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TAWUG Disk No. 53 (SHK)
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AW.PRNTR.CNTRL
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AppleWorks Document
|
1987-06-29
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8KB
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194 lines
O=====|====|====|====|====|====|====|====|====|====|====|====|====|====|====|===
The following is from...
Dr. Frank Lowney, Assistant Dean
School of Education
Georgia College
Milledgeville, Georgia 31061
:...please direct all comments, quips, queries, aphorisms, <
:dewdrops of wisdom and snotty remarks to him at the above
address.
'Improved Control of the ImageWriter II
Printer From Within AppleWorks
(Here's how to modify AppleWorks so that ,
*you can control an ImageWriter II printer $
nearly as well as AppleWriter can.
+As you may or may not know, AppleWriter is (
&the hacker/power user's favorite word %
#processor. This is because it has $
"features unavailable in many word (
&processors and a few features that no #
other word processor possesses.
(For example, it has its own programming -
+language built right in so that just about &
$anything can be automated. Another &
$exemplary feature is its ability to -
+directly control printers and other output *
(devices through its ability to send the $
"special signals only printers can +
)understand, things like escape sequences
and control characters.
$The ImageWriter II, like many other ,
*printers, is controlled largely by escape '
%sequences. There's a table of these +
)commands in the back of your ImageWriter "
II Owner's Manual, check it out.
)So if you were using AppleWriter and had *
(an ImageWriter II printer and wanted to +
)put a MouseText Open Apple in the middle ,
*of a sentence, one would simply imbed the (
&command, "Escape-&", into the text to +
)enable the MouseText characters and then +
)follow it with an "A". The "A" would be -
+printed as a cute little Open Apple. Then ,
*you would imbed the command "Escape-$" to )
'return to the use of the regular ASCII (
&characters. And so on and so on, you ,
*could have virtually full control of your
printer.
*But you can't stand the idea of forsaking *
(AppleWorks? I don't blame you. Here's -
+how you can easily get a good deal of this
power into AppleWorks.
'You'll need a good block editor or ZAP +
)program as they call it. There are many +
)fine ones on the market. There's one on *
(Copy II+; there's one in Bag of Tricks; +
)there's one in Beagle Bros. ProByter and &
$there's one in Glen Bredon's ProSel '
%desktop manager package called Block (
&Warden. I use Block Warden because I '
%think its the best one around. Take *
(whatever time is required to understand ,
*what a block editor is and how to use the -
+one you have. The documentation should do *
(all of this for you if you'll read it. +
)Don't be like me and read the directions
only when all else fails.
%First, a warning. NEVER NEVER NEVER ,
*modify an original disk. In fact, I will -
+go so far as to suggest here that you make +
)a backup copy of AppleWorks specifically *
(for this project. That way if you mess (
something up, there'll be little lost.
)Use your block editor to search the side ,
*of the disk that has the file, SEG.PR, on +
it. Search for the
hexadecimal
string:
02 1B 21 02 1B 22
then change it to:
01 1B 21 02 1B 66
*What this does is modify that part of the '
%SEG.PR file that stores the commands ,
*associated with the ImageWriter and Apple -
+DMP printers (they use the same commands), &
$specifically the Boldface Begin and *
(Boldface End commands. Recall that the ,
*Control-B keystroke in AppleWorks toggles +
)boldface printing on and off. Normally, ,
*the first Control-B keystroke sequence in ,
*an AWP paragraph causes an Escape-! to be ,
*sent to the ImageWriter in order to begin +
)boldface printing and a second Control-B &
$sends an Escape -" to stop boldface +
)printing. With these modifications, the +
)first Control-B sends only an Escape and )
the second Control-B sends an Escape-f.
+Now, if you type Control-B, you'll see the +
)same ^ as always
it will represent -
+and, more importantly send to the printer, ,
*a solitary Escape. Following this escape )
'with the appropriate keystroke(s) will *
(cause the printer to respond to it as a ,
*printer command, not as a character to be -
+printed. A second Control-B will embed an -
+Escape-f which is a forward linefeed and a ,
*good, innocuous way to make sure that the ,
*next Control-B will be a solitary Escape, (
&one that really
does something
. In +
)appearance, our example from paragraph 5
would look like this:
$ Once upon a time, there was an -
+enchanted ^&A^^$^ that was very red
and delicious looking.
+To illustrate how this technique works and *
(to facilitate your experimentation, the ,
following files are included on this disk:
Escape.Tables
is a convenient list of -
+those ImageWriter capabilities that can be -
+tapped with Escape sequences. Included are (
&commands that affect Type Size, Print -
+Formatting (including the use of MouseText (
&and Alternate Character Sets), Colors (
&(with a special multi-color ribbon of '
%course), Lines Per Inch, Downloading '
%Characters, and Bit Image Graphics! &
$There's a lot to explore here, I've "
suggested only the more obvious
possibilities to you here.
MouseText.Chart
is another conveniently (
&organized list. This one shows which #
!letters turn into what MouseText '
%character. It's also a good, simple -
+example of how to use the Escape character %
#to invoke both ASCII and MouseText -
+characters side by side. I've also played &
$around with various typesizes using +
)conventional AppleWorks printer commands $
"in conjunction with these special
procedures.
MT.Designs
is a more elaborate example &
$of MouseText Graphics. If this one +
doesn't get you going, then nothing will.
+Of course, these examples won't illustrate *
(much of anything unless you've modified
the SEG.PR file, so go to it.
One final, teasing, suggestion:
+Imagine this technique in conjunction with -
+a Macro program and/or downloaded graphics ,
*or alternative character sets such as are ,
available through the likes of PowerPrint.
*Now, a final plea. Does anyone out there -
+know how to get 2 sets of ImageWriter code (
&in the SEG.PR file, one in its normal *
(position and one in the place of one of +
)the other printers, so that you can have %
#an unmodified version as well as a +
)modified one. Note that ImageWriter and $
Apple DMP all use the same code.
)The reason for wanting to have 2 sets of )
'ImageWriter code, one modified and the *
(other stock, is this: If someone sends -
+you a file that has been formatted with an -
+unmodified version of the SEG.PR file, you +
)could (if you had a stock version as the *
(second printer) print it without having -
+your ImageWriter go crazy. By crazy, I am -
+refering to the case where someone creates ,
*an AWP file as if the Control-B keystroke -
+sequence would, in fact, initiate boldface +
)printing and then sends this AWP file to )
'someone else who has a modified SEG.PR *
(file. In this instance, you would find (
&the call for Boldface Begin (actually (
&Escape) immediately prior to a random -
+variety of letters depending entirely upon *
(what the author wanted to be printed in ,
*boldface. Now, when that file is printed +
)using a modified SEG.PR file, the letter ,
*immediately after the ^ is interpreted as ,
*a printer command. Even in the best case +
)scenario things would be strange because ,
*that letter would not be printed. In the *
(worst case, you might find your printer ,
*carrying out a form feed command right in -
+the middle of a paragraph or you might see +
)the type size suddenly go from 10 cpi to &
17 cpi. Not fun. Solutions anyone?