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- This document will give you an idea as to how PMACRO works and how it will
- make your printer be more productive. It is being written with an editor
- that has no printer control commands. All control codes that eventually
- reach the printer will be as a result of PMACRO. The control codes
- that I will use are in the file "FX80MAC.PRN", which was created with PMACRO.
- Since that file is for an Epson FX80 printer, you will have to load it into
- PMACRO and redo the control codes if you have a different printer. You would
- then execute RPMACRO, passing either FX80MAC.PRN or the file you created as
- a command line argument. Once RPMACRO is resident in RAM, simply enter at the
- DOS prompt "type example.doc > prn" and press the return key. Compare the
- output from the printer with this file and you will understand what PMACRO can
- do for you. Now let's show you what PMACRO can do.
-
- It is impossible for some word processors (Wordstar, for instance) to switch
- to Italics inside a document. With PMACRO, it's as easy as this:
- ~italic on~This text is now being printed in italics. Let's change back to regular
- print now.~italic off~ How about some underlining?? Simply surround the descriptive
- phrase that you set up in PMACRO with the trigger key, and you have
- underlining! ~ul on~ And this is what you get.~ul off~ Have you ever wanted to switch to
- compressed mode from within a document? That's easy too!
-
- ~comp on~Here is an example of what that would look like. Any mode that is supported
- by your printer can be accessed. You are no longer at the mercy of your word
- processor. Now, back to standard print.~comp off~
-
- Printers are getting more sophisticated all the time. New laser printers
- with many different fonts are hitting the market. However, these new features
- can not be used until the word processor manufacturers support the new control
- codes - until now. PMACRO will allow you to send any control code (25
- characters in length or less) to any printer.
-
- Note that if you put a phrase that is not in the file in your document, it
- will print out normally. Like this - ~elite on~
- Also note that if you forget to include the ending trigger character, no
- control codes will be sent to the printer. Instead the text will appear
- as is. ~elite offThis should make it simple for you to debug any problems you might
- encounter. In short, if the sequence prints out, something is wrong and
- your phrase is not getting translated.