1. If you're continuing from the previous section, go on to step 2. If you just started AMP, press any key to continue from the opening screen.
2. Choose the drive or subdirectory which contains the files you printed to disk. When you are in this section, you may press ESC to end the program and return to BASIC. If you accidentally press ESC, first be sure the AMP disk is in the original drive, then type "RUN" and press RETURN to start the program again. (If you are using Catalyst, see the section "Using AMP With Catalyst.")
3. Type the pathname for your Word Processor file (that is, the one you printed to disk earlier) and press RETURN. If you press ESC before you press RETURN, you will return to the previous step.
4. Type the pathname for your Data Base file on disk (the one you printed to a text (ASCII) file on disk) and press RETURN. If you press ESC before pressing RETURN, you will return to the previous step.
5. Type the number of categories in your Data Base report and press RETURN. If you press RETURN before you press ESC, you will return to the previous step.
6. After AMP analyzes your document to determine the lines that contain MERGE identifiers, you'll see the message "Make sure your printer is ready to print, then press any key to continue." "Ready to print" means the printer select light is on, the paper is loaded, and the printer is connected to the computer.
7. When you're sure your printer is ready, press any key and AMP will merge the Data Base information and print your documents. Merging and printing continue until AMP reads the last record in the Data Base. At any time during the printing phase, you can press ESC to stop the printing process and return to step 2.
8. If you have specified "Stop at end of each page," change paper and press RETURN when you want the printer to start again or press ESC to stop the printing process entirely.
Using AMP With Catalyst
If you want to place AMP under Catalyst on your ProFile, follow the instructions for placing BASIC programs under Catalyst as described in your Catalyst Manual. Make sure you copy the files "STARTUP", "KEYIN", and, if it exists, the file "CONFIG" to the same subdirectory.
If you want to set up your system so that you automatically return to the Catalyst main menu after quitting AMP, follow these steps:
1. Make a copy of the AMP disk.
2. Start up the copy of the disk and press ESC at the menu requesting the data disk location to terminate the program.
where PROFILE is the volume name of your Profile and QUIT is Catalyst's program to terminate BASIC and return to Catalyst's main menu. (The part that is underlined is the part that is different from the original line; do not underline those characters when you type in the new line.)
5. Type SAVE /PROFILE/STARTUP where PROFILE is the location on the ProFile where you originally placed a copy of AMP.
Limitations of AMP
80-Column Card Requirement
AMP, like AppleWorks, requires either an Apple IIe with an 80-column text card or an Apple IIc. AMP will take advantage of the extra memory in an Apple Extended 80-Column Card, allowing you to create bigger Word Processor files.
Interface Cards (Apple //e only)
AMP assumes that you are using an Apple Parallel Interface Card or an Apple Super Serial Card. If you are using another card and you cannot get AMP to print correctly, see the AppleWorks file called "Interface Cards" on the AMP disk.
MERGE Identifiers in Lines of Text
AMP uses a Word Processor file which has already been printed to disk. Since the file contains all of the codes required for your printer, it will look exactly like one printed directly from AppleWorks.
However, the file on disk has carriage returns at the end of every line. AMP cannot rejustify your text if you want to merge a long word or phrase into the middle of a line or paragraph.
In general, you should use AMP to merge information into places in a document such as [MERGE1] through [MERGE4] in the example below, but not [MERGE5].
_________________________________________________
| |
| April 18, 1965 |
| |
| [MERGE1] [MERGE2] |
| [MERGE3] |
| [MERGE4] |
| |
| Dear Ms. [MERGE2], |
| |
| We were very glad to hear that you and |
| your husband, [MERGE5], can attend the new ... |
Note: Most letters can be written so that words don't have to be merged into the middle of a paragraph. But if you do need to merge words in the middle of a paragraph, you can try this technique: Compose the letter so that the MERGE identifier is near the end of a line, but there is still blank space left at the end of the line to accommodate a long word. (You must put a carriage return immediately after the MERGE identifier in order to have blank space at the end of the line.) Feel free to experiment; you can't damage your original AppleWorks files with AMP!
Underlining MERGE Identifiers
If you underline a MERGE identifier and your printer underlines by printing a character and then backspacing, AMP will not find the MERGE identifier and will just print [MERGEx].
Asterisks in MERGE Identifiers
If you are using an asterisk in a MERGE identifier, using continuous-feed paper, and your printer does not accept top-of-page commands, then your letters will get out of alignment. That is, for the letter after the first one that has a blank [MERGEx*] category, the top line will be one line higher than it should be. The top line will move up one line each time there is a blank [MERGEx*] category.
Top-of-Page Commands
If, in AppleWorks, you have "Accepts top-of-page commands" set to "no," then you cannot have AMP stop at the end of each page because AMP needs top-of-page commands to find the end of a page.
Size Limitations of AMP
AMP has various limitations regarding the size of your files and the number of MERGE identifiers you can use.
Size of the Word Processor file:
150 lines or 4675 characters (whichever occurs first) for a 64K system.
245 lines or 8775 characters (whichever occurs first) for a 128K system.
Note: If AMP is very slow analyzing and merging your files, it may be that your Word Processor file is too big. See the error message section for how to solve this problem.
Length of Lines in the Word Processor File:
The maximum line length is 238 characters. (AMP is written in BASIC and 238 characters is the maximum line length for BASIC.) You might exceed this maximum if you use a characters-per-inch setting of 24 or you are printing justified text and have a character-per-inch setting greater than 17. AMP will issue a warning if a line is too long. See the error message section for more information.
Size of the Data Base file:
Unlimited for a 64K or 128K system.
Number of different MERGE identifiers in a Word Processor document:
30 unique MERGE identifiers for a 64K or 128K system. (This is the maximum number of categories allowed in the AppleWorks Data Base.).
Number of MERGE identifiers per line in a Word Processor Document:
6 MERGE identifiers per line for a 64K or 128K system.
