The Business Master (3rd Edition)

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"CONTROL" and "ENHANCE" for IBM Personal Computers and IBM/Epson/Compatible Dot Matrix Printers (C)Copyright IMAGE Computer Systems 1989 All Rights Reserved TABLE OF CONTENTS CONTROL What is CONTROL? .............................. 1 Files included with CONTROL ................... 1 Loading CONTROL ............................... 1 Configuring CONTROL ........................... 2 CONTROL Error Messages ........................ 4 ENHANCE What is ENHANCE? .............................. 5 Loading ENHANCE ............................... 6 ENHANCE Error Messages ........................ 7 CONTROL and ENHANCE -------------------------------------------------------------- WHAT IS CONTROL? CONTROL is a memory-resident program that allows you to easily access the features of your printer. Simple commands, embedded in your printed text, are converted into printer control codes. You can also define text substitutions that allow you to "boiler-plate" letters, forms, etc. Configuration files allow you to specify what effect each embedded command has. CONTROL can be removed from memory without rebooting your computer. FILES INCLUDED WITH CONTROL The files are: CONTROL.EXE The main memory-resident program. REM-CTRL.EXE Removes CONTROL from memory. CONTROL.DAT Sample data file for Epson or IBM printers. It contains substitution definitions that select bold, double width, etc. SAMPLE.DAT Sample data file for text. It contains example text substitutions. Both of the .DAT files are plain "ASCII" files. They contain comments to help you understand their contents. LOADING CONTROL The syntax for loading CONTROL is: CONTROL [-Tx] [configuration_file] [printer] All bracketed items following CONTROL are optional. The "-Tx" option allows you to select an alternate trigger character for the embedded commands contained in the text that you are sending to your printer. The character following the "T" (here shown as an "x") becomes the new trigger character. The default trigger character is a backslash ("\"). A typical example of an embedded command would be: \BThis would print as bold, \Cand this wouldn't. 1 CONTROL and ENHANCE -------------------------------------------------------------- In the above example, "\B" turns on the bold feature of your printer, and "\C" turns it off. (The "\B" and "\C" commands could mean something entirely different; they are used here only for the purpose of showing commands embedded within text.) The trigger character is always immediately followed by a character that identifies which substitution string is to replace the embedded command. Upper and lower case are equivalent for the second character. For example, "\b" and "\B" are the same. The "configuration_file" option allows you to select an alternate configuration file. The default configuration file is CONTROL.DAT. To load SAMPLE.DAT instead, type: CONTROL SAMPLE.DAT The "printer" option allows you to use CONTROL with a printer connected to a printer port other than the default LPT1: (PRN:). "Printer" can be LPT1:, LPT2: or LPT3:. For example, to control the printer connected to LPT2:, type: CONTROL LPT2: To remove CONTROL from memory, run REM-CTRL from the DOS prompt. CONFIGURING CONTROL The CONTROL configuration file determines what strings are substituted for the embedded commands contained in your text. The default CONTROL.DAT file contains the following substitution definitions for an Epson or IBM printer: \B : turns on (B)old printing \C : (C)ancels bold, underline, double width \E : turns on (E)ight lines per inch printing \N : turns off superscript and subscript \S : turns on (S)ix lines per inch printing \U : turns on (U)nderlining \V : turns on subscript ("arrow" points down) \W : turns on double (W)idth \^ : turns on superscript ("arrow" points up) \< : turns on compressed mode \> : turns on 10 characters per inch mode Configuration files must be in "ASCII" format. The file must contain only printable characters ("A...Z, 0...9"), with no 2 CONTROL and ENHANCE -------------------------------------------------------------- word processor or printer control codes. Most word processors have a facility for editing and saving ASCII files. You may find the following explanation of the contents of a configuration file easier to understand if you first copy CONTROL.DAT to your printer with the following command: COPY CONTROL.DAT PRN: The substitution definitions contained in the configuration file consist of a header character, followed by a colon, followed by the substitution string. For example, to define the string that will be substituted for "\B": B: {ESC} "E" In the above example, each occurence of "\B" in your text will be replaced by the ESCAPE character, immediately followed by an upper case E. This is the IBM or Epson command for bold printing. Comments in a definition file are enclosed by parentheses "(" and ")". Special control character representations recognized are: {ESC} This is the escape character (decimal 27, hex 1B) {LF} This is a line feed character {CR} This is a carriage return {NL} This is a newline (line feed, plus carriage return) {TAB} This is a tab character {FF} This is a form feed character Not all string substitutions have to be printer control commands. You can define ordinary text substitutions. For example: A: "This is what will print if '\A' is sent to the printer" The parsing of the configuration file uses the following rules: comment ::= (anything enclosed in parentheses) substitution definition ::= header & body header ::= alpha & : alpha ::= ASCII characters greater than 32 (hex 20) body ::= (string | number | control character) & separator string ::= "anything enclosed in double quotes" number ::= integer <= 255 control character ::= {ESC} | {LF} | {CR} | {NL} | {TAB} | {FF} separator ::= SPACE | COMMA | TAB | LF | CR | FORMFEED 3 CONTROL and ENHANCE -------------------------------------------------------------- CONTROL ERROR MESSAGES "ERROR - DOS version 2.0 or higher needed" CONTROL doesn't run under DOS versions earlier than 2.0. "ERROR - Printer specification bad" You have specified an invalid printer port. The default is LPT1: (PRN:). You can specify LPT2: or LPT3:. "ERROR - Configuration file not found: ????????" CONTROL defaults to reading CONTROL.DAT. You can specify another file on the command line when loading CONTROL. In any case, CONTROL is unable to find the configuration file. The question marks represent the configuration file name you tried to load. "DOS ERROR while reading configuration file: ????????" This error is being reported by DOS. Perhaps the file has been corrupted. "ERROR in configuration file: ???????? Non-printable character on line xx" The configuration file must contain only ASCII text (A...Z, 0...9, etc.). A character with an ASCII value below 32 has been found in the file. "ERROR - '{' must precede control code on line xx For example: '{tab}' or '{esc}'" CONTROL recognizes several common printer control code representations. {lf} represents line feed, {cr} represents carriage return, etc. You must use brackets ("{}") around each control code. "ERROR - Colon must follow control character in configuration file" Each substitution definition in the configuration file must start with a header character, followed by a colon (":"). "ERROR on line xx of configuration file: ????????. Number out of range" Numbers, which represent ASCII values, cannot exceed 255, the upper limit of ASCII characters. 4 CONTROL and ENHANCE -------------------------------------------------------------- "ERROR - Unbalanced comment bracketing in configuration file" A configuration file can contain comments, which are enclosed with parentheses "()". Each start of a comment must be matched by an end. For example: (this is a properly bracketed comment) (and so is this) ((this isn't; there are 2 left parens and only 1 right) "ERROR - Too many definitions in configuration file" You are limited to 70 definitions in a configuration file. "ERROR - Configuration buffer overflow" Your definitions have exceeded the allowable number of total characters. The maximum for all definitions combined is approximately 2000 characters. "ERROR - Memory-resident program not found" This is an error message from REM-CTRL. Either CONTROL isn't in memory, or you have loaded another memory-resident program on top of CONTROL A third possibility is that an ill-behaved program is resident in memory. WHAT IS ENHANCE? ENHANCE is a memory-resident program that improves the graphics output of standard Epson or IBM dot matrix printers. This improvement comes from printing each graphics pass twice, possibly shifting the second graphics pass to the right one dot position. ENHANCE can also map high density graphics to lower density graphics supported by earlier printers. ENHANCE can't make a poorly scaled or crudely drawn graphic attractive. By the time ENHANCE receives the graphics output, the shape of the picture has already been determined. ENHANCE receives the graphics picture in thin horizontal strips of dot patterns, and there is no way to know how or what would improve a particular picture. ENHANCE is compatible with IBM or Epson printers that support the following graphics commands: 5 CONTROL and ENHANCE -------------------------------------------------------------- ESC "K" single density graphics ESC "L" low-speed double density graphics ESC "Y" high-speed double density graphics ESC "Z" quadruple-density graphics Almost all PC printers sold since 1986 are compatible. LOADING ENHANCE The syntax for loading ENHANCE is: ENHANCE [dash options] [printer] All bracketed items following ENHANCE are optional. The dash options are: -R Remove ENHANCE from memory. -T Print graphics twice. Each sweep of the print head will be doubled for darker, clearer graphics. This is the default if no dash options are used. -TS Print graphics twice, shifting the second pass one dot position to the right. This results in graphics that are darker and slightly bolder. -L Convert ESC "Z" quadruple density graphics to ESC "L" double density graphics. This option allows graphics to print on >some< early printers that only recognize double density graphics. Examples: ENHANCE -T LPT2: {print graphics twice on printer attached to the 2nd printer port} ENHANCE -R {remove ENHANCE from memory} ENHANCE should be loaded into memory before any other memory- resident software that generates graphics output. For example, if you intend to do graphics screen dumps, you should first load ENHANCE, and then load the DOS GRAPHICS program. 6 CONTROL and ENHANCE -------------------------------------------------------------- ENHANCE ERROR MESSAGES "ERROR - Printer must be in range 1...3" You have specified an invalid printer port. The default is LPT1: (PRN:). You can specify LPT2: or LPT3:. "ERROR - DOS version 2.0 or higher needed" ENHANCE doesn't run under DOS versions earlier than 2.0. "ERROR - '-R' is invalid; ENHANCE not resident (or not found)" The "-R" command line option removes ENHANCE from memory. ENHANCE isn't already in memory, or another memory-resident printer-controlling program has been loaded after ENHANCE. A third possibility is that an ill-behaved memory-resident program has broken the "link" to ENHANCE. "ERROR - '-x' not a valid command; ignored" The 'x' represents a dash option that ENHANCE doesn't recognize. 7