delete or
- change letters, words, sentences, or paragraphs. Or
- say I use a word or phrase several times in a piece of
- writing, and decide later that I want to change it. I
- can have the computer automatically search out
- every use of it and substitute something different.
- [Return]
-
- [Control P] ST Writer will print the things I write just
- about any way I want. I can vary the margins, in-
- dent paragraphs or blocks of text, and change line
- spacing just as with a typewriter, but more easily. I
- can also print pages with justified right margins.
- [Return]
-
- Now add a paragraph of your own if you like, preceded by [Control P]
- and followed by [Return]; then add a closing and press [Return]
- again.
-
- Quick editing with ST Writer
-
- Now that you've created your first text file, you can go back and fix
- any mistakes you made. And if you want to rephrase anything to make
- it more your style -- by all means!
-
- No need to return to the ST Writer menu and select Edit File; you can
- edit a text file while still in the Create File mode (select Edit File
- to revise a text file that you've retrieved from diskette, as
- explained in "To load a text file").
-
- While editing, you'll probably want to move the cursor quickly around
- the screen from one problem area to the next. Refer to your Quick
- Reference Guide (see file QUIKREF.TXT) for the Cursor movement
- controls you can use to do this.
-
- To start editing at the top of your letter, for example, press [Shift
- F1] to move to the top of your file. F1 is the first key in the row
- of ten function keys at the top of your keyboard. Now you can use
- [down arrow] to scan quickly through what you've typed, and [left
- arrow] and [right arrow] to move the cursor to anything you want to
- change or correct. When you reach the last line of text on the
- screen, just keep moving the cursor down -- the text will scroll up to
- show more of what you've written. You can also page through your text
- file, up or down, by pressing [Shift up arrow] or [Shift down arrow].
- Press [Control A], or [Control (left arrow)] to move to the beginning
- of a line, and [Control Z], or [Control (right arrow)] to move to the
- end of a line. To move instantly to the end of a file, press F1.
-
- To correct a typo or replace a word or phrase, you first must either
- delete the wrong characters or words, and type in the correction, or
- press [Insert] to enter the "type-over" mode, allowing you to type
- directly over the incorrect text. Be careful, though, not to type
- over wanted text, as once this is done, the typed-over text is not
- retrievable. Pressing [Insert] again returns you to the insert mode.
- Refer to the Delete text commands in your Quick Reference Guide.
-
- After deleting what you want, just type in your correction or change.
- ST Writer automatically makes room for as much new material as you
- want to add. To insert a whole new sentence, paragraph, or more, just
- position the cursor where you want to add text and type in the new
- material.
-
- Whenever you delete a line or block of text, the last line or block
- deleted is retained in the failsafe text buffer of your computer. To
- restore the deleted text, press [Undo] to insert the deleted text at
- the current cursor position.
-
- From screen to paper
-
- You're now ready to print your clean, edited letter. Make sure that
- your printer is properly connected to your computer and turned on.
- Press [Esc] to return to the ST Writer menu, and select Print File by
- pressing [P].
-
- Then press [Return] four times at the four prompts with which ST
- Writer presents you -- they will be discussed in detail later in this
- manual. Next ST Writer looks for a printer configuration file on your
- disk (see Printer Configuration File in Reference Guide). Now ST
- Writer formats, then prints your letter. To halt printing at any
- time, press the [Esc] key (or [Control S] to pause) on your computer
- keyboard.
-
- You may have to experiment a bit, adjusting the paper in your printer
- before printing your files, to get the correct top margin on your
- printed pages. The top margin on your letter should be about one
- inch.
-
- How much can you write with ST Writer?
-
- You can enter between 180,000 up to about 3,800,000 (depending on
- system) characters, or bytes, in ST Writer's text editor. While
- editing or creating a file, the amount of remaining free memory
- appears constantly in the Message Window. The free edit space is
- shown in bytes. A byte is roughly equivalent to one typed character.
- You can figure on about 1500 bytes for each standard double-spaced
- page. It's a good idea to leave yourself an adequate margin of free
- memory in every file you write, just in case you want to add to a file
- later on.
-
- When your computer is close to running out of free memory, the message
- "WARNING - memory low" (at 500 bytes left) or "!!!WARNING!!! Almost
- out of memory" (at 200 bytes left) appears in the Message Window.
- When this happens, it's a good idea to stop writing and save what
- you've written -- you'll need a margin of free memory if you decide to
- revise or add to the file later on. After saving the text, start a
- new file to continue the document you're working on.
-
- To save a text file
-
- Here's the procedure for saving a text file. Try it now with the
- letter you've written about ST Writer.
-
- First return to the ST Writer menu and select Save File by pressing
- [S]. ST Writer prompts you to enter the Save filename.
-
- Insert a formatted diskette (if your disk isn't formatted, you can
- have ST Writer format it for you -- see Format Disk in the Reference
- Guide). Then type a filename or Path name for your text file.
- Filenames may be up to eight characters in length, optionally followed
- by a period and an extender of up to three characters (e.g. STWRITER
- or STWRITER.TXT). A path name indicates the name of a folder that is
- to contain the file, as well as the file name, separated by a slash
- (e.g. LETTERS\STWRITER). See Path name in the Reference Guide for
- further information. All alphanumeric characters (A-Z, a-z, and 0-9),
- except a space, and punctuation can be used in ST Writer filenames.
- If you enter lower case letters, they will be converted to upper case.
- After entering the filename, press [RETURN].
-
- If while saving a file ST Writer finds that there's not enough space
- on your diskette to accommodate the file, the program gives you the
- message Disk is full. Press any letter to return to the main menu and
- try another disk -- format one if necessary.
-
- If you want to lock (prevent overwriting) a text file that you've
- saved to diskette, see Locking files in the Reference Guide.
-
- It's always a good idea to make a backup copy of every diskette you
- store files on -- just so you'll have a duplicate in the event that
- something happens to your original diskette.
-
- Long documents -- anything that will more than fill your computer's
- memory -- must be created and saved in segments, with each segment
- assigned a different filename. This is where the filename extender
- comes in handy. You can tie together the various segments of a long
- piece of writing by giving them all a common filename, and use the
- extender for each to keep track of their proper order. As you saved
- each segment of a document named REPORT, for example, you could name
- successive segments REPORT.1, REPORT.2 and so forth. You can easily
- print the various segments of such a document in any order you wish;
- see Chaining print files in the Reference Guide.
-
- To load a text file
-
- Using ST Writer to load a text file from a disk drive into your
- computer's memory is much like saving a file. You just move the file
- in the opposite direction. Here's the procedure; try it now with your
- letter about ST Writer.
-
- Though you've just saved the letter, it also remains in your
- computer's memory. To load it back in from your disk drive, first
- return to the ST Writer menu and select Create File by pressing [C].
- ST Writer asks, Erase file in memory, Y/N? Type Y. ST Writer erases
- the letter from your computer's memory and presents you with an empty
- edit screen.
-
- Now return to the menu (press [Esc]) and select Load File by pressing
- L, at which point ST Writer asks, Load File:. Insert the data
- diskette that contains the file you want to load and type the complete
- filename or path name for that file and press [Return]. If the file
- loaded is not an ST Writer file, you will be asked if you want any
- embedded tabs changed to spaces (5 spaces per tab). If you simply
- press [Return], they will be converted. If you are trying to maintain
- the same tab spacing and are planning to "SAVE ASCII", you may wish
- not to have the tabs converted. If so, just don't try to print the
- file if you chose not to convert the tabs, since any lines containing
- the tab character [Control I] will be blank.
-
- If while loading a file ST Writer overflows your computer's free
- memory, the loading process is halted and the message Buffer full,
- file not loaded appears on your screen. That part of the file that
- was loaded prior to this message is erased from memory.
-
- A word processing wonderland
-
- To show you more of what you can do with ST Writer, this section gives
- you another text file to type, edit, format, and print. You may
- recognize it.
-
- Go to the menu and select Create File. If there's a file in your
- computer's memory, ST Writer asks, Erase File in Memory, Y/N? Type Y
- to erase the file from your computer's memory.
-
- Again, ignore the Print Formatting Block at the top of your screen for
- now -- you can experiment with various formats after you've typed and
- edited the text file. Just type the passage below (from Alice in
- Wonderland) as it appears, but do not type the paragraph numbers in
- the left margin -- they're for ease of reference during the editing
- you'll do later on. Before you begin typing, here's a tip and a
- reminder.
-
- To begin underlining some text, press [Shift F3], which inserts an
- underline character. To turn underlining off, press [Shift F3] again
- to insert another underline character. All text between pairs of
- underline characters, including spaces between words, will be
- underlined. You can underline as you type, or return to a document
- after it's typed to underline passages.
-
- Don't forget to mark the beginning of each paragraph by pressing
- [Control P], and the end of each paragraph by pressing [Return].
-
-
- 1 "Why," said the Dodo, "the best way to explain it is to do it."
- (And, as you might like to try the thing yourself, some winter day, I
- will tell you how the Dodo managed it.)
-
- 2 First it marked out a race-course, in a sort of circle, ("the exact
- shape doesn't matter," it said,) and then all the party were placed
- along the course, here and there. There was no "One, two, three, and
- away!" but they began running when they liked, and left off when they
- liked, so that it was not easy to know when the race was over.
- However, when they had been running half-an-hour or so, and were quite
- dry again, the Dodo suddenly called out, "The race is over!" and they
- all crowded round it, panting, and asking, "But who has won?"
-
- 3 This question the Dodo could not answer without a great deal of
- thought, and it stood for a long time with one finger pressed upon its
- forehead, (the position in which you usually see Shakespeare, in the
- pictures of him), while the rest waited in silence. At last the Dodo
- said, "Everybody has won, and all must have prizes."
-
- 4 "But who is to give the prizes?" quite a chorus of voices asked.
-
- 5 "Why, she, of course," said the Dodo, pointing to Edith with one
- finger; and the whole party at once crowded round her, calling out, in
- a confused way, "Prizes! Prizes!"
-
- 6 "But she must have a prize herself, you know," said the Mouse.
-
- 7 Edith had no idea what to do, and in despair she put her hand in her
- pocket, and pulled out a box of comfits (luckily the salt water had
- not got into it), and handed them round as prizes. There was exactly
- one a-piece, all round.
-
- 8 "Of course," the Dodo replied very gravely. "What else have you got
- in your pocket?" it went on, turning to Edith.
-
- 9 "Only a thimble," said Edith sadly.
-
- 10 "Hand it over here," said the Dodo.
-
- 11 Edith thought it rather absurd to give away her thimble just so the
- Dodo could give it back to her. But she handed it over, just to humor
- the old bird.
-
- 12 Then they all crowded round her once more, while the Dodo solemnly
- presented the thimble, saying, "We beg your acceptance of this elegant
- thimble"; and, when it had finished this short speech, they all
- cheered.
-
-
- Advanced editing with ST Writer
-
- If you recognized the passage you just typed -- it's from Lewis
- Carroll's whimsical Alice in Wonderland -- you may be aware that it
- contains some errors. Here are some ST Writer techniques for putting
- it in order. Each of these major functions is also highlighted in
- your Quick Reference Guide.
-
- Deleting blocks of text
-
- With ST Writer you can delete a long passage from a piece of writing
- without having to erase it letter by letter or line by line. In your
- passage from Alice in Wonderland, for example, paragraph 11 doesn't
- belong there and should be deleted.
-
- To delete a block of text you must first place markers at the
- beginning and end of the text to be deleted. First position the
- cursor under the first character of the passage you want to delete --
- in this case, under the paragraph marker before "Edith thought it..."
- -- and press [Shift F5]. ST Writer inserts an inverse quotation mark
- at that point on the screen.
-
- Next, move the cursor down to the end of what you want to delete -- in
- this case, under the paragraph marker at the beginning of paragraph 12
- (in order to include the [Return] symbol at the end of the passage you
- want to delete) -- and press [Shift F5] again. ST Writer places
- another inverse quote mark at that point.
-
- To erase the text block, press F5. The block will be erased without
- any prompts. However, if you change your mind about deleting the
- block, you can bring it back simply by pressing the [Undo] key. In
- fact, you can insert the deleted block anywhere in your text by moving
- the cursor to the desired location, then pressing [Undo].
-
- Each time you delete a line or block of text, a failsafe text buffer
- (a temporary holding section of memory) is reinitialized and the
- deleted text is placed in the buffer, and remains there until the next
- deletion. The failsafe buffer holds about 40,000 characters. If a
- block is too large for the buffer, the prompt Too large for Cut
- Buffer, cut anyway? appears. Pressing Y will delete the block without
- saving it in the buffer.
-
- Moving blocks of text
-
- There's also a paragraph in your passage that's out of place -- the
- Mouse's remark in paragraph 6 should follow paragraph 7. To put
- things in order, you don't have to delete the out-of-place paragraph
- and retype it where it should be. ST Writer will move a block of text
- for you.
-
- The procedure for moving a block of text is much like that for
- deleting a block of text. Press [Shift F5] at the beginning of what
- you want to move and again at the end. ST Writer places an inverse
- quotation mark at each point.
-
- Finally, place the cursor where you want to reposition the text to be
- moved -- in this case, under the paragraph marker that begins
- paragraph 8 -- and press [Shift Insert]. ST Writer deletes the
- specified text block from its old place and inserts it where it
- belongs.
-
- Search and replace with ST Writer
-
- In your passage from Alice in Wonderland, the girl who hands out the
- prizes is of course not Edith, but Alice herself. But with ST Writer,
- you don't have to go back and change each use of Edith to Alice. ST
- Writer will search out and replace any specified string wherever it
- appears in a text file.
-
- To use this search-and-replace function, first position the cursor at
- the top of your file (a quick way is to press [Shift F1]), then press
- [Shift F7]. When ST Writer prompts you to enter the Replace <ESC>:
- string, type in the word Edith and press [Esc]. Using the [Esc] key
- to terminate search strings allows you to search for strings that
- include the [Return] character. This is the text for which ST Writer
- must search.
-
- Next ST Writer prompts you to enter the text you want to substitute
- for the search string with the prompt With <ESC>:. Type in the word
- Alice, then press [Esc]. ST Writer now searches the entire text for
- the word Edith, and replaces it with the word Alice wherever it
- occurs.
-
- This is known as a global unqueried search-and-replace, which means
- that all occurrences of the search phrase are replaced without further
- prompting. ST Writer can also perform a case-by-case replacement
- operation, in which you are prompted to confirm each substitution.
- Press F7 to perform a query search-and-replace operation.
-
- Notes on Search-and-Replace
-
- When you enter a word or phrase to be searched for, you must type it
- exactly as it appears in your text file. When the string is a single
- short word, like son, that might appear in your file as part of longer
- words, it's a good idea to type in blank spaces before and after it.
- If you do this, however, be sure to include the same blank spaces
- before and after the phrase you're substituting for the search string;
- and keep in mind that ST Writer will not recognize occurrences of such
- a search string that are immediately preceded or followed by
- punctuation marks.
-
- You can also use the search-and-replace function as a
- search-and-delete tool. To do this, simply press [Esc] when ST Writer
- asks for a replacement string. ST Writer will delete the search
- string and close up the resulting blank space, whether you proceed
- with a case-by-case or global search.
-
- Getting your text files in shape
-
- With ST Writer you can print what you write in just about any shape
- you want by using a variety of formatting commands. Some of these
- commands, entered in the Print Formatting Block at the top of your
- screen, control the overall formatting of your text file. Others,
- entered within your text file while you're creating or editing it, are
- used to specify variations from the overall format. Others still are
- used to specify some special formatting features of ST Writer.
-
- In the next several pages, you'll find instructions for using all the
- formatting commands, along with some suggestions for using most of
- them to shape up your passage from Alice in Wonderland. The
- formatting commands are also outlined in your Quick Reference Guide.
-
- Print Preview
-
- As you experiment with various formatting commands, you might wish to
- observe the results of these commands on the final printed form of
- your text without waiting for an actual printout. You can preview
- your final document on the monitor screen by printing the text to the
- screen instead of paper. To do this, press [Esc], if necessary, to
- return to the ST Writer menu, then select Print File. You are
- prompted Enter Printer, Disk, Screen, spooLer? Type S, press [Return]
- twice, and your text will be printed to the screen exactly the way
- you've formatted it. Stop and start the scrolling text by pressing
- [Control S] to stop and any key to restart, or escape to the menu by
- pressing [Esc].
-
- Overall file formatting
-
- By now the Print Formatting Block at the top of a text file should be
- a familiar sight. Each of the inverse video (colored in low and
- medium res) letters in it represents a command that will affect the
- overall formatting of the file. The number to the right of each
- letter is the formatting value for that command.
-
- Shown below -- and in the Print Formatting Block each time you begin a
- new file -- are the default values for overall formatting. ST Writer
- will use these values to format your file unless, of course, you
- change them.
-
- To set your own formatting values, just move the cursor into the Print
- Formatting Block (pressing [Shift F1] is the quickest way), delete the
- number displayed for the value you want to change, and type in the new
- value. Try reformatting your passage from Alice in Wonderland to some
- new values, as suggested on the next two pages, or to values of your
- own choice.
-
-
- B12 Bottom margin: 12 half-lines, or 1 inch
-
- D4 Paragraph spacing: 4 blank half-lines (double spacing) between
- paragraphs
-
- G0 Print style: 10 characters per inch (CPI)
-
- I5 Paragraph indentation: 5 spaces from left margin
-
- J0 Justified right margin: OFF
-
- L10 Left margin: 10 spaces from left edge of page
-
- R70 Right margin: 70 spaces from left edge of page
-
- S2 Line spacing: 2 half-lines, or single spacing
-
- T12 Top margin: 12 half-lines, or 1 inch
-
- Y132 Page length: 132 half-lines, or 11 inches
-
-
- Line spacing, S, is set in terms of half-lines. For double-spaced
- printing, delete 2 and type in 4. For triple spacing, set this value
- at 6. Only even numbers can be used. (Entering odd numbers will
- cause ST Writer to use the next highest even number.)
-
- Paragraph spacing, D, is set in terms of blank half-lines between
- paragraphs. For single spacing between paragraphs, delete 4 and type
- in 2. Only even numbers can be used.
-
- Paragraph indentation, I, is measured in character spaces from the
- left margin. For more or less indentation than the default value of 5
- spaces, delete the 5 and type in the value you want (up to 20). The
- number may be negative for outdenting. For block-style paragraphs,
- without any indentation of the first line, enter the number 0 (and
- make sure that your paragraph spacing is greater than your line
- spacing).
-
- Top and bottom margins, T and B, are measured from the top and bottom,
- respectively of each page. So, to change them both from one inch (12
- half-lines) to one and a half inches, set them at 18 instead of 12.
- Only even numbers can be used.
-
- Left and right margins, L and R, on the other hand, are both measured
- from the left edge of the page. For wider margins, try substituting
- 15 for 10 as the value for L, and 65 for 70 as the value for R.
-
- You'll probably want to experiment a bit to find the left and right
- margins you prefer, depending on the print style you select (see
- below) and the kind of printer you have. ST Writer will accept values
- 1 through 188 for the left margin and 11 through 198 for the right
- margin. If you have a 40-column printer, be sure to set your right
- margin within the range of 2 through 40.
-
- The justified right margins command, J, works like a simple On/Off
- switch. The default value of 0 gives you nonjustified (ragged) right
- margins. For justified right margins, delete the 0 after the J and
- type in 1.
-
- Page length, Y, does not determine the number of lines printed on a
- page (that's set by your top and bottom margins). Rather, ST Writer
- uses the page length setting to determine where the next printed page
- will begin. Keep your page length set at 132 for 8 1/2 by 11-inch
- paper. 224 is ST Writer's maximum page length (for 14" paper length
- and printer setting of 8 lines per inch [Note: default lines are 6
- per inch]). Only even numbers can be used.
-
- To print out a text file continuously, without page breaks, set your
- top and bottom margins to 0.
-
- In print styles, G, also known as fonts, your choices depend on what
- kind of printer you have.
-
- The default print style of ST Writer is 10 CPI (PICA), represented by
- the 0 next to the G in the Print Formatting Block. To format for
- condensed print, delete the 0 and type in 2; for italics, type in 4;
- for ELITE, type in 8.
-
- Although the print styles you select are not represented as such on
- your screen in print preview, the number of characters displayed per
- line is normally the same as it will be in your printed file.
-
- For double-column printing, you must enter formatting commands and
- values for the margins of the second (right-hand) column of print.
- Enter these commands and values at the top of your text file to format
- the entire file for double-column printing -- just insert them as if
- you were adding text at the beginning of the line just below the Print
- Formatting Block. To set the left margin for the second column, press
- [Control M], then type the number of the margin setting you want
- (measured in character spaces from the left edge of the page). To set
- the right margin for the second column, press [Control N] and type the
- number of the setting you want. To discontinue double-column
- printing, set the second left margin [Control M] to 0 (zero). You
- cannot change print pitch while printing double-column.
-
- Of course, you may also have to adjust your settings for L and R,
- which control the margins for the first (left-hand) column of print in
- double column printing. Always be sure that your first-column right
- margin and second-column left margin do not overlap. Also, do not
- make the T or B margin settings different for the two columns.
-
- Formatting variations within a file
-
- You can specify variations in the format wherever you want within a
- file by entering commands directly in your text. In addition, ST
- Writer offers a number of special formatting features; for these, too,
- you enter commands directly in your text.
-
- You can enter these commands singly or in combination, when creating
- or editing a text file. For best results, enter new format commands
- on a separate line (that is, don't type text on the same line), type a
- space after the numeric value for each command, and press [Return] to
- start subsequent text on a new line. Note: the one exception to this
- case is Print style, ([Control G]), with which you can include text on
- the same line. For example, you can italicize a single word on a
- line. Follow the [Control G] with the number (0 through 15) for the
- print style followed by a hyphen (or any character except for a
- number. This delimiting character will not be printed in the text.
- However, remember, you cannot change print pitch while printing
- double-column. You may do bold, italics, or elongated print in double
- column, nevertheless.
-
- To specify variations from the overall formatting values displayed in
- the Print Formatting Block, use the commands shown below, followed by
- the new value. ST Writer displays the appropriate letter (in inverse
- video) and number wherever you enter one of these commands. (These
- letters and numbers will not appear on your printed pages.)
-
- Bottom margin [Control B]
-
- Double-column printing:
- 2nd-column left margin [Control M]
- 2nd-column right margin [Control N]
-
- Justified right margins [Control J]
-
- Left margin [Control L]
-
- Line spacing [Control S]
-
- Paragraph indentation [Control I]
-
- Paragraph spacing [Control D]
-
- Print style(font) [Control G]
-
- Right margin [Control R]
-
- Top margin [Control T]
-
- At the end of the portion of text that you want varied from the
- overall format, use the same commands to re-enter the original overall
- formatting value -- or whatever new value you want for the text that
- follows.
-
- The special formatting features of ST Writer also require you to enter
- commands directly in your text. Again, you can enter these commands
- singly or in combination with other formatting commands, while
- creating or editing a file. ST Writer displays the appropriate letter
- or letters in inverse video wherever you enter one of these commands.
-
- Elongated print
-
- With some printers, including the ATARI SMM 804 Dot Matrix Printer, ST
- Writer enables you to print text in elongated characters, which are
- twice normal width. Any print style can be elongated.
-
- To format a portion of text for elongated print, press [Shift F9] at
- the beginning of that portion of text and [Shift F9] again at the
- end.
-
- If you like, try this feature in combination with the next feature
- described to add a striking title to your passage from Alice in
- Wonderland.
-
- When you examine a formatted text file in print preview, elongated
- characters are displayed as normal. But keep in mind that when
- printed they'll be twice as wide as normal, so anything more than half
- a line of text that you format for elongated print will run over to
- the next line.
-
- Centering text
-
- To center lines of text -- a useful option for titles and headings --
- press [Control C] at the beginning of each line to be centered. At
- the end of the line, press [Return]. (If you decide to center a line
- while editing, don't forget to insert a [Return], if necessary, at the
- end of the line.)
-
- If you like, add a centered title in elongated print at the top of
- your passage from Alice in Wonderland -- something like:
-
- [Control C][Shift F9] Alice Gets a Surprise [Return]
- [Control C] For Her Prize [Shift F9] [Return]
-
- Always be sure that no line of text to be centered exceeds the overall
- line length determined by the left and right margins that you set.
-
- Blocking text right
-
- To have a line of text print out flush with the right margin of the
- page, press [Control C] twice in succession at the beginning of the
- line to be blocked. Each line to be blocked right must be ended with
- a [Return].
-
- If you like, try this out by adding something like this at the end of
- your passage from Alice in Wonderland:
-
- [Control C][Control C] -- from Alice in Wonderland [Return]
-
- [Control C][Control C] by Lewis Carroll [Return]
-
- Always be sure that no line of text to be blocked right exceeds your
- overall page margins.
-
- Headers, footers, and page numbering
-
- A header is a line or two of text that is printed at the top of every
- page of your final printed output. A footer appears on the bottom of
- each page. If you want, ST Writer will place headers or footers of
- one or two lines on each page of your printed text files. By using a
- page numbering command in combination with a header or footer command,
- you can also have ST Writer number your printed pages.
-
- To specify a header, press [Control H], then type the text of the
- header and press [Return]. Enter [Control H], then the text and a
- [Return] for each separate line of a two-line header.
-
- To specify a footer, press [Control F], then type the text of the
- footer and press [Return]. Enter [Control F], then the text and a
- [Return] for each separate line of a two-line footer.
-
- Headers appear two and four half-lines below the top of the page, and
- footers two and four half-lines above the bottom of the page.
- Therefore, to use headers or footers, the top [Control T] or bottom
- [Control B] margin settings must be at least 8 to leave room. By
- default, headers and footers are aligned to the left margin of the
- printed page; however, you can also have them centered or blocked
- right (aligned with the right margin) by following your headder or
- footer command with a center text command ([Control C]) or block text
- right command ([Control C][Control C]) just before your text (and on
- the same screen line). If you want your headers or footers printed in
- elongated print, enter a [Shift F9] before and after the header or
- footer text.
-
- If you want headers or footers on every page of your text file,
- beginning with the first page, enter the appropriate commands and text
- at the beginning of your file on the screen line or lines just below
- the formatting commands and values displayed on the first line.
-
- If you want headers or footers to begin on a page other than the first
- page, or if you want to change the text of a header or footer within
- the file -- say, for a multisection document where you want headers or
- footers that match each section -- you can enter the appropriate
- commands and text within the file. In this case, however, be sure to
- enter the commands and text (preceded if you like by elongated print,
- center text, block text right, or new left and right margin settings
- commands) as the only material on a screen line.
-
- No header or footer text line should exceed the overall page margins
- that you've set (and remember that elongated print is twice as wide as
- normal). Any header or footer text that exceeds your page margins
- will be dropped when ST Writer formats and prints your file.
-
- To discontinue printing headers in your file, type [Control H]
- [Control H] [Return]. Use two [Control F]'s for discontinuing
- footers.
-
- To number your printed pages, type the @ symbol ([Shift 2]) at that
- point in your header or footer text where you want page numbers to
- appear. ST Writer displays a @ symbol to show you where your page
- numbers will be printed. If you want page numbers only, just enter @
- as your entire header or footer text.
-
- By default, ST Writer numbers the page where a page numbering command
- is entered as 1, and subsequent pages in order. To specify a
- different starting page number -- a useful option when you're
- combining separate text files into a larger document -- press [Control
- Q] after the [Return] that concludes your header or footer text, then
- enter the starting page number you want. ST Writer accepts starting
- page numbers of 1 through 999. A negative number (e.g. -1) instructs
- ST Writer to alternate blocked RIGHT headers and footers with blocked
- LEFT headers and footers.
-
- To add a blocked right header with a page number to each page of your
- passage from Alice in Wonderland, enter this at the beginning of your
- text file:
-
- [Control H][Control C][Control C]ST Writer Exercise - @ [Return]
-
- You may specify a different print style [Control G][number][hyphen],
- or different left [Control L][number] or right [Control R][number]
- margins within your header or footer without affecting the print style
- or L or R margins within your main text body. The header or footer
- disregards double column instructions, creating a line length up to
- the entire width of the page.
-
-
- Indexing and deleting text files
-
- There are two more selections on the ST Writer menu that can help you
- manage your text files: Index of Files and Delete File.
-
- Before trying these options, save your passage from Alice in
- Wonderland -- it will make for a more interesting index and, along
- with your letter about ST Writer, will give you a choice of files to
- delete!
-
- For an index of files on a diskette, insert the diskette into your
- disk drive. If your system has two drives, use either one. Then
- select Index Disk Files from the ST Writer menu. ST Writer then
- prompts 'P' to printer, 'S' to screen: S -- press [Return] to accept
- the default (screen print), or P to send the index to your printer.
- Next ST Writer prompts you for a Path name: and prints the specifier
- for the current drive, that is, the drive from which you loaded ST
- Writer (or from which you last obtained a directory). For instance,
- if you loaded ST Writer from drive A:, you're prompted Path name: A:.
- You can change the drive specifier by pressing [Backspace] a few times
- and entering the new specifier. If you want a directory of a specific
- folder on your disk, enter the drive specifier, then a reverse slash
- (\), then the name of that folder. Then press [Return], at which
- time ST Writer displays a list of files and folders on the diskette.
- Folders and files created with ST Writer will be indicated as such in
- the listing. Also shown is the number of bytes occupied by each file;
- any file that you've locked (using the GEM desktop) is noted with an
- asterisk (see Diskette Management in the Reference Guide).
-
- When there are more than 21 files on a diskette, ST Writer scrolls
- your directory upward on your screen to show you every entry. To halt
- this scrolling, press any key; press any key again to restart the
- scrolling.
-
- For a printed directory, simply type P at the first prompt, and make
- sure your printer is connected and turned on.
-
- To delete a file on diskette, you follow much the same procedure as
- when you save or load a file to or from diskette. First make sure
- that the diskette containing the file that you want to delete is in
- your disk drive, then return to the ST Writer menu and select Delete
- File. When ST Writer prompts you to enter the File to be deleted:,
- type in the drive specifier followed by a colon and the filename and
- extender of the file you want to delete, and press [Return]. As a
- precaution, ST Writer prompts Type 'Y' to delete file:. When you
- respond by typing Y, ST Writer erases the specified file from your
- diskette.
-
- Some further features of ST Writer
-
- Like Alice, the Dodo, and the Mouse, you've probably now been "running
- half-an-hour or so" at least with ST Writer -- but don't stop yet!
- Briefly described, here are a few additional features of ST Writer.
- You can find complete instructions for using each one in the
- Reference Guide.
-
- Byte count at cursor position. You can tell at a glance where you are
- in the file by pressing [Alternate =]. Although this number
- represents all characters including formatting data and comments, you
- can get an idea of how far you are in the document.
-
- Chaining print files. If you have a disk drive, this feature allows
- you to chain text files together in any order to be printed as if they
- were one file.
-
- Duplicating text. This feature enables you to take a word, sentence,
- or more from one part of a text file and duplicate it wherever else
- you want within the same file.
-
- Format disk. You can use this selection from the ST Writer menu to
- prepare a blank diskette for storing your text files.
-
- Form printing. Especially handy for business or form letters, this
- feature lets you leave blanks in a text file -- for names and
- addresses, account numbers, and the like -- and fill them in with
- specifics each time ST Writer prints the file. You can, if you like,
- create a separate DATA file containing the words or phrases, each
- separated by a carriage return. Just be sure that they match the
- spaces left in your form, and are in the correct order. The DATA file
- must be printed to disk with top and bottom margins set to 0 (zero), L
- set to 1, R set to 198, G set to 2 and Y set to twice the number of
- lines in the file (maximum Y is 224). Alternatively, you can also use
- mailing addresses created and sorted by DB Master One. Simply print
- the sorted addresses to a disk file. The computer will prompt you
- asking for the file name of your DATA file if you indicate that
- STWRITER is to use a disk file as the data source. If you do not wish
- to use a data file as a source of your insert data, you may simply
- type in each specific as you are prompted to by the computer.
-
- Merging text files. This feature allows you to merge an ST Writer
- text file on disk together with the file currently in your computer's
- memory. Files not saved in ST Writer format should be first loaded
- separately, saved, then merged with the desired file.
-
- Page eject. Basically a formatting command, this feature enables you
- to halt printing on a given page and space to the top of the next page
- before resuming printing. It can be useful when you're formatting and
- printing a multisection document where you want each section to begin
- on a fresh page. By typing a number greater than zero after [Control
- E] you can specify a conditional page eject, with the number
- representing the number of lines to appear on the same page. If they
- will not fit, they will appear in a block on the following page. This
- feature is useful for printing tables and material with fixed numbers
- of lines. To work with paragraphs and formatable blocks of print with
- variable numbers of lines, one would first need to print the entire
- document and count by hand the number of lines in the paragraph which
- are not be broken at a page break.
-
- Page wait. Also a formatting command, this feature allows you to
- print your text files on individual sheets of paper -- a convenient
- option when you want to do your printing on bond, letterhead, or your
- personal stationery. If this command is active when printing to the
- screen, scrolling will halt when the screen is full. Pressing any key
- except [Esc] continues scrolling. [Esc] cancels printing.
-
- Printer controls. You can send special decimal-code commands to your
- printer by entering them directly in your text files -- a useful
- option if you have a printer that ST Writer does not support, and do
- not have a printer driver.
-
- Section headings. Use this feature to number section and subsection
- headings in the body of a text file.
-
- Special characters. You can access the special characters in the
- international character set by typing [Alternate X]. A letter [A]
- appears near the bottom right of the screen indicating alternate
- character mode. Use the table in STWCODES.DOC to find what key
- combinations to use to print the character you want. Foreign
- characters can be obtained directly without using the [Alternate X]
- function by using the deadkey function. Type [Control][Clr Home], and
- a "D" appears in the status line near the bottom of the screen. You
- can get foreign characters by using the following combination of key
- strokes:
-
- First type ",',~,`,^,_,-, or /,
-
- then the vowel or letter that the mark is used in combination
- with.
-
- For example, to get a small umalut u, type ["] first, then [u]. If
- you merely want a quote mark ["], you must either exit the deadkey
- mode by typing [Control][Clr Home], or by typing quote ["] twice in
- succession while still in deadkey mode.
-
- In addition, you can also include characters with ASCII values between
- 0 and 31 in your text file. Note, however, that most of these
- characters are unprintable, and may do strange things if you attempt
- to print them on the printer. Nevertheless, you can get them by
- typing [Control X] before and after the character. For example, to
- get a [Control J] (ASCII 10) to be in the text, type:
-
- [Control X][Control J][Control X]
-
- These characters will not be counted as taking up space on a line like
- normal characters. The [Control X] is needed to tell the formatter in
- ST Writer Elite that these are NOT formatting characters, but ones
- which need to be sent to the output device. All control characters
- can be printed by using [Control] plus a letter key with the following
- exceptions:
-
-
- To get: Use:
-
- ASCII 0 (null) [ Return ]
- [ Control A ] [ Control U ]
- [ Control U ] [ Shift F5 ]
- [ Control X ] \[ Control X ]
- [ Control Z ] [ Control : ]
- [ Escape ] [ Control [ ] or [ Control ; ]
- ASCII $1C [ Control < ] or [ Control \ ]
- ASCII $1D [ Control = ] or [ Control ] ]
- ASCII $1E [ Control > ] or [ Control ^ ]
- ASCII $1F [ Control ? ] or [ Control _ ]
-
- Subscripts and superscripts. Especially useful when you're writing
- about mathematical or chemical formulas or including footnote numbers
- in your text, subscripts and superscripts can easily be included in
- your printed text files.
-
- Tabs. With ST Writer you can set and use Tab stops much as you do
- with a conventional typewriter. Tab stops can be especially useful
- when you're setting up columns or tables in a text file.
-
- GEM mode. By popular request, features of Digital Research's GEM
- (Graphics Environment Manager) have been added to ST Writer. This
- allows use of drop down menu items, Dialog Boxes, File Selector Boxes,
- and use of the mouse. The GEM mode is activated by pressing one of
- the mouse buttons. An "Alert" box appears allowing you to select or
- reject GEM mode. If you are happy with ST Writer as it already is,
- click on "CANCEL". Clicking on "OK" will produce a blank screen with
- the familiar GEM menu bar at the top. You can make your menu
- selections from here using the mouse. In GEM mode, keyboard menu
- commands will no longer work.
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- S T W R I T E R R E F E R E N C E G U I D E
-
- ALTERNATE RIGHT AND LEFT BLOCK HEADERS/FOOTERS. To have ST Writer
- take headers and footers set for right blocking, and on alternate
- pages block them left, use a negative number after the [Control Q]
- (page number start) command. This is useful for pages which will go
- "back to back" as in a textbook or newsletter.
-
- ALTERNATE CHARACTERS. Use the Alternate key in combination with the X
- key to toggle the alternate characters set. A capital 'A' will appear
- near the bottom right of the screen indicating alternate character
- mode. Pressing [Alternate X] again returns to normal characters.
- Since the keys are not marked for alternate characters, you can often
- find the proper key to use by subtracting 128 from the ASCII value of
- the alternate character you wish to type, and finding the
- corresponding key on the keyboard. For example, to print the 'pi'
- symbol, press [Alternate X], then type a lower case 'c'. For some
- characters, it will be necessary for you to refer to the ST Writer Key
- Code Table. Note: If you have pressed the [CapsLock] key, a capital
- 'C' will indicate this at the bottom right of your screen. Also see
- SPECIAL CHARACTERS.
-
- BLOCK TEXT RIGHT. To block right, or print a line of text flush with
- the right margin of the printed page, press [Control C] twice in
- succession before typing the line, and [Return] at the end of the
- line. When editing, insert [Control C] twice at the beginning of each
- line to be blocked right, and be sure that each such line ends with
- [Return]. Always be sure, also, that no line of text to be blocked
- right exceeds your overall page margins.
-
- CAPITALIZATION. See Upper and lowercase characters.
-
- CENTER TEXT. To center a line of text, press [Control C] before
- typing the line, and [Return] at the end of the line. When editing,
- insert a [Control C] at the beginning of each line to be centered, and
- be sure that each such line ends with [Return]. Always be sure, also,
- that no line of text to be centered exceeds your overall page
- margins.
-
- CHAINING PRINT FILES. You can use this feature to tie together any
- number of files, in any order that you wish, to be printed as if they
- were one file. This is especially useful when you want to print a
- long document that you've written and saved in segments with
- distinctive filenames or extenders.
-
- Here's how to chain two files named REPORT.001 and REPORT.002, for
- example. While writing or editing REPORT.001, position the cursor at
- the end of the file and press [Control V]. Then type REPORT.002
- (include the drive specifier, if necessary, before the filename) and
- press [Return]. It does not matter whether you enter the filename or
- specifier in upper or lower case. While printing these chained files,
- ST Writer would display the message CHAINING REPORT.002 as it finished
- with REPORT.001 and proceeded to find and format REPORT.002 prior to
- printing it. After printing, the first file is reloaded from disk.
-
- Each file in a chain will be formatted according to the formatting
- commands and values within it. So if you want consistent overall
- formatting throughout a chain of files, be sure that the values in the
- Print Formatting Block are the same in every file. A header or footer
- entered in the first file in a chain will be carried through
- subsequent files -- unless, of course, you modify it -- and a page
- numbering command entered in the first file will give you
- consecutively numbered pages throughout the chain.
-
- Note: You cannot load a file, edit it, then print it out while
- chaining to another file -- if you try, the message Cannot chain
- appears after the first file is printed. In order to chain properly,
- save the first file before printing it out. This is because when you
- load a file and then edit it, ST Writer will not let you load another
- file without verifying that you want to erase the existing text.
-
- COMMENT. Use [Control K] before and a comment in your text which you
- do not wish to have printed out. Terminate the comment with a
- [Return]. Since [Control K] also is used to cancel a search command,
- you may still search for a [Control K] character in your text. Use a
- [Control +] combination of key strokes for this.
-
- CONDENSED PRINT. See Print styles (fonts).
-
- CREATE FILE. Select this from the ST Writer menu to begin writing a
- new text file. While in the Create File mode, you can write, edit,
- rewrite, and enter or change formatting commands. Each time you
- select Create File, ST Writer refreshes the default values for
- formatting in the Print Formatting Block at the top of your monitor
- screen.
-
- DEADKEY FUNCTION. This function is toggled on and off with
- [Control][Clr Home]. If the character you wish to use has an accent
- mark, for example, type the ['] character followed by the appropriate
- vowel.
-
- DEFAULT VALUES. Each time you select Create File, ST Writer refreshes
- the default values for formatting in the Print Formatting Block at the
- top of your monitor screen. ST Writer will format your entire file
- according to these values unless you change them, or modify them by
- entering the appropriate formatting commands and values within the
- body of the file. Here are the default values:
-
- B12 Bottom margin, 12 half-lines (1 inch)
-
- D4 Paragraph spacing, 4 blank half-lines (double spacing)
-
- G0 Print style, 10 characters per inch
-
- I5 Paragraph indentation, 5 spaces from left margin
-
- J0 Justified right margins OFF
-
- L10 Left margin, 10 spaces from left edge of page
-
- R70 Right margin, 70 spaces from left edge of page
-
- S2 Line spacing, 2 half-lines (single spacing)
-
- T12 Top margin, 12 half-lines (1 inch)
-
- Y132 Page length, 132 half-lines (11 inches)
-
- ST Writer also defaults to a starting page number of 1 when you enter
- a page numbering or print file command -- unless of course you enter a
- different starting page number.
-
- DELETE FILE. To delete a file from diskette, select Delete File from
- the ST Writer menu by pressing D. Then enter the Path name of the
- file (see Path name) to delete. As a precaution, ST Writer prompts
- Type 'Y' to delete file:; Type Y to erase the file. You cannot delete
- a locked file from the disk -- if you try, ST Writer will give you the
- message Unable to delete file.
-
- DELETE TEXT. See your Quick Reference Guide for the keystrokes used
- to delete text. You can delete: a character, line, or portion of a
- line at a time; all text from the position of the cursor to the end of
- your text file; a defined block of text, or the entire document.
-
- In case you change your mind about a deletion or delete something by
- accident, you can press the [Undo] key to restore the last line or
- block of text (up to about 40,000 characters) that you've deleted; the
- restored material is inserted at the position of the cursor. Note:
- exceptions to this are deleted single characters, blocks larger than
- 40,000 characters (warning message appears), and deletion of the
- entire text ([Clr Home]).
-
- DISKETTE MANAGEMENT. In order to load the ST Writer program into your
- Computer, if you don't have TOS in ROM, you must first load the TOS
- operating system from your ATARI TOS System Disk. Consult your ST
- Computer Owner's Manual for further instructions.
-
- Before you can store your ST Writer text files on a data disk, the
- disk must be formatted -- that is, organized into sectors so that your
- disk drive can keep track of where information is stored on it. You
- can format blank diskettes from the GEM desktop (see Owner's Manual).
- Or use the Format Disk selection from the ST Writer menu to format a
- blank disk while in the middle of a work session with ST Writer.
-
- For your own peace of mind, always make a backup copy of any disk you
- store ST Writer files on -- just so you'll have a duplicate in the
- event that something happens to your original. Your ST Owner's Manual
- also contains further details on this and other disk management
- functions.
-
- DOUBLE-COLUMN PRINTING. You can format a text file for double-column
- printing on any printer. To do so, you must enter formatting commands
- and values of the second (right-hand) column. You can do this either
- at the beginning of your file -- to print the whole file in double
- columns -- or at that point in the file where you want double-column
- printing to begin.
-
- To set the left margin for the second column, press [Control M], then
- type the number of the setting you want. Then press [Control N] and
- type the number of the setting you want for the right margin of the
- column. You may also have to adjust your settings for L and R, which
- control the margins for the first (left-hand) column of print in
- double-column printing. Always be sure that your first-column right
- margin and second-column left margin do not overlap, and that T and B
- margins are set the same for both columns.
-
- When you print to the screen a file that you've formatted for
- double-column printing, the two columns appear as they will print.
-
- DUPLICATING TEXT. To duplicate a portion of text from one part of a
- text file to another part of the file, first position the cursor at
- the beginning of what you want to duplicate and press [Shift F5].
- Next, position the cursor at the end of what you want to duplicate and
- press [Shift F5] again. Finally, position the cursor where you want
- the text to be duplicated (the cursor must be outside the marked
- block), and press [F2]. From this point until you perform another
- deletion or duplication, the marked block of text is held in a
- failsafe buffer, and can be inserted anywhere in the document simply
- by positioning the cursor and pressing the [Undo] key.
-
- You may duplicate a block of text as many times as you like. If you
- want to duplicate it more than once, however, be careful not to delete
- anything until you've completed your duplication procedures. A block
- of text that you duplicate is stored in the failsafe text buffer of
- your computer, where it will be replaced by the next deletion.
-
- Also keep in mind that the capacity of your failsafe text buffer is
- about 40,000 characters of text. So if you want to duplicate a block
- of more than 13 pages or so, do it in segments.
-
- EDIT FILE. Select this option from the ST Writer menu when you want
- to revise or reformat a text file already in your computer's memory.
-
- ELONGATED PRINT. See Print styles (fonts).
-
- ERROR MESSAGES. When ST Writer finds a mistake in an entry or command
- that you've given, or detects a problem in your computer system, it
- displays the appropriate error message in the Message Window at the
- bottom of your screen. Press any key to continue.
-
- FILENAMES. Filenames may be up to eight characters in length,
- optionally followed by a period and a three-character extender -- for
- example, RFGUIDE.001. You must give every file a filename in order to
- save it on a disk. ST Writer uses the same conventions as your TOS
- operating system for allowable characters in filenames -- letters,
- numbers, and punctuation are permissible. Lower case letters are
- converted to upper case in the actual filename.
-
- FONTS. See Print styles.
-
- FOOTERS. See Headers, footers, and page numbering.
-
- FORMAT DISK. In order to store your ST Writer text files, disks must
- be formatted with TOS. While it's always a good idea to keep an extra
- formatted diskette on hand, (see Diskette management), you can use the
- Format Disk selection from the ST Writer menu to format a disk during
- a work session with ST Writer. Simply insert the diskette you want to
- format in your disk drive and select Format Disk from the menu by
- pressing F. The Message Window shows All data will be erased, 'Y' to
- format. Type Y to continue with the format operation. Type any other
- letter to return to the SELECT LETTER prompt. After typing Y, type A
- or B for the drive containing the disk you wish to format. Next
- you're asked Sides to format ( 1 or 2 ):2. Note that the default
- response for a double-sided drive is already supplied, and you need
- only press [Return] to begin such a format. To format single-sided,
- if you have an SF354 drive, type 1 and press [Return] -- the 2
- disappears at the first keypress. At the prompt Enter name for disk:
- enter in a disk name following filename conventions (up to eight
- characters with an optional three-character extender), or just press
- [Return] for no disk name. The message Formatting disk appears and
- the disk is formatted. If there are any problems (such as the disk
- being write-protected), the message Unable to format disk. appears.
- Press any key to return to the SELECT LETTER prompt.
-
- FORMATTING TEXT FILES. How ST Writer formats your text files is
- controlled by a variety of formatting commands and values entered
- either in the Print Formatting Block at the top of each file or within
- the body of the file. Each time you select Create File from the ST
- Writer menu, the program's default values for formatting are refreshed
- in the Print Formatting Block, but you can change them or add to them
- as you wish. You can edit formatting commands and values -- delete or
- modify them -- just as you can text. See your Quick Reference Guide
- for a summary of all formatting commands used with ST Writer.
-
- You can examine a formatted text file on your screen prior to printing
- by using Print to Screen.
-
- FORM PRINTING. (Also called Database Merge.) You can leave blanks in
- a text file that you want to use as a form, and fill them in -- with
- names and addresses, account numbers, and the like -- each time you
- print the file. Wherever you want to leave a blank, press function
- key F9. An inverse video ? appears at that point on your screen.
- Press F9 at the desired location for each entry that you'll be filling
- in.
-
- When ST Writer prints the file, it stops when it encounters each such
- command and prompts you FORM DATA FROM FILE Y/N? If you have
- previously created a data file, type Y. The prompt DATA FILE NAME?
- will appear. Type in the data file name and press [Return]. ST
- Writer will read the data file and insert the data in sequence into
- your text. If you do not have a data file, you will be prompted to
- MAKE ENTRY?. Type what you want to fill in the blank -- up to 55
- characters per blank -- and press [Return]. When you complete each
- entry, ST Writer continues printing the file.
-
- Alternately, you can supply information for each blank from a text
- file output by a database management program such as the mailing list
- option of DB Master One. After sorting the desired addresses with DB
- Master One, "print" them to disk. See the instructions from
- compatible database managers for further instructions.
-
- If you're using the hand-entry method and have left a number of
- blanks, it's a good idea to jot down a list of them, because you won't
- be able to see the file on your screen when you're prompted to make
- your entries during printing.
-
- FREE MEMORY. When first creating a file in ST Writer, you start off
- with approximately 200,000 bytes, or characters, of memory (more or
- less depending on system) available for your text -- room for over 130
- double-spaced pages. This number is reduced if you have any of the
- accessories such as the Control Panel installed in your desktop. To
- remove desktop accessories, use the GEM desktop to change resolution
- with a non-system disk in the default drive, or if you have a
- monochrome monitor (cannot change resolution), rename the desk
- accessories on your system disk and reboot the system. ST Writer
- constantly displays the available memory, expressed in bytes, in the
- Message Window at the bottom of your screen. One byte equals roughly
- one typed character, and you can figure on about 1500 bytes for each
- standard double-spaced page.
-
- In any case, it's a good idea to leave yourself with a margin of free
- memory with every file you write, just so you'll have some memory to
- work with if you want to edit (or add to) a file later on. When your
- computer's memory will accept only about one more screen full of text,
- ST Writer alerts you by displaying a "memory low" message. When this
- happens, save the file and start a new file to continue the document
- you're working on.
-
- GEM MODE. To get the features of GEM, click one of the mouse buttons.
- An alert box will appear to allow you to select GEM or CANCEL.
- Besides allowing you to use the mouse in Menus, Dialog and Alert
- Boxes, on the EDIT screen you can place the alpha cursor anywhere in
- the text on the screen instantly. You can also exit edit mode by
- clicking on Esc in the last line of the command box, and you can
- scroll up or down a page by clicking on the up and down arrows on the
- same line. You can exit GEM mode from the main menu by clicking on
- "Mouse" in the Options menu. NOTE: Sometimes when you press the
- [Esc] key, you will seem to be "stuck" on the Edit screen. This
- occurs when the mouse is on the top line, regardless if you are in
- GEM mode or not, or whether the mouse is visible or not. A
- peculiarity of GEM makes it necessary for you to move the mouse
- downward to exit the Edit screen if this should occur.
-
- GLOBAL FORMAT. In GEM mode only, Global Format allows you to set up
- the Format line at the top of a file you are about to Create. It does
- not work on files already created in memory.
-
- HEADERS, FOOTERS, and PAGE NUMBERING. For headers or footers of one
- or two lines on every page of your printed text file, enter the
- appropriate commands and text at the beginning of the file, on the
- screen line or lines just below the formatting commands and values
- displayed on the first line. To begin headers or footers elsewhere
- than on the first page, or to change the text of your headers or
- footers, you can also enter the required commands and text within the
- file. In this case, however, each header or footer command and line
- of text (preceded, if you like, by elongated print and center text or
- block text right commands) must be the only material entered on a
- screenline. In either case, be sure that no line of header or footer
- text exceeds your overall page width margins.
-
- To specify a header, press [Control H], then type the text of the
- header and press [Return]. For a two-line header, enter a [Control
- H], then the text and a [Return] for each separate line.
-
- To specify a footer, press [Control F], then type the text of the
- footer and press [Return]. For a two-line footer, enter a [Control
- F], then the text and a [Return] for each separate line.
-
- To discontinue a header or a footer, type two [Control H]'s or two
- [Control F]'s followed by a [Return].
-
- For consecutively numbered printed pages, type @ ([Shift 2]) at that
- point in your header or footer text where you want page numbers to
- appear (for page numbers only, use the @ symbol as the entire text of
- your header or footer). ST Writer will number the page where you
- enter your page numbering command as 1, and subsequent pages in order,
- unless you specify a different starting page number. To do this,
- press [Control Q] after the [Return] that concludes your header or
- footer text, then type in the number of the starting page number you
- want (from 1 through 999). A negative value following the [Control Q]
- indicates that you want your left and right blocked headers and
- footers to each block to the opposite margin on alternate pages.
-
- Headers or footers appear one full line below or above the top or
- bottom of your printed pages. By default, ST Writer prints headers,
- footers, and page numbers in the print style you've formatted for the
- entire text file, and aligns them to the left margin. If you want to
- change the print style or left or right margins, or want elongated
- print, centered or flush right, enter the appropriate commands just
- after your header or footer commands. The main text body will not be
- affected by these formatting commands in your header or footer.
-
- INDEX OF FILES. For a directory of files on a disk or within a
- folder, press I from the ST Writer menu. At the prompt 'P' to
- printer, 'S' to screen: S, press [Return] to accept the default
- (screen print), or P for a printed index (make sure your printer is
- ready). Next ST Writer asks for the Path name: -- see Path name for
- details. When you enter the Path name, ST Writer reads the disk
- directory and prints it on the indicated device. Also shown are the
- number of bytes contained in each file. Files generated by ST Writer
- and folders are indicated as such, and locked files are marked with an
- asterisk (see Locking files). If you have more than 21 files and
- folders on your disk, ST Writer scrolls the directory listing upward
- on your screen to show every entry. To momentarily pause the listing,
- press any key; press it again to restart the scrolling. At the end of
- the directory listing, ST Writer again presents you with the
- printer/screen prompt, in case you wish to index a different disk or
- folder. To return to the menu, press [Esc]. There is no
- corresponding selection for Index in GEM mode, as File Selector Boxes
- contain filenames. Unfortunately, information on file size or whether
- or not they are ST Writer files is not available in GEM mode.
-
- INSERTING TEXT. To insert text, simply position the cursor where you
- want and begin typing. ST Writer pushes the text to the right of and
- below your insertion as far as necessary to accomodate the new text.
- Use the same procedure to enter formatting commands within a text file
- that you've already written. Pressing the [Insert] key toggles
- between insertion and type-over mode. A capital 'I' near the bottom
- right of the screen indicates insert mode, and an inverse capital 'T'
- indicates type-over mode.
-
- INSTALL PRINTER. The Install Printer accessory from the Desk menu on
- the GEM desktop allows you to choose the type printer you will be
- using (dot matrix or daisywheel, black and white or color, dot
- configuration), paper use (single sheet or continuous feed), and
- quality of print (draft or final). If the codes for draft or final
- have been placed in your printer configuration file, you can selec
- single- (draft) or double- (final) strike printing. You may also
- change ports so that your text gets printed via the modem (RS232)
- serial port, rather than to the parallel printer port.
-
- JUSTIFIED RIGHT MARGINS. The justified right margin command works
- like a simple On/Off switch. The default value of 0, displayed next
- to the inverse video J in the Print Formatting Block, gives you
- nonjustified (ragged) right margins. For justified right margins,
- change this value to 1. You can change from one to the other within a
- text file by entering [Control J] and the appropriate value.
-
- LINE SPACING. ST Writer measures line spacing in half-lines. The
- default value for line spacing is single spacing, represented by the 2
- next to the inverse video S in the Print Formatting Block. For double
- spacing, change this value to 4. To vary line spacing within a
- document, press [Control S] and type in the appropriate value wherever
- you want the spacing to change. The new value must be an even
- number.
-
- When you use [Return]s to create blank lines in a text file, keep in
- mind that ST Writer inserts blank lines according to the value of S
- for each such [Return].
-
- LOAD FILE. To load a text file from a disk drive, select Load File
- from the ST Writer menu by pressing L. At the Load file: prompt,
- enter the Path name (see Path name) for the file you wish to load. If
- you've previously loaded or created a text file during the current
- session, ST Writer first asks, Erase file in memory, Y/N ?. An
- exception to this happens if you've previously saved the file and did
- not edit it after the last save -- the new file is simply loaded when
- you enter its name. If you press Y, the file in memory is erased,
- whether or not you proceed with the load.
-
- In GEM mode, you are supplied with a File Selector Box from which you
- click on the file you want loaded. See PATH NAME for details.
-
- If while loading a file ST Writer finds that your computer's memory is
- full, Buffer is full, file not loaded appears in your Message Window.
- That part of the file that's been loaded is erased from memory. If
- you load in a non-ST Writer file, the file must be converted to ST
- Writer format, and this takes some time. Essentially, all line-feeds
- are discarded, and all carriage returns replaced with nulls. Also,
- all tabs are replaced with 5 blank spaces. You can toggle off the tab
- conversion when prompted by answering 'N' (No) to the query Change
- Tabs to Spaces? In this case, your file may be punctuated with a lot
- of [Control I] characters, which represents the tab character. This
- would usually be done only by experienced computer users.
-
- LOCKING FILES. To lock a text file that you've saved to disk, you
- must return to the GEM desktop (see Quit). Open a window for the
- drive that contains the file to be locked, and select the file by
- pointing to its icon (or filename) and clicking the left mouse button
- once so the icon is highlighted. Then point at the File heading on
- the Menu Bar, and select the Show Info option.
-
- This is the same Dialog Box you would use to rename the file. To lock
- the file, select Read-Only, then OK.
-
- If you load a locked text file, revise it with ST Writer, and then try
- to save it again under the same filename, ST Writer asks, ALREADY
- EXISTS, 'Y' to replace it. If you type Y (no [Return] necessary) ST
- Writer gives you the message ERROR trying to open the file. Press any
- key to return to the Save file: prompt and enter a different name
- under which to save the file.
-
- MARGINS. ST Writer measures a page from top to bottom in half-lines,
- and from left to right in character spaces. The default values for
- page margins are represented in the Print Formatting Block as
- follows:
-
- T12 B12 L10 R70
- Top Bottom Left Right
-
- To change any of these margins for the entire text file, simply delete
- the value shown and type in your own. You can also change margins
- within a file; just press [Control] and the appropriate letter, then
- type in the value you want. Values for the top and bottom margin must
- be even numbers.
-
- You may have to experiment a bit, adjusting the paper in your printer,
- to get the correct top margins on your printed pages. With the
- default value of 12 for T, your top margins should be one inch.
-
- For a continuous printout of a file, without page breaks, set your top
- and bottom margins at 0 and delete any headers or footers from the
- file.
-
- MERGING TEXT. You can merge a saved ST Writer file, or other ASCII
- file from disk with the file currently in your computer's memory with
- this command. Keep in mind, though, that when merging files you run
- the risk of overflowing your computer's free memory.
-
- To merge two files, first position the cursor where you want the
- merged text to appear in the file currently in your computer's memory.
- Then press function key [F8]. ST Writer then prompts Load file:, at
- which you should enter a Path name for the file to be merged (see
- Path name).
-
- If while merging one file with another ST Writer finds that your
- computer's free memory is full, a warning message appears in the
- Message Window, the merge is halted and that portion of the merged
- file that has loaded is erased.
-
- MOVING TEXT. To move a block of text from one place to another in a
- text file, position the cursor at the beginning of the passage you
- want to move and press [Shift F5]. Then move the cursor to the end of
- the passage and press [Shift F5] again. Next, move the cursor to the
- point where you want to reposition the passage, and press [Shift F2].
-
- Remember that you can move only about 40,000 bytes of text (the
- capacity of your failsafe buffer) at a time. If you want to move a
- larger block of text, do it in segments.
-
- PAGE EJECT. Use this command when you want ST Writer to halt printing
- at a given point in a text file and space to the top of the next page
- before printing is resumed -- for example, in a multisection document
- where you want each section to begin on a fresh page. To enter this
- command, position the cursor where you want a page eject to take place
- and press [Control E]. A number following [Control E] specifies a
- conditional page eject. The number is the number of lines to appear
- in a block, and should not exceed the number of lines between the top
- and bottom margins. If the block will not fit on the current page, it
- will appear on the following page.
-
- PAGE LENGTH. When formatting and printing a text file, ST Writer uses
- this formatting command -- represented by the inverse video Y in the
- Print Formatting Block -- to determine where the next printed page
- should begin. Keep your page length set at the default value of 132
- (half-lines) for 8 1/2 by 11-inch paper. For a continuous printout of
- a text file without page breaks, set your top and bottom margins at 0
- and delete any headers or footers from the file. Values for page
- length must be even numbers, and 224 is the maximum value of Y that ST
- Writer allows.
-
- PAGE NUMBERING. See Headers, footers, and page numbering.
-
- PAGE WAIT. Use this command when you want to print a text file on
- separate sheets of paper -- for example, on bond, letterhead, or your
- personal stationery. Enter [Control W] in the Print Formatting Block
- at the top of your file for a page wait on every page of the file. ST
- Writer will stop printing at the bottom of each page; after inserting
- a fresh sheet of paper in your printer, press any key to start
- printing the next page. You may also invoke this command by using the
- Install Printer desk accessory, and using the "single" sheet
- selection. When printing to the screen, [Control W] causes the screen
- scrolling to halt when the screen is full. Hit any key to continue
- scrolling, or [Esc] to exit.
-
- PARAGRAPHS. Mark the beginning of every paragraph by pressing
- [Control P] -- ST Writer displays an inverse video letter P at that
- point on your screen. Press [Return] at the end of each paragraph --
- ST Writer displays an inverse video 'less than' symbol at that point.
-
- Two formatting commands control how your paragraphs appear when
- formatted and printed by ST Writer. The default value for paragraph
- spacing, displayed next to the inverse video D in the Print Formatting
- Block, is 4 blank half-lines, or double spacing, between paragraphs.
- To change this value, just delete the 4 and type in the value you
- want. The default value for paragraph indentation, displayed next to
- the inverse video I in the Print Formatting Block, is 5 spaces (from
- the left page margin). For a different paragraph indentation, delete
- the 5 and substitute the value you want.
-
- To vary paragraph spacing within a new file, press [Control D] and
- type a new value where you want the spacing to change, then press
- [Return]. To change paragraph indentation, press [Control I] and
- enter a new value. For bibliographies, ST Writer also allows negative
- indentation (outdenting or undenting). Type [Control I] followed by a
- negative value (eg., [-5]). Each time a [Control P] is encountered
- thereafter, the first line of the paragraph will be alligned flush
- with the left margin, and succeeding lines will be indented.
-
- PATH NAME. Path names are used to indicate files held in folders on
- your disk. See your ATARI ST Owner's Manual for a description of
- folders and how to use them. Path names can be entered at any of ST
- Writer's prompts for filenames or Path names. A path name is similar
- to a filename, but may also optionally indicate a folder name (or
- folder names) in order to tell ST Writer what path to take through
- your various directories and subdirectories in order to access your
- file.
-
- Say, for example, that you would like to use a folder named TEXT to
- hold your ST Writer files. To create the folder, follow the
- instructions for Creating Folders in your ATARI ST Owner's Manual.
- Then, after invoking ST Writer and creating your file, press [Esc] to
- return to the main menu and select Save File by pressing the S key.
- At the prompt, first enter the drive identifier (A:, B:, or C:), then
- type a reverse slash (the key to the right of the [Return] key), then
- the folder name (TEXT), then another reverse slash, then the filename
- under which you wish to save the file (e.g. B:\TEXT\MYFILE.TXT).
- Thus, a path name is simply a filename with one or more folder names
- inserted, offset by reverse slash marks. To obtain a directory
- listing of the folder TEXT, select Index of Files from the main menu,
- select Screen or Printer, then at the prompt for Path name:, type
- B:\TEXT and [Return].
-
- Since folders can contain folders, you can use more than one folder
- name in a path name. For instance, if the disk in drive B: contains a
- folder named LETTERS in the folder named TEXT, a path name to file
- MYFILE would resemble this: B:\TEXT\LETTERS\MYFILE.
-
- In GEM mode, file selection is done slightly differently. A File
- Selector Box appears with the current "path" on the top line. You may
- change the path by placing the cursor on the line by pointing and
- clicking the mouse, then either back-spacing over it, or pressing
- [Esc].
-
- You can then type in the above path name ( B:\TEXT\LETTERS\*.* ).
- Move the mouse inside the File Selector Box and click. All files in
- the LETTERS folder will be listed. This is because you used a "wild
- card" specifier [*]. If you only wanted files ending with .TXT, you
- would have typed:
-
- B:\TEXT\LETTERS\*.TXT [TAB]
-
- (Note: File Selector Boxes use the [TAB] key in place of the [RETURN]
- key.) You may then click on the file wanted followed by clicking the
- OK box, or double click on the selected file, and it will load, be
- saved, or delete, depending which function you had selected.
-
- PRINTER CONTROLS. If you do not have an Epson or Epson-compatible
- printer (including the ATARI SMM804), you can still format and print
- your ST Writer text files by entering the desired printer controls
- directly in your files.
-
- Wherever you want to enter a printer control, first press [Control O],
- then type in the decimal equivalent of the appropriate code understood
- by your printer. For instance, to send a decimal code 15, type
- [Control O]15. Be sure to type a space after the number -- ST Writer
- uses this space as a delimiter. You should be able to find a listing
- of codes used by your printer in the manual that came with it. Note:
- when you enter a printer control code with [Control O] on a page,
- that entire page will be formatted by the code you enter.
-
- PRINT FILE. You can print your text to the screen (see Print
- preview), to a disk file, to a serial printer or modem, or to a
- parallel printer. (Note: To print to a printer or modem connected to
- your computer's RS232 serial port, first use the Install Printer
- option from the GEM desktop Desk menu to set the Printer Port to
- Modem, -- see your ST Owner's Manual -- then print to the printer as
- usual.) To print a file, load it in memory if not already present, go
- to the ST Writer menu, and press P. ST Writer prompts, Enter
- Printer, Disk, Screen, spooLer? -- press the highlighted capital
- letter of the desired output device. For further instructions on
- printing to the screen, see Print preview.
-
- The message Searching for printer config file on disk appears in the
- Message Window as soon as ST Writer has loaded into the computer, and
- the disk drive spins momentarily. When this happens, ST Writer is
- looking for the file XYZZX.DAT on your default drive; the drive from
- which you loaded the ST Writer program. For further information on
- this file, see Printer Configuration File. Whether or not the printer
- configuration file is found, ST Writer still can print your file.
-
- From the ST Writer menu, to print your file to a printer, press P.
- Note: If your printer supports proportional print and you wish to use
- this, you must first return to the GEM desktop and use the Install
- Printer option from the Desk menu to set Printer Type to Daisy. To
- send the formatted text to a disk file that you can later transmit to
- another computer or print out directly from the GEM desktop, press D.
- ST Writer prompts you for a file name and then sends the formatted
- text to that file. The spooler option (press L) lets you print to a
- disk file with all your printer control codes embedded along with your
- text. A properly formatted file for your printer can later be printed
- directly to your type of printer from the GEM desktop.
-
- The next prompt, Enter number of copies?, is followed by the number 1.
- Press [Return] to accept the default value of one copy. To print more
- than one copy, type the new number of copies, then press [Return].
-
- Next ST Writer prompts Print whole document Y/N?. Type Y (or just
- press [Return]) to print the entire text, or type N to print a range
- of pages. If you press N, ST Writer asks you for the beginning page
- number with the prompt Enter first?. Press [Return] to accept the
- default value, page 1, or press [Backspace] once and type a new
- beginning page number and [Return]. Then at the prompt Enter last?,
- press [Return] to accept the default last page 999, or use [Backspace]
- to edit the entry. Finally, you are asked if you want letter quality
- print, and a 'Y' appears if you have selected letter quality print in
- the printer configuration desk accessory, or an 'N' if you did not.
- You may change the 'Y' to 'N' or vice versa at this point, or simply
- press [Return] if the correct letter is present. To temporarily halt
- printing, press [Control S], and to resume, press any key. You can
- stop printing and return to the main menu at any time by pressing the
- [Esc] key.
-
- Hint: Printing your file to a disk file is a convenient way of
- creating documentation on disk for a program you've written. Users
- can show a file printed to disk on the screen or print it out from the
- GEM desktop by double-clicking the file's icon or filename. Type
- instructions for your program into ST Writer, then print the text to a
- file named README.DOC, then write "Show (print) README.DOC for
- instructions" on your disk label. Remember to adjust the left margin
- to one.
-
- In GEM mode, there is one dialog box which allows you to select the
- number of copies, the range of pages to print, and the device to print
- to.
-
- PRINT PREVIEW. This feature of ST Writer lets you examine a formatted
- text file on your monitor screen prior to printing it. You can use
- Print preview at any time while creating or editing a file.
-
- For a print preview, press [Esc] from the editor to return to the ST
- Writer menu, then select Print File. At the prompt Enter Printer,
- Disk, Screen SpooLer? press S for screen print. For directions for
- responding to the next prompt, Print whole document Y/N?, see Print
- File above. Next, ST Writer prints your formatted file to the screen,
- showing each page break with a dotted line across the screen width.
- To pause this screen print, press [Control S], then press any key to
- resume the listing. Return to the ST Writer menu any time by pressing
- [Esc].
-
- PRINT STYLES. (fonts). ST Writer offers you a choice of sixteen
- combinations of print styles or fonts -- check the manual that came
- with your printer to see which ones your printer is capable of.
-
- The default print style of ST Writer, represented by the 0 next to the
- inverse video G in the Print Formatting Block is Pica, or 10
- characters per inch (CPI). To format your entire file for condensed
- print (16.7 CPI), change this value to 2. For bold print, change it
- to 1, and to print in italics, change it to 4. To print in Elite
- style, type 8 after the inverse video G.
-
- To vary the print style within a file, position the cursor where you
- want a new print style to begin, press [Control G], and type in the
- value desired. You can add the above values to use more than one
- style at a time -- use this table:
-
- CONTROL G STYLE
- CODE
- 0 Pica
- 1 Bold
- 2 Condensed
- 4 Italics
- 8 Elite
-
- To combine print styles, add the values for the required styles. For
- instance, to print Bold Elite, type [Control G]9, then a hyphen, then
- the text. The hyphen will not appear in the text printout. The print
- styles you select are not represented as such in Print preview except
- for elongated, which appears as letters with single spaces in
- between.
-
- The GLOBAL FORMAT dialog box simplifies this task. See GLOBAL
- FORMAT.
-
- PRINTER CONFIGURATION FILE. ST Writer comes with a special printer
- configuration program called CONFIG.TOS. When run, CONFIG.TOS looks
- on disk for a file names CONFIG.TXT and reads it into memory.
- CONFIG.TXT is nothing more than a saved ST Writer file containing all
- necessary printer codes for the user's individual printer. After
- reading CONFIG.TXT, CONFIG.TOS converts the text into special code and
- saves it back to disk, creating a file named XYZZX.DAT. ST Writer
- searches on the disk it was booted from for XYZZX.DAT and uses its
- codes to properly interface with the printer.
-
- Once you create an XYZZX.DAT file for your particular printer, you
- never need to go through it again. Be sure to make a backup copy of
- CONFIG.TXT. The only two files you need on any disk to operate ST
- Writer are the STWRITER.PRG program itself and XYZZX.DAT.
-
- To modify the printer configuration file, pull up your printer manual
- and load a backup copy of CONFIG.TXT into ST Writer and examine it.
- Any line of text beginning with an asterisk (*) is a comment for your
- information only and is ignored by the CONFIG.TOS program.
-
- For the moment, let's skip over the first section of the file and edit
- a fairly simple example. Look for the comment: *underline on.
- Following *underline on are a list of numbers: 27, 45, 1, 255, 255,
- 255, etc. Each of these numbers is a printer code in decimal
- representing the command to turn on the underline. The 255's are
- fillers where there is no printer code number.
-
- Look in your printer manual for the proper codes to turn on the
- underline. If your printer codes are listed in decimal--sometimes
- shown as CHR$(27), CHR$(45), CHR$(1)--you're lucky. Printer codes are
- also often listed in hexadecimal or ASCII form. Hex is indicated by
- either a preceding dollar sign or by the presence of the letters A
- through F. The underline on codes above would appear in hexadecimal
- as: $1B, 2D, $01. In ASCII notation underline on would be: Esc., -,
- SOH. Whichever the case, if your printer codes are in hexadecimal you
- wil need to convert them to decimal with a table, and if they are in
- ASCII, you will need an ASCII chart. Fortunately, many printer
- manuals have conversion charts in their appendeces.
-
- Go down the line of CONFIG.TXT codes and replace any codes that
- disagree with those codes in your printer manual. If your printer
- requires, say, four codes for a function that prviously contained
- three, replace one of the the 255's with the fourth code. Likewise,
- if your printer is one code short, replace the old, extra code number
- with a 255. It is very important that each function segment in
- CONFIG.TXT contains eight codes, so edit carefully. If you are
- uncertain about a particular function, leave it alone. Change as
- little as possible. You can always re-edit and try again.
-
- Go back and look at the top of CONFIG.TXT. A short chart at the top
- shows the necessary code numbers to use for certain parameters. It is
- set up for 80-column printers, but if you have at least 132 columns,
- substitute 8712 for 5280. This number is critical if you want more
- than 160 columns (condensed elite on an 80-column printer). You can
- get 198 columns (condensed on a 132-column printer) if you don't try
- printing more columns than your printer can handle. The character
- translation table may appear confusing, but it merely lists the ASCII
- equivalent of all the characters in the character set, from 0 to 255.
- Unlike the remainder of CONFIG.TXT, these numbers are in hexadecimal
- (represented in this case by 0x), so if you are not sure what they
- represent, see a table or the character set in your printer manual.
- Beyond the standard range of alphanumeric ASCII characters is an extra
- character set. The ST sees these extra characters as one thing, but
- your individual printer sees them as another. Many printers have
- their own special character set. The character translation table in
- CONFIG.TXT is designed to make the two jibe as much as possible.
-
- Currently, the table is set up for Atari printers. If you don't have
- an Atari printer, you won't have all the special characters, so you
- can configure your printer driver to print the characters you do have,
- even if they have a different ASCII number. For example, my Star
- Micronics NX-10 printer has the paragraph symbol located at 0x14
- (decimal 20), but on the ST, that symbol has the value 0xbc (decimal
- 188). I found 0xbc in the table and replaced it with 0x14. Now,
- every time I use the paragraph symbol in text to be printed, it will
- print as though I were using an Atari printer. Don't bother changing
- table values below 0x20 because ST Writer uses those for formatting
- codes, and they will never be sent to your printer.
-
- Once you have completed editing CONFIG.TXT, save it back to disk under
- the same name. Return to the GEM Desktop and make sure you have both
- CONFIG.TOS and the newly edited CONFIG.TXT on the same disk.
- Double-click on CONFIG.TOS. In as short while, it will create a
- XYZZX.DAT file on your disk. Place this file on the same disk as
- STWRITER.PRG and you're ready to go. You might create a short ST
- Writer file which uses all the printer commands you wish to test.
- This way you can quickly try out the different functions and see how
- successful your edit has been.
-
- QUIT. Use this command to exit ST Writer and return to the GEM
- desktop. From the main menu press Q. If you have made any changes to
- your text file since the last time you saved it, ST Writer prompts
- Quit without saving file in memory?. Press Y or y to exit ST Writer,
- or any other key to return to the main menu.
-
- RECEIVE ATARIWRITERTM. Use this function to transfer a file from an
- ATARI 400, 800, XL or current XE Computer using AtariWriter or
- AtariWriter Plus to your ST. You must have an ATARI 850 Interface
- Module (or equivalent) connected to your 400, 800, XL or XE Computer
- and a "null-modem cable" (see below) in order to make this transfer
- (300 baud). You may also load in an 8-bit AtariWriter file from disk,
- and ST Writer will convert the file.
-
-
- A special cable called a "null modem cable" is required to connect the
- two computers. You probably will not be able to find such a cable
- ready-made -- you must either make it yourself or have it made for
- you. Most cities have stores that will custom-make a cable for a
- reasonable fee. To make the cable, obtain a female 25-pin connector
- for the ST end, a female 9-pin connector for the 850 end, and a length
- of cable with at least five wires. Connect these pins on the two
- connectors:
-
- 25-pin pin # TO: 9-pin pin #
- ------------ --- -----------
-
- 2 4
- 3 3
- 4 8
- 7 5
- 8 7
-
- To transfer a file, first load AtariWriter or AtariWriter Plus and the
- file to be transferred into your ATARI 400, 800, XL or XE. Make sure
- that you have downloaded the RS232 handler from the 850 -- follow the
- instructions with your DOS manual. If using AtariWriter Plus, make
- sure your 850 Interface is connected and turned on before you load the
- program disk. Next, on your ST, run ST Writer. Connect the two
- computers with your cable. Next, press R on the ST keyboard to
- activate the Receive file from 850 command. Then press S on the other
- computer's keyboard to Save File. When prompted for DEVICE:FILENAME,
- enter R: and press [Return]. The file is then transferred to the ST
- Writer text buffer, where you see it appear. After the transfer is
- finished, it's a good idea to save the transferred file to disk for
- safekeeping before editing it.
-
- SAVE ASCII. This is a MENU selection in GEM mode, but in non-GEM mode
- when you type 'S' to SAVE a file, you will be asked if you want to
- "Save in ASCII format?" The default is 'N' (No), and merely pressing
- the [Return] key negates an ASCII save. However, selecting ASCII SAVE
- allows you to write an ASCII file to disk. This is the same as
- printing to disk, as every line gets a carriage return and line feed
- appended to it. The major exception is that the left margin will be
- 1, and the right can be set up to 160 (for an 80 column printer
- driver). All blank spaces at the end of a line or page will be
- discarded. If you MUST have blanks at the end of a line, use the
- Elongated text control [Shift F9] followed by exactly 1/2 the number
- of blank spaces needed, and then a terminating [Shift F9]. This
- tricks the formatter into writing blank spaces at the end of a line or
- page. SAVE ASCII files will not re-load into ST Writer Elite without
- conversion to ST Writer format, but can be easily loaded into other
- word processors or text editors. It is a good idea to use a ".DOC"
- extender on ASCII filenames so as not to confuse them with files saved
- in ST Writer format.
-
- SAVE BLOCK. After marking the beginning and end of a block of text
- with [Shift F5], you can save the marked block to a disk file. Mark
- the block, then press [Shift F8]. ST Writer prompts for a filename
- with: Save block as:. Enter a filename or Path name, then press
- [Return] to save the block on disk. You can merge this text with
- another file with the F8 key (see Merging text.) Hint: an easy way to
- delete the block markers after saving the block (40,000 bytes or less
- only) is to press [F5] to delete the block, then [Undo] to restore
- it.
-
- SAVE FILE. To store a text file on a diskette, select Save File from
- the ST Writer menu by pressing S. When asked "Save in ASCII format?",
- hit the return key. Insert a formatted disk in your disk drive (if
- you don't have a formatted disk on hand, you can have ST Writer format
- one for you -- see Format Disk.) Then type a filename (optionally
- including Path name -- see Path name), and press [Return].
-
- If your file already has a filename associated with it (i.e. you
- previously loaded it from disk, rather than creating it from scratch),
- ST Writer prints out that name after the Save file: prompt. Simply
- press [Return] to save the file.
-
- Important Note: In the latter case, or if the filename you have
- entered already exists on disk, ST Writer does not print a warning
- message in the Message Window. Therefore if you wish to retain an
- original copy of the document you are editing, save the edited version
- under a different filename.
-
- In GEM mode, this is done by selecting "Save". Selecting "Save AS..."
- allows you to specify another filename to save it under.
-
- SEARCH AND REPLACE. Use this feature of ST Writer to search for,
- replace, or delete any string of text up to 57 characters in length.
- On command, ST Writer executes a search from the current position of
- the cursor to the end or the beginning of a text file, in either
- direction.
-
- There are four ways to search; Search Reverse, Search Forward,
- Replace, and Query Replace. To conduct a Forward Search, from the
- cursor position to the end of a file, press function key F6. ST
- Writer then prompts Forward search <Esc>: in the Message Window.
- Enter the character, word, or phrase you wish to find, then press the
- [Esc]. Using the [Esc] key as a terminator in the search phrase
- allows you to search for phrases that include the [Return] character.
- You can also search for other non-alphanumeric characters, including
- all [Control] key combinations. Pressing [Esc] activates the search,
- whereupon ST Writer moves the cursor to the first incidence of the
- sought phrase. If it does not appear in the text, the Message Window
- shows String was not found.
-
- If found, to search again for the same phrase, press F6 again. The
- Forward search <Esc>: prompt reappears, followed by the last seach
- phrase. Simply press [Esc] to search for that phrase. To search for
- a different phrase, press any key and the old search phrase is
- automatically deleted, making room for a new search phrase.
-
- To search backwards in your file, press [Shift F6]. Reverse Search
- works identically to Forward Search, except that it searches from the
- cursor position to the beginning of the file, rather than to the end.
- Forward Search and Reverse Search use the same buffer for the search
- phrase.
-
- If you want to replace the phrase you're searching for with a
- different phrase, use function key F7. Pressing F7 alone causes ST
- Writer to confirm each replacement operation with you, and [Shift F7]
- effects replacement of all occurrences of the sought phrase without
- verification, also known as global replace. After pressing either, ST
- Writer prompts: (Query) Replace <Esc>:. Enter the search phrase
- (including presses of [Return], if applicable), then press the [Esc]
- key. Next, ST Writer prompts: With <Esc>:. Enter the phrase that is
- to replace the search phrase. For instance, you can use Replace to
- change the name John to Jack through your entire manuscript. If you
- have selected Query Replace, and the search phrase is found, the
- message window prompts: Type 'Y' to replace string:. Pressing Y
- replaces the phrase and moves the cursor forward to the next
- occurrence of the search phrase (if any). Pressing any other key does
- not perform the replacement, but still moves the cursor to the next
- incidence of the search phrase. Note that Replace and Query Replace
- search forward only from the cursor position.
-
- Note: if, while entering a search or replace phrase, you decide not to
- make the search after all, press [Control K] to abort the process and
- return to editing your document.
-
- If you press [Shift F7] for global replace, all incidences of the
- search phrase are automatically replaced by the replace phrase without
- query. This is a powerful command, and should be used carefully!
-
- When entering a search phrase, you must type it exactly as it appears
- in your file. When the string is a single short word that might
- appear in your file as a part of longer words, it's a good idea to
- type in blank spaces before and after it. If you do this, though,
- include the same blank spaces in your replace phrase. And keep in
- mind that ST Writer will not recognize occurrences of such a search
- phrase that have punctuation marks immediately before or after them.
-
- To halt a search-and-replace operation, press [Esc].
-
- SECTION HEADINGS. Use this feature of ST Writer to number section and
- subsection headings in a multisection document. The easiest way to
- explain its use is with an example.
-
- Say you're writing a text file about nutrition. In outline, it
- includes the following sections and subsections:
-
- Fruits and vegetables
- Fruits
- Fresh fruits
- Preserves
- Vegetables
- Dairy Products
-
- To number each of these section and subsection headings when entering
- them in your file, press [Control U] and type the number of the
- section level, then the text of the heading and [Return]. In this
- case, Fruits and vegetables is the highest level of headings, so you
- type 1 after [Shift F8]. The section level for both Fruits and
- Vegetables is 2, and 3 for both Fresh fruits and Preserves. For
- Dairy products, you return to a section level of 1. You can specify
- section levels of 1 through 9. Wherever you enter a section heading
- command and number, ST Writer displays a European paragraph symbol
- followed by the section level number you've entered.
-
- When it formats and prints your file, ST Writer numbers your section
- headings, raising the numbers for each occurrence of a section heading
- command at a given level. In other words, the section headings in
- your file on nutrition would be numbered as follows:
-
- 1 Fruits and vegetables
- 1.1 Fruits
- 1.1.1 Fresh fruits
- 1.1.2 Preserves
- 1.2 Vegetables
- 2 Dairy products
-
- You should format your section headings according to your preferences.
- Add as many spaces between each section level number and heading as
- you want between the section number and heading. And use paragraph
- markers, center or block text right commands, and print style commands
- in combination with your section heading commands to format your
- headings the way you want them.
-
- To reset your numbering of section headings -- say, in a large
- document where you want a numbered system of headings in each chapter
- -- press [Control U] and type the number 0. Then press [Control U]
- again and the desired level number when you enter your next heading.
-
- SOURCE FILES. You can create source code files in BASIC, LOGO, C,
- etc. with ST Writer. Set [Control B] to 0 (zero), [Control G] to 10,
- [Control L] to 1, [Control R] to 160 and [Control T] to 0. Be certain
- that none of your lines of code exceed the 160 (80 column printer
- driver) or 198 character (136 column printer driver) limit without an
- intervening carriage return. Also, the last page of your source code
- may not fill up the whole page, and when printed will have several
- carriage returns following the text. Use the print preview to find
- the page break (occurring at the end of the each page). When you see
- the beginning of the last page, make note of the position and number
- of lines on the final page in the file. Then edit your file by
- inserting [Control Y] followed by a number that is double the number
- of lines on the last page, somewhere in the text prior to the end.
- Then Print your file to disk. It is a good idea to also Save your
- text file under another name in case you wish to edit it later.
-
- SPECIAL CHARACTERS. Ordinarily, all ST characters with ASCII values
- less than 32 ($20 Hex) cannot be used in your text, as these have
- special meaning to printers, and are used internally by ST Writer as
- formatting directives. However, using [Control X] before and after
- such characters will temporarily shut off the interpretation of such
- characters in their usual meaning and will actually insert them into
- your text (particularly useful if you are planning to "SAVE ASCII"
- (GEM mode only) and the disk file you are creating requires such
- characters to maintain its integrity. This feature is for experienced
- programmers. Most control codes can be produced using [Control
- X][Control {Key}][Control X]. You may use as many [Control {key}]
- characters between the [Control X] formatting commands as needed, but
- no normal chararacters (ASCII numbers greater than 31, $1F Hex) with
- the exception of [\] which is used solely before a [Control X] to
- differentiate it from a terminating [Control X] formatting command.
- Exceptions to the normal {key} characters are:
-
- To get: Use:
-
- ASCII 0 (null) [ Return ]
- [ Control A ] [ Control U ]
- [ Control U ] [ Shift F5 ]
- [ Control X ] \[ Control X ]
- [ Control Z ] [ Control : ]
- [ Escape ] [ Control [ ] or [ Control ; ]
- ASCII $1C [ Control < ] or [ Control \ ]
- ASCII $1D [ Control = ] or [ Control ] ]
- ASCII $1E [ Control > ] or [ Control ^ ]
- ASCII $1F [ Control ? ] or [ Control _ ]
-
- SUBSCRIPTS AND SUPERSCRIPTS. Printed a half-line below or above the
- line, subscripts and superscripts are especially useful when you're
- writing about chemical or mathematical formulas or including footnote
- numbers in your text files. (Check the manual that came with your
- printer to see if it's capable of printing subscripts and
- superscripts.)
-
- To specify a subscript, press function key F10 before typing the
- material to be subscripted and [Shift F10] after. To specify a
- superscript, press [Shift F10] before and F10 after the material to be
- superscripted.
-
- ST Writer displays inverse video up and down arrows where these
- commands are entered. So the chemical formula for water would appear
- on your screen as H(down arrow)2(up arrow)O, and Einstein's famous
- Theory of Relativity as E=mc(up arrow)2(down arrow). If you wanted to
- use a superscript o as a degree symbol, the boiling point of water
- would appear as 212(up arrow)o(down arrow)F.
-
- TABS. The series of arrows that appear every five spaces along the
- top of your Message Window each time you begin a work session with ST
- Writer are the default Tab settings of ST Writer. To remove any of
- the default Tab settings (or stops), first move your cursor to a Tab
- stop and press [Shift F4]. ST Writer prompts you to Type 'Y' to
- clear current tab stop: -- pressing Y clears the stop and removes its
- arrow from the Message Window. Conversely, to set a new Tab stop,
- simply position the cursor at the desired setting and press function
- key F4.
-
- To clear all Tab stops, press [Control Tab], and to restore ST
- Writer's default tab stops, press [Shift Tab].
-
- Here are some important facts to know about using Tabs. Using the Tab
- key alone always inserts spaces to the next Tab stop. To tab forward
- to the next stop without inserting spaces, press [Shift (right
- arrow)], and to tab backward to the previous tab stop, press [Shift
- (left arrow)]. Also, Tab settings are saved along with your text
- file; thus, you don't need to reset them each time you load and edit
- the file.
-
- Tabs are perhaps most often used to create columns of numbers or
- words. In such applications, we highly recommend that you use ST
- Writer in TOS's medium or high resolution to take advantage of the
- 80-column screen for proper layout of your document.
-
- UNDERLINING TEXT. To enter underlined text in a file, press [Shift
- F3] before typing in the text. An inverse video underline character
- appears. Press [Shift F3] again to return to ordinary text.
-
- UPPER AND LOWERCASE CHARACTERS. To enter a single upper-case
- character, of course, you hold down the [Shift] key while typing the
- character. For all uppercase letters, press the [Caps Lock] key,
- whereupon the letter C appears in the right half of the message
- window, and press it again to return to all lowercase.
-
- With ST Writer you can also change letters that you've already entered
- from lower to uppercase or vice versa. To do this, position the
- cursor on the letter you want to change and press function key F3. To
- change a series of characters, simply hold down the F3 key.
-
-