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Text File | 1994-04-23 | 25.9 KB | 501 lines

!TextMax - The Text printer Maximiser (For Epson compatible printers) This is a utility to allow you to use italics, bold print, superscript, etc. in text files by effectively offering these facilities in embedded command form (Like for changing font, colour, etc. ). I wrote it because I can't stand First Word Plus, and would rather use !Edit. The problem is that you can't type in escape characters to !Edit, so it's impossible to type in codes for superscript, bold, italic, etc. I couldn't stick this, as I have a superscript in my name( The c in "McEwan"), and it's really sickening to have to send letters to people with your own name done wrongly, because then you can't get at people for not writing your name properly!. I designed this with my Star LC-200 colour dot-matrix in mind... My printer, being as wonderful as it is, supports "Embedded Commands", in other words, when the printer encounters a specific string in thext it it printing, instead of printing it, it takes it as a command and obeys it. The commands supported by my printer are: ((0)) Select manual paper feeding. ((4)) Select automatic paper feeding. ((C))n Change to colour n - for colour printers. "n" is a 3 bit binary number whose bits have the following meanings: Bit 0 - Use the red ribbon. Bit 1 - use the blue ribbon. Bit 2 - Use the yellow ribbon. So, to print in blue, you would type in your doccument "((C))2". More than one ribbon may be used (in which case the print-head passes over twice or more. ). It is not possible to use all 3 ribbons "((C))7", and if no bits are set "((C))0" the black ribbon will be used. NB the actual entered number MUST be entered in DECIMAL and in the range 0-9. ((F))n Change to font number n. The font numbers are standardised, but not all printers have all fonts. The ones I know, because my printer has them are :0 Courier, 1 SansSerif, 4 Script, 7 Orator, 9 Draft. Or at least I think they are standardised. Look in your printer manual for the codes and fonts your printer supports. ((R)) Eject paper from Automatic Sheet feeder. ((S))n Selects a print size. "n" is a 2-bit binary number whose bits have the following meanings: Bit 0 - width (0 normal, 1 double) Bit 1 - height (0 normal, 1 double) So the command "((S))3" would select double height, double width, and the command "((S))0" would return to normal. NB the actual number entered MUST BE IN DECIMAL and between 0 and 9. ((T))n Set starting point on paper from automatic sheet feeder n/6 inches from the top of the paper, so "((T))6" would start printing one inch from the start of the page. NB commands ((0)), ((4)), ((R)) and ((T))n are only recognised by the printer if it has a cut-sheet feeder installed (mine doesn't), and the ((C)) command will only be used if you have a Colour-compatible printer (like mine!). If the printer doesn't want to use a command (above), it will print the command instead, so be warned - if you type it in wrong, then you'll get the command on your printed page. If your printer does not support these commands, fear ye not! this application interprets all of the above, except the Automatic sheet feeder commands. In fact, it even intercepts them on my printer, but it is just about identical to the printer's own set of functions. The commands provided by this utility are of the form [[x]], so that there is no confusion with possible future epson codes; [[^]] Superscript. Causes subsequent characters to be printed superscript (If your really that thick that you don't know what that means, then try it out and see what it looks like. ) [[6]] Subscript. You know what that means. I chose six because it's on the same key as the up arrow thingie, which is the best mnemonic I could find for it. [[¾]] Cancel super/subscript. You obtain this character by pressing the 6/^ key while holding down Alt. [[/]] Italic printing. [[|]] Upright printing. [[D]] Double-strike printing (Bold). [[d]] Cancel double-strike. [[E]] Emphasized printing (Another form of bold). [[e]] Cancel emphasized printing. [[_]] Underlining on. [[+]] Underlining off. [[Q]] NLQ printing (if your printer supports this. ). Remeber it by nlQ [[F]] Draft qulaity printing. Remeber it by draFt. [[B]] Bold on (both Emphasized and Double-strike) [[b]] Bold off (and turns of emphasived and double-strike too. ) Embedded commands are strings of text which may be placed in a document to be printed. When the printer recieves one of these commands, instead of printing it, it will use it to change font, size, colour, etc. For example: To print my name properly, I'd put in my document the following: "Hello there, my name is Colin M[[^]]c[[¾]]Ewan. " To emphasise a word by using a different colour (if you have a colour printer), use the following in your document: "But this application is ((C))1really((C))0 odd, as it does stupid things. " The Application ¨¨¨ ¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨ • Double-click on the icon in the directory viewer. • Drag a Text-file to the iconbar icon. It will be printed. You can drag straight from an applicaton, but this uses <Wimp$Scrap>, so make sure you yave a scrap directory set up. Various options can be set by clicking MENU over the iconbar icon and choosing the 'Opts' item. This brings up a dialogue box with various menu options (see below). The options can be saved by clicking on 'Save' at the right, or you can get rid of it by clicking 'Cancel'. The Options Window ¨¨¨ ¨¨¨¨¨¨¨ ¨¨¨¨¨¨ By Clicking SELECT on the iconbar icon, the options window will be displayed. At the right of this window are 3 icons toward the bottom. They are: Save: Clicking this will cuase the current settings (see below) to disc, so that those settings are used automatically when you next load TextMax. Cancel: Clicking this will get rid of the dialogue box and return all the settings to their previous values. OK: This closes the window and takes a note of the settings. To the left of these icons, is an area which controls the settings. This may be scrolled by using the scroll bar to it's right. It contains the following: Miscelaneous... Formfeed -if this is selected, then at the end of a document, the paper will be moved up to the top of the next page. (Although if you print a letterhead this sometimes mucks it up. It depends on what sort of printer you have, and whether you're using tractor feed or not ) Letterhead -If this is selected, then the file "Letterhead" will be printd befor the text. See below. Multitasking -This option is not yet implemented. When it is, it will allow multi-tasking to continue in the desktop whilst printing is taking place. Text Justification... Left Justify -If this is selected, then text will be aligned to the left margin, leaving gaps at the right margin. Centre of Page -If this is selected, then text will be centred between the left and right margins. Right Justify -If this is selected, then text will be aligned to the right margin, leaving gaps at the left margin. Full (double) -If this is selected, then extra spaces will be inserted in the text, to enable text to be aligned to both left and right margins, giving straight edges at both left and right margins. NB if you select a different character pitch, then you will have to alter the right-hand margin (see below). Pitch... Pica (10 CPI) -This will cause text to be printed at a pitch of 10 Columns per inch, giving 80 columns on a standard A4 sheet of paper. Elite (12 CPI) -This will cause text te be printed at a pitch of 12 Columns per inch, giving 96 columns on a standard A4 sheet of paper. Condensed -If this option is selected, then text will be printed condensed, so allowing more columns on a piece of paper. Pica will be condensed to 17. 1 CPI and Elite will be condensed to 20 CPI, giving 137 and 160 columns on a sheet of paper respectively. NB Condensed print may not be printed in NLQ. Font... Here is shown the currently selected printer font. By clicking on the arrow to the right of this box, a menu may be called up, from where may be selected a different font to be used. The names of the fonts can be entered in the "Font names" section further down the options window (See below). The font names will be saved. Only 10 fonts are provided for, but if you have more, you can select them by putting an ((F)) command at the start of your document. Margins... Left -This is the number of characters from the left hand edge of the paper the printing will start at. Right -This is the number of characters from the left-hand edge of the paper printing will stop. NB If you select a different pitch, you will have to expand the right margin from the default 80. Print Direction... Uni-directional-This causes the text to be printed uni-directionally. This takes longer than bi-directional printing, and is supposed to give better quality print, due to more accurate dot alignment, but on my printer, it just seems to make the dots align all wrong. Bi-directional -Bi-directional printing is faster than uni-directional, and is supposed to give slightly worse results, but my printer works better with bi-directional. Try both to see which works best on your printer. Colour... If you have a colour printer, then you may select the default colour of the text from this menu (use it like the Font menu above). Not really useful, but included for completeness. Application Style... Pop-in colour -This sets the default colour that icons change to when you click on them. This also sets the defaults for any other program using the WimpExtension module. Menu Icons -If this is selected, then the main menu will have small icons beside it, which I think are nice. But if you don't like them, de-select the icon and they won't be there. Font Names... Under this entry are 9 writeable icons, which let you enter the names of the fonts on your printer so they show properly in the font menu and icon. You must enter the font's name in the correct icon. For example, if, in you printer's manual, the font Courier is numbered font 0, then you must enter it into the icon which says 0 next to it. The Letterhead Option. ¨¨¨ ¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨ ¨¨¨¨¨¨¨ This option causes a letterhead to be printed before the text-file. To create a letterhead, follow the instructions below: 1) Load up !Draw (or !Paint, or ANYTHING else which uses the RISC OS printer drivers) and design your letterhead. 2) Load your printer driver and set it to print to the file "Letterhead" in this application directory. (see the user manual or applications guide for details of how to do this if you are unsure) 3) Print your letterhead. 4) Set your printer-driver to print to your printer again. (This is to ensure the printout file is complete and closed) 5) To print a letterhead before a letter, select the "Letterhead" option from the TextMax options window, and print the letter by dragging it down to the TextMax icon. The text will be printed from the bottom of the letterhead, so you just need to start your letter "Dear Sir/Madam/Bogey, ". ***************************************************************************** This application may be freely copied, used and distributed, so long as no profit, of more than 25% of the charge made, may be made by copying it. All files must be left intact and unchanged, and no alterations may be made without prior permission of the author (me). ***************************************************************************** If anyone out there has a Public Domain Download font editor, or has fonts suitble for direct download to printer, then I'd welcome these very much (I get bored with Courier, Sansserif, Script, Orator, and especially Draft, although the 225 CPS megadraft mode is FAST, and highly useful for printing out long documents, like this or the user manual for WimpExtension. Thanks to Jon Ribbens for the WimpExtension module, which is excellent, but has a very long manual. Also thanks to whichever supplier it was I got my LC200 from. Thanks to Acorn for writting the RO3 PRMs, and not to the Computer Depot for not stocking them, thus making me have to wait 'till 2 weeks from now 'till I can get my mitts on them... (v. 103 addendum 1: 01 Oct 1993 have now got my PRMS! They are wonderful!) Anyway, I suppose I'd better go and do something useful, like work on BackDrips v1. 06H. Just like v1. 06, except it's designed to work from a hard-disc, rather than the ResourceFS. Therefore, it will have the advantage of taking less memory, but the disadvantage of loading slightly slower (I can't test this, as I don't have a Hard-Disc). Oh yeah, the address... (v. 103 addendum 2: 01 Oct 1993. Backdrips v1. 06H has been cancelled, but the standard BackDrips application is now in v1. 08, or something like that) (addendum, 15 Mar 1994: Backdrips will soon be suppied as a package, rather than an application. You can install it to whatever device you like, change the backdrops, etc. The magazines seem to like the old version, so I'll probably force myself to do a new one some time.) I may be contacted at this address: Colin McEwan 11 Helen Way Bonhill Dunbartonshire Strathclyde Scotland G83 9PJ Also welcome at the above address are: Letters, Download fonts, Details of other standard printer fonts, PD software, videos of [ Blossom, Roseanne, Cheers, Drop the Dead Donkey, Whose Line Is It Anyway?, Absolutely, etc. ], ZX9 and ZX9CL printer ribbons (new ones, not old ones!), money (!!?!??), hard-disc drives, A5000s, scanners, digitisers, Laser printers, Multi-sync monitors (Yup, I've still got a TV-res monitor...), digitised pictures [see above list of TV progs], tapes of [anything really. I'm one of those odd peoples who can listen to anything. I am currently listening to the Shamen's "Boss Drum" on Atlantic 252, but I also love classical, folk, "Sixties", and just about everything else. ], paper-clips, letters, upgrades from Oak-Recorder to Oak-Recorder II, E-format floppy discs (NOT F-format, as I've only got an 800k disc drive :-( ), cheap-nasty things from Corn-flake packets, and anything else really... If you click on my name in the info window, you will find a nice scrolly window. I got this idea from Clarisworks on my school's apple-macs (YEUCH! :-6 ), but the only purpose I can see in Apple-Macs is that they are there to have ideas nicked from them. Now there's the thing about the apple-macs. They try to be too cute. But it's an odd sort of cute. Not cute like the Archie's little cartoony icons, but having cute (or rather stupid) options for silly noises and things. Is that a waste or what? The difference between the Arc and the Mac is that on the mac you have to pay for the cute stuff (i.e. It is Apple themselves who are silly), but on the Arc, the silly stuff is completely free (i.e. it is people like wot I is wot writes the silly stuff. ). Go suck an Apple-Mac (Sorry...I didn't mean that...). If you're not interested in chronology, then skip the next bit, because it's an oh-so boring... Version History ¨¨¨¨¨¨¨ ¨¨¨¨¨¨¨ Righty-ho. Version history...(changes that is...) 1.00 (01 Aug 1993) First half-decent version. All production variants were also numbered 1. 00, so this could get confusing if you have a pre-release version (but I only gave this to a few friends, so I'll have words with them if it ever gets out into general circulation. ) 1.01 (05 Aug 1993) Altered menu icons (gright) so they popped into the sprite pgright. Much nicer. Made whichmenu% variable point to the location of the menu structure, rather than just numbering the menus. This way, I can identify the current menu, as well as examining it without the need to use a CASE or anything. Corrected the positioning of the colours and fonts menus relative to the gright button. I'd only ever previously encountered this in !Configure, and I hadn't looked too closely at it. Removed outline fonts from Info window, too keep RO2ers happy. Added beep when error or prompt. Removed "Okay then. " report when cancelling unknown file print. (this was stupid and pointless). Moved options to a menu option (rather than just clicking iconbar). Removed Close icon from options window. Added option to change default slabbing colours. Can be grey 3 for compliance, or grey 1 or orange for good taste. You can even have icons slabbing cream if you want. (Disgusting, but according to Acorn, most people seem to like it...) Added option to turn menu icons on or off. Options dialogue box is now a true dialogue box in that nothing happens until you press OK (not true actually. It's just that if you press CANCEL it undoes it all. That's probably better, 'cos then the user can see what he/she wants to do safely). Whoever it was that designed Morpheus ought to be taken out and publicly insulted for his/her options box. It's horrible, and does not in any way follow the RISC OS standards. And besides which, instead of OK or CANCEL, they put the word "Close" on the OK icon. Eurgh. In fact, the ad says that it's Risc OS 3 only, and that's probably only because it uses the sicky RO3 bordering routines. Fixed slight (understatement...) bug with versions of WimpExt larger than 2.17. Gave silly errors because the command WimpExt_Defaults was changed to WimpExt Defaults. Highly annoying. I don't know exactly which version this was changed in, but I know it's somewhere between 2.10 and 2.17...I have assumed the transition took place with version 2.17. If you have a version between 2.10 and 2.17, (or even beter, if you know WHEN this change took place), then please write and tell me. I'm away to play Zool, or SWIV, or Xenon II or something now. ByeBye. 1.02 (20 Sep 1993) What I said above about versions of WimpExt greater than 2.17. I was talking through somewhere I'd rather not specify. All that did was fix it so it didn't work with versons less than 2. 17. Basically, try and lay your hands on a copy of v2. 17 or greater. If not, write me and I'll give you a copy. Still don't know why it doesn't work. Also added nice logo. Well, that's it. I'm in the middle of reading the Hitch-Hiker trilogy (5 books, and they STILL call it a trilogy?) for the umpteenth time, and I still love them all (or do I love the fact that«some one»loves them too?), so I'm off to read them. Definetely more intresting than Zool, which gets boring after you've completed it squillions of times. (If you can't complete it, write me and I'll give you a copy of my Zool Cheatmod (or even better (for Andrew that is), buy The Hacker (or if Desktop Hacker is out, buy that. ))) {Don't be silly, of course it isn't - I'd rather you didn't mention it yet really :-) -AjC} {Sorry, didn't mean it. -CMcE} 1.03 (01 Oct 1993) Added nice texturey windows. I think this is actually quite a nice idea, and by the way Andrew is talking, it sounds as if it's going to be a feature in the new versions of RISC OS. {Sssh! I'll get in trouble! -AjC} {Sorry again -CMcE} I'll be pleased tho if Jon puts it in the new versions of WimpExt. Made the Hourglass come on when loading. Much nicer when you've got a custom hourglass loaded... 1.04 (06 Oct 1993) Some feedback! Thank-you Andrew. Doesn't anyone else out there care? At all? If you have any grumbles, I'll fix them! Honest! Started adding "LC-200 emulation" for embedded commands on other printers, changed the font menu to an editable one, only loaded up nice sprites if on a RISC OS 2 machine (which doesn't have gright at all), speeded up printing of letterhead by using *Copy instead, and added direct saving from apps using <Wimp$Scrap>. Also changed texture to a 4-colour version of the nice 256 colour one from !MyDesk256 (Which isn't available yet...{Will you shut up! -AjC}), and only made the textures draw out on versions of the WIMP smaller than 3. 22, as I'm told that version is going to have built in window textures :-9 Added options to set draft/LQ from documents, and also to set both up with one command (Bold). Made options file type FFD (data). Also loaded sprites into application space rather than the WIMP pool (they were TOO BIG!). Also slight bug fix for a missing ENDIF when loading the application with no letterhead file. 1.05 (16 Nov 1993) Haha! Well, I've made the DataSaveAck bit so's it doesn't change the title of the document if you've dragged it from a program. It wasn't because I haven't put in a Message_DataLoadAck, but because I forgot to set all bits in word 36 of the message block to mark it as 'unsafe'. Also, I've sorted out the problem where the letterhead must be altered on loading, by making the app swell it's WimpSlot, loading the letterhead and change the 3mme last byte to 0, and then saving it to Printer:$.Output. Also, fixed a slight bug with the textures, which I'm sure Andrew would rather I didn't say anything about :-) 1.06 (18 Jan 1994) Is it really that long since I've done anything on this? Anyway. I've fixed it so's Wimp$Scrap is deleted when the transfer's done. I thought the other application was supposed to do it! What does RTFPRM stand for, Andrew? (innocence...) :-? Added support for !NewerLook, fixed bug in Risc OS 2 where the sprites didn't show in the window (oops!), and closed output file occasionally to get percentages right.ish. 1.07 (05 Apr 1994) Abandoned support for !NewerLook, as I've just recieved a proper release version, and my sprites don't seem to be loading correctly, for some reason, and I can't be bothered with it, basically. Enlarged opitons window arrangement, as the original was a bit small. Also, sorted the WimpExt bits to use WimpExt_ViewIcon, where available, and also standardised the control-key functions. Fixed (?) problems with icons under RiscOS 2, with any luck The future? ¨¨¨ ¨¨¨¨¨¨¨ Well, possibly the next thing I'm going to do is to add support for multiple style codes. The embedded command system is a bit dilly, so I'm busy formulating a paren-based system. I'm also thinking of adding a variation on the standard BBS codes, eg. /text/ for italics, *text* for bold, **text** for bold+underline, etc. Although a paren-based system, with definable styles and parens would probably be better. Also, the ability to place comments in a text file, to be displayed on screen, but not printed could be useful, for example, to pause the printer for changing something manually, like changing to megadraft mode (255cps, on my printer!), or manually changing ribbon colour, etc. Ah well...Time to tiddly-bye! Now I lay me down to sleep, Try to count Electric Sheep, Sweet Dream wishes you can keep, How I hate the night. Now the World has gone to bed, Darkness won't engulf my head, I can see by Infra Red, How I hate the night. Marvin the Paranoid Android (my hero (?!) ) -Colin the Paranoid Humanoid, 16 Nov 1993