Columbia Kermit/kermit.zip/newsgroups/misc.19951130-19960209/[e-mail]_Sat Dec 2 16:33:14 1995.msg

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From: [e-mail] (Joe Doupnik)
Newsgroups: comp.protocols.kermit.misc
Subject: Re: Downloading a file directly from the host's Web-browser
Message-Id: <[e-mail]>
Date: 2 Dec 95 22:33:14 MDT
References: <[e-mail]>
Organization: Utah State University
Lines: 80
Apparently-To: [e-mail]

In article <[e-mail]>, [e-mail] writes:
> A few years ago I bought MS-Kermit 3.0 complete with the book "Using MS-DOS
> Kermit", first edition, 1990. I use it to connect with DEC & IBM mainframes and
> I only run DOS 3.3; so that after I created some "take" files with ample defi-
> nitions for DEC VT & IBM 3270 special keys (I still don't know all of 'em!),
> this version of Kermit has always met all my needs. Until now:
>         One of two VT-type Web-browsers on the VMS-running VAX here goes by the
> name of "VTWWW". This is its name as defined in a DCL global symbol. Its real
> name may be something else. Any guesses? That symbol disappeared yesterday, and
> I might find this Web-browser's directory if I know its real name. Unlike Lynx,
> it uses typed numbers instead of the right-arrow key to follow a link. Anyway,
> it has a very convenient feature provided your Kermit is new enough to exploit
> it. (Mine isn't.) It gives you the option of printing via CKermit the current
> file on your PC's printer. You don't have to do anything to make this happen!
> It just happens, and the screen continues to display the host session. Further-
> more, if you escape and issue "SET PRINTER file.nam" to the local Kermit, the
> Web-browser's file will go to a DOS file instead of to PRN.
>         But my 3.0 Kermit lacks the SET PRINTER feature. To get around this, I
> installed a TSR, "VPRINT.COM", that hooks Print BIOS Int 17h to redirect print
> jobs to a disk file. Then with Kermit going, I asked VTWWW to "print" an .html
> to my PC. It worked; the .html appeared on my DOS disk as a text file, spaced
> like the original but with no mark-up stuff in it. So far fine. But when I went
> back and tried to bring down a *binary* .ZIP file this way, the job was termi-
> nated after a few (dozen) characters. The incomplete file that turned up on my
> PC when typed looked as it did when it was displayed by the Web-browser on the
> host.
>         I eliminated VPRINT.COM as the cause of the problem. It definitely can
> handle binary files without modifying them in the smallest way if so requested.
> I also compared the short corrupted binary file received with an intact copy.
> The damage is extensive, but I noticed one thing: the printing Kermits change
> nulls (ASCII 0) into CR/LF's (etc). So I tried an experiment: I set the VAX's
> term to "/DEV=UNKNOWN /NOANSI" and the PC's term type to "NONE". The attempt
> failed exactly as before.
>         Reading a newer version of KERMIT.HLP, I think I know how VTWWW initi-
> ates the output to PRN: by issuing the sequence ESC [ ? i 5 to start printing
> and ESC [ ? i 4 to stop. But these are for line-by-line or text-mode printing.
> For binary-mode printing of all characters, the sequences are ESC [ i 5 and
> ESC i 4. Note the absence of the the "?"
>         Do you agree with me that the VTWWW program on the VAX was not set up
> to issue the second control pair and was not even able perhaps to tell a binary
> file from a text one? Or does the problem lie elsewhere, like in a Kermit quirk
> that can only be solved by upgrading from version 3.0 to 3.14?
>         And what is the real name for the VMS Web-browser whose alias is apt to
> be "VTWWW"? Your answers to these questions will be highly appreciated, and
> when I succeed in solving this problem I'll tell you how I did it with your help
>                                                 Yours truly,    Warren
---------------
    CSI ? i 4/5 is definitely the wrong way of printing binary information.
That is DEC's "controller" printing described below. The proper way is
"transparent" printing CSI i 4/5, also described below. Controller printing
outputs only what you see on the screen, minus all cursor steering and
other material on the comms line, and thus it is text-only. Transparent
printing is suitable for binary information.
    MSK v3.00 is very long in the tooth and I recommend you upgrade to
the current MSK v3.14. It's available by anonymous ftp to kermit.columbia.edu,
cd kermit/msdos, binary file msvibm.zip is the quick-start kit. Many more
features are present in 3.14.
    Here's the printing detail, from file msvibm.vt.

 CSI Pn i    MC        Printer controls (Media Copy)
            Pn
            0    Print whole Screen
            4    Exit printer controller (transparent print)
            5    Enter printer controller (transparent print)

Transparent printing sends all output, except the CSI 4 i termination string,
to the printer and not the screen, uses an 8-bit channel if no parity so NUL
and DEL will be seen by the printer and by the termination recognizer code,
and all translation and character set selections are bypassed.

 CSI ? Pn i    MC        DEC Printer controls (Media Copy)
            Pn
            1    Print line containing cursor
            4    Exit autoprint (stop echoing to printer)
            5    Enter autoprint (echo screen chars to printer)

Autoprint prints a final display line only when the cursor is moved off the
line by an autowrap or LF, FF,    or VT (otherwise do not print the line).

    Joe D.