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████████▄ ▄█████▄ ▐██ ██▌ ▄████▄ ████████ ███▌ ████ ██████████ ██ █ ▐█▌ ██ ▀█▄ ▄█▀ ▐▀ ▐█▌ ██ ▄ ▀ ███▌ ██ ▀ ██ ▀ ███████▀ ██ ███ ▄██▀ ██▀▀█ ██ ██ ██ ██ ██ ▐█▌ ██ ▄█▀ ▀█▄ ▄█▀ ██ ██ ▐███ ██ ████ ▀█████▀ ▐██ ██▌ ███████▌ ████ ████ ▐███ ████ TM PCX To HP Soft Font File Conversion Package (C) Copyright 1992 by TaxWare, PO Box 2014, Provo, UT 84603-2014 All rights reserved. ┌─────────┐ ┌─────┴───┐ │ (R) ──│ │o │────────────────── │ ┌─────┴╨──┐ │ Association of │ │ │─┘ Shareware └───│ o │ Professionals ──────│ ║ │──────────────────── └────╨────┘ MEMBER March 16, 1992 Edition PCX2FNT v1.1 ───────────────────────────────────────────────────────── Copyright Notice PCX2FNT is Copyright 1992 by TaxWare and its author. All rights re- served. This document and all accompanying documentation are Copyright 1992 by TaxWare. All rights reserved. ───────────────────────────────────────────────────────── Trademarks PCX2FNT is a trademark of TaxWare and its author. All trademarks and registered trademarks referenced within this document are the property of their respective holders. ───────────────────────────────────────────────────────── Warranty Disclaimer TAXWARE MAKES NO WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EXPRESSED OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING WITHOUT LIMITATION ANY WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND/OR FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. TAXWARE DOES NOT ASSUME ANY LIABILITY FOR THE USE OF THIS SOFTWARE BEYOND THE ORIGINAL PURCHASE PRICE OF THIS SOFTWARE. IN NO EVENT WILL TAXWARE BE LIABLE TO YOU FOR ANY ADDITIONAL DAMAGES, INCLUDING ANY LOST PROFITS, LOST SAVINGS, OR OTHER INCIDENTAL OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES ARISING FROM THE USE OF, OR INABILITY TO USE, THIS SOFTWARE AND ITS ACCOMPANYING DOCUMENTATION, EVEN IF TAXWARE HAS BEEN ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES. PCX2FNT User's Manual i PCX2FNT v1.1 Table of Contents ───────────────────────────────────────────────────────── Chapter One 1 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 Registered and Shareware Version Differences . . . . . . . . . . . 1 PCX2FNT System Requirements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 Chapter Two 2 PCX2FNT Installation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 PCX2FNT Running . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 PCX2FNT Help . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 PCX2FNT Font Creation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 PCX2FNT Font Test Print . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 PCX2FNT Font Usage . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 Chapter Three 5 PCX2FNT Applications . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 dBASE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 Lotus 1-2-3 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 Quattro Pro . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 Symphony . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 MicroSoft Word . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 MicroSoft Word For Windows . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8 WordPerfect . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8 Appendix A 9 PCX2FNT Error Messages . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9 Appendix B 9 Correspondence . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9 Index 10 ii PCX2FNT User's Manual PCX2FNT v1.1 Chapter One ───────────────────────────────────────────────────────── Introduction PCX2FNT is a utility used to convert ZSoft PCX format files to Hewlett- Packard soft font files. PCX2FNT successfully converts images created with PC Paintbrush, Corel Draw, Scanning Gallery (with Hewlett-Packard's ScanJet scanner) and other software that can save images in PCX format. Examples of graphics most commonly converted are signatures, logos, and company letterheads. The converted fonts can be downloaded to and printed on HP LaserJet Plus, Series II, III and 100% compatible laser printers. ───────────────────────────────────────────────────────── Registered and Shareware Version Differences PCX2FNT is distributed as both a shareware product and as a retail product. The shareware version and the retail version are identical, except that the shareware version displays reminders to order a registered copy of PCX2FNT. If you are using the retail version, purchased from TaxWare, Thank You. If you are using the shareware version, we hope you find it to be useful. This manual is used with both the shareware and registered versions of PCX2FNT. If you are using the shareware version, refer to the following documents for additional information: SHAREW.DOC, REGISTER.DOC, ORDER.FRM, LICENSE.DOC. ───────────────────────────────────────────────────────── PCX2FNT System Requirements PCX2FNT requires the following: o A personal computer (PC) running DOS version 2.1 or higher and having at least 256K of free RAM o Any HP LaserJet or 100% compatible printer PCX2FNT User's Manual 1 PCX2FNT v1.1 Chapter Two ───────────────────────────────────────────────────────── PCX2FNT Installation Installing PCX2FNT is very simple: o Create a subdirectory for PCX2FNT o Copy the files from the PCX2FNT distribution diskette to the new subdirectory o Run the self-installaing program, 2FNT.EXE, and follow the instructions. For example, create a subdirectory called PCX2FNT and change directory to it: C:> MD PCX2FNT C:> CD PCX2FNT Next, place the PCX2FNT distribution diskette in the floppy drive and copy all its files to the newly created subdirectory: C:> COPY A:*.* Finally, run the program 2FNT.EXE to complete the installation. C:> 2FNT ───────────────────────────────────────────────────────── PCX2FNT Running After you have successfully installed PCX2FNT, you are ready to run it and create HP soft fonts from your PCX graphic files. Before you begin, however, you should first determine the file path of your PCX file(s), and the file path where you want to create the font(s). To run PCX2FNT, simply type PCX2FNT at the DOS prompt, then press the Enter key. C:> PCX2FNT ───────────────────────────────────────────────────────── PCX2FNT Help To receive help, press the F1 key at any time while running PCX2FNT. ───────────────────────────────────────────────────────── PCX2FNT Font Creation There are only a couple of steps to creating a soft font with PCX2FNT. First, you need a black-and-white PCX file. You can purchase PCX files from several disk art vendors, or you can create them using your graphics program, scanner, etc. Next, run PCX2FNT. Then, enter the filename for the soft font you want to create, the filename of the 2 PCX2FNT User's Manual PCX2FNT v1.1 graphic file to be converted, the font character you want to represent the graphic image, and optionally the description of the graphic. Once you have entered this information, PCX2FNT converts the PCX file into a soft font. You can now use your soft font as you do other soft fonts. ───────────────────────────────────────────────────────── PCX2FNT Font Test Print If you want to test print a character of a font created by PCX2FNT, exit from PCX2FNT and turn on your printer. Then, run the batch file TESTFNT.BAT, followed by the filename of the soft font and the character that represents the character to be printed. For example, if the soft font you created was "MYLOGO.SFP" and the character you want to print is "A" you would type the following at the DOS prompt and press the Enter key. C:> TESTFNT MYLOGO.SFP A ───────────────────────────────────────────────────────── PCX2FNT Font Usage The soft fonts created by PCX2FNT can be used just like any other soft font developed for HP LaserJet and compatible printers. In order to use soft fonts, they must be sent (downloaded) to your printer's memory. This can be accomplished by using the DOWNLOAD utility included with the package (see accompanying instructions). Once DOWNLOADed to the printer's memory, you can begin printing the graphic characters in the font the same way you print characters of any other font. This information is usually found in the user documentation provided with your software application. The method for inserting the printer commands and for accessing a font will differ, depending upon your application, and it is possible that more than one method will work. For best results, follow the steps outlined below: 1 Create a PCX file with a scanner or paint or draw program. 2 Convert the PCX file to HP soft font format using PCX2FNT. 3 Download the soft font using the DOWNLOAD utility. 4 Follow the instructions below for your particular application. 5 Unload the soft font from the printer's memory with the UNLOAD utility. Example Usage For this example we will assume that you wish to have your signature printed at end of a letter. We will also assume that PCX2FNT program disk is in your A: drive. 1 Sign your name on white paper using a dark ink. Scan the signature PCX2FNT User's Manual 3 PCX2FNT v1.1 and save it as SIGNATUR.PCX. (Remember to select only the area of the paper that contains your signature) 2 Convert the image from PCX to HP soft font format. This example creates the soft font file SIGNATUR.SFP. C>A:PCX2FNT SIGNATUR.SFP A SIGNATUR.PCX (You will see a message indicating that the conversion is taking place.) 3 Download the soft font to your LaserJet printer. This example downloads the font with an ID of 1 to printer LPT1, the default printer. C>A:DOWNLOAD SIGNATUR.SFP /I1 (You will see a message indicating that the font is being downloaded.) 4 Follow the instructions below for accessing and printing the soft font with your particular software application. 5 Unload the soft font from the printer's memory to free the printer's memory for other use. The soft font must be UNLOADed using the same ID with which it was DOWNLOADed. C>A:UNLOAD /I1 (You will see a message stating that the font is unloaded.) 4 PCX2FNT User's Manual PCX2FNT v1.1 Chapter Three ───────────────────────────────────────────────────────── PCX2FNT Applications This section provides some tips for accessing the graphic characters in the soft fonts you create with PCX2FNT. If you already know how to utilize soft fonts within your applications, you may ignore this section. If you do not have experience using soft fonts with your applications, consult your User Manuals for more comprehensive information or seek support from your usual sources. Can I use soft fonts made with PCX2FNT with my application? If a software application can print to a LaserJet printer, there is an excellent chance it will support the soft fonts you create with PCX2FNT. With some applications, you must insert or embed special printer commands in your document. Printer commands are not actually printed by the printer, and they do not take up space on the printed documents (although they may take up some space on the application screen). How does my printer and my application know about my soft font? Before the characters in a soft font can be printed, the soft font must be "downloaded" to your LaserJet printer. Downloading transfers information about a soft font from your computer's disk to your printer's memory. Most applications allow you to "install" soft fonts into the application. When soft fonts are installed in an application, the application can download the fonts to the printer if and when they are needed. If an application does not support soft font installation, it is likely that it will not download soft fonts either. With such applications, you will need to use a software utility like DOWNLOAD (included with this package) to download your soft fonts to your printer. After your font has been downloaded (either by your application or by DOWNLOAD), you need to insert printer commands in your application that tell the LaserJet printer what font and what character to print. What is a printer command? With LaserJets, printer commands always begin with the escape character. The ASCII value for the escape character is often represented by either 1B (hexadecimal), or 27 (decimal). A complete printer command is an escape character followed by a series of letters and numbers. The way to enter the printer command depends on the particular application. There are two application independent methods for selecting a downloaded soft font: 1) font ID, and 2) font characteristics (preferred). The printer command for the font ID that you can send to the printer from your software application is the following: <ESC>)#X where <ESC> represents the escape character, and # represents the font ID number used when the font was downloaded. This method should not be PCX2FNT User's Manual 5 PCX2FNT v1.1 tried with applications that automatically download fonts, since you cannot (usually) know the font ID the application uses. The printer command for the font characteristics that you can send to the printer from your software application depends on the actual characteristics of the font. Use the included FONTINFO utility with the /E switch to determine the correct printer command to send the printer. See FONTINFO.DOC for details. The command will look something like this: <ESC>&lO<ESC>)2047V<ESC>)sp2.88h27.6vsb100T where <ESC> represents the escape character, and the remaining letters and numbers represent the various characteristics of the font. Note: The parentheses MUST be left parentheses, not right parentheses as FONTINFO shows. The left parentheses mean that the font will be used as the "secondary" font. That way, you can switch back to the primary font when you have completed printing characters from your "secondary" font without needing to know the characteristics or font ID of the primary font (assumed to be the currently active font at the point where you enter one of the above commands). After you enter the printer command into your document, you will enter the characters from your font that represents the graphic you wish to print. For example, if you created and downloaded a font called SIGNATUR.SFP with a font ID of 20 and your PCX graphic represented by the letter A, you would do the following in your document: 1 enter font selection printer command for the secondary font 2 "shift out" (ALT-14) to access characters of the secondary font 3 enter the letter(s) to be printed 4 "shift in" (ALT-15) back to the primary font <ESC>)20X<ALT-14>A<ALT-15> This section describes how to insert the printer commands into documents of several of the most popular software applications. To access HP soft fonts with software programs other than those listed here, refer to user's manual of your software application for how to send printer commands to the printer. These instructions are no secret. Information for sending printer commands is readily found in user documentation for each application. And, the LaserJet commands for accessing fonts are found in any of the User's and Technical Reference Manuals of LaserJet owners. Brief instructions are given for the following software applications: Lotus 1-2-3, MicroSoft Word, MicroSoft Word For Windows, Quattro Pro, Symphony, WordPerfect, & dBASE If instructions are not included for an application that you would like to use with soft fonts, please drop us a line. We will certainly do our best to accommodate you. If you are able to utilize soft fonts in an application not listed here, please send us the steps you used to accomplish it. 6 PCX2FNT User's Manual PCX2FNT v1.1 ───────────────────────────────────────────────────────── dBASE Version III+ Version IV To access and print a font from within dBase, simply "print" the printer command. For example, if you are formatting a report with the "@ xx,yy SAY" statement, you would enter the following: @ xx,yy SAY CHR(27)+")#X"+CHR(14)+"Z"+CHR(15) Enter the font ID in place of the #, and the character(s) to be printed in place of the Z. ───────────────────────────────────────────────────────── Lotus 1-2-3 Quattro Pro Symphony Position the cursor in the first cell of a blank row. Any data following the printer command on the same row will not be printed. Precede the printer command with 2 vertical bars as shown. ||\027)#X\014Z\015 Enter the font ID in place of the #, and the character(s) to be printed in place of the Z. Note: when creating the original PCX graphic, take into account that when printed in these applications it will be printed at the left margin. Therefore, leave enough space at the left of the graphic when creating it to account for the desired margin. ───────────────────────────────────────────────────────── MicroSoft Word Version 5 Version 5.5 Position the cursor where you want the character to print, then do the following. Press the ALT key, and while holding it down enter the three digits 027 at the numeric keypad. Then, release the ALT key and enter the font selection printer command, ALT 014, the character to print, and finally ALT 015. ALT-027)#XALT-014ZALT-015 Enter the font ID in place of the #, and the character(s) to be printed in place of the Z. PCX2FNT User's Manual 7 PCX2FNT v1.1 ───────────────────────────────────────────────────────── MicroSoft Word For Windows Version 1.1 Version 2.0 The simplest way to use soft fonts with these applications is to install and access them as regular soft fonts. See the User's Manual. ───────────────────────────────────────────────────────── WordPerfect Version 4.2 Position the cursor where you want the character to print, enter a single space, then do the following: CTRL-F8 Print Format menu A select Insert Printer Command option <27>)#X<14>Z<15> enter the printer command F7 exit back to the document Version 5.0 Version 5.1 Position the cursor where you want the macro to print, enter a single space, then do the following: SHIFT-F8 Format menu 4 Other Formats 6 Printer Functions 2 Printer Commands 1 Enter a Command <27>)#X<14>Z<15> enter the printer command F7 exit back to the document 8 PCX2FNT User's Manual PCX2FNT v1.1 Appendix A ───────────────────────────────────────────────────────── PCX2FNT Error Messages Could Not Open A Temporary File <filename> PCX2FNT was unable to open a temporary file. This error is most likely to occur on networks where rights are not granted to delete, rename, or modify files. Grant the necesssary rights. Unpredictable Results May Occur With Color and Grayscale Images Only black-and-white and 2-color PCX images are supported. PCX2FNT will attempt the conversion. If it works, great. Could Not Rename Temporary Font File PCX2FNT was unable to rename a temporary file. This error is most likely to occur on networks where rights are not granted to rename files. Grant the necessary rights. Invalid Font The file specified exists, but it is not a soft font file created by PCX2FNT. If you want to create a new font, enter a new filename. If you want to see the information about a font previously created by PCX2FNT, enter that font's filename. Invalid PCX File <filename> The file is not a valid PCX file. Enter a valid PCX file path. Error Writing - Possibly Out Of Disk Space PCX2FNT was not able to write some font information to the file you specified. The most likely reason for this error is that you are running out of disk space. Incomplete Information - Cancel Conversion? You have not entered all the information needed by PCX2FNT. Either complete the information requested, or answer Yes to cancel. Appendix B ───────────────────────────────────────────────────────── Correspondence TaxWare is customer-driven. The evolution of our products results from your feedback and intuitive suggestions. We can continue to serve you best when you let us know what you like or dislike about our products and services. Please talk to us. Bug reports and enhancement requests are encouraged. Direct all communications to: TaxWare attn: PCX2FNT PO Box 2014 Provo, UT 84603-2014 Phone: (801) 373-0541 (Monday thru Friday, 9am-5pm MDT) Due to an anticipated move, this phone number will likely be replaced after August 31, 1992. The mailing address will remain in service. PCX2FNT User's Manual 9 PCX2FNT v1.1 ───────────────────────────────────────────────────────── Index Appendix A . . . . . . . . . . . . 9 Appendix B . . . . . . . . . . . . 9 Applications . . . . . . . . . . . 5 Chapter One . . . . . . . . . . . 1 Chapter Three . . . . . . . . . . 5 Chapter Two . . . . . . . . . . . 2 Copyright Notice . . . . . . . . . i Correspondence . . . . . . . . . . 9 DBASE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 DOWNLOAD . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 Error Messages . . . . . . . . . . 9 Font Creation . . . . . . . . . . 2 Font Test Print . . . . . . . . . 3 Font Usage . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 Help . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 Installation . . . . . . . . . . . 2 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . 1 Lotus 1-2-3 . . . . . . . . . . . 7 MicroSoft Word . . . . . . . . . . 7 MicroSoft Word For Windows . . . . 8 Quattro Pro . . . . . . . . . . . 7 Registered and Shareware Version Differences . . 1 Running . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 Symphony . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 System Requirements . . . . . . . 1 Table of Contents . . . . . . . ii TaxWare . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9 Trademarks . . . . . . . . . . . . i UNLOAD . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 Warranty Disclaimer . . . . . . . i WordPerfect . . . . . . . . . . . 8 10 PCX2FNT User's Manual