
                    A User's Manual For PCDRAFT 2.1
                                    
                         SET Laboratories, Inc.
                             P.O. Box 03963
                           Portland, OR 97203



       INTRODUCTION 

            Welcome to the P_C_D_R_A_F_T_ user community! P_C_D_R_A_F_T_ is a 
       'post-processor' text formatting program for producing 
       documents that runs under MS-DOS* P_C_D_R_A_F_T_ differs from 
       other popular microcomputer word processing systems in 
       that what the user types is not neccessarily what the 
       finished product will look like. P_C_D_R_A_F_T_ makes use of 
       "embedded formatting commands" which control spacing, 
       paragraphs, centering, etc. Thus, the user creates a 
       "source file", consisting of the text to be formatted, 
       along with the embedded formatting commands using an 
       editor such as EDLIN or even another word processor which 
       creates ASCII text files. P_C_D_R_A_F_T_ will generate a 
       formatted file (the "destination" file) from the source 
       file. 

            The source file can have any extension, however the 
       default is '.RNO'. The formatted file will have the same 
       name as the source file, but with the extension '.LIS'. 
       Make sure that the source file does n_o_t_ have the extension 
       '.LIS'. When an embedded formatting command is 
       encountered, the particular operation (eg, starting a 
       paragraph, or centering a line of text) will be applied to 
       the destination file. 

            The source file may be typed without regard to lines, 
       page numbers, section numbers, centering, etc. Thus the 
       user may change or add text to an existing document 
       without worrying about how it will affect the page 
       numbering, spacing, etc. P_C_D_R_A_F_T_ will automatically 
       combine or split lines so that only a predetermined number 
       of letters will be on a single line, and a predetermined 
       number of lines on a single page. For example, the 
       following text segment may be stored on six separate lines 
       in the source file: 
             
            Now is
            the time for all
            people to
            come to the
            aid of their
            country.
            
       After formatting P_C_D_R_A_F_T_ will cause the following to be 
       printed: 



       ____________________
       * MS-DOS is a trademark of Microsoft Corp.

       
       

       PCDRAFT 2.1 Documentation                                       2
       Copyright, 1987 by SET Laboratories, Inc.


       Now is the time for all people to come to the aid of their 
       country. 

       In addition, PCDRAFT will generate a table of contents on 
       a page following the last formatted page of the output 
       file listing all the headings (.SH, .NH and .TL) specified 
       in the text and their page numbers. Another useful feature 
       is a running count of words processed so far which appears 
       in the upper right hand corner of the screen as the text 
       is being formatted. 


       HARDWARE AND SOFTWARE REQUIREMENTS 

            P_C_D_R_A_F_T_ requires only very modest hardware and 
       software resources to be used. It requires a PC/XT/AT or 
       compatible computer with MS-DOS 2.0 or above, and 128K of 
       RAM. A single disk drive is sufficient as P_C_D_R_A_F_T_ takes up 
       only 22K of disk space (60K including the documentation). 
       Thus, you may put a copy on every disk which you intend to 
       store text on. In addition to P_C_D_R_A_F_T_ you will need a 
       "text editor" to prepare the source text. For example, 
       EDLIN comes with MS-DOS. A number of other companies 
       distribute "full screen" text editors for program 
       construction. You can even use a word processor as long as 
       it creates ASCII text files. If you do use a word 
       processor, remember to use "hard returns". 

            P_C_D_R_A_F_T_ is truly a "plain vanilla" text formatter. It 
       does n_o_t_ support italics, greek letters, superscripts, 
       subscripts, math symbols, etc. What it d_o_e_s_ do is produce 
       a neat formatted version of an unformatted source file for 
       printing on a simple dot-matrix or daisy wheel printer. 
       P_C_D_R_A_F_T_ is easy to use, and provides a great deal of 
       power, yet requires the user to remember only about two 
       dozen mnemonic command symbols (no ALT-? combinations to 
       remember). Further, P_C_D_R_A_F_T_ produces an ASCII text file 
       with minimal control characters, codes, etc., so it can be 
       easily uploaded or downloaded to virtually any system and 
       printed on most printers (as long as the printer supports 
       the backspace character ^H and the form feed character 
       ^L). 

            P_C_D_R_A_F_T_ can format a source file of about 3,000 words 
       in less than three minutes. The size of the file that can 
       be formatted by P_C_D_R_A_F_T_ is essentially unlimited. 
       
       

       PCDRAFT 2.1 Documentation                                       3
       Copyright, 1987 by SET Laboratories, Inc.





       TECHNICAL MATTERS 

            The executable version of P_C_D_R_A_F_T_ is in the file 
       PCDRAFT.COM. The unformatted version of this documentation 
       is in the file PCDRAFT.RNO, and the formatted version 
       (probably what you're reading right now) is in the file 
       PCDRAFT.LIS. P_C_D_R_A_F_T_ can be executed using the following 
       command: 
             
            PCDRAFT
            
       assuming that the P_C_D_R_A_F_T_ diskette is in the default disk 
       drive (eg, "A:"). The user will then be prompted for the 
       name of the source file they would like formatted. If the 
       file does not have the .RNO extension, the user should 
       specify the proper extension, otherwise .RNO will be 
       assumed. P_C_D_R_A_F_T_ will produce a formatted file of the same 
       name, but with the extension '.LIS'. This file will 
       contain the formatted document and a table of contents. 
       The formatted document may be printed using a line printer 
       with the MS-DOS command PRINT. 


       PCDRAFT COMMANDS 

            P_C_D_R_A_F_T_ commands are embedded in the text of the 
       source file at the point where their actions are desired. 
       For example, the P_C_D_R_A_F_T_ command to cause a new paragraph 
       is '.PP'. Thus, if the user wants a new paragraph to begin 
       before a particular group of text is to be printed, the 
       '.PP' should precede this text, on a line by itself. 

            P_C_D_R_A_F_T_ commands always are on a line by themselves, 
       start in column 1 and begin with a period ('.'). P_C_D_R_A_F_T_ 
       commands may be written using either upper or lower case. 

            Some of the commands require a 'closer'. For example, 
       the '.FS' command causes the text lines that follow it in 
       the source file, up to the closer command '.FE', to be 
       printed as a footnote on the current page of the formatted 
       file. 

            The user should make sure that every P_C_D_R_A_F_T_ source 
       file ends with the command ".EN" on the last physical line 
       of the file. The following is a list of the commands 
       currently supported by P_C_D_R_A_F_T_:_ 


       
       

       PCDRAFT 2.1 Documentation                                       4
       Copyright, 1987 by SET Laboratories, Inc.


       .BP  When this command is encountered by P_C_D_R_A_F_T_,_ it causes 
            a page eject in the formatted file. This may not work 
            with printers that do not support page ejects; 
            however this is a problem with only a very few 
            printers. 

       .CE x   Center the next x lines of text in the source file. 
            If x is omitted, it is assumed to be 1. Each line to 
            be centered should be placed on a line by itself. No 
            'formatting' is performed on this text other than 
            centering. If two or more centered lines are to be 
            separated by blank lines, the text may contain these 
            blank lines, but be sure to include the blank lines 
            in the count of lines to be centered. This command is 
            similar to the .TL command, except the centered text 
            is not included in the generated table of contents. 

       .CS x   This command causes the spacing of the formatted 
            file to be changed to 'x'. For example, if 'x' were 
            2, the the output text would be double spaced. The 
            default spacing is 1. Note that this does not cause 
            any particular action to take place, but rather 
            affects future actions. 

       .DP This command will cause an additional blank (except 
            for heading and page number) page to be generated 
            when the next page break in the formatted file 
            occurs. This is useful if some blank pages are needed 
            for including hand drawn figures, program listings, 
            etc. A blank page will be generated for each pending 
            '.DP' Note that no action is performed until the next 
            page break which would normally occur is encountered. 

       .DS The following lines of the source file, up to a '.DE', 
            will be treated as a 'display'. In other words, they 
            will be printed exactly as they are in the source 
            file, but indented by 5 spaces. If the text is to be 
            left justified instead of indented, the command 
            should be modified as '.DS L'. No formatting will 
            take place on the text between the '.DS' and the 
            '.DE'. This is a convienient way to display tables, 
            equations, etc. The "running word count" that is 
            displayed at the upper right hand corner of the 
            screen while formatting is taking place counts each 
            line within the '.DS/.DE' pair as a single word. 

       .EN  This command should be placed at the physical end of 
            your P_C_D_R_A_F_T_ source file. Failure to do so, may 
            result in strange characters appearing in the last 
            line of the formatted output. 


       
       

       PCDRAFT 2.1 Documentation                                       5
       Copyright, 1987 by SET Laboratories, Inc.


       .FR  The following T_W_O_ lines of the source file will be 
            treated as a 'page footer' for the rest of the 
            document (unless another '.FR' is encountered). This 
            means that these two lines will be printed at the 
            bottom of every page in the formatted file, from this 
            point on. TWO header lines MUST follow the '.FR' in 
            the source file - they may be blank if the user 
            chooses, but they must both be included. If no 
            footers are needed, the '.FR' command may be omitted. 

       .FS  The following lines in the source file, up to a '.FE' 
            will be treated as a footnote, and will be printed at 
            the bottom of the current page. Currently, a limit of 
            20 lines of footnotes, per page, exists. 

       .HR  The following TWO lines of the source file will be 
            treated as a 'page header' for the rest of the 
            document (unless another '.HR' is encountered). This 
            means that these two lines will be printed at the top 
            of every page in the formatted file, from this point 
            on. T_W_O_ header lines MUST follow the '.HR' in the 
            source file - they may be blank if the user chooses, 
            but they must both be included. If no headers are 
            needed, the '.HR' command may be omitted - the 
            default header is simply two blank lines. The page 
            header for this document is specified in the source 
            file as: 
                  
                  .HR
                  PCDRAFT 2.1 Documentation
                  Copyright, 1987 by SET Laboratories, Inc.
                 
            The header will not appear on the first page of the 
            formatted file. The header will appear on subsequent 
            pages. 

       .IP x   The text in the source file following this command, 
            up to another '.IP' or '.LP', will be treated as a 
            list item. This list of commands is an example of a 
            group of list items. If specified, 'x' is a label for 
            the list item, and the rest of the list will be 
            indented 5 spaces from the beginning of the label. If 
            the label contains any blanks, it should be enclosed 
            in double quotes ('"'). 

       .IS  The rest of the source file text, until an '.IE' is 
            encountered, will be indented 5 spaces. Note that the 
            .IS itself causes no actions to take place, it simply 
            causes all subsequent lines (up to a '.IE') to be 
            indented 5 spaces. 


       
       

       PCDRAFT 2.1 Documentation                                       6
       Copyright, 1987 by SET Laboratories, Inc.


       .LP  This ends a group of list items. 

       .MR x   This command sets the column that the left margin of 
            the text will start in to column "x". By default, the 
            text starts in column 1, 

       .NH  The source file text following this command will be 
            treated as a section heading, up to some other 
            P_C_D_R_A_F_T_ command, such as a '.PP'. This heading will 
            automatically have a number associated with it. This 
            number is incremented each time a '.NH' command is 
            encountered. 

       .PG x   This command causes the current page number to be 
            changed to 'x'. Normally, the page number begins at 
            page 1. Note that this command does not cause any 
            actions to occur, but rather causes the next page 
            number in the formatted file to be 'x'. 

       .PL x   This command causes the length of the page used in 
            the formatted file to be 'x'. The default page length 
            is 55. Note that the '.PL' command does not cause any 
            action to take place, but rather changes the page 
            length for all future pages (including the current). 

       .PP  This command causes a new paragraph to be started in 
            the formatted file. The first word in the paragraph 
            will be indented 5 spaces. If no indentation is 
            desired, the user should consider the '.SP' command. 

       .PV x   This command causes the indenting within the 
            formatted file to be changed to 'x'. Default 
            indenting is 5 spaces. Note that this command does 
            not cause any particular action to take place. 
            Rather, this command impacts the indentation done by 
            the commands '.IP', '.IS', '.PP', and '.QS'. 

       .PW x   This command causes the page width used in the 
            formatted file to be 'x'. The default output width is 
            65 columns. Note that any indentation, left margin 
            settings, etc. are included within these columns. 
            This command does not cause any particular action to 
            occur. 

       .QS  This command causes the source file text that follows 
            it, until a '.QE' is encountered to be treated as a 
            'quoted passage'. This quoted passage will be 
            indented 5 spaces on the left and 10 spaces on the 
            right. 


       
       

       PCDRAFT 2.1 Documentation                                       7
       Copyright, 1987 by SET Laboratories, Inc.


       .SH  This command causes the source file text that follows 
            it up to the next P_C_D_R_A_F_T_ command such as a '.PP' to 
            be treated as an unnumbered section heading. This 
            section heading and the page it falls on will be 
            entered in the document table of contents which will 
            appear at the end of the report. 

       .SP x   This command causes 'x' spaces to be skipped in the 
            output text. 

       .TL x   Center the next x lines of text in the source file. 
            If x is omitted, it is assumed to be 1. Each line to 
            be centered should be placed on a line by itself. No 
            'formatting' is performed on this text other than 
            centering. If two or more centered lines are to be 
            separated by blank lines, the text may contain these 
            blank lines, but be sure to include the blank lines 
            in the count of lines to be centered. This command is 
            similar to the .CE command, except this centered text 
            is included in the table of contents that will appear 
            after the last formatted page of text. 

       .UL  The text following this command, until a matching 
            ".UE" is encountered, will be underlined. 

       As an example of how an unformatted P_C_D_R_A_F_T_ file with 
       embedded commands might look, consider the following 
       passage: 
        
        .CE 3
        This is an Example of
        How an Unformatted PCDRAFT File
        Might Look
        .PP
        You might be interested in using
        .UL
        PCDRAFT
        .UE
        to write
        documents, letters, manuals, examinations, etc.
        .sp 1
        If you would like to indicate a new paragraph with
        just a blank line (ie, no indentation), just use the
        command '.SP x'.
        This will cause x lines to be skipped.
        .PP
        Indentation can be achieved using '.IS'.
        Usually, it's used for 'list items'.
        That is where you have a list of items, such as:
        .IS

       
       

       PCDRAFT 2.1 Documentation                                       8
       Copyright, 1987 by SET Laboratories, Inc.


        .IP (1)
        Item 1
        .IP (2)
        Item 2 - note that whatever text follows it will
        be indented so it is clear that it goes with THIS item ...
        .LP
        .IE
        .UL
        Make sure that you end the indentation group with a '.IE'.
        There should be one '.IE' for every '.IS'.
        .UE
       
       After formatting, the above text would look like this: 


                         This is an Example of
                    How an Unformatted PCDRAFT File
                               Might Look


            You might be interested in using P_C_D_R_A_F_T_ to write 
       documents, letters, manuals, examinations, etc. 

       If you would like to indicate a new paragraph with just a 
       blank line (ie, no indentation), just use the command '.SP 
       x'. This will cause x lines to be skipped. 

            Indentation can be achieved using '.IS'. Usually, 
       it's used for 'list items'. That is where you have a list 
       of items, such as: 

            (1)  Item 1 

            (2)  Item 2 - note that whatever text follows it will 
                 be indented so it is clear that it goes with 
                 THIS item ... 

       M_a_k_e_ s_u_r_e_ t_h_a_t_ y_o_u_ e_n_d_ t_h_e_ i_n_d_e_n_t_a_t_i_o_n_ g_r_o_u_p_ w_i_t_h_ a_ '_._I_E_'_._ 
       T_h_e_r_e_ s_h_o_u_l_d_ b_e_ o_n_e_ '_._I_E_'_ f_o_r_ e_v_e_r_y_ '_._I_S_'_._ 

            For a more complete example of what unformatted 
       P_C_D_R_A_F_T_ files look like, you might try listing out the 
       file PCDRAFT.RNO. 




       
       

       PCDRAFT 2.1 Documentation                                       9
       Copyright, 1987 by SET Laboratories, Inc.





       HINTS FOR WORD PROCESSING USING PCDRAFT 

       o    When creating the unformatted text file, try to always 
            start new sentences on a new line. By doing this an 
            entire sentence may be removed without having to 
            worry about retaining a part of the line. 

       o    When writing a multi-part manuscript (for example, a 
            book), put each chapter in a different file. This 
            makes editing faster, plus one chapter can be 
            formatted at a time. Remember to add a ".PG x" 
            command at the beginning of each chapter so the page 
            numbering will be correct. 

       o    If one works on a number of different manuscripts 
            concurrently, it would be helpful to create a 
            'subdirectory' for each project. A subdirectory is a 
            'unit of storage' within the user's main directory 
            which can hold a number of files. The nice thing 
            about having a subdirectory for each project, is that 
            one does not have to worry about duplicate file names 
            (for example, CHAP1 for the textbook you are working 
            on and CHAP1 for the cookbook you are writing). 



       MAKING AND DISTRIBUTING COPIES 

            Users of P_C_D_R_A_F_T_ are encouraged to make copies of the 
       code and distribute them to other users or post them on 
       electronic bulletin boards. However, please note that 
       PCDRAFT is N_O_T_ public domain. It is a copyrighted product! 
       Therefore, when distributing copies, please adhere to the 
       following rules: 

      You are encouraged to copy and share this program with other
      users, on the conditions that the program is not distributed
       in modified form, that no fee is charged for the program,
            and that this notice is not bypassed or removed.


       Also, please note the following warranty disclaimer: 

        This program is distributed on an "AS-IS" basis without
      warranty. The entire risk as to the quality and performance
        of the program is with the user. No warranties as to the
                quality/fitness of the program are made



       
       

       PCDRAFT 2.1 Documentation                                      10
       Copyright, 1987 by SET Laboratories, Inc.


            At some point, you may find that you are using 
       PCDRAFT for most of your writing. If you use PCDRAFT 
       frequently, and find it a useful product, please register 
       it for $20 with: 

                         SET Laboratories, Inc.
                              PO Box 03963
                           Portland, OR 97203


       The $20 registration fee entitles you to the next version 
       of PCDRAFT as soon as it is released. In addition, 
       registered users may send questions about using PCDRAFT to 
       the above address. Please include your registration number 
       (sent to you as soon as you register along with the 
       current version of PCDRAFT) and a stamped, self addressed 
       envelope. 


                     A SYNOPSIS OF PCDRAFT COMMANDS


       A PCDRAFT command has a '.' in column 1 and two 
       characters: 
             
             .BP      break page
             .CE      center
             .CS      change line spacing+
             .DP      note upcoming display page+
             .DS/.DE  display item
             .EN      end formatting
             .FR      define 2 line page footing+
             .FS/.FE  define footnote+
             .HR      define 2 line page heading+
             .IP      list item
             .IS/.IE  indent PPval spaces+
             .LP      end list item
             .MR      specify left margin+
             .NH      numbered section heading++
             .PG      change page number+
             .PL      change page length+
             .PP      paragraph
             .PV      change PPval+
             .PW      change page width+
             .QS/.QE  quote section
             .SH      section heading++
             .SP      space with blank line
             .TL      title ++
             .UL/.UE  underline on/off
            


       ____________________
       (+) deferred command (++) entered in the table of contents

       
       





                               Table of Contents



       INTRODUCTION                                             1
       HARDWARE AND SOFTWARE REQUIREMENTS                       2
       TECHNICAL MATTERS                                        3
       PCDRAFT COMMANDS                                         3
       HINTS FOR WORD PROCESSING USING PCDRAFT                  9
       MAKING AND DISTRIBUTING COPIES                           9
       A SYNOPSIS OF PCDRAFT COMMANDS                          10
