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PSCAPT.DOC
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1985-11-20
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PS Capture Version 1.00 6/20/1989
(C) 1989 Surreal Systems
Charles S. Smeton
This program is shareware, anyone finding it useful is asked to send
a $5.00 shareware contribution to the author at:
8624 Spruce Run Court
Ellicott City, MD
21043
The comments and suggestions can also be forwarded to the author at:
Compuserve: 73047,2565
GEnie: C.S.SMETON
PS Capture is a desk accessory that will allow the output from the
GDOS PostScript driver (supplied with TimeWorks Desktop Publisher ST)
to be redirected from the RS-232 port to a disk file. The file of
PostScript commands can then be printed with Imagen's UltraScript or a
PostScript compatible Laser Printer.
The accessory has been designed to work with the GDOS PostScript
Laser Printer driver supplied with the Timeworks Desktop Publisher
ST program. It has been tested to work while using Timeworks Desktop
Publisher ST, the Outprint program supplied with several Migraph
products and the standard GDOS Output program. It should function
from within any application that uses the GDOS printer drivers. If the
application has a menu bar, then the accessory can be used from inside
the application, otherwise it will be necessary to start the capture
process before the application is run. The accessory has been tested with
"Atari GDOS release version 1.1" and Codehead's G+Plus version 1.3 GDOS
replacement.
PSCAPT provides an easier interface to save PostScript output from
Timeworks Desktop Publisher ST than the method supplied with UltraScript.
Several destination files can be created in one session with different
names, rather than to have to keep renaming the PUBLISH.PS files created
using the PRINTER.SYS GDOS driver provided with UltraScript.
PostScript files saved with PSCAPT can be spooled to a PostScript
compatible Laser Printer using Migraph's OSpooler desk accessory, with out
the need for a special OSpooler compatible GDOS PostScript Driver (that
can also redirect PostScript to a disk file).
Ironically the IBM PC version of Timeworks Desktop Publisher, called
Publish It! and the IBM PC GEM Output program (version 3.00 and above)
support printing PostScript to disk. Should these features become available
in the Atari ST versions of these programs, PSCAPT will become obsolete.
Printing PostScript to disk will be possible with the version of Migraph's
Outprint supplied with OSpooler, with a special PostScript GDOS driver that
Migraph has indicated that it will release.
Usage:
Place the file PSCAPT.ACC in the root directory of your boot disk and
make sure the GDOS Postscript Laser Printer Driver is properly installed
on the boot disk (using the method described in the Timeworks Desktop
Publisher ST manual, not the method in the UltraScript manual addendum).
Reboot the ST, PSCAPT should now be installed. PSCAPT will also work from
within Codehead's MultiDesk.
To start the capture process, run the application program that you will
use to perform the GDOS output from. Select the "PS Capture" desk accessory
menu entry. If GDOS or G+Plus is not installed, an error alert will be
displayed.
If GDOS/G+Plus is installed, then an alert box will be displayed
indicating the selection and will allow two choices:
"Open" (a new capture file) or
"Cancel".
Selecting "Cancel" will abort the selection.
Selecting "Open" will display the standard file selector dialog box,
allowing a new file name to be specified (with a default extension of
".PS"). If a file was specified in the file selector, then it will be
created. If an error occurs trying to create the file, an error alert
will be displayed. If no error occurs, then you will be returned to the
main application program. Floppy users note: do not change disks if you
specify the ".PS" file on to a floppy disk.
From the application program, perform the steps required to start the
output process. The output will now be written to the file, instead of the
RS-232 port. The GDOS PostScript driver will first send a Control-D (04H)
character to signal the laser printer. PS Capture will pass all characters
through to the RS-232, until the first Control-D is detected. When the
GDOS PostScript driver is finished, it will send another Control-D to
signal the end of the transfer. When this character is detected, PS Capture
will automatically close the ".PS" file and the a bell ring will occur. The
two Control-D characters are not written to the file.
If an error occurs trying to write to the ".PS" file, then an error
alert will displayed the next time the "PS Capture" desk accessory entry
is selected. Standard GEMDOS Cancel/Retry error alerts will also be
displayed when a file write error occurs.
The user may close the file capture process by selecting the "PS Capture"
desk accessory entry after a file has been opened, but before the second
Control-D has been detected. An alert box will be displayed and will allow
two choices:
"Close" (a the capture file) or
"Cancel".
Selecting "Cancel" will abort the selection.
Selecting "Close" will write out the remaining buffered contents of the
capture file and then close the file.
The next selection of the "PS Capture" desk accessory entry will return
to the "Open" alert box.
After the ".PS" file has been closed, it may be viewed by double-clicking
it from the GEM Desktop or loaded into any word processor/text editor as it
will be in standard ASCII format.
How it works:
PS Capture redirects the GEMDOS trap #1 vector to its own internal routines.
If the capture process is not in progress, then all trap #1 calls are sent
back to the normal trap #1 handler. If a file capture is in progress, then
PS Capture checks to see if the call is a GEMDOS function 04H, auxiliary
output. Note: The BIOS function 03H, Bconout is not affected in any way
by PS Capture as the GDOS PostScript driver uses the GEMDOS auxillary
output. If an auxillary output function is specified, then if the character
being output is not a Control-D it is sent to the RS-232 as normal. When
the first Control-D is detected, the file capture process starts. All
characters detected are placed into a 4096 byte buffer, when the buffer is
full it is written to the file and then reset. When the second Control-D
is detected, the remaining buffer contents are written to the file, the
file is closed and all further RS-232 output is sent normally.
An undocumented feature of the GDOS PostScript driver supplied with
Timeworks Desktop Publisher ST is that if the ALTERNATE and RIGHT-SHIFT
keys are pressed as soon as the output is started, then the driver acts
differently.
Normally the GDOS PostScript driver waits for a response back from the
actual Laser Printer via the RS-232. If the ALTERNATE and RIGHT-SHIFT keys
are pressed, then the driver sends the PostScript information with out
needing a response from the printer. PS Capture fools the GDOS driver
into thinking that these keys are pressed by monitoring the GEMDOS function
3DH, open file. The GDOS program uses the GEMDOS open file function to
load the PostScript driver program specified in the ASSIGN.SYS file when
the VDI open workstation call is made. PS Capture detects this call and
uses the BIOS function 0BH, kbshift to set the ALTERNATE and RIGHT-SHIFT
keys as if they are pressed. The PostScript driver then will detect that
these keys are pressed and will start the output with out needing a response
from the printer. When the first Control-D is detected, the ALTERNATE and
RIGHT-SHIFT keys are restored to the off state.
Notes:
When printing multi-page documents from Timeworks Desktop Publisher it
is advisable to break up the printing into several passes printing a few
pages per capture file. The same is true when printing a large output
list from the Output/Outprint programs. Thi