Archive Magazine CD 1995/Archive Magazine CD 1995.iso/text/hints/volume_04/issue_11

Text File | 1995-02-16 | 12.2 KB | 241 lines

Hints and Tips
4.11
•   Running applications − Carrying on from Hugh Eagle’s tip about running
one application from inside another, on a A310, if you only have
floppies and have, say, a DTP !Impression disc with !PrinterDM ,
!FontDraw and !DrawPlus all at the same level, you can tailor the !run
file of, say, !Impression to load other applications at the same
directory level, dependant on memory, by using the command
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*desktop <obey$dir>.^.!second_
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application_name
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the <obey$dir> sets the filing system into the first selected appli
cation (!Impression.) and the .^. takes it back up to the level you were
at first! The next application then loads on the desktop ready for use.
Repeat the line with “!third_ application_name” and so on.  Ned Abell
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•   Colour separations − Last month, there was a question from John
Oversby about a colour separation program for !Draw or sprite files. One
solution is to use DrawPlus (Careware 13), actually drawing different
colours on different “layers”. Another possible solution revolves around
the Impression Business Supplement which provides colour separation for
PostScript files. However, the ideal solution is a simple “filter”
program which takes in a !Draw file and selects all objects of a
particular colour and puts them into a new !Draw file. Does anyone know
of such a program? I would be interested in using this for producing
double-sided printed circuit boards using !Draw. It is easy to write a
Basic program to do this starting from the !Draw format as specified in
the PRM − I could even do this myself − but making it RISC-OS-ified is
another matter. Brian Cowan
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Impression H & T
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•   Business Supplement − Like many of you I was excited about the release
of more software for serious users of Impression II. The addition of the
mail-merge facility is particularly useful. However, I have noticed that
it suffers from a problem that early versions of Impression had. Namely,
using the * print facility causes the print to crash after the first
document with “Invalid number of output bits” in multiscan mode. The
problem is resolved by switching to mode 15. Also, beware of forgetting
to load your RISC-OS printer driver before requesting a print from
!Importer. This is because it won’t warn you that you will receive a
draft copy − and worse, you have to close everything down and start
again.
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Another word of warning to those of you planning to buy the supplement
thinking that the WordStar loader will solve all your translation
problems − it doesn’t (not on my version, anyway)! If I had thought
about it, the result one gets is obvious. All the ASCII spaces that mess
up justification are stripped − but this is at the cost of losing a
space at the end of a line. Consequently, numerous words are joined
together. If you are prepared to use the spellchecker to separate the
words again the utility is fine and it does stop those messy spaces
appearing whenever you make an alteration to the text. However, it’s
still hard work!  John Brocks
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•   Font usage − Is there a product or would someone like to write an
application which takes an Impression document and tells you what
fonts are required? The reason for this is that some PD software
includes documentation prepared in Impression format. This is a great
idea but sometimes strange fonts are used. If you are using Adrian
Look’s !FontDir (Shareware 36) then you need to know which fonts are
needed before Impression is booted up. Brian Cowan
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That should be easy enough. If you want to do it manually, you can save
the text of an Impression document with styles and look at it in Edit.
You can search for “font  ” and look through all the references to
particular fonts as they occur in the style definitions and as effects
within the text. Mind you, that will give you the fonts that appear
within the style definitions regardless of whether those styles have
actually been used in the document. Anyone want to have a go at writing
such an application?
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Is anyone interested in / able to convert between the Impression
Document Description File format and TeX? I think it should be possible
since both contain the same sort of information. This would be useful
for scientific applications where many journals accept material on disc
or by wire in TeX format. Brian Cowan
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•   Labels and tickets − When I was printing video cassette labels onto a
roll of adhesive labels they were printing too far to the right. I
failed to understand that !Impression is smart and says, “right, you are
printing a document 165mm wide. I will print it 82.5mm to the right and
left of the centre line of the printer”. I have a mark on the case of my
Citizen 120D printer to align the left hand side of A4 paper, when
putting in individual sheets but I can’t centre different rolls of
labels accurately without putting several marks on the case which would
be confusing so I got round the problem by designing new master pages
that are always A4 width (210 mm) and creating a frame on that page that
is the right width for the labels and off centred to the left. I
continue to put the label roll edge to the mark.
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I then had to change the !Printer DM page size to one 102mm by 210mm
wide which gives me the the right “greying” on the screen as I have
“Preferences”, “Show page borders”, switched on. This prints two perfect
sets of labels but I still get unwanted form feeds at the end of the
page! (Example supplied on monthly program disc.)  Ned Abell
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•   Retaining styles − Hugh Eagles’s question about setting a style in a
blank Impression frame (Archive 4.9 p11) can be answered in terms of
‘Place holding’ in the same way as my hint on re-aligning lines starting
with a different font (Archive 4.8 page 11). Just set the style and type
a ‘null’ character in the frame (i.e. one which is not defined in the
font you are using) by using Alt and the keypad numbers. (EFF fonts are
rapidly filling up, making null characters harder to find, but try 136
or 139.) Bruce Goatly
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•   Un-deleting − As you probably know, you can highlight a passage, type
over it and thereby replace it. Well, if you have second thoughts
immediately afterwards, you can restore the original by highlighting the
replacement passage and typing <ctrl-V>. This deletes the replacement
altogether rather than cutting it to the clipboard; the clipboard still
contains the original version. Bruce Goatly  A
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Help!!!!
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•   Mac Scanner − Does anybody know of software to use a Mac AppleScanner
with a SCSI interface on an Archimedes? Brian Cowan
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•   Podule expansion − Does anyone know of an expansion box which allows
more than 4 podules to be attached to an Archimedes computer at any one
time? A G Duckett, Telford.  A
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4.11



ProTips
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Peter Jennings
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This is a column of hints and tips for users of Protext 5. It is not
intended as a regular feature to rival PipeLine as there are probably
not yet enough users of the Archimedes version of Protext to support it.
Arnor have promised to keep me informed of developments to Protext,
particularly the eagerly awaited RISC-OS version, and I will pass the
details on in future issues of Archive, along with any hints or tips
that pioneering users of this exciting new word processor may care to
send by way of Paul Beverley.
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In the meantime, here are a few hints of my own plus advice on an
irritating bug that has emerged from the software since I completed the
review in last month’s Archive.
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First the bug, which has suddenly appeared after lying dormant during
three months’ constant use of Protext. It shows itself during attempts
to save a file, either manually or automatically, with two messages, one
saying that the file “PROTEXT!X” or “PROTEXT!T” cannot be found and the
other: “Error creating file”. More alarmingly, the text sometimes
disappears from the screen. Any further attempt to save brings a “File
open” message. My description of this as “irritating” may seem rather
inadequate but, in fact, it is not disastrous and can be dealt with
quite easily. When the message about PROTEXT!X appears just type “close”
at the command line, followed by “s” (for save). Your original file name
will then be offered and pressing <return> will duly save it.
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Arnor have not given me any fix for this fault but have just said,
rather uncertainly: “We think we may have solved the problem in the next
version of Protext.” Let us hope they have.
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Omissions
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Two strange omissions from Protext, so far, are a function key strip and
an icon. If you dislike the boring default applications icon, or the
blank squares representing files, you can always design your own icons,
using !Paint. First create a directory for them, called !Sprites, inside
the main !Protext directory. Then design an application icon named
!protext and a files icon called file_cdf, with additional small
versions if wanted. Finally, add an initial line to the !Boot file:
“IconSprites <Obey$Dir>.!Sprites”. If you are not sure how to create
icons there are instructions in the chapter on “Paint” in the User Guide
or you can find a set of ready-made sprites in a !Sprites directory on
this month’s program disc. You can just copy !Sprites into the !Protext
directory but do not forget to add the IconSprites line to the !Boot
file. The ready-mades have a simple “P5” design, with a border round the
files sprite, but are colourful enough to be readily identified in a
desktop directory.
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A do-it-yourself function key strip is also easily made, either using a
program which provides a template or by starting from scratch with
Protext’s excellent line drawing facility. One made this way is also on
this month’s disc. It has to be printed in two sections, one below the
other, as Protext can not print down the paper in landscape form. Anyone
who has a wide-carriage printer can copy the second section beside the
first by using the Protext “box” marking facility.
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Line drawing
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When making a grid by line drawing, the natural way is to begin by
drawing either the horizontal lines or the outside box shape and then
adding the verticals afterwards. If you do it this way, however, you may
find the vertical lines going slightly beyond the outside boundaries. To
correct this, draw the uprights with the up or down arrow key, as
normal, but use one of the horizontal, left or right, arrow keys for the
final stroke before reaching the horizontal boundary. The line will then
turn the corner to make a neat join instead of an intersection. Corners
are drawn in the same way.
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Although Protext comes with 48 printer drivers, there isn’t one for the
very popular Panasonic KX-P1081 printer, which I use. The FX80 printer
driver is suitable for it but will not print line drawings. So the
function key strip needs to have the IBM9 printer driver loaded and one
of the printer’s tiny DIP switches changed. These can be found below and
immediately to the right of the printer head when it is in its “home”
position on the extreme left. Lift up the thin strip of clear plastic
covering them and use a small screwdriver or similar implement to push
switch number one, on the extreme left, down (for off). The other
switches can probably be left as set but if you still have a problem try
putting either switch six or seven up (for on).
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Hopefully, Arnor will produce a key strip and their own official icons
when the RISC-OS version of Protext finally appears.
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Obvious when you know
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Finally, a few brief tips of the “it’s obvious when you know” variety.
You can find your version number of Protext by pressing <escape> and
reading the bar above the command line. This also shows you the current
directory and the selected printer driver.
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The “Swap” line at the top of the colour configuration menu puzzled me
for a time as it does not seem to be explained anywhere. I eventually
discovered that selecting it and pressing <return> shows the colours
used for alternate documents when more than one is loaded.
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It is a good idea to lock the files of templates, such as letter
headings, to prevent them being overwritten if a document you are
working on is automatically saved with the template’s name. If, for any
reason, you cannot lock the template, load it with the command “m” for
merge instead of “l” for load. The bar at the top of the screen will
show “No file” and you will be asked for a name before the document is
saved.  A
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