Suzy B Software 2

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Text File | 1995-04-25 | 15.5 KB | 430 lines

Print-A-Matic Ver 2.0 --------------------- Written By: Michael H. Douville ------------------------------- Purpose: To enable a easy way to control your printer. These features include : 1. Sending control codes to your printer to enable certain features. 2. To be able to group these features together as macros and use them. 3. To be able to save the configuration for repeated use. 4. To enable printing of a text file from the program. 5. A TEST option that allows you to see what text will look like on your printer, BEFORE you print the file. 6. Version 2.0 now has a variety of print formatting commands. Credits: I have to admit that this program was not entirely an original idea. I had purchased a program called Max-Pak, which had a very nice printer handler. Well, the company is no longer around, and I didn't really need all the other stuff the program had so I decided to use some of the ideas in that program as well as some of my own to come up with this program. Also much thanks goes to ICD for their great program Personal Pascal, which enabled a novice such as myself to come up with this program. ///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// About the program: ///////////////////////////////////////////////// ///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// The first versions of this program are TOS based. However I do plan to further enhance this program with additional features and also design a GEM version. Version 2.0 of this program is shareware. I'm asking for $5.00 if you use the program. More information can be found on this later. On to the program itself ........On the top line of the screen is the Print Format status line. This basically gives information about how a file will be printed. In the main portion of the screen you notice a bunch of letters with brackets to the right of them. These are where the control codes for the printer are held; inside the bracket is where the title of that code also goes. Just to the lower left of the main screen is the Function key selection menu. This menu allows you to send the codes to the printer, print a file, do a test print etc. To the lower right of the main menu is the macro menu. This is where your printer code macros are stored. In other words, you may set up several codes you want to send to your printer and label it under one of the ten macro keys. These keys are also saved along with all your other definitions. Below these two menus is your print format menu, which allows you to print and format a file. Last to come is the information and entry line. This is where you enter your control codes, file names etc.. Using the program. First be sure that PRINTA.TOS and PRNCONFG.DAT are in the same folder. Note: Version 1.0 and 1.1 data files are not compatible with version 2. This should be the last time I have to do this since I think I've made the data file large enough for future expansion. Too lazy to write a conversion program right now, sorry. ///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// Creating Control Codes ////////////////////////////////////////////// ///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// Before you can start using this program you will need to enter some information so that your computer can control your printer. These usually consist of an escape code followed by various other codes that allow your printer to print in bold, underline, condensed print and much more. The format that Print-A-Matic uses consist of the decimal equivalents of these with each code being separated by a comma, example: 27,19,34. To enter or edit a code first select the letter (A-X) you wish to use and type <CNTRL> + (Letter Selected) at the same time. <CNTRL> stands for control key. Your cursor will then move to that letter and prompt you to enter the title for the control codes you are about to enter. For example if you were to enter the codes to turn bold on you might want to call the key [BOLD ON ]. You may use just about any keys on the keyboard for your title. If you make a mistake just hit your Backspace key to correct (Delete will not work). After doing this you will be prompted to enter the control code sequence for that feature. If you already had control codes there, these will be displayed and may be edited. The codes entered MUST be in decimal form separated by a comma. This can be up to 20 characters in length, if longer you will get a beep, you will also keep a beep if you type in an illegal character. To enter this information just hit return. Turning Codes ON and OFF To activate or deactivate a code simply type the letter associated with that code. When a code is activated it will have a "tag" character just to the left of the letter. ///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// Creating and Using Macros /////////////////////////////////////////// ///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// The macro feature of Print-A-Matic simply allows you too store a "set" of tagged or untagged codes with a key stroke, instead of manually having to turn each code on and off. To activate a macro first select which codes you wish to have on and which you wish to have off. Then select a number from the NUMERIC KEYPAD plus the control key at the same time, example <CNTRL> + (0-9 on KEYPAD). You have up to ten macros to define. The macro feature can be real handy for sending a group of codes to the printer. Say for instance you have a group of codes that change your margins, use condensed print, and print in letter quality. This can all be done using one macro key! ///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// Print Controls F1 thru F10 ////////////////////////////////////////// ///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// Print Format Status Line ------------------------ Sending Codes - F1 ------------- Once you have selected the codes to send to the printer, press F1 one your keyboard. Be sure your printer is turned on! Print File - F2 ---------- Pressing this key will send a file to the printer. Any legal file name may be used and use of the wild cards ? and * is permitted. Hitting return without entering a name cancels the function. If during the printing process you wish to stop print just hit any key on the keyboard and printing will stop. Note: if you are using a spooler this will not stop all characters from printing and you will still need to 'flush' your spooler. Test print - F3 ---------- Test print which can be accessed by F3 on your keyboard and comes in real handy if you would like to -see- the results of the codes you have sent to the printer. When F3 is hit 4 lines of text are sent to your printer so you can see the results. Save Configuration - F5 ------------------ Once you have entered all your printer codes you plan to use, you will probably want to save them. This is accomplished by hitting F5 on your keyboard. This will save all your printer codes and macros. Next time you use the program these features will automatically be loaded. Load Configuration - F4 ------------------ To reload your printer and macro configurations hit your F4 key. Clear All - F6 --------- To clear all your printer codes and macros hit F6. Clear Tags - F7 ---------- To clear all of your printer codes which you have -tagged- to be sent to the printer hit F7 ///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// Printer Formatting Commands Shift F1 thru Shift F10 //////////////// ///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// !!!!! Note: The program is defaulted to print in RAW mode. You !!!!! !!!!! will have no control over print format unless you disable!!!!! !!!!! this feature. Read ahead for more information. !!!!! Print Formatting Status Line ---------------------------- If you look at the top of the screen you will see the following: +-----------------------------------------------------------------+ | Top: Lines: Width: Bottom: Total Lines: Margin: Tab: | +-----------------------------------------------------------------+ Top --- This displays shows how many lines are being used by your header (top margin). The header information consist of up to three lines with an extra line above and below for up to a total of 5 lines. Lines ----- Shows how many lines you are printing per page. This number is not allowed to exceed Total Lines. See Lines/Width for more information. Width ----- Shows how many characters per line your printing. See Lines\Width for more information. Bottom ------ This displays the bottom margin number of lines being used. This will vary between 2 or 3, depending if your using page numbers or not. Total Lines ----------- Shows the total number of lines you may print per page. Keep this in mind when changing your number of lines. Margin ------ Shows what your left margin is set at. Tab --- Shows what your tab setting is. ///The Keys////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// Copies - Shift F1 ------ Number of times you wish to have file printed. This number can be between 1 to 99. Lines / Width - Shift F2 ------------- This option controls two features. Lines, which determines how many lines per page may be printed. If you look at Max Lines indicator at the top of the program this will show the maximum lines you may use. The limits for this setting are between 1 and Max lines. The default setting should be the same as Max Lines. Width determines how many characters per line will be printed. If width is shorter than the actual line to be printed then it will automatically be shifted to the next line. I decided to do it this way instead of truncating the line. Who wants to print something you can't read! Limitations for this setting are between 30 and 256. Default setting should be the maximum printing width of your printer (normally 80). P_Length - Shift F3 (You can't tell I wrote this in Pascal can you!) -------- Stands for Page Length. This has two settings 11" for standard paper and 14" for legal size. The default for this is standard. Margin / Tab - Shift F4 ------------ Margin controls the size of your left hand margin. Handy for allowing room for the use of a three hole punch. Settings are between 0 and 20. The default setting is 0. Tab controls how far over your print head will move if a tab character is found. Settings are between 0 and 20. Default setting is 8. (The following are all yes/no choices.) Page - Shift F5 ---- Do you want page numbers printed? Pause - Shift F6 ----- Will pause printing process at the end of each page. Handy if your feeding single sheets of paper to your printer. Simply hit any key when your next sheet of paper is ready. Note, if using a spooler the program will prompt you for a new sheet before the printer has stopped printing. You must wait until the printer has stopped printing before you go further. Header - Shift F7 ------ Prints header information at the top of each page. Header information consist of three parts. The first is the name of the file being printed. The second header is the date and time that the file is being printed. The last header is the Title. This may be any name you have for the file your printing. Maximum length is 40 characters. Any of these headers may be selected or none may be picked at all. Be aware that the number of headers used will effect the maximum number of lines you can print per page. Line - Shift F8 ---- This will select if you want line numbers preceding each line of test. These line numbers are only for document text and not for headers or line numbers. These numbers are all printed flush to the left margin. I felt that padding the left column usually ended up wasting to much space. Which meant your line would not fit on one line. Raw - Shift F9 --- This handy little feature allows by-passing of the print formatting features and instead prints the file directly to the printer. This will not print any header, page numbers , margins etc. This is used if you have a file say that already has page numbers in it and must be printed this way in order to look right. This is the way Print-A-Matic comes configured. I found that in most situations straight text printing is all that's needed. Feeds - Shift F10 ----- Selects whether to send a form feed at the end of the print job. ///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// Revisions. ////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// ///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// Version 1.1 1. The screen is now more pleasing to the eye. 2. Escape and Undo will both exit you from the program. 3. The number keys on the keyboard or the numeric keypad can be used for macros. The numeric keypad only worked on ver 1.0 . Version 2.0 1. This version has many printer formatting commands as follows: a. May print between 1 to 99 copies. b. Choose how many lines(long) and characters(wide) you want the print to be. c. Choose between two page sizes (Standard and Legal). d. Choose left hand margin and tab length. e. Select page numbering. f. Select if the printer should pause after each page. g. Select Header information to be printed at top of page. This consist of 1. Filename, 2. Date printed, and 3. Title. Of which any may be selected or deselected. h. Select to print line numbers. i. A RAW printing mode. To print text with NO formatting at all. j. Whether or not to send formfeed at end of print job. ///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// Bugs! /////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// ///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// The only bug I've run into so far is when using James.Acc Version 1.0. When using this program the keys would not work correctly when in Print-A-Matic. ///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// Shareware?/////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// ///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// I know your probably tired of hearing this, but if you like and use this program please send $5.00 my way. If you do this you also will be first on the list to receive the new GEM version when it is done. Please send to the following: Michael H. Douville 1661 S. Deframe Ct. Lakewood Co 80228 Don't forget your name and address if you want me to send the new version to you. ///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// Future Updates and Questions///////////////////////////////////////// ///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// I would appreciate any suggestions or feedback anyone has on this program very much. All questions concerning this program can be e-mailed to me on GENIE. Please send to M. Douville. My next planned upgrade will be a gem version which will also be in accessory form.