Fritz: All Fritz/All Fritz.zip/All Fritz/FILES/UTILREEN/DOCSMA.LZH/DOCSMASH.DOC

Text File | 1989-04-10 | 9KB | 165 lines

DOCSMASH -- By David W. Rettger
===============================

DOCSMASH may be copied and passed to other users as long as this
document file accompanies the executable program file and both are
left intact.  No party other than the author may change the
contents of these files, or charge any fee for distribution (other
than a nominal sum to cover the cost of a floppy disk and mailing
fees).

If you have benefitted from the use of DOCSMASH, please contribute
towards the costs of creating and updating this program by sending
$5.00 to:

                David Rettger
                Box 807, CBOT Annex
                141 W. Jackson Blvd.
                Chicago, Il. 60604

==================================================================

DOCSMASH.EXE  --  Version 2.81

Have you ever downloaded a complicated program that came with its
own manual and, when you printed the manual, you ended up using
what seems like your whole box of paper to get hard copy?  If you
have this problem, then DOCSMASH is for you!  It will print a
normal 100 page document on a maximum 25 sheets of paper.  You do
not lose any text, but you may need glasses to read it.  Anyway,
it is good at what it does.

The DOCSMASH program is designed to reduce the size of the printed
output of any text or document file.  It uses EPSON control codes
to reduce the print size and adjust line width to enable the
printer to place four pages of normal documentation on a single
sheet of paper.  (Each of these 4 pages equals one DOCSMASH page
for purposes of describing things below.)

Obviously, a dot matrix printer is required.

A few users have tried to DOCSMASH documents created by a word
processor.  Word processors usually inset "soft" codes into their
files for tabs, pagination, etc.  These codes do a great job of
confusing DOCSMASH.  Only smash files which are pure ASCII
text!  If you want to smash a file from, say, WordPerfect you
should first resave the file as ASCII text.

The program's operation is pretty straight forward.  Run the
DOCSMASH.EXE program by typing the program name at the DOS prompt.
Just follow the menus and prompts throughout the program and you
should not have too many problems.  At any time, hit F10 (and
perhaps <RETURN>) to terminate DOCSMASH.  Some machines
refuse to quit when this command is issued.  If all else fails,
when asked to enter the name of a document to print, you may now type
the word END to quit the program.

As time has passed, I have received comments from users with various
different types of "Epson Compatible" printers.  It seems that
the width, line hight, etc. settings which seem optimal on my printer
don't function quite right on theirs.  This situation has prompted
me to add yet another feature to DOCSMASH.  Now you are prompted to
enter the phrase "RESET PARAMS" to set the printer parameters.  You
can adjust the print width, number of lines per DOCSMASH page, the
line feed width, and the paper length (in inches).  Defaults are:

         Print Width = 164
         Page Length = 58
         Line Feed   = 17
         Paper Len.  = 11
         Left Margin = 0      <----New with this version!

On my wide carriage printer, I use a setting of 164 for the printer
width.  That allows for two sets of columns of 80 characters and the
four spaces between the columns.  I have been told that a certain
IBM narrow carriage printer runs best on about a 130 setting.  This 130
setting will allow 63 characters per print column which should work
most the time.  Words that do not fit should wrap to the next line.
You should try to go as wide as possible, to maximize the squashing that
the program is trying to do.  Wrapping to the next line will take up more
space vertically.  (Here's a hint on setting the width if you have to.
Just leave the default setting, run a full page and wait until the
program prints dashes between the DOCSMASH pages.  If those dashes
wrap to a second line, count how many wrap and subtract that amount
from the default setting.)

I included page length and line-feed hight adjustments due to complaints
from users with 24 pin printers.  These printers do not seem to function
the same as 9 pin printers when emulating Epson commands.  They tend to
run over to the next page with my default settings.  At this time I have
not tried my program with new settings for 24 pin printers.  If the defaults
wrap to the next page on your printer, try adjusting line hight, # of lines
to print, etc.  If you find a good setting or if you still have a problem,
let me know by leaving a message at the number given below.

Very recently I recieved a copy of a document printed by DOCSMASH on an Epson
FX-80 or some such Epson printer.  I was amazed at just how large the print
was.  My Brother M1509 prints much smaller than that Epson.  Anyway, that
narrow carriage printer could handle only a width of 94 characters.  Mine
runs great on 164 characters.  Obviously, the amount of print compression
you achieve will depend on the hardware you are using.

Another minor change has been made to this latest version of DOCSMASH.  One
potential user requested that he be able to set the left margin so he need not
readjust the paper in his printer (already set to work with the margins used
by WordPerfect).  Now the RESET PARAMS menu includes the left margin
adjustment.  The preset default is Left Margin = 0.  On a narrow carriage
printer, setting much of a left margin will eat into the total amount of
print compression you can achieve.

DOCSMASH will create a file called DOCSMASH.CFG in the root directory of
whatever the current drive is.  This file will contain any parameters
you choose to enter, or the defaults.  Deleting this file will cause
DOCSMASH to recreate the file with defaults and to prompt you again
that you can type RESET PARAMS to make changes.  (Old versions left
the .CFG file in whatever subdirectory you happened to be in.  That
will no longer happen.)

In the event that a printer problem occurs during a long print job
(out of paper, your child pulls out the plug, etc.), you may now
begin printing in the middle of a file.  Follow the prompts to the
point where it says to enter a phrase and it will search for that
phrase.  I have in mind documents that have a page number on each
page.  If you got to Page 35 and then ran out of paper, having it
search to the phrase PAGE 35 would cause it to begin printing on
the line FOLLOWING the one with the specified phrase.

Other changes from the earliest versions are:

-Screen color control.  If you do not like my choice of colors,
or if you have a monochrome monitor, you can change the appearance
of the screen output.  Hit your F1 key (and RETURN if needed) to
get the color option menu.  For color monitors, I like the
15 (foreground), 1 (background) combination.  Mono montior users
should use a background setting of 0.

-No more truncating lines of text that are too wide to print.

-Progress reports during printing.  If you have an exceptionally
long document, you can see how far you have gone and how far you
have to go.  The "Lines sent to the printer" number reflects the
number of lines sent to the print buffer, not the number of lines
actually printed at that point.  A large print buffer will cause
this number to be significantly ahead of the actual lines printed
on paper.

-The program may be terminated by either hitting <F10>.
If hitting <F10> does not terminate the program immediately,
hit <RETURN> once.  Or, instead of typing the name of a document
to print, type the word END .
=================================================================

DOCSMASH was written using Borland's TURBO BASIC.  Their product
provides a complete programming enviornment that makes compiled
basic a pleasure to use.  If you are on the market for a basic
compiler, I'd highly recommend TURBO BASIC!

=================================================================
All of the above changes have come about as the result of comments
left for me by users.  If you would like to see something changed
or added, or if you just want to make a comment about the program,
you may leave a message for David Rettger on the ORCHARD HILL BBS
phone number [phone].  (Orchard Hill has DOCSMASH available
to non-registered users.  Call here for latest versions.  Also, if
you are interested in an active BBS with a service oriented SYSOP,
do consider this one!)