home
***
CD-ROM
|
disk
|
FTP
|
other
***
search
/
Fritz: All Fritz
/
All Fritz.zip
/
All Fritz
/
FILES
/
WORDMISC
/
BANNER2.LZH
/
BANER.DOC
< prev
next >
Wrap
Text File
|
1987-04-14
|
9KB
|
228 lines
BANNER
Version 1.5
All Rights Reserved
Not For Commercial Use
█████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████
█ █
█ █
█ Copyright 1985-1987 by Larry Gottlieb. This program is distributed █
█ █
█ at no charge, and you are encouraged to distribute copies of this █
█ █
█ program to others. Copies of the program may not be sold or █
█ █
█ included as part of any other product. However, IBM PC clubs may █
█ █
█ distribute copies at a nominal charge for media and copying costs. █
█ █
█ █
█████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████
BANNER produces banner sized letters on an Epson FX printer. Features
include:
4 sizes, from under 1 inch to over 4 inches;
vertical or horizontal lettering;
variable height/width ratio;
half-space centering;
multi-strike option.
The program was developed using an Epson FX-185. It should also work
on an FX-100 (with a minor limitation noted below), and on an FX-85
or FX-80 (subject to their lesser paper width).
The initial release of BANNER has a rather crude front end. Limited
help is provided in determining such things as the number of characters that
will fit on a line, or what the different aspect ratios will do. If there
is sufficient interest, future versions will be friendlier. Comments may
be addressed to me on Gene Plantz' BBS.
DISCLAIMER: This program is provided on an "as is" basis. No warranty,
express or implied, is provided. In no event will the author will liable
for damages due to errors or omissions in the program.
BANNER was designed as an interactive program (although redirection of
input may be used to run it in batch mode). To invoke the program,
type:
BANNER [bidname] [/A] [/T] [/Finfile]
where:
"bidname", if supplied, is the name of a file containing bit
image data that is to replace the default bit image data.
"/A" specifies that BANNER is to recognize all characters
with ASCII values from 1 through 255. See the discussion
under "LINE", below, for problems with this choice.
"/T" requests test mode. You will not be asked to enter
lines of text. Instead, the entire bit image data set will
be printed.
"/Finfile" tells BANNER that the file "infile" contains
the lines of text to be printed.
At this point, you will be asked a series of questions, as follows.
SIZE:
=====
Four character sizes are available -- 1, 2, 4, and 8. The table that
follows lists the height, in inches, of an upper case letter such as "A"
for the default bit image data set.
SIZE height
1 9/16
2 1-1/8
4 2-1/4
8 4-1/2
SIDEWAYS?
=========
Characters may be printed either horizontally (the normal orientation)
or vertically (sideways). Answer "Y" or "N".
CENTERED?
=========
If you resond "Y" to this question, BANNER will center each line of the
banner with respect to the longest line you enter. Half space centering is
used, e.g., if you specify two lines -- "FIRST" and "SECOND" -- the "F"
in FIRST will be placed between the position of the "S" and "E" in SECOND.
ASPECT:
=======
ASPECT refers to the height/width ratio of each character. This is
achieved through use of the Epson's different graphic modes. They are
as follows:
aspect dots per inch
0 60
1 120 - slow but dark
2 120 - fast but light
3 240
4 80
5 72
6 90
7 144
Thus, for normal printing, more dots per inch result in skinnier characters.
For sideways printing, more dots per inch result in wider characters. I
have found ASPECT = 5 to be a good choice for sideways printing, and
ASPECT = 1 for normal printing.
If my memory is correct, ASPECT = 7 is available only on the newer FX line
(FX-185).
NUMBER OF IMPRESSIONS:
======================
If you wish, BANNER will print the same line several times, resulting in
a darker image. The range of answers for this question is 1 to 9.
**SPECIAL EFFECTS**
===================
Three special effects are available: underlining, double underlining,
and italics. Special effects are NOT available if sideways printing has
been chosen.
After you have answered these questions, BANNER will tell you the maximum
number of characters that will fit on a page (for normal printing), or the
number of lines that will fit on a page (for sideways printing). You will
then see the prompt:
LINE:
=====
Enter your first line. You will continue to be prompted until any
of the following occur:
you enter a null line (i.e., the ENTER key only);
you have entered 100 lines;
you have chosen sideways printing and have entered
the maximum number of lines that will fit on a page.
If you want to enter a blank line, hit the space bar once before hitting
the ENTER key.
If you used the "/Finfile" parameter, lines of the file will be printed
until any of the following occur:
the end of file is reached;
you have chosen centering, and 100 lines have been printed;
you have chosen sideways printing, and no more lines will fit
on the page.
Under normal operation, it is expected that you will be entering only
"normal" characters, e.g., if you hit the backspace key, it is assumed
that you want to erase the last character entered, NOT that you want to
include the backspace character in your string. Redirection of input
is possible, allowing batch operation of BANNER.
There may be times when you truly want strange characters in your
banner lines. In that case, choose the "/A" parameter when invoking the
program. BANNER then recognizes all single key entries (i.e., character
values 1 through 255). Even the backspace and enter keys are considered to
be characters. To end the current line, BANNER recognizes the END key
(the key that's part of the numeric keypad) as the end-of-line key;
the cursor left key becomes the equivalent of the backspace key. If
"/A" is chosen, redirection of input is not possible for the LINES question.
The default bit image data set allows ASCII values from 32 through
130. All other characters will be changed to blanks. In addition,
some changes have been made to the IBM character set:
character 124 (|) has been changed to a solid vertical bar;
character 127 () has been changed to a zero with a slash;
character 128 (Ç) has been changed to a double underline;
character 129 (ü) has been changed to ½ (one half);
character 130 (é) has been changed to ¼ (one quarter).
The default set may be replaced by bit image data stored in separate
files. While I lack full replacements for the default character set,
I thought I'd whet your appetite. Two replacement files are included
in this initial release:
H16W14.BID -- a double height character set, partially complete;
H48W56A.BID -- like the default character set, but with "hollow"
characters.
BANNER uses Epson's graphics mode to print. If you have ever produced
graphs on this printer, you know that this is a SLOW process. It also
can be very hard on the ribbon. Some other problems you may encounter:
uneven darkness (overinked, worn, or sticking ribbon);
small, irregular blank areas between lines of print (problems
with tractor feed);
small, regular blank areas between lines of print (you're
using another brand of printer which is not 100% FX
compatible).
Revision History
================
version 1.0: initial release.
version 1.1: /T option added.
version 1.2: /F option added;
maximum number of lines increased to 100.
versions 1.3 and 1.4: slightly improved question format;
allowable number of lines for sideways banners now displayed.
version 1.5: Italics option added.