Shareware Grab Bag/Shareware Grab Bag.iso/002/altpage2.arc/ALTPAGE.PRN

Text File | 1987-06-12 | 10.9 KB | 331 lines

                                    ALTPAGE, v1.2

                          (Print a document on both sides)
                                    Documentation
                                    June 12, 1987

















          Written by:
               Eric Ewanco
               Sysop, SEAdog 130/3
               7633 Beckwood Dr.
               Fort Worth, TX 76112-6051
               Voice : [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 out-
          put file is switched.   Altpage is designed to work with most all
          text files meant to be printed.   If you use files generated with
          word processors,  the files must be converted into ASCII.    This
          usually  comes  under  something described as "Convert to ASCII,"
          "Print to disk," "Write as text file," or  something  like  that.
          Altpage  does  not  understand  any formatting commands some word
          processors use.  Word Star 2000 users will have to print to disk;
          Word  Star  users  need  to "strip the high bit"; and others need
          similar modifications.   Files generated using PC  Write  do  not
          need  to be converted,  but any formatting codes are passed as is
          and are not interpreted.   If you use these,  it  is  recommended
          that  you  print  to  a disk file and then use ALTPAGE.   Altpage
          works strictly from disk;  there is  no  maximum  document  size.
          Document  size  is  limited  only  by what can fit on your online
          drives.

          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 an MSDOS descriptive error.  Altpage then aborts
          (errorlevel 1).

          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












          Page 2                                    AAALLLTTTPPPAAAGGGEEE Documentation


          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

          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
          your  printer  to top of form and use your favorite print program
          to print it out; however, make sure that you program doesn't for-
          mat  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  (the new paper that comes in to be printed
          on, so you can insert your own), 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 so you're ready for another job.   You  can  now  punch  in
          holes or whatever you need to do;  and you're done.   Here are my
          recommendations for printing a file (foo.txt here):

          ** To convert, print, wait, and print again:
          C>ALTPAGE foo.txt foo.odd foo.evn
          C>COPY FOO.ODD PRN
            (now switch sides)
          C>COPY FOO.EVN PRN

          ** To convert,  put in PRINT queue and print in  background,  and
          print again:
          C>ALTPAGE foo.txt foo.odd foo.evn
          C>PRINT FOO.ODD
            (continue to use computer until printing is DONE)
          C>PRINT FOO.EVN
            (continue to use computer until done, and remove paper)

          ** To convert and print first side during conversion,  then print
          second side; save only second side in disk file
          C>ALTPAGE foo.txt PRN foo.evn
            (prints first side, then switch sides)
          C>COPY FOO.EVN PRN
            (prints the second side)



          SPECIAL CASES          SPECIAL CASES          SPECIAL CASES

               Sometimes a printing job requires  special  handling.    For
          instance, if you're printing a document on paper not the standard












          Page 3                                    AAALLLTTTPPPAAAGGGEEE Documentation


          66 lines or 11 1/2 inches, you'll need to tell Altpage the number
          of  lines,  otherwise  it  will  get  confused.   There are other
          options,  too.   You give these options to Altpage  by  means  of
          switches, letters that are preceded by a hyphen and go before the
          file names.   You can have as many options as you need;  however,
          each  needs  to  have a hyphen and you need to separate them with
          spaces or tabs.   They can go in any order  themselves,  but  all
          must  come  together,  before the filenames and after the command
          ALTPAGE.  All switches must be entered in LOWERCASE.
               The switch for changing the page length is -p. The -p is IM-
          MEDIATELY (NO SPACES) followed by the page length which should be
          of reasonable number (less than 32768).  Doing this redefines the
          number of lines it takes for ALTPAGE to switch "sides."  The num-
          ber is in printed lines.
               Normally,  ALTPAGE will force a the paper to be  ejected  an
          extra page on EVEN page files (the second side) if the first side
          of this page is printed.   Think of it this way: if your document
          has an odd number of pages,  the odd page file will have one more
          printed page than the even page file.  When you print it out, the
          last  odd page would still be in the printer after the even pages
          have been printed because there were fewer even pages.    Altpage
          is  smart  and can tell if there are an odd number of pages,  and
          when there are, adds a Form Feed code to the end of the even page
          file  to  get  that  last  page  out so it won't be inadvertently
          printed over.   If this causes a  problem,  the  -n  option  will
          supress this.   Also, if you printer does not respond to the Form
          Feed code (ASCII 12),  which some do not,  give  the  -s  option,
          which makes ALTPAGE "emulate" a Form Feed by adding line feeds to
          get to the next page.   This is called a  "soft"  Form  Feed  and
          takes  longer,  but works on any printer.   Try it without the -s
          option first; if it doesn't work, use the option.
               In some MSDOS text files, there is a Ctrl-Z (ASCII 26) writ-
          ten  at the end of the file to indicate the end.   This is a kind
          of archaic practice and isn't always done.   It doesn't matter to
          ALTPAGE what is done, but it may matter to you what ALTPAGE does.
          If you want your output files to have Ctrl-Zs at the end of them,
          specify the -z option.  They will always have Ctrl-Zs if your in-
          put file has a Ctrl-Z at the end.  Personally I cannot think of a
          use for this, but if you run into problems processing your output
          files with another program, you might try this.   It is not some-
          thing you use everyday and you can do well without it.
               Here are some examples for options to clarify the above:

          ALTPAGE -p33 -s foo.txt foo.odd foo.evn
            Use a 33 line page and a soft form feed to eject the paper.

          ALTPAGE -z -n -p55 foo.txt foo.odd foo.evn
            Use a 55 line page, do not eject the last page, and add Ctrl-Zs
          at the end of foo.odd and foo.evn.














          Page 4                                    AAALLLTTTPPPAAAGGGEEE Documentation


               There is an additional option which I  give  to  people  who
          send  in  money  to cut the entire propaganda that comes on every
          time you run the program.   This is definitely not  a  punishment
          for  those  who  do  not  pay,  because  I  leave that up to you.
          Rather, it is a reasonable "thank you" for users who do register.

          PROGRAM INFORMATION          PROGRAM INFORMATION          PROGRAM INFORMATION

               This program was written in Turbo 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/ANSI
          compatible C compiler (Lattice, MS, etc.).  An average 134 page
          document takes about 3 minutes and 45 seconds to convert. Contact
          the author at the address above for more information.