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The Original Shareware 1.1
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The Original Shareware (WeMake CDs)(Volume 1.1)(CDs, Inc)(1993).iso
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columns2.zip
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COLUMNS.TXT
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1986-03-25
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COLUMNS - Version 2.0 - Compiled March 26, 1986
by Brian Hillis, Toronto, Canada
This program is a more flexible version of the PC News Letter
Generator that appeared in the March 1986 issue of Computing Now!
magazine.
The original code was written in BASIC by Steve Rimmer. However, that
version was unmercifully slow..., almost to the point of being
useless, especially for larger files. I modified and polished up the
original code, added a few extra routines, and a nicer screen display,
then compiled it with Microsoft's Quick BASIC. I hope you find it
useful.
COLUMNS takes your text files (or BASIC listings) and re-assembles
them into narrower columns, just like you see in newspapers and
magazines. The joy of COLUMNS is that it figures out which line of
your text to put beside line 1, as it is printing, an so on down the
page. There is no need to cut and paste.
COLUMNS will even deal correctly with Wordstar files, but don't try to
use it with embedded control character, such as are used in PC-Write
or Brown Bag. It does, however, ignore PC-Write's "dot" commands. If
your text editor or word processor puts "soft" carriage returns at the
end of line, then you should be OK. However, it it inserts regular
carriage returns/line feeds, such as PC-Write, then columns reads then
that way and you may end up with your newly assembled text finishing
in the middle of a line. If this is the case, then you should prepare
your source file by removing all the unnecessary "returns".
COLUMNS is very easy to use, and the compile version (COLUMNS.EXE) is
fairly quick. The BASIC version (COLUMNS.BAS) is much slower, but I
have included it so that you can make any modifications to the code to
suit yourself.
To start the program, simply type:
[basica] columns
The first prompt lets you pick control codes for one of four
predefined printers.
1. Gemini 10, 15, etc.
2. Okidata
3. Star-IBM mode or Epson
4. Texas Instrument 855
Needless to say, these are the four printers that I use, so I have
included them in the code. If you just press [ENTER], the default is
Star-IBM or Epson.
The next prompt lets you pick COMPRESSED (17 cpi), ELITE (12-15 cpi),
or PICA (10 cpi). The answer to this prompt is used in conjunction
with the previous one to initialize your printer when you print a hard
copy of your newly assembled text. The default here is COMPRESSED.
The next thing COLUMNS needs to know, is how many columns of text do
you want to print across the page. Some experimenting with this, and
the following prompts, may be necessary to get the correct appearance.
The default is 2 columns.
Next you will be asked how many spaces between columns. That's the
amount of blank space between your columns of text. Default is 8
spaces.
The next prompt asks you how many line you want printed on a page. A
normal 11 inch page can take 66 lines of print (at 6 lines to the
inch). However, you will want a margin top and bottom, so for
generally pleasant appearance, keep the number of lines per page
around 55-60. The default is 60.
Next you will be asked if you want to display the assembly process on
the screen. Watch this one about once. It is very slow, as COLUMNS
displays 21 lines, just the way they will print. Then it scrolls its
way through the entire text file. Really, this is a good idea because
it gives you some indication of problem areas. COLUMNS runs many
times faster if it doesn't have to write to the screen. You will get
in the habit quickly of answering NO to this question. To help you
along, NO is the default.
COLUMNS will now ask you if you want your newly assembled columns of
text printed out on your printer, or written to disk. If you select
the printer, COLUMNS assembles each new page then prints it before
going on to the next page. If you select disk, COLUMNS writes a new
text file to disk for each page, named PAGE-1, PAGE-2, etc. The
default is DISK.
Next COLUMNS asks you how many HEADER and FOOTER lines you would like.
You can have up to 5 of each. If you don't ask for any footer lines,
COLUMNS will print a page number footer at the bottom of each page.
Now you are given a chance to type in your HEADERS and FOOTERS. A
ruler line will display at the top of the screen, indicating the
number of columns across the page you can use for HEADERS. Type in
the entire header line, then press [ENTER]. Do this for each header
line. By default, COLUMNS only puts one blank line between the header
and the first text line. So, if you want extra blanks, ask for more
header lines, then make the last one or two nulls (just press [ENTER]
without typing anything) to give you extra spaces.
This whole exercise is repeated for the FOOTERS. If you don't want
any footer lines, or the default page number, when your are asked for
the number of footer lines, type 1, then make it a nul.
When you type in the name of the source text file to be converted to
columns, you can specify a drive , path and filename, up to 32
characters.
Now COLUMNS goes to work examining you file, breaking it up into
columns and pages. During the process it will keep you informed as to
the page number it is working on, the line number on that page, and
the number of bytes remaining to be converted. Don't forget if you
asked for 55 lines per page and two columns, that will be 110 new
lines (less the amount needed for headers and footers) to be converted
before COLUMNS writes the file to your printer or disk.
That's all there really is to it. If you have any suggestions or
comment, please let me know.
---------------------------------
Brian Hillis
240 Scarlett Rd, Suite 313
Toronto, Ontario M6N 4X4
Canada
(416) 769-2251