PC-SIG Library 8

home *** CD-ROM | disk | FTP | other *** search

/ PC-SIG Library 8 / PC-SIG Library CD-ROM (8th Edition) (1990-04).iso / 2001_100 / disk2048 / manual < prev next >

Wrap

Text File | 1990-01-17 | 56.5 KB | 1,384 lines

PRINT-matic A User Programmable Printer Productivity Kit AND WARP-TEN A Small, Fast, Programmable Disk Caching System LICENSE TERMS THIS SOFTWARE IS PROTECTED BY THE UNITED STATES COPYRIGHT LAW. YOU ARE GRANTED A LIMITED, NON-EXCLUSIVE LICENSE TO USE ONE COPY OF WARP-TEN AND ONE COPY OF PRINT-matic ON A SINGLE MACHINE, AND TO MAKE COPIES FOR OTHER USERS TO EVALUATE. LIMITED WARRANTY THE SOFTWARE BREWING COMPANY PROVIDES THIS SOFTWARE "AS IS" WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND EITHER EXPRESSED OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE WITH RESPECT TO DEFECTS IN THE PROGRAM AND/OR DOCUMENTATION. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE SOFTWARE BREWING COMPANY BE LIABLE FOR ANY LOSS OF PROFIT OR ANY OTHER COMMERCIAL DAMAGE, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO SPECIAL, INCIDENTAL, CONSEQUENTIAL OR OTHER DAMAGES. Copyright (C) 1986 - 1990 SOFTWARE BREWING COMPANY P.O. Box 12094 St.Paul, MN 55112 612-636-2727 -1- This document comprises the manuals for the WARP-TEN software package and the PRINT-matic software package. These versions of the programs are being distributed under the SHAREWARE concept of marketing. The SHAREWARE concept is based on three principles: 1. Cost benefits. With minimal advertising budget, without a marketing staff, and generally with fewer people demanding a piece of the pie, SHAREWARE authors can keep costs down and pass the savings on to you. 2. Try before you buy. Rather than buy a program without knowing whether it will meet your needs, SHAREWARE gives you the opportunity to try software before you shell out any money. 3. Easy access. Since SHAREWARE can be freely copied and distributed, you can choose from thousands of programs available from bulletin boards and mail order catalogs who sell disks for nominal fees. Everyone benefits by the existence of SHAREWARE. Users benefit by receiving quality software at low prices, and by being able to try the programs before purchasing it. Authors benefit by being able to start a software business without enormous capital requirements. Whether quality programs continue to be offered thru SHAREWARE depends to a large part on YOU. The bottom line is, if you use these programs, please register. If you like and use either or both of these programs, I would greatly appreciate your registration. I have worked hard to provide you with quality software, and registration will provide me with the means to improve these existing packages and create other useful programs. REGISTRATION COSTS ONLY $20. For this small donation you will receive: 1. The next major versions of both programs will be sent to you at no additional charge. 2. Announcements of future versions and future Software Brewing Company products, as they become available. 3. A genuine, never-before-offered-in-this-century "BREWERY" T-shirt. The Software Brewing Company's logo (a diskette in the shape of a beer mug with suds coming out the top) adorns the front of this sure-to-be collector's item. This offer is good until Dec 31, 1990. 4. Our assurance that you will never pay more than $20 (adjusted for inflation/deflation) for a piece of software that the Brewery sells. The Brewery believes that past customers should be rewarded. You have watched small companies with inexpensive software grow to become large companies with higher and higher prices on their products. Now you can lock in future prices with this new customer reward policy. -2- 5. Support. The Brewery will be happy to answer questions from registered users. 6. An additional utility that remembers your last 10 DOS commands, assigns them function keys, and pops them up in a window on your monitor. This utility will be sent to you when the next major versions of the programs are available. Legally, you can freely copy and distribute the Brewery's shareware software as long as: -> No fee (except copying and distributing costs) is charged. In any case, charges will not exceed $10. -> It is distributed in its original, unmodified, uncut form. -> It is not distributed with any other software, unless prior permission has been obtained. If you have any interest in bundling any of these programs with any other programs, please contact me. Send all inquiries and registrations to: Software Brewing Company P.O. Box 12094 St. Paul, MN 55112 Make all checks payable to the Software Brewing Company. We also take Visa and MasterCharge. Please use the order form at the end of this document if at all possible. If you do not have access to a printer, please include with your payment all the information requested on the order form. Site licenses and commercial distribution licenses are available. Please contact us for more information. Comments (both good and bad) are welcomed. User input can make any program better. We promise we will listen to all suggestions. -3- TABLE OF CONTENTS INTRODUCTION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .4 PMATIC . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .4 PMACRO . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .4 OTHER FILES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 HOW TO USE PMATIC . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 USE PMATIC.EXE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .6 USE RPMATIC.EXE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .10 USE RPMATDIN.COM . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11 USE NRPMATIC.EXE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11 PMATIC MESSAGES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .12 HOW TO USE PMACRO . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .14 USE PMACRO.EXE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14 USE RPMACRO.EXE. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19 USE RPMACDIN.COM. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .19 PMACRO MESSAGES. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19 WARP-TEN . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21 -4- INTRODUCTION PRINT-matic consists of two printer utilities: PMATIC and PMACRO. Both utilities can be used to send control codes to your printer to customize the documents you print. The two utilities are introduced below. PMATIC With the programs in PMATIC, you define the control codes you want to send to your printer by creating PMATIC menus. You can then use these menus by either running RPMATIC.EXE or NRPMATIC.EXE. The following programs make up PMATIC. For more information about how to use these programs, see page 3. -> PMATIC.EXE is the set-up program that you use to create the PMATIC menus that contain the printer control codes you want to use. These menus are stored in menu files. With PMATIC.EXE, you also assign the hot key you want to use to access the menus from within an application (if RPMATIC.EXE is used). -> RPMATIC.EXE is a RAM-resident (Random Access Memory) program. When you run RPMATIC, it loads itself and a PMATIC menu into memory. You can then access and use that menu from within an application by just pressing a key. -> NRPMATIC.EXE is a non-RAM-resident program you run to use a PMATIC menu from the operating system. NRPMATIC and that menu are loaded in RAM (and can be used) only as long as the menu is on the screen. -> RPMATDIN.COM is a program that de-installs RPMATIC.EXE and a PMATIC menu from RAM. PMACRO With PMACRO, you define macros that represent control codes that you want to send to your printer. Once you have defined these macros, you can embed them in your documents. When you print the documents, the control codes associated with the macros are reflected in the printed document. With PMACRO, you can use printer features that may not be available in the word processing package you are using. The following programs make up PMACRO. For more information about how to use these programs, see page 11. -5- -> PMACRO.EXE is the set-up program that you use to define the control code macros you want to embed in your documents. These macros are stored in macro control code files. With PMACRO.EXE, you also assign a trigger character. You use this trigger character (along with a macro name) in your document to delineate the text that you want to be affected by the macro. -> RPMACRO.EXE is a RAM-resident program that intercepts macros while a document is printing and transforms those macros into their corresponding control codes. -> RPMACDIN.COM is a program that de-installs RPMACRO.EXE from RAM. OTHER FILES Besides the files listed on the previous page, the PRINT-matic diskette contains the following files: -> FX80.PMT: An example of a menu file created with PMATIC.EXE for use with RPMATIC.EXE or NRPMATIC.EXE on Epson FX80 printers. -> CITOH.PMT: An example of a menu file, created with PMATIC.EXE for use with RPMATIC.EXE or NRPMATIC.EXE on the Citoh8510A printer or the NEC-8023A-C printer. -> FX80.PMC: An example of a macro control code file created with PMACRO.EXE for use on RPMACRO.EXE on Epson FX80 printers. -> CITOH.PMC: An example of a macro control code file created with PMACRO.EXE for use with RPMACRO.EXE on a Citoh8510A or NEC PC-8023A-C printer. -> EXAMPLE.DOC: A sample document with embedded macros. HOW TO USE PMATIC To use PMATIC, you must: 1. Use PMATIC.EXE to design your PMATIC menus and assign hot keys. 2. Run RPMATIC or NRPMATIC. 3. Press the hot key to access a PMATIC menu from within your application (only if RPMATIC is used). 4. Print a document. Each of these steps is described below. -6- USE PMATIC.EXE PMATIC.EXE is the set-up program for PMATIC. With it, you create the PMATIC menus that contain the control codes you want to send to your printer, and assign the hot keys that you will use to access those menus from within your applications. To use PMATIC, enter PMATIC at the DOS prompt. Six windows are displayed on the screen. Diagram 1 - PMATIC Windows illustrates these windows. Some of the fields in the windows contain default values. Each window is discussed beginning on page 5. The valid cursor movement and editing keys are listed in Diagram 2 - Valid Keys in PMATIC. Diagram 1 - PMATIC Windows !==================================================================! ! (1) !(2)! (3) ! (4) ! ! H ! F ! DESCRIPTION ! PRINTER CONTROL CODES ! ! O ! U ! ! ! ! T ! N ! ! ! ! ! C ! ! ! ! K ! T ! ! ! ! E ! I ! ! ! ! Y ! O ! ! ! ! S ! N ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! K ! ! ! ! ! E ! ! ! ! ! Y ! ! ! ! ! S ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! !==================================================================! ! (5) ! (6) ! ! MISCELLANEOUS ! MENU TITLE ! ! ! ! !==================================================================! Diagram 2 - Valid Keys in PMATIC KEY___________FUNCTION____________________________________WINDOW Up Arrow Moves the cursor up one position. 1, 3, 4 Down Arrow Moves the cursor down one position. 1, 3, 4 Left Arrow Moves the cursor to the left one position. 3, 4 Right Arrow Moves the cursor to the right one position. 3, 4 Ctrl- Moves the cursor to the beginning of the 4 Left Arrow highlighted field. Ctrl- Moves the cursor to the last completed 4 Right Arrow position in the field. -7- Home Moves the cursor to the first field in a 1, 3, 4 window. End Moves the cursor to the last field in a 1, 3, 4 window. Page Up Moves the cursor up 13 entries in the 1, ASCII window. Page Down Moves the cursor down 13 entries in the 1, ASCII window. Return or Moves the cursor down to the next field. 3, 4 Enter Backspace Deletes the character to the left of the 3, 4 cursor. Tab Moves the cursor to the next window. 1, 3, 4, 5, 6 Shift + Tab Moves the cursor to the previous window. 1, 3, 4, 5, 6 F2 Deletes to the end of the line. 3 F3 Loads a file that you previously created. 1, 3, 4, 5, 6 F4 Saves a file that you create. 1, 3, 4, 5, 6 F5 Displays ASCII/decimal/Hexadecimal 4 translation table. Escape Exits the program. All Window 1: Hot Key This window lists the valid hot keys you can use to access a PMATIC menu from within your application. Valid hot keys are: -> Ctrl plus any letter. -> Alt plus any letter. -> F1 through F10. -> Ctrl, Alt, or Shift plus F1 through F10. To select the hot key you want to use, move the cursor to the desired hot key, and press Tab to leave the window. The hot key has been saved. The hot key you selected is displayed in the Hot Key Selected field in the MISCELLANEOUS window. Each menu you create can have a different hot key. NOTE: If you are going to use the menus you create from within an application, make sure the hot key you select is not already used in that application. Also make sure it is not already used in any other RAMresident programs. -8- Window 2: Function Key This window lists the function keys F1 through F16. The control codes you enter in the PRINTER CONTROL CODES window (see below) are assigned to these function keys. Later, when you want to send control codes to your printer, you press the appropriate function key (F10 through F16 are the Shift key plus F1 through F6). You cannot enter anything in this window. Window 3: Descriptions In this window, you can enter a description of the control codes you assign to the function keys. For example, if you design the menu so that F1 sends control codes to the printer that change the page offset to 10, you could enter "Page Offset = 10" in the DESCRIPTION window. Each line in the window holds 22 characters. You do not have to enter anything in this window. Window 4: Printer Control Codes In this window, enter the control codes or control code sequences--in decimal--that you want to send to the printer. The control codes will be assigned to the function keys on the corresponding line in the FUNCTION KEY window. Because there are so many different printers in use, and because the control code sequences used to get desired print results varies from printer to printer, it is impossible for me to list exactly the codes you should send. Refer to the user's manual for your printer to learn what codes to send. I can however, provide guidelines on what to enter in this window once you know the control code sequences you want to send. Below are some general guidelines: -> If your printer manual says to use CHR$ (XX) to get the desired print results, enter XX in the PRINTER CONTROL CODES window. -> If your printer manual says to use ESC "XX" to get the desired print results, enter 027 (the decimal equivalent of ESC) and the decimal equivalent of XX in the PRINTER CONTROL CODES window. You do not need to enter the decimal equivalent of the quotation marks. -> If your printer manual says to use CTRL A to get the desired print results, enter 001 (the decimal equivalent of CTRL A) in the PRINTER CONTROL CODES window. NOTE: Ctrl A through Ctrl Z are 001 through 026, respectively, in decimal. -> Some printer manuals give Hexadecimal values to send to the printer. Be sure to convert those values to decimal before entering them in the PRINTER CONTROL CODES window. -9- Below is a list of rules for using the PRINTER CONTROL CODES window: -> The control codes you enter must be in decimal. When the cursor is in the PRINTER CONTROL CODES window, you can press F5 to access a conversion table. This table shows ASCII, decimal, and Hexadecimal equivalents. Press F5 again to remove the table from the screen. -> You can enter up to 25 control codes on each line in this window (the contents of the window scroll to the left as you move the cursor to the right). -> Each control code must be three characters. So for example, if the decimal control code you want to send is "27" enter "027" in the window. -> Enter the characters for a control code in the small squares in the window. Each control code is separated by a line. Window 5: Miscellaneous In this window, identify the printer port your printer is connected to. In the Printer Number Selected field, enter 1, 2, or 3 to indicate LPT1, LPT2, or LPT3. Some of the cursor movement and editing keys that are operable in the window that the cursor is in are displayed in this window. The fields that appear when you select to load or save a menu file are also displayed in this window. In the Hot Key Selected field, the hot key that you selected in the HOT KEY window is displayed. Window 6: Menu Title In this window, you can assign a name to the menu that you are creating. The name you enter will appear at the top of the menu when you access it later. The name will automatically be centered after you leave the window or save the menu file. You don't have to enter a name if you don't want to. This window also displays the current date and time. Save the File Once you have completed all the windows, press F4. The Save File Name field will appear at the bottom of the MISCELLANEOUS window. Enter a name for the menu file (DOS naming rules apply) and press Return. Then, press ESC to exit PMATIC.EXE. To learn how to use a menu you've created, see below. -10- Edit a File To edit an existing menu file, enter PMATIC.EXE at the operating system prompt. Press F3. The Load File Name field will appear at the bottom of the MISCELLANEOUS window. Enter the name of the existing menu file you want to edit and press Return. Make the necessary changes to the menu and save the menu file as described above. USE RPMATIC.EXE Once you have created a PMATIC menu with PMATIC.EXE, you must use RPMATIC.EXE or NRPMATIC.EXE to access that menu (see below for details about NRPMATIC). To use RPMATIC, enter RPMATIC <filename> at the DOS prompt. <Filename> is the name of a menu file you created with PMATIC.EXE. RPMATIC and the PMATIC menu are now resident in memory. Sign on to the application from which you want to send printer control codes. Press the hot key you defined in PMATIC.EXE for the menu. The PMATIC menu is displayed on the screen. This menu lists the following: -> The name of the menu that you entered in the TITLE window in PMATIC.EXE. -> Function keys F1 through F17. -> The descriptions you entered in the DESCRIPTIONS window in PMATIC.EXE. -> The control codes you entered in the PRINTER CONTROL CODES window in PMATIC.EXE. To send control codes to the printer, press the appropriate function keys. If you press F17 (Shift plus F7), a message will be printed on your printer that illustrates the codes that were sent and the current status of the printer. IMPORTANT: To use F10 through F17, press the Shift key plus F1 through F7. Press ESC to exit the menu and return to your application. Then, print a document from your application. The control codes you sent to the printer will be in effect. If RPMATIC is already resident, and you want to change the menu file being used with it, you must reload RPMATIC, specifying the new menu file name. The new menu file will replace the one already in memory. -11- USE RPMATDIN.COM To de-install RPMATIC from memory without rebooting the computer, use RPMATDIN.COM. Enter RPMATDIN at the DOS prompt. A message is displayed that tells you RPMATIC has been de-installed. NOTE: RPMATDIN.COM works only if RPMATIC was the last program loaded in memory. USE NRPMATIC.EXE NRPMATIC.EXE is a non-RAM-resident version of RPMATIC. To use NRPMATIC, enter NRPMATIC <filename> at the DOS prompt. <Filename> is the name of a menu file you created with PMATIC.EXE. The menu is displayed on the screen. This menu lists the following: -> The name of the menu that you entered in the TITLE window in PMATIC.EXE. -> Function keys F1 through F17. -> The descriptions you entered in the DESCRIPTIONS window in PMATIC.EXE. -> The control codes you entered in the PRINTER CONTROL CODES window in PMATIC.EXE. To send control codes to the printer, press the appropriate function keys. If you press F17 (Shift plus F7), a message will be printed on your printer that illustrates the codes that were sent and the current status of the printer. IMPORTANT: To use F10 through F17, press the Shift key plus F1 through F7. Press ESC to exit the menu and return to the operating system. Then, sign on to your application and print a document. The control codes you sent to the printer will be in effect. NOTE: For convenience, you may want to load NRPMATIC with a batch program. -12- PMATIC MESSAGES A printer control code file must be specified CAUSE: You tried to run RPMATIC or NRPMATIC without specifying a menu file name. ACTION: Re-enter RPMATIC or NRPMATIC, specifying a menu file created with PMATIC. CONTROL CODE SENT! CAUSE: Affirms that control codes have been sent to the printer. ACTION: No action is necessary. FILE CAN NOT BE OPENED OR CREATED! CAUSE: You attempted to save a menu file. However, the name you entered for the file is illegal. ACTION: Re-enter a valid name (DOS naming rules apply). FILE DOES NOT EXIST OR CAN NOT BE OPENED! CAUSE: You attempted to load a menu file. However, you either entered an invalid name, or entered the name of a file that does not exist. ACTION: Enter the name of an existing menu file. Insufficient Memory! CAUSE: You attempted to load RPMATIC and a menu file. However, there is not enough space in RAM to load them. ACTION: Unload any RAM-resident programs that you do not need. RPMATIC and a menu file take up approximately 12K of RAM. New RPMATIC control code file successfully loaded! CAUSE: You loaded a new menu file into memory. ACTION: No action is necessary. -13- Printer control code file not found CAUSE: The menu file you entered does not exist, or you made a typo when entering the file name. ACTION: Check the menu file name you entered. Make sure the file exists. Correct any typos. PRINTER NOT READY! CAUSE: Your printer is not online, or is not connected properly. ACTION: Make sure your printer is online and ready to print. RPMATIC successfully loaded into memory! CAUSE: You successfully loaded RPMATIC and a menu file into memory. ACTION: No action is necessary. -14- HOW TO USE PMACRO To use PMACRO, you must: 1. Use PMACRO.EXE to define your macros and assign trigger characters. 2. Run RPMACRO. 3. Embed the appropriate macros in your document. 4. Print a document. Each of these steps is discussed below. USE PMACRO.EXE PMACRO.EXE is the set-up program for PMACRO. With it, you define the macros that are associated with the control codes you want to send to your printer, and assign a trigger character that you will embed in your documents to delineate that text that you want to be affected by a macro. To use PMACRO.EXE, enter PMACRO at the DOS prompt. Five windows are displayed on the screen. Diagram 3 - PMACRO Windows illustrates these windows. Some of the fields in the windows contain default values. Each window is discussed beginning on page 13. The valid cursor movement and editing keys are listed in Diagram 4 - Valid Keys in PMACRO. Diagram 3 - PMACRO Windows !===============================================================! ! (1) ! (2) ! (3) ! ! M ! MACRO NAME ! PRINTER CONTROL CODES ! ! A ! ! ! ! C ! ! ! ! R ! ! ! ! O ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! N ! ! ! ! U ! ! ! ! M ! ! ! ! B ! ! ! ! E ! ! ! ! R ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! !===============================================================! ! (4) ! (5) ! ! MISCELLANEOUS ! DATE & TIME ! ! ! ! ! ! ! !===============================================================! Diagram 4 - Valid Keys in PMACRO -15- KEY____________FUNCTION___________________________________WINDOW Up Arrow Moves the cursor up one position. 2, 3 Down Arrow Moves the cursor down one position. 2, 3 Left Arrow Moves the cursor to the left one position. 2, 3 Right Arrow Moves the cursor to the right one 2, 3 position. Ctrl- Moves the cursor to the beginning of the 3 Left Arrow highlighted field. Ctrl- Moves the cursor to the last completed 3 Right Arrow position in the field. Home Moves the cursor to the first field in a 2, 3 window. End Moves the cursor to the last field in a 2, 3 window. Page Up Moves the cursor up 13 entries in the 2, 3 window. Page Down Moves the cursor down 13 entries in the 2, 3 window. Ctrl- Displays the previous 13 entries in the 3 Page Up ASCII table. Ctrl- Displays the next 13 entries in the ASCII 3 Page Down table. Ctrl-Home Displays the beginning of the ASCII table. 3 Crtl-End Displays the end of the ASCII table. 3 Return or Moves the cursor down to the next field. 2, 3 Enter Backspace Deletes character to the left of the 2, 3 cursor. Tab Moves the cursor to the next window. 2, 3, 4 Shift + Tab Moves the cursor to the previous window. 2, 3, 4 F2 Deletes to the end of the line. 3 F3 Loads a file that you previously created. 2, 3, 4 F4 Saves a file that you create. 2, 3, 4 F5 Displays an ASCII/decimal translation 3table. Escape Exits the program. All -16- Window 1: Macro Number This window lists the number 1 through 100. These numbers correspond to the macro name and control codes you enter. You cannot enter anything in this window. Window 2: Macro Name In this window, enter the names of the macros that you want to use. These macro names correspond to the control codes you will enter in the PRINTER CONTROL CODES window. Later, you will embed these names in your document. Each macro name can be up to 11 characters long. Window 3: Printer Control Codes In this window, enter the control codes or control code sequences--in decimal--that you want to send to the printer. The control codes will be assigned to the macro name on the corresponding line in the MACRO NAME window. Because there are so many different printers in use, and because the control code sequences used to get desired print results varies from printer to printer, it is impossible for me to list exactly the codes you should send. Refer to the user's manual for your printer to learn what codes to send. I can however, provide guidelines on what to enter in this window once you know the control code sequences you want to send. Below are some general guidelines: -> If your printer manual says to use CHR$ (XX) to get the desired print results, enter XX in the PRINTER CONTROL CODES window. -> If your printer manual says to use ESC "XX" to get the desired print results, enter 027 (the decimal equivalent of ESC) and the decimal equivalent of XX in the PRINTER CONTROL CODES window. You do not need to enter the decimal equivalent of the quotation marks. -> If your printer manual says to use CTRL A to get the desired print results, enter 001 (the decimal equivalent of CTRL A) in the PRINTER CONTROL CODES window. NOTE: Ctrl A through Ctrl Z are 001 through 026, respectively, in decimal. -> Some printer manuals give Hexadecimal values to send to the printer. Be sure to convert those values to decimal before entering them in the PRINTER CONTROL CODES window. -17- Below is a list of rules for using the PRINTER CONTROL CODES window: -> The control codes you enter must be in decimal. When the cursor is in the PRINTER CONTROL CODES window, you can press F5 to access a translation table. This table shows ASCII and decimal equivalents. Press F5 again to remove the table from the screen. -> You can enter up to 25 control codes on each line in this window (the contents of the window scroll to the left as you move the cursor to the right). -> Each control code must be three characters. So for example, if the decimal control code you want to send is "27" enter "027" in the window. -> Enter the characters for a control code in the small squares in the window. Each control codes is separated by a line. -> We recommend that, if you create a macro that activates a printer feature, you also create a macro that deactivates that macro. For example, if you create a macro that activates underlining, create a macro that deactivates underlining. Window 4: Miscellaneous In the Trigger Character Selected field of this window, enter the trigger character you want to use to delineate macros. For example: if you enter @ as the trigger character, and you want to embed the macros "BOLD" and "UNBOLD" (which represent the control codes that print bold face and then turn bold face off) in your document, you would use the trigger character and macros like this: @BOLD@ This is the document text.@UNBOLD@ Everything between the two macros would be printed in bold face. If, however, you had entered the following: @BOLD This is the document text. RPMACRO would not print the text in bold face, because there is no ending trigger character. -18- In the following example, assume that the only macro defined in the macro control code file is BOLD and the trigger character is @. If you enter the following: @BOLD This @BOLD@ is the document text. RPMACRO would not print anything in bold face. It recognizes the first two trigger characters and tries to find the macro "BOLD This". However, since that macro does not exist, the text is not affected. The next thing RPMACRO "reads" is the second word "BOLD". It does not recognize the second occurrence of "BOLD" as a macro, since it has already "used" the trigger character immediately preceding the second "BOLD". RPMACRO will read the third trigger character. If it does not find a match on a macro in the macro control code file within the following 11 characters, it will assume there is no macro associated with that trigger character. Therefore, you can use the character assigned as the trigger character for other things in the document. Some of the cursor movement and editing keys that are operable in the window that the cursor is in are displayed in this window. The fields that appear when you select to load or save a menu file are also displayed in this window. Window 5: Date & Time This window displays the current date and time. You cannot enter anything in this window. Save the File Once you have completed all the windows, press F4. The Save File Name field will appear at the bottom of the MISCELLANEOUS window. Enter a name for the macro control file (DOS naming rules apply) and press Return. Then, press ESC to exit PMACRO.EXE. To learn how to use the macros you've created, see below. Edit a File To edit an existing macro control code file, enter PMACRO.EXE at the operating system prompt. Press F3. The Load File Name field will appear at the bottom of the MISCELLANEOUS window. Enter the name of the existing macro control code file you want to edit and press Return. Make the necessary changes to the macros and save the file as described above. -19- USE RPMACRO.EXE Once you've created a macro control code file with PMACRO.EXE, you must use RPMACRO.EXE to load that file into RAM. To do so, enter RPMACRO <filename> at the DOS prompt. <Filename> is the name of a macro control code file you created. Sign on to your application and load the document in which you want to embed PMACRO macros. Embed the macro name using the trigger character you defined for the macro control code file. See page 14 under "Window 4: Miscellaneous" for details. Or, embed the macros as you create a document. Print the document. The control codes associated with the macros will be in effect. If RPMACRO is already resident, and you want to change the macro control code file being used with it, you must reload RPMACRO, specifying the new macro control code file. The new macro control code file will replace the one already in memory. USE RPMACDIN.COM To de-install RPMACRO from memory without rebooting the computer, use RPMACDIN.COM. Enter RPMACDIN at the DOS prompt. A message is displayed that tells you RPMACRO has been de-installed. NOTE: RPMACDIN.COM works only if RPMACRO was the last program loaded in memory. PMACRO MESSAGES A printer macro file must be specified CAUSE: You tried to run RPMACRO without specifying a macro control code file name. ACTION: Re-enter RPMACRO, specifying a macro control code file created with PMACRO. FILE CAN NOT BE OPENED OR CREATED! CAUSE: You attempted to save a macro control code file. However, the name you entered for the file is illegal. ACTION: Re-enter a valid name (DOS naming rules apply). FILE DOES NOT EXIST OR CAN NOT BE OPENED! CAUSE: You attempted to load a macro control code file. However, you either entered an invalid name, or entered the name of a file that does not exist. ACTION: Enter the name of an existing macro control code file. -20- Insufficient Memory! CAUSE: You attempted to load RPMACRO and a macro control code file. However, there is not enough space in RAM to load them. ACTION: Unload any RAM-resident programs that you do not need. RPMACRO and a macro control code file take up approximately 12K of RAM. New RPMACRO control code file successfully loaded! CAUSE: You loaded a new macro control code file into memory. ACTION: No action is necessary. Printer macro file not found! CAUSE: The macro control code file you entered does not exist, or you made a typo when entering the file name. ACTION: Check the macro control code file name you entered. Make sure the file exists. Correct any typos. RPMACRO successfully loaded into memory! CAUSE: You successfully loaded RPMACRO and a macro control code file into memory. ACTION: No action is necessary -21- WARP-TEN -------- WARP-TEN is a programmable disk cache. Disk caching is a technique borrowed from mainframes and minicomputers that speeds up the relatively slow I/O that most applications perform with disk drives. The basic idea is to use part of the PC's memory as buffers to store the more frequently used disk data. Then, when the application needs that information, the cache program retrieves it from it's memory buffers at a speed far exceeding that with which a mechanical disk drive is capable of. Naturally, not all applications are candidates for the speed improvement provided for by caching. Some applications (such as Lotus 1-2-3) load all their data into the PC's memory and manipulate it there, rather than accessing the disks. Other disk-intensive applications will notice an improvement that is dependent on such factors as the number of cache buffers, the number of disk accesses, and the speed of the mechanical drive. WARP-TEN is a revolutionary product that recognizes that not all applications are equal in their disk access. To better utilize the caching concept, the Software Brewing Company provides a program (WARP-DIN) that will de-install the disk cache, allowing the PC user to either regain all WARP-TEN's memory for applications that don't need it, or to respecify WARP-TEN with either more or less RAM buffers. WARPSTAT, another program provided in this package, enables the user to check to see if the cache being used is optimal for the application that just ran. All these features allow the users to tailor the use of caching to fit their unique requirements. THEORY OF OPERATION ------------------- To explain how WARP-TEN works, let's use the typical PC hard disk drive as an example. The average access time is 85 milliseconds. This is the average time between when your application asks the disk drive for data and the time that it takes to start sending it. The actual reading of the data is very fast, therefore the greatest consumption of time is in the seek operation. Once the disk heads are positioned, multiple sectors can be read almost as fast as one sector. The overhead of positioning can be spread out among the multiple sectors read, but a single sector is the worst case. WARP-TEN replaces the PC's disk interrupt vector (interrupt 13 hex) with a pointer to its own routine. It senses when a request is made to read a single sector, and checks if that data is in one of its cache buffers. If it is, this is referred to as a cache 'hit', and it is returned to the application in a fraction of the time an actual call to the mechanical disk drive would take. If a request is made to read multiple sectors, or if the single sector read was not found in the buffers, WARP-TEN passes this request on to the normal disk interrupt handler. If a write operation is performed by the application, cache must flush the sectors being written from its buffers and then pass -22- the request through to the real interrupt 13 hex. This is to preserve the integrity of the data on the disk. The cache buffers never have data that is newer than what is out on the disk. This is called a 'write-through cache'. HOW TO USE WARP-TEN ------------------- To use WARP-TEN, enter WARPTEN at the DOS prompt. The only option available is for the user to specify the size of the cache desired. This size is expressed in Kilobytes, and the range is from 7 X the number of floppies to 256K. For example, on a PC with two floppy drives and a hard disk, your range would be 14K to 256K. The ultimate performance of WARP-TEN will usually be directly proportional to the size of the cache. If no size follows WARP-TEN, a size of 40K is used as the default. The program will then become resident in memory until removed. WARP-TEN will not load more than one copy of itself, even if the command is specified twice. HOW TO USE WARP-DIN ------------------- To use WARP-DIN, enter WARPDIN at the DOS prompt. No options are required. If the WARP-TEN program is resident in memory, it will be removed. If not, WARP-DIN will do nothing and return to DOS. Because DOS has no memory management capabilities, removal of a program in memory requires that it be the last one loaded. Since WARP-TEN does not need to use the keyboard interrupts, it can be loaded last with programs that specify that THEY must be loaded last. HOW TO USE WARPSTAT ------------------- WARPSTAT tells the user about the performance of WARP-TEN. As WARP-TEN is speeding up the user's disk activity, records are being kept. WARPSTAT reads this data and assembles it into meaningful information. Displayed on the screen are five windows, each of which is described below. The upper left window displays the size of WARP-TEN. The upper right window displays the 'hit' percentage. The larger the hit percentage, the more time and disk wear that is being saved. This value is actually the percentage of single sector reads that were found in the buffers, since multiple sector reads bypass the program's guts. The middle left window displays the single sector reads as a percentage of all reads. This is useful because WARP-TEN will not significantly increase the performance of an application if most of the reads are for multiple sectors. -23- The middle right window displays the sector writes as a percentage of all disk activity. Since WARP-TEN is a 'write through cache', and significant overhead is involved in searching through the cache buffers for matches to the sectors being written, a low value here is desirable. If an application does too much writing, it may be advantageous to remove WARP-TEN during that program. The bottom window displays suggestions on how to optimize WARP-TEN for greater performance. This information is most useful if obtained after each application has terminated. Use the program WARPRSET to reset the records in WARP-TEN to zero before starting the application you wish to optimize. EXAMPLES -------- C:>WARPTEN 128<CR> C:>Your disk-intensive application C:>WARPDIN C:>WARPTEN 50<CR> C:>Your disk-intensive memory hog application C:>WARPDIN C:>Your non-disk-intensive application The first command loads a 128K cache into RAM. The second command executes an application that accesses the disk for data. The third command removes the cache from memory, freeing up the previously reserved space. The fourth command installs a 50K cache, leaving more PC memory for use in the next application that you are going to run. The fifth command executes another disk-intensive program that is somewhat larger than the former application, hence the necessity for a reduced cache. The sixth command de-installs the cache disk again to free up as much memory as possible for the program that is executed as the seventh and final command. YOURAPPL.BAT contains the following statements: WARPTEN 100 APPLICAT WARPDIN You can simplify the use of WARP-TEN by using batch files. The above example shows how to load a cache into memory, how to start the application, and how to remove the cache after completion. -24- NOTES ----- Any disks that are accessed through device drivers will not be affected by the installation of WARP-TEN. The root directory of your boot disk might contain a file called 'CONFIG.SYS'. If it's there, check the contents to see if there is a statement equating the keyword 'BUFFERS=' to some number. To allow you to get the most performance out of WARP-TEN, this number should not be greater than the maximum number of files you could have open at one time. This value defaults to 8 if there is no keyword 'FILES=' equating to some number in the CONFIG.SYS file. To enhance performance, the statistics represented in the WARPSTAT program were implemented using single words in memory. This, unfortunately, provides for a range of only 0 - 32767. WARPSTAT can SOMETIMES recognize when the numbers used to generate the statistics are out of range, but it is not always possible to detect this situation. WARPSTAT will reset all the numbers to zero if it detects an overflow situation. Be aware that strange statistics could be generated by WARPSTAT if overflow is not detected. Remember, for WARP-DIN to find and remove WARP-TEN, it must have been loaded last. If you do not load WARP-TEN last, and attempt to execute a second WARP-TEN, it is possible to get two disk caches in memory. This is undesirable and probably will lengthen the amount of time spent on disk accesses. Rebooting will solve this problem. Applications that are extremely write intensive (DOS format, for instance) will be noticeably slower. Remove WARP-TEN if you are planning on doing these types of tasks more than once at one time. MESSAGES -------- WARP-TEN is already loaded and operating! Action: The user must first de-install WARP-TEN by executing WARP-DIN before attempting to re-install WARP-TEN. command line error Action: The correct command specification is WARP-TEN followed by the size of the cache in kilobytes. The cache size MUST be at least 7K times the number of diskette drives, with the maximum value being 256K. unable to reclaim the memory used by WARP-TEN! Action: Although WARP-TEN is not activated any longer, the memory that it consumed was not able to be given back to DOS for reuse. This message is displayed by WARP-DIN. -25- ORDER FORM Name _____________________________________ Address ___________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________ City ________________________ State ________________ Zip ___________ T-Shirt Size: S M L XL ____WARP-TEN and PRINT-matic registration .......@ $20.00 ea $ _______ ____Upgrade to the newest version ...............@ $10.00 ea $ _______ Subtotal $ _______ Minnesota residents please add 6% sales tax Tax $ _______ Total $ _______ Return with check or money order payable to the Software Brewing Company OR Make payment with Visa or MasterCard and fill out the information below. VISA MC (circle one) Card # _____________________________________ Expiration Date _____/_____ Signature of Cardholder ________________________________________________ REMIT TO: Software Brewing Company P.O. Box 12094 St. Paul, MN 55112 Comments and/or suggestions ________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________