¢ _____________________________________¢ TEXTPRO: CONTINUOUS UNDERLINE #8¢ By Frank Walters¢ _____________________________________¢¢ SYMBOLS:¢¢ The following symbols will be used in¢ the text to describe how to type non-¢ ASCII characters in TextPRO editor¢ for macros:¢¢ < > = SELECT <inverse>¢ ^ = ESC CONTROL¢ ^K = ESC CONTROL+K(ey)¢ <^K>= ESC SELECT+CONTROL+K(ey)¢¢ When TYPING a CONTROL (^) key in the¢ editor, you must type ESCape first.¢ When using TextPRO CONTROL commands,¢ the term CTRL_ will be used in this¢ article.¢ _____________________________________¢ DISCUSSION OF THE PROBLEM:¢¢ TextPRO has a generic <u> underline¢ format which simply sends a backspace¢ character to the printer and then¢ overtypes the understroke character¢ (_). It is unsatisfactory for most¢ underlining since it prints as a¢ dashed line instead of solid¢ underlining.¢¢ Most printers have a continuous¢ underline feature. By defining the¢ inverse upper case <U> for your¢ printer command, we can embed it¢ anywhere in the text to turn¢ continuous underline on and off. A¢ problem occurs when a series of¢ underlined words breaks at the end of¢ a line. TextPRO substitutes spaces¢ for left margin formatting, so these¢ spaces will be underlined in the left¢ margin when printed on the paper. The¢ only practical solution to this¢ problem is to turn off the underline¢ at the end of a printed line and turn¢ it back on again after the left¢ margin spaces are printed. To do this¢ manually by using CTRL_P to the E:¢ device is almost too complicated to¢ bother using continuous underline at¢ all. Limit it to only brief phrases¢ or titles that do not exceed one line¢ in length.¢¢ However, I have developed a utility¢ macro to help format a paragraph¢ containing lengthly underlined¢ passages to automatically insert the¢ underline off/on commands at the¢ proper places in your text. I call it¢ ULINE.MAX. To use it you will have to¢ enter your printer codes for¢ underline on/off into your TextPRO¢ editor and save the codes in the¢ configuration file TEXTPRO.ENV (or¢ TEXTPRO.CNF for v.5.0 and earlier).¢¢ DEFINING PRINTER UNDERLINE COMMANDS:¢¢ In the case of many printers, 3 bytes¢ are required for underline on or off.¢ For Epson or compatibles, the¢ continuous underline commands are¢ usually:¢¢ Underline ON: 27,45,49 or¢ 27,45,1¢ Underline OFF: 27,45,48 or¢ 27,45,0¢¢ I prefer the ASCII 48 and 49 rather¢ than ASCII 0 and 1 since they are¢ easier to recognize when printing to¢ the E: device for checking line¢ breaks. Either set will work.¢¢ With TextPRO we can take care of the¢ 27 (Esc) by configuring it to send¢ ESC prior to sending any inverse¢ upper case letter code. With TP 5.20¢ you must load OPTIONS.ADN into the¢ macro buffer to do this. Press CTRL_;¢ and reply No to "ASCII CR" and¢ "Linefeeds" and Yes to "Add ESCape"¢ prompts. The 27 will be sent any time¢ an inverse <U> or any other upper¢ case inverse letter is used. Use¢ (SELECT_CTRL_S) to save this¢ configuration to TEXTPRO.ENV.¢¢ Therefore we can't use a letter for¢ the 3rd character ("1" or "0")¢ because another ESC would be sent¢ prior to the "1" or "0". We can¢ either simply type the underline as:¢ <U>1 for on and <U>0 for off. But¢ TextPRO does not know the 1 and 0 are¢ printer commands so it will mis-count¢ them when figuring the number of¢ characters per line, sometimes¢ causing a line break at the wrong¢ place. TP does not count inverse¢ characters in the byte-per-line¢ count. It does count inverse when¢ using <c>enter or <e>dge formats.¢¢ We will define inverse numbers, since¢ TextPRO does NOT add an ESC to those.¢ Here is what I type in the editor to¢ set my Panasonic equates:¢¢ <I>=52<J>=53<U>=45<0>=48<1>=49¢¢ <I> <J> <U> <0> <1>¢¢ NOTE: <I> and <J> are used for¢ Italics ON and OFF. If you redefine¢ <1>=49 then you might want to¢ redefine <9>=27 also, since the¢ default TP had <1> defined as 27¢ before you changed it. The underline¢ command would look like <U1>this in¢ the middle of a paragraph. The¢ brackets indicate inverse<U0> and are¢ not actually typed in the editor.¢¢ You can save your new equates to¢ TEXTPRO.CNF by installing them in¢ memory first. Just type the equates¢ in a blank editor, as above, but¢ pressing SELECT for the <bracketed>¢ items. I usually add the second line¢ with just the inverse printer keys¢ (as above) so you can see what gets¢ printed to the Editor.¢¢ Print to E: so it puts the equate¢ values in the configuration portion¢ of memory before saving it to disk as¢ TEXTPRO.ENV using SELECT_CTRL_S. The¢ editor will show the five characters¢ below the equates, with spaces¢ between each. (If you used inverse¢ spaces you might see little "hearts"¢ instead of spaces between printer¢ commands.) You should also see an ESC¢ character printed in front of the¢ first three Letter-defined¢ characters, but not preceeding the¢ two numeric-defined characters. If¢ NOT, use the CTRL_; command again as¢ explained above, before you save your¢ configuration. The ESC characters are¢ essential for the commands to work¢ with the printer.¢¢ UIP.MAX -- WHAT IS IT?¢¢ A better way to type underline ON/OFF¢ commands in the middle of text would¢ be to use a macro key to avoid all¢ the fingers and thumbs finding the¢ SELECT, SHIFT, and U keys, etc. Then¢ we sometimes turn it on for a line or¢ two and forget to turn it off. Ever¢ happen to you? What a mess. UIP¢ stands for Underline, Italics, Print¢ to>E:. It defines the OPTION+ U,u,¢ I,i, and CTRL_P keys as macro keys.¢ Type the macros as described below¢ and save to disk. Then load¢ TEXTPRO.MAX into the editor and¢ CTRL_E to end of text. CTRL_L to load¢ the macros from disk and append them¢ to the end of your TEXTPRO.MAX. Check¢ CTRL_U to insure your TEXTPRO.MAX¢ does not exceed 2000 bytes before¢ saving it back to disk. This assumes¢ your macros do not include the above¢ keys already defined for something¢ else. If so, change either key to¢ another one. I always define letter¢ key macros for both upper and lower¢ case so they work regardless of case¢ set on keyboard. Here is the¢ breakdown of the three macros.¢¢ OPTION_U¢¢ U<=><^G>uu<=U1><^Y><UNDERLINE mode ON¢ until RETURN>(Ret.)¢ <^I><U0><^Y><UNDERLINE OFF>(Ret.)¢¢ This defines the Underline portion of¢ the macro. Yes, it is mostly¢ <inverse> so you need to hold down¢ SELECT a lot. (Ret.) means a hard¢ carriage return entered only at those¢ points in the macros. Pressing¢ OPTION_u (or U) will type inverse¢ <U1> at the cursor position and print¢ the UNDERLINE ON message to the¢ status line. You are in "Input Mode"¢ in the macro. You continue typing¢ your text until reaching the end of¢ the underlined part. However, you¢ cannot use most control keys so you¢ can only make corrections with Back¢ Space. But it won't let you forget to¢ turn underline off. As soon as you¢ hit Return, the macro types inverse¢ <U0> and ends both the Input Mode and¢ the macro, with the UNDERLINE OFF¢ message up at top.¢¢ OPTION_I¢¢ I<=><^G>ii<=I><^Y><ITALICS mode ON¢ until RETURN>(Ret.)¢ <^I><J><^Y><ITALICS OFF>(Ret.)¢¢ This is virtually identical to the U¢ macro, except only single inverse¢ characters are used for italics:¢ <I>is on, and off is<J>. I threw this¢ in as a freebie as it has none of the¢ problems associated with continuous¢ underlining except the one about¢ forgetting to turn it off.¢¢ You must define the <I> and <J> keys¢ in equates for the printer. Epson¢ uses <I>=52<J>=53 and you save them¢ as explained in the previous section¢ about the underline equates.¢¢ OPTION_CTRL_P¢¢ ^P<=>^P(Esc BkSp 2-times)E:(Return 3-¢ times)¢¢ Remember, use ESC CTRL with ^ symbol.¢ Press ESC and then Back Space key,¢ without pressing CTRL for the above¢ "Esc BkSp" character, a funny looking¢ triangle pointing left.¢¢ This simple macro defines¢ OPTION_CTRL_P so it prints the¢ current buffer to Editor immediately.¢ You need to use this to insure your¢ underlined words do not break between¢ two or more lines, after using¢ ULINE.MAX to set the correct codes.¢¢ ULINE.MAX -- HOW TO CREATE IT:¢¢ The DATA listing for ULINE.MAX will¢ allow you to create the macro by¢ using ANALOG Magazine's MLEDIT.BAS¢ program. Another way to create the¢ macro is by using TextPRO's own¢ editor in Atascii mode and the¢ SHIFT_TAB function to type the¢ decimal numbers from the DATA¢ statements. Using this method you¢ must first insert enough spaces to¢ accept the macro. SHIFT_INSERT will¢ insert 255 spaces, more than the 207¢ required.¢¢ With cursor at top of editor, press¢ Atari Logo key to get Atascii mode.¢ Then press SHIFT_TAB and type the¢ first decimal number and press¢ Return. <i> will be printed on your¢ screen. Move cursor to next position¢ and repeat SHIFT_TAB step, etc.¢¢ CAUTION WHEN USING SHIFT_TAB METHOD:¢¢ Do not type SHIFT_TAB for number 155.¢ Instead press the RETURN key and move¢ to next decimal input. Do this for¢ each of the ten 155 items in the DATA¢ lines. Do not type the number 30 the¢ four times it occurs in lines 1070¢ and 1100. Type 155 instead of 30.¢ TextPRO reverses the 155 and 30 when¢ saving them to disk. Do not type last¢ decimal number in each line. They are¢ CHECKSUM numbers for MLEDIT.BAS and¢ not part of the macro itself. Ignore¢ the last zero at the end of the last¢ DATA line, it is just filler to¢ complete the 16 items-per-line¢ required by MLEDIT.¢¢ When finished typing the DATA into¢ your editor, the cursor will be on¢ the line below the last byte in the¢ file, a RETURN character. Press¢ CTRL_D and P to delete the remaining¢ spaces. Press CTRL_U and the status¢ line should show "207 Used."¢ CTRL_S(ave) the file as ULINE.MAX to¢ disk.¢¢ ULINE.MAX -- HOW TO USE IT:¢¢ It is rather too complex to describe¢ key by key, but here is how to use¢ it.¢¢ Four macro keys are defined to exit¢ the macro and load TEXTPRO.MAX:¢ OPTION_Esc, OPTION_?, OPTION_/, or¢ HELP. Esc or / are more convenient¢ for 800 users with no HELP key.¢ Insert Mode is turned off and <^P>@¢ sets the @ (autorun) macro to run¢ from TEXTPRO.MAX when loaded. Or you¢ can substitute <i> for @ if you have¢ TEXTPRO.MAX set up to print the macro¢ identification to the Status line.¢¢ Now that we know how to get out of¢ it, here's what you see and do to¢ find the line breaks with ULINE:¢¢ Before using ULINE.MAX on your text¢ file, proof-read the paragraph(s)¢ containing underlined phrases. Edit¢ as necessary. Once you insert the¢ line breaks with ULINE, any changes¢ you make in the paragraph might¢ change the line breaks. Editing the¢ rest of the document will not affect¢ the line breaks containing underline¢ characters as long as there are¢ Return characters at the beginning¢ and end of the underline paragraph.¢¢ Press START, type ULINE and press¢ RETURN to load the macro.¢¢ It will automatically set Text Mode¢ and Insert Mode on. Status line¢ prompt after loading tells you:¢¢ START>line # OPT_SPACE>New Line ¢ pause¢¢ Press any key and the screen should¢ blank and the cursor appears on the¢ first <U1> in the file. CTRL_W¢ automatically has been sent to¢ display "Page n, Line n of n" on the¢ status line.¢¢ Press START to move cursor to next¢ word. It should display an updated¢ status line. You are only interested¢ in the Line number to see if it¢ changes to the next higher Line¢ number. How fast the macro operates¢ depends on how high the Page number.¢ Lower numbered pages mean faster¢ computation of the CTRL_W command.¢ Near the top of file you may have to¢ tap the START key or it might jump¢ too fast and you miss a word. When¢ the line number changes to the next¢ line, check to make sure you have not¢ passed the underline-OFF command and¢ are still in the middle of the¢ underlined phrase. If you are ready¢ to make a break in the underline for¢ the next line, see below.¢¢ OPTION + (left cursor) is a quick way¢ to jump three words to the left, in¢ case you went too fast with the START¢ key or want to re-check the line¢ break point again. Or just use the¢ CTRL + Cursor keys to move the cursor¢ left or right.¢¢ OPTION_SPACE is used to insert the¢ underline-OFF and ON codes between¢ lines. With the cursor on the first¢ letter of the first word of the next¢ line number, press OPTION_SPACE and¢ it will insert the underline OFF and¢ ON codes in the space to the left of¢ the cursor. The cursor will check¢ Line # of current word, then jump¢ left to the last word of the previous¢ line and check the Line # to make¢ sure it is 1 less. This is to insure¢ you did not break the underline at¢ the wrong place or the underline¢ codes did not shift the end-of-line¢ break position.¢¢ Let me explain further. TextPRO is¢ not supposed to count inverse print¢ keys to determine bytes per line. But¢ sometimes when you insert the<U0>¢ <U1>codes in a line, the end of line¢ and may shift to the previous space.¢ If this happens, remove the <U0> <U1>¢ characters with CTRL_BackSpace and¢ insert them between the previous¢ space. Test to see if the line breaks¢ at that point and if not insert one¢ or two more spaces between the<U0> ¢ <U1>codes to force the line break.¢¢ Continue using START and OPT_SPACE¢ until you reach the <U0> that shuts¢ off the last underline in the¢ paragraph. Then press CTRL_F to Find¢ the beginning of another underline¢ phrase, if there is one. If you get¢ "Not Found" then go on to check the¢ format by printing to Editor, below.¢¢ Use OPTION_CTRL_P to print the text¢ to the Editor (E:) and see the line¢ breaks yourself. In the underlined¢ section of the document, you should¢ see the ESC character followed by the¢ two codes for your printer up against¢ the left margin for each line that is¢ within the underline portion of text.¢ If it breaks in the wrong place, hit¢ CTRL_W during scroll to break out of¢ Print mode and re-check your line¢ breaks again; you made a mistake.¢ Remember, during Print to E: you can¢ use CTRL_S to skip to next page of¢ document without waiting for the¢ whole file to print to E:.¢¢ Press HELP or OPTION_ESC to quit the¢ macro when you are done using ULINE.¢¢ That's all there is to it. You have¢ to practice a few times to get the¢ hang of it but it is easier than it¢ seems. At least it is a better way to¢ insure you don't get those unsightly¢ underlined margins on your printed¢ document.¢ _____________________________________¢ Frank Walters¢ T.A.C.O. Bell BBS¢ 08/28/96¢¢¢
