Shareware Grab Bag/Shareware Grab Bag.iso/002/altpage.arc/ALTPAGE.PRN

Text File | 1985-11-03 | 4.7 KB | 199 lines

                                    AAALLLTTTPPPAAAGGGEEE, v1.0

                          (Print a document on both sides)
                                    Documentation
                                  November 3, 1985

















          Written by:
              Eric Ewanco
              Sysop, Fido 130/920
              7633 Beckwood Dr.
              Fort Worth, TX 76112-6051
              BBS : [phone]
              A member of the DFW Gateway Net



























          Page 1                                    AAALLLTTTPPPAAAGGGEEE Documentation

          FORWARD          FORWARD          FORWARD

               Altpage is a program designed to allow you to print on  both
          sides  of  printer paper by separating the even and odd pages or,
          if you like, the right and left pages. This is a 50% savings over
          printing on one side. Altpage does this by counting the number of
          lines while outputting each character to a file;  if a Form  Feed
          is reached or the number of lines is 66,  then the output file is
          switched.  Altpage is designed to work with most all  text  files
          meant to be printed.

          USAGE          USAGE          USAGE

               Altpage  is  used  as  follows: at the DOS prompt,  you type
          ALTPAGE followed by the input file,  then odd pages  file  (right
          pages),  and  the  even  pages  file  (left pages).  If you enter
          ALTPAGE by itself,  a description  of  its  usage  is  displayed.
          Altpage  will  proceed  to convert your document.  When finished,
          Altpage will print a message:
          altpage END: processed xxx pages
          which tells you that it is done and how many pages it  processed.
          If  Altpage  runs  into  an error,  the following message will be
          displayed:
          altpage ABORT: (error)
          where (error) is "can't read <file>," "write error or disk full,"
          or "can't create <file>." Altpage then aborts.

          PRINTING THE DOCUMENT          PRINTING THE DOCUMENT          PRINTING THE DOCUMENT

               There  are  several ways in which you can actually print the
          documents.  You can specify two files and print  them  afterward,
          or,  you  can enter PRN for the first file and Altpage will print
          it while converting; however, that file will be lost and you will
          have  to  rerun Altpage to make it again.  If you want to use DOS
          2.0's filtering  capabilities  or  type  in  the  text  yourself,
          specify  [STDIN]  for the input file;  the file will then be read
          from standard input. For instance:
          type altpage.doc |altpage [STDIN] altpage.odd altpage.evn
          Note that STDIN must be in upper case.  This  will  do  the  same
          thing  as  "altpage altpage.doc altpage.odd altpage.evn",  but it
          does demonstrate the use of standard input.
               After you create the proper files, you can print it out. Set
          you  print  to top of form and use your favorite print program to
          print it out; however,  make sure that you program doesn't format
          the input itself; you can COPY to PRN, use the DOS PRINT program,
          or even TYPE and redirect to PRN. The first file you print out is
          the odd pages file.  Then,  advance to about two pages beyond the
          end of the document,  tear off the paper,  remove  the  unprinted
          paper,  insert the document in BACKWARDS (on a back feed printer,
          that's with the text up;  on a bottom feed,  text  toward  back),
          align,  set it to the first page,  and print the even pages file.
          Now eject and replace the unprinted paper.  You can now punch  in












          AAALLLTTTPPPAAAGGGEEE Documentation                                    Page 2

          holes or whatever you need to do; and you're done.

          PROGRAM INFORMATION          PROGRAM INFORMATION          PROGRAM INFORMATION

               This  program was written in DeSmet C on an IBM PC with a 20
          meg hard disk, DOS 3.1. However, the program works under 2.1. The
          source  code  is  transportable  to  any  Kerninghan  and Ritchie
          defined C compiler (Lattice,  DeSmet,  K&R).  An average 134 page
          document takes about 3 minutes and 45 seconds to convert. Contact
          the author at the address above for information.