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Copyright (C) 1988 by Robert W. Babcock and WSS Division of DDC All Rights Reserved CUSTPRNT - WSSINDEX Custom Print Utility Version 3.38 CUSTPRNT reads a WSSINDEX database and prints the contents using formats not otherwise available. These functions have been put into a separate program to avoid increasing the size of the indexing routine. In this release, the print formats available are multi-column printing, disk labels and disk covers. This documentation assumes that you are familiar with WSSINDEX. CUSTPRNT uses much of the same code as WSSINDEX version 3.38, and uses identical configuration files (even though a few items are ignored). It also reads a special file of printer control commands. The DOS environment variables WSSICNF and WSSIDIR are used, as well as a new variable WSSPRINT. Predefined strings triggered by Alt-letter are available if defined in the configuration file, but cannot be changed. Entry to the main menu is essentially the same as in WSSINDEX. Two optional command line arguments are allowed to specify the configuration file name and database file name. If you want to use the default for the configuration file name, but not for the database name, specify * as the first argument. The menu items are: 1-9 - multi-column printing Similar to the "P" option in WSSINDEX, but the number struck is the number of columns used for the printed output. The output page width (from the configuration file) will be divided into the requested number of columns, separated by at least two spaces. Comments and categories will go to separate lines if necessary and so configured. Note: if the configured print items do not fit in the column width, they will be truncated, probably in the middle of the field. Output may be directed to printer, screen or disk. Screen output, however, will only be useful if you are configured to do output with DOS calls (so control-s works) since there is not a pause when the screen fills. In order to produce columnar output running down rather than across the page, an entire page is formatted in core before printing anything. This leads to a delay of a few seconds at the start of each page. A hardware or software print spooler may enable you to drive your printer more efficiently. You must have enough memory left after loading the database to hold an entire formatted page (slightly more than page width times page length bytes). You can include a printer initialization command in the printer definition file which will be sent to your printer before multi-column output is started. B - list files which are not Backed up Same as the "B" option of WSSINDEX except that you will be prompted for the number of print columns. C - disk Covers A disk cover is a listing of all the files on a single disk, small enough to fit into a disk envelope or be pasted on the front of the envelope. (You could even define a small cover format and print it on a label as an alternative to the "L" option format labels.) The edges are marked by a box to make cutting to size easy. You can select which disks to print covers for by volume name (with wildcards) or by date indexed. The output format is similar to the multi-column output described above, plus a header with information about the disk. You will be prompted for the desired number of print columns. The fields printed are selected by the usual configuration menu. The disk name and subdirectory names are printed separately, so you should not include them in the configured print fields. If you use the printer definition in the supplied file WSSPRINT.DEF, you can fit file size, date and time in 2 columns, date or size in 3 columns, or file names only in 4 or 5 columns. In a single column, you could even fit comments of moderate length. If you change the paper width in the WSSPRINT.DEF file, you can direct the output to the screen when experimenting to see how much information will fit. To avoid the necessity of changing the configuration by hand (and the probability of forgetting) whenever you print covers, you will almost certainly want to have a special configuration file to control the printing of disk covers. Note: as with multi-column output, if the configured print items do not fit in the column width, they will be truncated, probably in the middle of the field. If you want to print disk covers for any disks with subdirectories, and these disks were added to your database by a version of WSSINDEX older than 3.2, then you should run the IDADD utility on your database first. If you do not do this, the disk cover will not include subdirectory names. D - Display statistics Exactly the same as the WSSINDEX "D" option. G - Get a database from disk Exactly the same as the WSSINDEX "G" option. L - disk Labels Disk labels are meant to be printed on small, self adhesive forms and pasted on your disks. Suitable forms are generally 1 by 3 inches or smaller, so there is only room for a limited amount of information. This program prints the disk volume id, total and free space, date indexed, number of files (and subdirectories, if any), descriptive comments for the disk and subdirectories (if found in database), and directory info for as many files as will fit, starting from the largest. You can also specify one line of text in the printer definition file, such as your name, which will be printed at the bottom of every label. You can select which disks to print labels for by a wildcard name or by date indexed. Blank label forms which are one or several labels wide may be used. You can also direct output to the screen or a disk file. See section below for information on printer definition. O - change cOnfiguration info Exactly the same as the WSSINDEX "O" option. Q - Quit and return to DOS Same as the WSSINDEX "Q" option except that there is no possibility that the in-core database has been changed, so the default answer to the "Do you want to quit" question is always yes. ^Q - Quick Quit Immediate return to DOS without verification. R - Read a printer definition file Normally, this file is read automatically the first time you select a print operation, so this option is only needed if you want to use two different configurations in the same session, or if you have used the S option to run an editor to change the definition file. The default name of the printer definition file is the first of 1. The last printer definition file read 2. The DOS environment variable WSSPRINT (DOS command set WSSPRINT=filespec) 3. WSSPRINT.DEF which is defined. S - push to DOS Exactly the same as the WSSINDEX "S" option. One possible use would be to run a text editor to change a printer definition file. V - list Volume names Exactly the same as the WSSINDEX "V" option. ^V - quick list of Volume names Like the WSSINDEX quick list, except that the volume names are sorted backward by date indexed so you can see which disks have been recently added and may need new labels or covers. X - toggle eXpert mode Exactly the same as the WSSINDEX "X" option. Printer Definition File To run effectively, CUSTPRNT needs to be able to set the print pitch and line spacing on your printer, especially when printing disk covers or labels which require small print. Unfortunately, there is no standard way to do this; all printers are different. So, CUSTPRNT must be told how to control your printer. You supply this information in a printer definition file. (I'd call it a configuration file, but that leads to confusion with the WSSINDEX configuration file.) The name of the printer definition file is set by the environment variable WSSPRINT, analogous to WSSICNF and WSSIDIR. If not specified, the default name is WSSPRINT.DEF. The file is read the first time a print operation is requested, or when you select "R" from the main menu. Included in the standard distribution package is a definition file WSSPRINT.DEF for Epson compatible dot matrix printers. If this isn't adequate for your printer, you will need to look up control codes in your printer manual and modify this file. I realize that it would be better if I supplied definition files for hundreds of different printers, but I don't have the resources to create and test them, and the Epson standard is widely recognized. Registered users who have problems configuring should send me a photocopy of the appropriate pages from their printer manual (usually the control codes are summarized in a few pages) and I will try to assist. Of course, it may be that your printer does not accept any commands, in which case you must make any necessary selections manually. The format of the definition files is designed for easy editing with a word processing program. The file begins with as many lines of comments as desired, until a line beginning with ---- is encountered. After this, alternate lines are comments and parameters. The comment lines are ignored when the file is read, but since they tell you what the parameters mean, the only changes you should make are to add more detail. Printer control sequences and other items (except for the printer name) are strings of decimal numbers, separated by commas or spaces. If your printer manual doesn't list decimal codes, there is a conversion table at the end ofthis document. Printer command strings can be omitted, but other parameters should have a value filled in. Margins, width and length specifications in this file override those found in WSSINDEX.CNF when printing labels or covers. The defineable items are: Printer name - echoed to the screen during initialization, but otherwise not used. Three sets of printer initialization commands - 50 chars max. The first set is used for multi-column printing, the second for disk labels, and the third for disk covers. Typically this would include commands to select the number of characters per inch printed and line spacing. You may also be able to get very small characters by selecting subscript or superscript mode, although some printers (like mine) are slow in this mode and do not print characters with descenders very well. You can also include any other necessary initialization commands here, such as bold printing or form length. Printer deinitialization command - 10 chars max. This command string is sent to the printer after a print task is completed. It could include a form feed to eject the last page from a laser printer, or could reset default printer options. Left margin for labels - number of print positions to leave blank before printing the first column of labels. Number of columns for labels - the number of blank labels across a row of your forms. Width of labels - The number of characters which will fit across a label (starting from the left margin). This effectively defines the right margin. Number of characters between labels - for multi-column forms, this is the number of characters between the right margin of one label and the left margin of the next. Length of label in lines - label size, including top and bottom margin lines which you don't want to print on. Number of usable lines for label - maximum number of lines to print on a label. Left margin for disk covers- number of print positions to leave blank before printing left side of box which surrounds disk covers. Width of paper for disk covers - number of characters which will fit in 5.25 inches (or 3.5 or whatever disk size you use). Length of page in lines for disk covers - number of lines which will fit in 5.25 inches (or 3.75 inches for paste-on size). Position for the next disk cover - 10 characters max. Printer command to position the paper for the next disk cover. This could be a form feed, or a number of line feeds. A 0 here is interpreted to mean manual positioning, with a pause at the end of each cover. Character to use for sides of disk cover box - disk cover listings have a border drawn around them. The sides of this border could be a vertical stroke, or your printer may have a better graphics character available. If no suitable character is available, or for faster printing, just use a blank (32). Character to use for top and bottom lines - probably a hyphen or a graphics character. Character to use for top left corner - If your printer has box forming characters in its graphics character set, use them for the corner characters, otherwise you can use the same character as the top or sides, or a blank, or a plus, whichever you think looks best. Character to use for top right corner Character to use for bottom left corner Character to use for bottom right corner End of printer definition file ---------- Additional items may be added to this file in future releases if users report that there are printers which cannot be adequately defined. If you create a definition file for a different printer, especially a laser printer, I would appreciate receiving a listing so that I will have it when the inevitable cries for help come in from other users. CUSTPRNT is part of the WSSINDEX package. Please see the WSSINDEX DOC file file for details on registering your software. Registered users are encouraged to suggest the custom print formats which they would like to see added to CUSTPRNT. Robert W. Babcock WSS Division of DDC 4 Reeves Road Bedford, MA 01730 USA 617-275-1183 Character Code Conversion Table ascii decimal hex ascii decimal hex ascii decimal hex NUL 0 0 0 48 30 ` 96 60 SOH 1 1 1 49 31 a 97 61 STX 2 2 2 50 32 b 98 62 ETX 3 3 3 51 33 c 99 63 EOT 4 4 4 52 34 d 100 64 ENQ 5 5 5 53 35 e 101 65 ACK 6 6 6 54 36 f 102 66 BEL 7 7 7 55 37 g 103 67 BS 8 8 8 56 38 h 104 68 TAB 9 9 9 57 39 i 105 69 LF 10 A : 58 3A j 106 6A VT 11 B ; 59 3B k 107 6B FF 12 C < 60 3C l 108 6C CR 13 D = 61 3D m 109 6D SO 14 E > 62 3E n 110 6E SI 15 F ? 63 3F o 111 6F DLE 16 10 @ 64 40 p 112 70 DC1 17 11 A 65 41 q 113 71 DC2 18 12 B 66 42 r 114 72 DC3 19 13 C 67 43 s 115 73 DC4 20 14 D 68 44 t 116 74 NAK 21 15 E 69 45 u 117 75 SYN 22 16 F 70 46 v 118 76 ETB 23 17 G 71 47 w 119 77 CAN 24 18 H 72 48 x 120 78 EM 25 19 I 73 49 y 121 79 SUB 26 1A J 74 4A z 122 7A ESC 27 1B K 75 4B { 123 7B FS 28 1C L 76 4C | 124 7C GS 29 1D M 77 4D } 125 7D RS 30 1E N 78 4E ~ 126 7E US 31 1F O 79 4F DEL 127 7F 32 20 P 80 50 ! 33 21 Q 81 51 " 34 22 R 82 52 # 35 23 S 83 53 $ 36 24 T 84 54 % 37 25 U 85 55 & 38 26 V 86 56 ' 39 27 W 87 57 ( 40 28 X 88 58 ) 41 29 Y 89 59 * 42 2A Z 90 5A + 43 2B [ 91 5B , 44 2C / 92 5C - 45 2D ] 93 5D . 46 2E ^ 94 5E / 47 2F _ 95 5F Three letter combinations are non-printing control characters.