iNSTRUCTIONS FOR THE USE OF tEXT pRINT DESK ACCESSORY.
@tEXT pRINT
(VERSIONS 1.2 & 2.0)
a pRODUCTIVITY dESK aCCESSORY
pRINT GEOwRITE TEXT FILES USING PRINTER'S TEXT FEATURES!
@tHIS pROGRAM IS sHAREWARE
sENDING THE SHAREWARE FEE OF $10 MAKES YOU A REGISTERED USER OF THIS PROGRAM. rEGISTERED USERS WILL BE SENT VERSION 2.0 OF tEXT pRINT. uNDERLINED PORTIONS OF THIS DOCUMENTATION REFER TO FEATURES AVAILABLE ONLY WITH VERSION 2.0.
tERRY vAN cAMP
16604 cYPRESS
sTRONGSVILLE, oHIO 44136
introduction
@tEXT pRINT
IS A PROGRAM TO PRINT GEOwRITE FILES (wRITE iMAGE v2.0 OR v2.1) USING YOUR PRINTER'S RESIDENT FONTS AND FEATURES. iT IS STRUCTURED AS A dESK aCC
introduction
@tEXT pRINT
IS A PROGRAM TO PRINT GEOwRITE FILES (wRITE iMAGE v2.0 OR v2.1) USING YOUR PRINTER'S RESIDENT FONTS AND FEATURES. iT IS STRUCTURED AS A dESK aCCESSORY IN ORDER TO USE IT WITHIN AN APPLICATION AS WELL AS FROM THE dESKtOP.
@cUSTOM pRINT
IS AN APPLICATION THAT ALLOWS YOU TO CUSTOMIZE tEXT pRINT TO THE TEXT FEATURES OF YOUR PRINTER. (nOTE: tEXT pRINT WILL NOT PRINT GRAPHICS OR THE SPECIAL FONTS WITHIN gEOS.)
mOTIVATION FOR THIS pROGRAM
i AM "HOOKED ON" WORD PROCESSING AND GEOwRITE IS MY WORD PROCESSOR OF CHOICE. i RAN INTO A PROBLEM WHEN i WANTED TO PRINT BUSINESS LETTERS USING MY PRINTER'S nlq MODE. i WANTED TO UNDERLINE CERTAIN WORDS AND GEOwRITE WILL NOT DO IT WHEN PRINTING IN nlq MODE. rATHER THAN USING TWO WORD PROCESSORS, i USE tEXT pRINT TO TRANSLATE GEOwRITE FEATURES (UNDERLINE, BOLD, ETC.) INTO THOSE BUILT INTO MY PRINTER.
i MUST ADMIT THAT THE MAIN REASON THAT i USE tEXT pRINT TO DO ALMOST ALL OF MY PRINTING IS BECAUSE OF HOW MUCH FASTER IT IS TO PRINT A DOCUMENT, USING MY PRINTER'S BUILT-IN FONTS. gEOwRITE'S DRAFT MODE IS FAST BUT IT CLOBBERS THE FORMATTING (AND ALL STYLES ARE IGNORED).
tEXT pRINT ALLOWS ME TO USE MY INTERFACEABLE ELECTRONIC TYPEWRITER AS A LETTER QUALITY PRINTER FOR USE WITH GEOwRITE. wITH A MODIFIED bsw PRINTER DRIVER, i COULD ACCESS THE TYPEWRITER, BUT AGAIN, EVEN UNDERLINING WAS IMPOSSIBLE UNTIL tEXT pRINT.
dIRECTIONS FOR uSE OF
@tEXT pRINT
fIRST SELECT THE PROPER
dIRECTIONS FOR uSE OF
@tEXT pRINT
fIRST SELECT THE PROPER
@pRINTER dRIVER
ON THE DISK AND TURN ON YOUR PRINTER. tHE SELECTED pRINTER dRIVER MUST BE ON THE SAME DISK AS THE tEXT pRINT FILE.
@eNTER tEXT pRINT
wITH tEXT pRINT, A GEOwRITE TEXT FILE (wRITE iMAGE v2.0 OR v2.1) CAN BE PRINTED FROM WITHIN AN APPLICATION OR FROM THE DESKtOP. sELECT tEXT pRINT AS YOU WOULD ANY OTHER DESK ACCESSORY. wHEN ENTERING tEXT pRINT FROM WITHIN GEOwRITE TO PRINT THE CURRENT DOCUMENT, BE CERTAIN TO
@UPDATE
THE FILE BEFORE ENTERING tEXT pRINT. tHIS IS TO BE CERTAIN THAT YOUR MOST RECENT CHANGES ARE PRINTED.
@sELECT A fILE TO pRINT
a DIALOG BOX WILL APPEAR, LISTING THE GEOwRITE DOCUMENTS ON THE DISK. (ONLY wRITE iMAGE v2.0 OR v2.1 FILES CAN BE PRINTED AND WILL BE LISTED)
sELECT AND
@open
A FILE TO PRINT.
vERSION 2.0 OF tEXT pRINT USES AN ENHANCED DIALOG BOX FOR SELECTING A FILE TO PRINT.
yOU ARE NOT LIMITED TO SELECTING FROM THE FIRST 15 FILES ON THE DISK. a SMALL DISK NOTE PAD WILL ALLOW YOU TO PAGE THROUGH THE FILES (226 MAX) ON THE DISK. uSE THE PAGE CORNERS IN THE LOWER-LEFT OF THE DIALOG BOX AS YOU WOULD THOSE ON THE DESKtOP. "fIRST" AND "lAST" BUTTONS WILL APPEAR IF THERE IS NORE THAN ONE PAGE (7 FILENAMES EACH) OF FILES ON THE DISK. tHESE BUTTONS TAKE YOU DIRECTLY TO THE FIRST OR LAST PAGE OF FILENAMES.
aNOTHER DRIVE (UP TO THREE) CAN BE ACCESSED DIRECTLY BY SELECTING ITS DRIVE LETTER BOX, DISPLAYED ABOVE THE cANCEL BUTTON. tHE CURRENTLY ACTIVE DRIVE HAS ITS BOX DARKENED. tHE LETTERING OF THE DRIVES CORRESPONDS TO THAT FOUND ON THE RIGHT SIDE OF THE DESKtOP.
iF YOU HAVE A THREE DRIVE SYSTEM, YOU CAN SELECT ANY ONE OF THE THREE. yOU CAN ACCESS DRIVE 'c' FROM tEXT pRINT, EVEN THOUGH YOU CANNOT FROM THE DESKtOP.
@pRINT THE dOCUMENT
a DIALOG BOX WILL APPEAR. mAKE YOUR SELECTIONS AS TO P
@pRINT THE dOCUMENT
a DIALOG BOX WILL APPEAR. mAKE YOUR SELECTIONS AS TO PAGE RANGE AND PAPER FEED TYPE AS YOU WOULD FROM WITHIN GEOwRITE. wHEN READY TO HAVE PRINTING START, SELECT
nOTE THE ABSENCE OF PRINT MODE SELECTIONS. tEXT pRINT DEFAULTS TO PRINTING USING YOUR PRINTER'S DRAFT MODE. iF YOU USED cOMMODORE 10 FONT, THE FORMATTING ON PAPER WILL BE AS IT APPEARS ON THE SCREEN.
tO PRINT THE DOCUMENT USING OTHER PRINTER MODES (nlq, COMPRESSED, ETC.) AND/OR TO HAVE STYLES (UNDERLINE, BOLD, ETC.) BE PRINTED, YOU CAN TAILOR A VERSION OF tEXT pRINT USING THE cUSTOM pRINT APPLICATION DESCRIBED LATER.
pRINTING MORE THAN ONE DOCUMENT AT A TIME
tEXT pRINT WILL AUTOMATICALLY PRINT MULTIPLE DOCUMENTS WHOSE FILENAMES END IN CONSECUTIVE NUMBERS, BUT OTHERWISE HAVE THE SAME NAME (EG, lETTER1, lETTER2, ETC.). tHIS IS THE NAMING CONVENTION USED BY GEOmERGE WHEN PRINTING TO DISK. pAGE RANGE SELECTION IS POSSIBLE ONLY FOR THE FIRST DOCUMENT PRINTED. tHE FOLLOWING DOCUMENTS, AUTOMATICALLY PRINTED, WILL HAVE ALL THEIR PAGES PRINTED. tHE PAPER FEED TYPE SELECTED FOR THE FIRST DOCUMENT WILL APPLY TO ALL SUBSEQUENT DOCUMENTS.
uSING
@cUSTOM pRINT
mAKING A CUSTOMIZED VERSION OF
@tEXT pRINT
cUSTOM pRINT MODIFIES A tEXT pRINT FILE. bOTH FILES MUST BE ON THE SAME DISK. a tEXT pRINT FILE IS SIMPLY A COPY OF ANY VERSION OF tEXT pRINT THAT HAS BEEN MODIFIED (AND RENAMED) TO MEET YOUR NEEDS. oNE POSSIBILITY WOULD BE TO CREATE CUSTOMIZED tEXT pRINT FILES FOR EACH FONT (AND ASSOCIATED STYLE OPTIONS) AVAILABLE WITH YOUR PRINTER. yOU MIGHT HAVE ONE CALLED "nlq", ONE CALLED "dRAFT", ETC. yOU CAN HAVE MULTIPLE VERSIONS OF tEXT pRINT ON THE SAME DISK (SELECT
@DUPLICATE
UNDER DESKtOP'S FILE MENU). cUSTOM pRINT WILL ONLY MODIFY THE FIRST tEXT pRINT FILE IT FINDS ON THE DESKtOP. tO HAVE ACCESS TO VARIOUS tEXT pRINT FILES FOR CUSTOMIZING, REARRANGE THE FILES ON THE DESKtOP SO THAT THE tEXT pRINT FILE YOU WANT TO MODIFY IS FIRST.
iT WILL PROBABLY BE NECESSARY TO HAVE YOUR PRINTER'S INSTRUCTION MANUAL CLOSE AT HAND. yOU WILL BE ENTERING THE CONTROL CODES FOR THE VARIOUS FEATURES AVAILABLE WITH YOUR PRINTER.
@nOTE
: yOU ONLY HAVE TO GO THRU THIS CUSTOMIZING PROCEDURE ONCE. tHE tEXT pRINT FILE YOU CREATE REMAINS DEDICATED TO YOUR PRINTER SETTINGS ONCE YOU SELECT
@done
. yOUR tEXT pRINT DESK ACCESSORY FILE IS WHAT YOU WILL PRINT WITH. tHE cUSTOM pRINT APPLICATION IS USED ONLY FOR CUSTOMIZING.
@eNTER cUSTOM pRINT
eNTER cUSTOM pRINT AS YOU WOULD ANY OTHER APPLICATION. tHE FILENAME OF THE tEXT pRINT FILE YOU WILL BE CUSTOMIING WILL APPEAR IN THE FOLDER TAB IN THE TOP-RIGHT OF THE SCREEN.
@cUSTOMIZING oPTIONS
tHE MENU ON THE LEFT LISTS THE VARIOUS OPTIONS TO BE CUSTOMIZED. yOU CAN CHOOSE TO CUSTOMIZE ANY, ALL, OR NO
@cUSTOMIZING oPTIONS
tHE MENU ON THE LEFT LISTS THE VARIOUS OPTIONS TO BE CUSTOMIZED. yOU CAN CHOOSE TO CUSTOMIZE ANY, ALL, OR NONE. fOR EACH OPTION SELECTED, A DIALOG BOX WILL APPEAR AND YOU WILL BE ASKED TO ENTER A CONTROL STRING.
a "CONTROL STRING" REFERS TO A SERIES OF NUMBERS TO BE SENT TO YOUR PRINTER TO ACTIVATE THE DESIRED FEATURE(S).
tHE FOLLOWING GUIDELINES SHOULD BE NOTED:
-- aLL NUMBERS SHOULD BE ENTERED IN DECIMAL FORM (NOT HEX).
-- nUMBERS SHOULD BE SEPARATED BY A COMMA.
-- a MAXIMUM OF EIGHT NUMBERS CAN BE ENTERED IN A CONTROL STRING.
-- nUMBERS GREATER THAN 255 ARE INVALID AND WILL NOT BE ACCEPTED.
-- tHE NUMBER ZERO WILL NOT BE ACCEPTED.
INVALID ENTRY: 27,70,
VALID ENTRY: 27,70,48
nOTE: pRINTER MANUALS OFTEN REFER TO COMMANDS ENTERED IN basic. yOU MIGHT RUN ACROSS ONE SUCH AS:
@print#4,chr$(27)"-1"
. tO SEND THIS COMMAND TO YOUR PRINTER USING cUSTOM pRINT, YOU WOULD ENTER THE FOLLOWING STRING OF DECIMAL NUMBERS:
@27,45,49
. cONSULT A TABLE OF EQUIVALENCIES BETWEEN cHARACTER, hEX VALUES, AND dECIMAL VALUES. yOU WILL PROBABLY FIND SUCH A REFERENCE IN YOUR PRINTER MANUAL.
pRESSING
@return
ENTERS THE CONTROL STRING. iF AN ERROR IS DETECTED, THE SAME DIALOG BOX WILL REAPPEAR WITH THE STRING TERMINATED JUST BEFORE THE OFFENDING ENTRY.
iF YOUR PRINTER REQUIRES A ZERO IN A CONTROL STRING, SEE
@zero fix
ON PAGE TEN OF THESE INSTRUCTIONS.
@sETUP
hERE YOU WOULD ENTER A CONTROL STRING TO ACTIVATE ANY PRINTER FEATURES THAT WOULD APPL
@sETUP
hERE YOU WOULD ENTER A CONTROL STRING TO ACTIVATE ANY PRINTER FEATURES THAT WOULD APPLY TO THE WHOLE DOCUMENT, EG, SETTING A MARGIN. nOTE THAT ANY SUCH COMMANDS SHOULD ASSUME THE PRINTER TO BE IN THE dRAFT MODE.
@fONT
tHIS IS WHERE YOU SELECT THE PRINTER FONT YOU WANT YOUR DOCUMENT PRINTED IN. eNTER THE CONTROL STRING TO ACTIVATE nlq, COMPRESSED, ETC.
a DIALOG BOX WILL APPEAR, REQUESTING YOU TO ENTER THE CHARACTERS PER INCH FOR THE SELECTED FONT (CONSULT YOUR PRINTER MANUAL). tHIS VALUE IS NECESSARY TO GET THE PROPER FORMATTING OF THE TEXT.
aNOTHER DIALOG BOX WILL APPEAR, INFORMING YOU OF WHAT WIDTH FONT TO USE WITHIN GEOwRITE IF YOU WANT THE FORMATTING TO APPEAR ON THE SCREEN AS IT WILL ON THE PAPER. tHE SCREEN CHARACTERS MUST HAVE A CONSTANT WIDTH TO REFLECT THE FORMATTING.
@nOTE
: tHE cOMMODORE 10 FONT (CONSTANT WIDTH OF 8 PIXELS) IS AVAILABLE FOR PRINTING 10 CHARACTERS PER INCH. a FONT FILE FOR 17 CHARACTERS PER INCH (CREATED WITH GEOfONT) IS INCLUDED ON THIS DISK AS AN EXAMPLE.
iF CREATING ADDITIONAL SCREEN FONTS, TO KEEP YOUR ON-SCREEN FORMATTING ACCURATE, ALWAYS USE A CHARACTER HEIGHT (POINT SIZE) OF 10 PIXELS. tHIS REFLECTS 66 LINES PER PAGE.
@sTYLE fEATURES
eNTERING YOUR PRINTER'S COMMANDS HERE WILL ALLOW YOUR PRINTER DO DO SUCH THINGS AS PRINT IN IT'S nlq MODE
PRINT UNDERLINING (FOR EXAMPLE), AS YOU HAVE DONE ON THE SCREEN IN GEOwRITE.
yOU CAN PRINT ANY STYLE COMBINATIONS ALLOWED BY YOUR PRINTER
tO IMPLEMENT EACH FEATURE YOU MUST ENTER A CONTROL STRING TO TURN
THAT FEATURE IN YOUR PRINTER
ANOTHER CONTROL STRING TO TURN IT
. yOU WILL BE PRESENTED WITH ONE DIALOG BOX FOR THE
STRING AND ANOTHER DIALOG BOX FOR THE
STRING.
vERSIONS OF tEXT pRINT PREVIOUS TO 2.0 CAN PRINT IN
ONLY ONE STYLE AT A TIME.
oDDS AND eNDS ON THE uSE OF tEXT pRINT
oDDS AND eNDS ON THE uSE OF tEXT pRINT
@tEXT pRINT eRROR mESSAGES
--"pRINTER dRIVER NOT ON DISK"
yOUR PRINTER DRIVER MUST BE ON THE SAME DISK AS
tEXT pRINT.
--"hEADER TOO LARGE"
--"fOOTER TOO LARGE"
tEXT pRINT HAS A CERTAIN AMOUNT OF SPACE SET ASIDE TO STORE THE HEADER AND/OR FOOTER OF A DOCUMENT. iF EITHER OF THESE ERRORS SHOULD OCCUR IT MEANS YOUR HEADER AND/OR FOOTER WOULDN'T FIT. aLTHOUGH ELIMINATING CHARACTERS WILL HELP, IT IS MORE HELPFUL TO ELIMINATE FORMATTING CHANGES (RESETTING MARGINS, TABS, OR JUSTIFICATION). eACH FORMATTING CHANGE IS EQUIVALENT TO ADDING 27 CHARACTERS OF TEXT.
--"pAGE TOO LARGE"
tEXT pRINT PRINTS A PAGE AT A TIME. a CERTAIN AMOUNT OF SPACE IS SET ASIDE TO STORE THE PAGE. tHIS ERROR MEANS THE PAGE WOULDN'T FIT. yOU MIGHT HAVE SURPASSED THE LIMITS OF tEXT pRINT v1.2 WITH THE SHEER AMOUNT OF TEXT OR IT COULD BE THAT THE PAGE CONTAINS NUMEROUS FORMATTING CHANGES (RESETTING MARGINS, TABS, OR JUSTIFICATION). eACH FORMATTING CHANGE IS EQUIVALENT TO ADDING 27 CHARACTERS OF TEXT.
vERSION 2.0 HAS BEEN REWRITTEN TO ELMINATE THE POSSIBILITY OF THIS ERROR. iT WILL NEVER HAPPEN WITH VERSION 2.0 OF tEXT pRINT.
dOES NOT APPLY TO VERSIONS 2.0 AND BEYOND
@mAINTAINING A wysiwyg dISPLAY
mY MAIN ATTRACTION TO GEOwRITE IS ITS wHAT yOU sEE iS wHAT yOU gET (wysiwyg) DISPLAY. hENCE, THE FOLLOWING DISCUSSIO
@mAINTAINING A wysiwyg dISPLAY
mY MAIN ATTRACTION TO GEOwRITE IS ITS wHAT yOU sEE iS wHAT yOU gET (wysiwyg) DISPLAY. hENCE, THE FOLLOWING DISCUSSION - - -
tHE USE OF BOLD STYLE CAN CAUSE A DIFFERENCE BETWEEN THE FORMATTING OF THE TEXT ON-SCREEN FROM THAT AS PRINTED. (iTALICS AND UNDERLINE WILL NOT)
gEOwRITE DISPLAYS BOLD CHARACTERS, ON THE SCREEN, SLIGHTLY WIDER THAN PLAINTEXT CHARACTERS. mOST OF THE TIME THIS WILL PROBABLY HAVE NO EFFECT ON THE PRINTED OUTPUT OR BE OF NO CONSEQUENCE.
hOWEVER ...
tWO SUGGESTIONS FOR MAINTAING AN ACCURATE ON-SCREEN DISPLAY FOR PRINTING WITH BOLD.
(1) gO AROUND THE PROBLEM:
hAVE THE ITALICS STYLE STAND FOR BOLD. wHEN ENTERING YOUR PRINTER'S CONTROL STRINGS (IN cUSTOM pRINT), ENTER THOSE FOR BOLD WHEN IT ASKS FOR ITALICS.
(2) oR ...
tO HAVE THE BOLD CHARACTERS ON-SCREEN AND STILL MAINTAIN THE CHARACTER SPACING, YOU COULD USE A DIFFERENT FONT FOR THE BOLD CHARACTERS.
aS AN EXAMPLE OF THIS SECOND FIX, i CREATED TWO FONTS CALLED "10 CPI" AND "10CPI fORbOLD". i TYPE THE DOCUMENT, AS i ALWAWYS WOULD, USING THE 10 CPI FONT. tHEN i GO BACK AND
@SELECT
ANY TEXT THAT IS BOLD AND CHANGE THE FONT TO 10CPI fORbOLD. (i APPLIED THIS FIX TO THIS DOCUMENT.)
iF YOU PUT THE 10 CPI FONT ON YOUR DISK BEFORE (OR IN PLACE OF) THE cOMMODORE FONT, ANY GEOwRITE DOCUMENT USING THE cOMMODORE FONT WILL BE DISPLAYED USING THE 10 CPI FONT.
tHE 10CPI fORbOLD FONT HAS A COSTANT WIDTH OF 7 PIXELS TO COMPENSATE FOR THE ONE PIXEL WIDENING GEOwRITE DOES TO BOLD CHARACTERS. tHE 10 CPI FONT HAS A CONSTANT WIDTH OF 8 PIXELS (LIKE bsw'S cOMMODORE FONT) TO MATCH PRINTING AT 10 CHARACTERS PER INCH.
@zero fix
pRINTER dRIVER pATCH pROGRAM
TO WORK WITH cUSTOM pRINT AND tEXT pRINT
sOME PRINTERS REQUIRE THAT YOU SEND A ZERO IN A COMMAND STRING. cUSTOM pRINT DOES NOT ALLOW TH
@zero fix
pRINTER dRIVER pATCH pROGRAM
TO WORK WITH cUSTOM pRINT AND tEXT pRINT
sOME PRINTERS REQUIRE THAT YOU SEND A ZERO IN A COMMAND STRING. cUSTOM pRINT DOES NOT ALLOW THE INPUT OF A ZERO. zero fix WILL SOLVE THIS PROBLEM BY PATCHING THE PRINTER DRIVER FOR YOUR PRINTER. tHE PATCH IS FOR YOUR PRINTER DRIVER, NOT cUSTOM pRINT OR tEXT pRINT.
cUSTOM pRINT DOES NOT ALLOW THE USE OF ZERO IN A PRINTER COMMAND CONTROL STRING BECAUSE geos PRINTER DRIVERS RESERVE THE USE OF ZERO AS A STRING TERMINATOR. tHE basic PROGRAM, zero fix, WILL ATTEMPT TO PATCH YOUR PRINTER DRIVER SO THAT YOU CAN SUBSTITUTE AN UNUSED CHARACTER CODE FOR ZERO.
fOR EXAMPLE:
yOU NEED TO SEND THE STRING 27,45,0. yOU PATCH YOUR PRINTER DRIVER USING zero fix TO RECOGNIZE 254 FOR ZERO. nOW WITHIN cUSTOM pRINT YOU WOULD ENTER 27,45,254.
pATCH iNSTRUCTIONS
fROM WITHIN geos, FORMAT A DISK AND save ONLY A COPY OF YOUR PRINTER DRIVER TO IT. tHAT IS, YOU CANNOT HAVE ANYTHING ELSE ON THE DISK. sELECT
@OPTIONS
AND RETURN TO basic.
nOW INSERT THE DISK THAT CONTAINS zero fix AND load IT. run zero fix AND FOLLOW THE INSTRUCTIONS. tHIS PATCH SHOULD WORK ON ALL PRINTER DRIVERS. iF IT DOESN'T, PLEASE LET ME KNOW WHAT PRINTER DRIVER YOU ARE USING.
tHE PRINTER DRIVER ON THE DISK IS NOW PATCHED SO THAT WHEN YOU SEND IT THE NUMBER YOU CHOSE, IT WILL SUBSTITUTE A ZERO FOR YOUR PRINTER. rEPLACE THE PRINTER DRIVER, ON ANY DISK WITH A tEXT pRINT FILE, WITH THIS PATCHED VERSION.
i WOULD SUGGEST THAT YOU MARK THE PATCHED PRINTER DRIVER. eITHER
@RENAME
IT OR PUT COMMENTS IN ITS INFO BOX. tHE PATCH SHOULD NOT AFFECT THE DRIVER'S PERFORMANCE, BUT IF YOU SHOULD NEED TO RE-PATCH THE DRIVER TO ANOTHER SUBSTITUTE NUMBER FOR ZERO, YOU MUST START WITH AN UNPATCHED COPY OF YOUR PRINTER DRIVER (NOT A COPY OF THE ONE YOU JUST PATCHED).
- page -
XAMPLE), AS YOU HAVE DONE ON THE SCREEN IN GEOwRITE.
yOU CAN PRINT ANY STYLE COMBINATIONS ALLOWED BY YOUR PRINTER
(.txt)