The Business Master (3rd Edition)

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P F O R M F I T ! Version 2.0 R E F E R E N C E M A N U A L Sidebar Software 205 S. Higley Sp. 306 Mesa, AZ 85206 (C) Copyright 1987 Sidebar Software All Rights Reserved Formfit! 2.0 (C) Copyright 1987 Sidebar Software Specifications, features, and capabilities outlined in this manual and incorporated into the program Formfit! are subject to change without notice. Formfit! is a trademark of Sidebar Software. Formfit! software copyright 1986, 1987 by Sidebar Software. All rights reserved. This reference manual copyright 1987 by Sidebar Software. All rights reserved. Both software and hardware names and references contained in this manual are trademarks of various manufacturers. This program was written using Microsoft QuickBASIC 3.0. Special thanks to Dave Evers for the BASWIND routines. Printed in the United States of America. ii. Formfit! 2.0 (C) Copyright 1987 Sidebar Software LICENSE Formfit! (and its accompanying documentation) is copyright (C) 1986, 1987 by Sidebar Software of Mesa, Arizona. All versions of this program, including 2.0, are not public domain software, nor are they free software. After a suitable trial period, to continue to use Formfit!, you are expected to register your copy. This period will naturally vary from user to user, but we at Sidebar Software feel that if you have run this program ten (10) or so times, for the purpose of productively using it (as opposed to introducing yourself and/or others to its functions,) you are an active user, and are expected to register your copy. Non- registered users are granted a limited license to use Formfit! on a trial basis, for the purpose of familiarizing themselves with its operation and determining personal usefulness. To continue using Formfit! without registration is forbidden. Registration allows the use of Formfit! for a single user. You may transport Formfit! to any machine for the purpose of personal use, but operators and/or owners of multi-user systems must obtain a site license, or register a copy for each user who has access to Formfit! Commercial users MUST obtain registration via a site license. Write to us for more information about site licensing. Registered users are permitted to make backup copies of Formfit! for personal archival purposes, and all individual users are permitted (and encouraged) to copy the entire Formfit! package for other users to try and evaluate, pursuant to this licensing agreement. Distributors of public domain or user supported software may distribute copies of Formfit! according to the above conditions only after receiving written permission to do so from Sidebar Software. This is a routine and simple procedure, so please write for more details. Formfit! may not be distributed as a part of any other product or sales campaign. It is intended to be distributed from personal user to personal user. Electronic bulletin board systems (BBS) may be used to store and distribute this program to individual users, according to the individual system operator's (SYSOP) local board rules and directives. Always abide by the SYSOP's rules and regulations, as modern, personal telecommunications owes a great debt to these dedicated men and women. If you are the author of user supported software, and have license granting power over the same, contact us about mutual reciprocal licensing of our product to you in exchange for the license to use your software here at Sidebar. iii. Formfit! 2.0 (C) Copyright 1987 Sidebar Software WARRANTY Sidebar Software makes no warranty of any kind, expressly or implied, regarding Formfit! and/or its accompanying documentation. Sidebar Software will not be responsible for any damages, whether direct or indirect, incurred by users as a result of running this program, or due to failure of this product to meet any and/or all the stated specifications. This program is distributed strictly on an "as is" basis, without exception. In no way will Sidebar Software be liable to you for lost profits, lost assets, lost savings, or loss of potential gain due to the use or inability to use this program, in part or in full. iv. Formfit! 2.0 (C) Copyright 1987 Sidebar Software REGISTRATION INFORMATION Your one-time registration entitles you to all future updates of Formfit! While no copies of any updates will automatically be sent to you directly, your name will be added to our customer database, and notice of any updates or program enhancements will be sent to you, if you so desire (indicate on the registration form.) Also, by indicating that you desire to be placed on our mailing list, you will receive notices for any new products introduced by Sidebar Software. (Under no circumstances will any customer names, addresses, etc. be given or sold to any third parties.) For only the price of the disk and mailing (or free, if you provide your own disk and a postage paid, self addressed mailer,) you can receive the current, updated version of Formfit! Keep an eye on your local BBS's, too, for the latest version of Formfit! By registering your copy of Formfit! you are signifying your expected continued use of our product. We are glad that you have found Formfit! useful, and will continue to be thankful for users like yourself. Appendix B. contains the necessary form for registering your copy of Formfit! v. Formfit! 2.0 (C) Copyright 1987 Sidebar Software ABOUT FORMFIT! VERSION 2.0 Formfit! will allow you to quickly fill out preprinted forms using your computer's printer. You define the form according to where the information is to go, and you can label the location for ease of reference. Rich with editing options, you can later erase just the information which has become outdated, supply the new information, and print all the information on a new form. The form itself can be redefined entry by entry, thus allowing the quickest possible revisions to be made, even when the layout of the form changes. (Formfit! is also great for envelopes, labels, etc.) This program was written by Greg Nordstrom, one of the members of Sidebar Software, while he was an engineering undergraduate at Arizona State University. The bureaucratic way of life at the university called for many changes to be filed as expected course work and/or requirements changed. And it was up to the students to reaccomplish the required forms, in triplicate. By defining the common forms just once, Greg had to then only change a line or two of information, roll in a new blank form, and in 5 minutes or less, the job was done. Those of you who work with forms on a regular basis will enjoy and benefit from this program from the very first day you begin to use it. Versions 1.0 and 1.1, were considerably less flexible than 2.0. Due to the large number of improvements, added features, and enhancements, the basic file structure is no longer the same, and users of 1.0 or 1.1 will have to redefine any forms they wish to use. A few of the major changes and improvements found in version 2.0 are listed below: o The number of definitions-per-form has been made dynamically variable, up to a maximum of 999. o Variable template and form sizes are now allowed, up to 137 columns by 132 rows. o Automatic selection of compressed print mode when more than 80 columns across are requested. o Menu response methods have been improved, and scrolling bar menus are supplemented by unique letter choices. o Several parameters can now be customized and saved as defaults. Also, definition files now include all system parameters when saved and retrieved. o Extensive error trapping and non-destructive escape sequences are now available. o Date and Time information is available on screen. o A DOS shell allows the user to access DOS, and then return to using Formfit! vi. Formfit! 2.0 (C) Copyright 1987 Sidebar Software ABOUT SIDEBAR SOFTWARE Sidebar Software has been in existence since March, 1986. Our products are developed in response to real world needs. We use computers here at Sidebar daily, and run into our share of brick walls to circumvent. We try to keep our approach simple, and our human interface as clean as possible. We are very open to suggestions and criticisms. In fact, at one time we toyed with the idea that for every 5 first-time reported bugs in a program, or typos in a manual, we would grant registration and license privileges to the sender. However, this would result in most folks being told "sorry, someone else found it first," and so we tabled that idea. But the point is, we constantly look for new and fresh user-producer avenues of communication, so please, write to us concerning any aspect of our products and/or policies. We, as a group, believe in God, and try to follow Him in all we do. We also believe that a person's eternal soul is far too valuable to risk for a few unregistered or pirated computer programs. If you are going to use Formfit! (or anyone else's software, for that matter), then give the author his/her due, if so requested. If you're not going to use it, pass it on. Maybe someone else will find it helpful. Thanks, from all of us at Sidebar Software. vii. Formfit! 2.0 (C) Copyright 1987 Sidebar Software CONTENTS LICENSE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . iii. WARRANTY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . iv. REGISTRATION INFORMATION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . v. ABOUT FORMFIT! VERSION 2.0 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . vi. ABOUT SIDEBAR SOFTWARE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . vii. 1. INTRODUCTION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1.1 System Requirements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1.1 Running Formfit! for the First Time . . . . . . . . 1.2 Tips on Using Formfit! . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1.2 2. THE MAIN MENU SCREEN . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2.1 Define/Edit a Form . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2.1 Print to the Form . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2.1 Make a Template Overlay . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2.1 Check/Change Defaults . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2.2 Using the DOS Shell . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2.2 3. MAKING TEMPLATE OVERLAYS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3.1 4. CHECKING AND CHANGING SYSTEM DEFAULTS . . . . . . . . . 4.1 Page Layout and Number of Definitions . . . . . . . 4.1 The Save/Retrieve File Path . . . . . . . . . . . . 4.2 Date, Time, and Beep Toggles . . . . . . . . . . . 4.2 Printer Mode and Font Toggles . . . . . . . . . . . 4.2 Printer Control Codes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4.3 5. THE DEFINE/EDIT MODE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5.1 Edit . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5.1 Delete . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5.2 Clear . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5.2 Load . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5.2 Save . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5.3 6. PRINTING TO THE FORM . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6.1 7. USING THE DOS SHELL . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7.1 APPENDICES A. INITIAL DEFAULTS AND DEFAULT FILE STRUCTURE . . . . . . A.1 B. USER REGISTERATION FORM . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . B.1 C. FORMFIT! ERROR MESSAGES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . C.1 viii. Formfit! 2.0 (C) Copyright 1987 Sidebar Software 1. INTRODUCTION The purpose of Formfit! is to allow the user to define positions and areas on pre-printed forms, place data at any given position on the form, and save the definitions and data for later use. By defining commonly used forms once, the user need only update the data that has changed since the last session. This allows updates and changes to be made quickly and easily, even when the form's basic structure has changed. The program uses an overlay template, which the user creates on his/her own printer, for row and column alignment and coordinate references. Many options are allowed at print time, such as unidirectional printing to insure columnar alignment, selection of several fonts, and software override of out-of-paper detection (if supported by your printer.) System Requirements Formfit! dynamically allocates memory according to the parameter controlling maximum number of allowed definitions. Initially, this is set to 255, but may be changed to any value from 1 to 999. As a guide to operation, the following table gives APPROXIMATE memory requirements for various configurations. Values shown below do not include memory required to use the DOS shell (that depends on what you do while you are working in the DOS environment. See chapter 7 for more details. Maximum Number of Definitions Required RAM ----------------------------- ------------------ 50 160 Kbytes 100 164 Kbytes 255 170 Kbytes 500 180 Kbytes 999 196 Kbytes WARNING: Attempting to run Formfit! in less memory than needed will usually result in the DOS message "Not Enough Memory," but in certain cases Formfit! will begin to run, albeit incorrectly. Each of the above entries is slightly inflated, so following them should keep you out of trouble. In addition to the above RAM requirements, Formfit! needs at least one disk drive, a color or monochrome monitor, and a printer. Several printer control code sequences are used by the program, according to the capabilities of your printer. The program is shipped ready to drive a Panasonic KX-P1091i (in the Epson RX-80 mode.) You may define any of those codes which apply to your printer, and have Formfit! ignore the rest. This will, of course, limit some of the options available to you at print time, but virtually all printers operating as the LPT1 device can be used with Formfit! See your printer and DOS manuals for more details. 1.1 Formfit! 2.0 (C) Copyright 1987 Sidebar Software Running Formfit! for the First Time As you know, it is good computing practice to back up any program before running it, and Formfit! is no exception. Please make an archive copy of all files included with the Formfit! package before running the program. Hard disk users may wish to set up a separate directory for Formfit! The program may be invoked by typing FORMFIT at the DOS prompt. Whenever Formfit! is run, it looks at the current directory for a file containing the user's default parameters. Since initially this file will be absent (and in case it ever gets "misplaced") Formfit! will inform you that it cannot find the default file, and will prompt you for your OK before the file is actually created on the disk. Pressing ESC will abort and return you to DOS. Once the default file has been created, you will be presented with an advertisement for registering Formfit! The first 15 or so times you run Formfit!, the ad will appear (the time that Formfit! pauses for you to read it decreases each time you run the program.) When prompted, press any key to continue to the Main Menu. As mentioned previously, and as explained in detail in the section on checking and changing defaults, Formfit! allows considerable flexibility when defining system parameters. Formfit! comes configured to write all form definition files to C:\, the root directory of the hard drive. If you are using a floppy based system, or wish to use only your A: or B: drive for saving defined forms, change the File Definition Path variable using the Check/Change Defaults option from the Main Menu before attempting to save data with Formfit! Tips on Using Formfit! Formfit! tries to be as forgiving as possible, and yet it retains an overall structured approach to using the various menus and options. The first thing to remember is that you can USUALLY get yourself out of trouble with the ESCape key. ESC is used to back up to a previous menu when you are finished at a certain level, and if you are in the middle of an operation, ESC will abort current (in progress) changes, and retain previous values. When presented with a highlighted menu bar, use the keypad to move and highlight an option, then select it by pressing ENTER. Optionally, you may just press the first letter of the option you want, and it will be invoked immediately. In most cases the keypad arrows allow movement to the next item, PgUp and PgDn move the bar to the last visible item, and Home and End will move to the beginning and end, respectively, of a given range, even if out of view (larger than current screen.) Be sure to configure Formfit! for your printer's capabilities before printing templates or forms. Incorrect codes can make for some surprising results, to say the least. 1.2 Formfit! 2.0 (C) Copyright 1987 Sidebar Software 2. THE MAIN MENU SCREEN The following is an overview of each of the Main Menu's options. For details on using each one, see the section pertaining to that area. They are presented in this section in the order you see them on the Main Menu, and later, in the order that they will be used by the first time user. Define/Edit a Form This is where you make the actual additions and changes to a given form, or begin to define a new form. You can add new data, change old data, remove previous definitions, and load and save form definitions to and from the disk. You will work in a window, choosing lines of data from the screen to modify or edit. Also, Formfit! tries to anticipate your next selection with defaults extracted from the last line you filled out. This is helpful, as many forms are repetitive in nature (i.e. all stock numbers begin at column 3.) A unique feature of Formfit! is that entries need not be made in any order, so you can define all the items in column 18, for example, before defining the items in column 5. This helps you arrange the form logically, grouping the most often changed entries together. Print to the Form This option is used when it is time to actually print the data to the defined areas of the form. You will be prompted before printing begins to align the printhead and the form. When the printing job is complete, you are returned to the Main Menu. Make a Template Overlay This is the option you select when you wish to print out a template guide overlay. The guide will be sized according to your default width and length parameters. Usually, you will only need to print a template once. Here at Sidebar, we printed out several templates using different size options, then had clear plastic copies made of them. This allows us to lay the templates over the forms to be defined, and easily read off the coordinates. Of course, you can use paper templates, and align them using a light, but the plastic is MUCH easier! Remember, whatever method you use, MARK AN EASILY FOUND REFERENCE POINT ON THE PAPER BEFORE BEGINNING TO PRINT THE TEMPLATE. This is the only way you can insure proper alignment of your preprinted form later. You will be prompted before printing begins to align the printhead and the form. When the printing job is complete, you are returned to the Main Menu. 2.1 Formfit! 2.0 (C) Copyright 1987 Sidebar Software Check/Change Defaults Two screens are associated with this option. On the first screen, you have many choices concerning the program's "feel" and physical limits. For example, you can change the size of the page you prefer to work with, allocate more memory (by choosing a larger number of definitions,) and toggle on and off things like unidirectional printing, or the beeping that accompanies errors and undefined key presses. The second screen is used for configuring Formfit! to work with your printer. You provide the control codes needed by the printer for things such as compressed printing, font selection, and ignoring a paper out condition. Any function not supported by your printer may be left blank, and Formfit! will not attempt to use that function. Use the DOS Shell This allows the user to drop down into DOS, execute commands and/or run programs, then return to Formfit! when finished. This can be handy for checking the current directory, renaming files, and copying files to other disks or directories. You can even run other programs while in the shell. Refer to chapter 7 for full details on using the DOS shell. 2.2 Formfit! 2.0 (C) Copyright 1987 Sidebar Software 3. MAKING TEMPLATE OVERLAYS The template is how you as a user let Formfit! know where to place data at print time. By using a reference point to insure repeatable placement of the template on a form, the form may then be properly aligned in the printer. The template is made up of several rows and columns. Remember, sentences on a page are in ROW order, and COLUMNS go up and down. Each row begins at the left, with column position 1. So the leftmost upper corner print position is at row 1, column 1. The 16th row of a typical template looks like this: 16.._....1...._....2...._....3...._....4...._....6...._. Notice how the line is constructed. The row number is given fully as the first number in the line. Each column is marked with a dot, and if the column is a multiple of 5, it is marked with the underscore symbol (_). Columns that are multiples of 10 are marked with the tens digit of that column. For example, the 40th column position is indicated by the "4" in the line above. Note also that the user has requested the maximum number of columns to be 66. You must make at least one template overlay before using Formfit! Your forms will be defined by means of a row and column matrix, and these references must be easily found. This is where the template comes in. Initially, you align the template with your form, and begin to edit/define your form using the coordinates read from the overlay. When you select the Make a Template Overlay option, you are prompted to align your printhead and paper before proceeding (or you may ESCape.) It is also important that you MARK THE BLANK PAPER WITH AN INDEX MARK of some kind, so that the physical position of the paper in the printer can be found again later. On the Panasonic we use at Sidebar, the paper bail is marked with index marks, so we just position the corner of the page at the zero mark (you may have to use some other landmark, or make a pencil mark, etc., to mark a position on the paper.) In any case, a template without some sort of printer alignment reference point is practically useless. Next, you press any key to print out the template, and are returned to the Main Menu when finished. (You may abort the template printing operation at any time by pressing ESC.) Make a few templates of various widths and lengths. We also recommend getting them copied onto plastic. This can be done at most copy services. 3.1 Formfit! 2.0 (C) Copyright 1987 Sidebar Software 4. CHECKING AND CHANGING SYSTEM DEFAULTS The system defaults are found on two screens. The first screen controls page layout, printer toggles, etc., and will be used often. It is shown when you select the Check/Change Defaults option from the Main Menu. The second screen, however, will usually be used only when you change printers, and is reached through the first, by selecting the Printer Control Codes option (currently selection K.) To change any item on either screen, press the letter of its choice. You may ESCape at any time. All the information (from both screens) will be used only during the current session, unless saved to disk, where it becomes the new default data for subsequent program runs. Saving is done by pressing S instead of a lettered menu option. See Appendix A. for a discussion of the original Formfit! defaults. Page Layout and Number of Definitions Option A. (Page Length) and Option B. (Page Width) allow you to define the size of the form you will be using. These limits are used to when you print a template overlay, and as you enter data (to check for attempts to exceed defined limits.) You may set the page length to any number of lines (rows) from 1 to 132. If you work with forms larger than 132 lines, you may have to define it in parts (or write to us about a "custom" version of Formfit!) The page width can be set to any number of columns from 5 to 137. If your printer does not support condensed printing, limit your page width to 80 columns, as Formfit! will attempt to turn on condensed printing when the page width is greater than 80. Of course, if you use a 132 column printer, set the condensed print mode control code sequence to N/A, and wide forms will be filled out using normal sized fonts. Note: on some printers, different fonts may automatically invoke proportional spacing. Since Formfit! has no way of knowing how smart your printer is, when using fonts other than draft, experiment on blank paper first before inserting your only copy of that important form! Option C. (Maximum Number of Definitions) allows you to dynamically allocate how much memory Formfit! will use at run time. You can select any amount in the range of 1 to 999. The more definitions you allow for (whether or not you use them,) the more RAM you need. When you select this option, any definitions you currently have in memory WILL BE LOST, so save them first. You will be prompted before any data is actually lost, and you can ESCape unharmed if you need to. 4.1 Formfit! 2.0 (C) Copyright 1987 Sidebar Software The Save/Retrieve File Path Option D. (File Definition Path) is used to change the path which DOS will use to save/load defined forms. When changing this item, you should end your path with the backslash (\) character (if you don't, though, Formfit! will supply it for you.) You are limited to 32 characters for the complete path information. The original default is C:\, the hard drive root directory. Date, Time, and Beep Toggles Options E. (Toggle Date Display), F. (Toggle Time Display), and G. (Toggle Speaker Beep) are used to toggle on and off the current date, time, and error beep respectively. When toggled on, the date is displayed in the upper left corner of all menus, and the time is displayed in the upper right. These are the date and time currently maintained by DOS, so if you don't normally set these at boot time (or your clock has no battery,) you may just want to toggle these off, and save the new defaults to disk. The beep toggle is used to turn on/off the error beep that occurs whenever Formfit! encounters a bad keypress or displays an error message. Printer Mode and Font Toggles Options H. (Toggle Paper Out Detector), I. (Toggle Unidirectional Printing), and J. (Toggle Font Selection) are used to select the printer mode you desire. Of course, these must be supported by your printer. Option H. will enable or disable the printer's paper out sensor. Many forms extend to the bottom of the page, and if the printer is not told to ignore the end-of-paper signal, it will usually halt printing at about 13 lines from the bottom of the form. By disabling the paper out sensor, you can usually print completely to the last line on a form (depending, again, on your printer.) Option I. toggles unidirectional printing. Many printers have some alignment trouble when using bidirectional printing with condensed mode font. By forcing unidirectional printing, columns will be aligned quite nicely. Test your printer by printing a short template guide with more than 80 columns, using first bidirectional, and then unidirectional printing. Save the defaults when you have made your selection. Option J. is used to select between three available fonts: Draft, Courier NLQ (Near Letter Quality), and Bold PS NLQ. These may not be available on your printer, so be sure to change to the correct control code sequence, using the second System Defaults screen (see Printer Control Codes, Option K. below.) In any case, pressing J. will toggle between the three options. 4.2 Formfit! 2.0 (C) Copyright 1987 Sidebar Software Printer Control Codes Option K. (Printer Control Codes) will show the second Check/Change Defaults screen. This is where you define the needed printer control code sequences for Formfit! Each sequence may consist of several codes, which can be found in the user's manual for your printer. Have the printer manual handy before attempting to change any codes. You select an option by pressing its corresponding letter (or you can ESCape.) Formfit! will prompt you for a string of DECIMAL printer codes, which you must separate by a single space. If a particular option is not supported by your printer, select that option to modify (by pressing its corresponding menu letter,) and immediately press ENTER (i.e. supply NO codes.) This will cancel any previous control code sequence, and display N/A next to the option. This will signal Formfit! not to attempt to use that option. When you are done with this screen, use ESC to return to the first screen, where you may save the defaults to disk (by pressing the letter "S",) or use ESC again to return to the Main Menu, keeping the newly changed defaults only for the current Formfit! session. Note: Option A. (Current Printer) is used to specify which printer your system currently uses. This is for your information only. No check is made as to what type of printer you specify here. The name (or whatever else you care to type in) is just to remind you which type of printer the codes are set for. 4.3 Formfit! 2.0 (C) Copyright 1987 Sidebar Software 5. THE DEFINE/EDIT MODE This is by far the most used screen in Formfit! The information is presented in a 13 line window, and consists of the definition number, a label (for your convenience only,) the definition's row, its starting and ending (inclusive) column numbers, and the data which is to be placed at that position on the preprinted form at print time. You can scroll up and down one page of definitions at a time, or go directly to the first or last definition, using the keypad. There is an overlap of one definition when you change pages. In other words, the first page will show definitions 1 through 13, and the second page (if there are more than 13 definitions) will begin with number 13. The horizontal arrow keys are used to move the menu bar at the bottom of the window, and ENTER will select an option, or you may select an option by pressing the first letter of the option. ESC returns you to the Main Menu. Details on using each of the menu bar options follows. Edit Selecting Edit allows you to define a new entry, or modify an existing one. An editing window will be opened, and you will be allowed to fill in the needed information. To the left of each line of information is the default data (in brackets) for that entry. This is usually what was given for the previous definition. Pressing ENTER alone will select the default value. Typical edit window data is shown below, and is followed by a line by line explanation of its use. [ 3 ] Definition Number to Edit: 3 [Name] Label: Address [ 1 ] Row: 3 [ 4 ] Column Start: 4 [ 20 ] Column End: 36 [Stevens, William J.] Contents: 107 N. Mill Lane Rd. The default value for Number to Edit is the next unused entry, regardless of which item was last edited. For example, if you had already defined 55 entries, and then edited number 32, the next default for Number to Edit would be 56. Error checking prevents you from selecting a value of less than one, or greater than the next available definition. The default reads [FULL] when you have used all definitions. The Label entry is for your own reference only. By using the name of the entry given on the form, such as NAME or ADDRESS, you can easily locate items which must be changed when you re-edit a form at some later date. The default for this entry is the last definition's Label value. Enter a blank space if no label name is to be associated with an entry. Labels are limited to 20 characters maximum. 5.1 Formfit! 2.0 (C) Copyright 1987 Sidebar Software Row, Column Start, and Column End are self explanatory, with the defaults being the last defined entry's Row and Column values. The Contents entry is where you provide the data to be printed on the form itself. You are limited in length by the column start and column end values previously entered. In any case, a maximum of 31 characters are allowed. To use more than this you must define a definition in parts. The default is the last definition's Contents value. One suggestion: use the characters <EMPTY> while defining a form, and later, when filling out the contents, first load in the form and use the Clear option (see below) to clear just the Contents column. This lets you fill out a "clean" form. Delete Use this option to delete a single definition. A Delete window will appear, and you will be asked for the definition number to delete (use ESC to abort.) If no definitions are as yet defined, an error message appears in the window, and you are returned to the Edit/Define window after a couple of seconds. Clear When you choose Clear, the Clear Current Definitions window opens, and you have a menu bar choice of clearing all the definitions, or only the Contents column of the definitions. As usual, ESC will abort without clearing anything. Clearing just the contents is useful for forms on which all the data to be printed must be resupplied each time the form is filled out. Load When you select Load, the screen clears, and a list of all the definition files on the current directory is given, or you are informed that no definition files exist. (Definition files end in .DEF, and this is how they are found.) You are then prompted for a filename. Formfit! will supply the extension of .DEF to the filename, so you are limited to eight characters for the filename. If you do append an extension, Formfit! will merely truncate it and add the .DEF extension. Remember, the default path information will be used to find the file, so DO NOT USE ANY PATH INFORMATION when specifying a file to load in. You may select the default filename by pressing ENTER without supplying any name. The default is either the last filename loaded or saved, or, if no files have been accessed yet, TEMPFILE.DEF is used as the default. Since the Save option saves the current defaults with a file, the defaults may be different when loading is finished. When loading is completed, you are returned to the Define/Edit screen. 5.2 Formfit! 2.0 (C) Copyright 1987 Sidebar Software Save Save is very much like Load. You are given a list of files on the current directory, and then prompted for the name of the file to save. (Again, if no definition files exist on the current directory, you are told so.) The .DEF extension will be automatically appended, and the default filename is used if only ENTER is pressed. See Load above for an explanation of filename defaults. Remember, all system defaults currently in effect will be saved along with the file. 5.3 Formfit! 2.0 (C) Copyright 1987 Sidebar Software 6. PRINTING TO THE FORM Use this option when it is time to print out the information on the form itself. First, you will be asked to align the form and the printhead. Do this by marking the form (if necessary) using the template guide's alignment mark. In other words, align the template with the form, mark a spot on the form corresponding to the alignment mark on the template, roll the form into the printer, and align the mark with the index on the printer itself (i.e. the one you used when you printed the template guide.) Then press ENTER to begin the printing process (or ESCape to abort.) When printing is finished, you will be returned to the Main Menu. 6.1 Formfit! 2.0 (C) Copyright 1987 Sidebar Software 7. USING THE DOS SHELL As discussed earlier, the DOS shell allows you to drop down into the DOS environment, use DOS as you normally would, and return to Formfit! at the point where you left off. While this is a powerful feature of Formfit!, you must use caution while in DOS, and return to Formfit! properly, as discussed below. To access DOS from Formfit!, you select the Use DOS Shell option from the Main Menu. You will be presented with an information box, and prompted to press any key to continue. If you do not wish to continue on into DOS, pressing ESCape will return you to the Main Menu immediately. In order to use DOS, Formfit! must load a second copy of the DOS COMMAND.COM file into memory (the first copy was loaded automatically when you booted up your computer.) COMMAND.COM is the DOS file that allows you and DOS to communicate with each other. (Don't worry if this doesn't make perfect sense, as Formfit! handles all the details of loading COMMAND.COM and getting you into the DOS environment.) Remember, though, that your computer must have sufficient memory to allow the second COMMAND.COM file to be loaded (approximately 24 Kbytes, depending on your version of DOS,) and there must be enough space for any extra programs you wish to run while using the shell. Once the familiar DOS prompt appears, you may do just about anything you would normally do from DOS, including running other programs. Do not, however, run a program that is to remain resident in the computer (i.e. any of those handy "pop-up" programs.) If loaded from within the shell, resident programs will not work properly when you return to Formfit! (They will work fine with Formfit!, but must be loaded BEFORE running Formfit!) Also, if the current DOS directory is changed while using the shell, you should change it back to the directory which Formfit! was using before the shell was invoked. While the definition files are pathed to a certain directory, the same cannot be said for the default file (FORMFIT.DFL) which Formfit! uses to store your desired default parameter values. This means that if you change directories while in the shell, then return to Formfit! and change and save the defaults, they will be on a different directory than Formfit! used when it was initially run. The next time you run Formfit! the new defaults will not be found! To return to Formfit! after using the DOS shell, simply type the command EXIT at the DOS prompt. You will be immediately returned to the Main Menu of Formfit!, where you may continue working where you left off. 7.1 Formfit! 2.0 (C) Copyright 1987 Sidebar Software APPENDIX A. INITIAL DEFAULTS AND DEFAULT FILE STRUCTURE Formfit! uses default parameters for several of its features. These parameters are stored in a file named FORMFIT.DFL, which is always located ON THE CURRENT DIRECTORY. If the file FORMFIT.DFL does not exist on the current directory, Formfit! will create it. Formfit! will use certain values when it creates this file, and they are listed below. Note that numbers shown as <27><53> are actually ASCII characters represented by the decimal numbers in the brackets. The file on disk will contain the actual ASCII character itself. When editing this file with a word processor or text editor, remember that numeric data stored in the file will have a leading minus sign, if negative, or a leading blank space if positive. Actual Contents (ASCII) Remarks (Not part of file) ------------------------- ---------------------------- 63 Page Length 80 Page Width 255 Max Number of Definitions C:\ File Definition Path -1 Date Toggle (on) -1 Time Toggle (on) -1 Speaker Beep Toggle (on) 0 Paper Out Detector (off) 0 Unidirectional Print (off) Panasonic KX-P1091i Printer Name <27><64> Reset Control Codes <27><85><49> Unidirectional ON Codes <27><85><48> Unidirectional OFF Codes <15> Compressed ON Code <18> Compressed OFF Code <27><57> Paper-Out Sense ON Code <27><56> Paper-Out Sense OFF Code <27><120><48> Draft Font Codes <27><120><49> Courier NLQ Font Codes <27><120><50> Bold PS NLQ Font Codes 1 Font Selection: 1=Draft, <End of File> 2=Courier, 3=Bold A.1 Formfit! 2.0 (C) Copyright 1987 Sidebar Software In addition to getting parameter information from the default parameters file, each time a definition file is saved, the currently active parameters are saved along with the file. The structure of a simple definition file is shown below. 50 Defaults are saved first, 80 and are in the same order 100 as the defaults found in C:\formfit\files\ the FORMFIT.DFL file. See -1 above for details on this -1 portion of the file. -1 . 0 . 0 . Panasonic KX-P1091i . <27><64> . <27><85><49> . <27><85><48> . <15> . <18> . <27><57> . <27><56> . <27><120><48> . <27><120><49> . <27><120><50> . 1 Last default (Font select) Name Label #1 James Clerk Maxwell Data for definition #1 1 Row for #1's data 1 Column start for #1 30 Column end for #1 Occupation Label #2 Scientist Data for definition #2 1 Row for #2's data 66 Column start for #2 79 Column end for #2 . . . . . <Continued as needed> . . . . There may be a need to modify the defaults stored with a definition file. For example, if you are defining a form, and you discover that not enough definitions were allowed for, you can't increase that number without losing all the data in memory. And if you save the data first and then increase the maximum number of definitions, when you reload the file the old value for maximum number of definitions is also loaded and used. In a case like this, you MUST use a text editor to modify the maximum number of definitions parameter in the saved definitions file before reloading. Use caution, however, so that no limitations are exceeded, which could introduce errors when the file is reloaded. Also, you should make a backup of the file BEFORE you attempt to modify it. A.2 Formfit! 2.0 (C) Copyright 1987 Sidebar Software APPENDIX B. USER REGISTERATION FORM Use the following form to request the most recent version of Formfit! and to register your copy. Thank you again from all of us at Sidebar Software. Send to: Formfit! Sidebar Software 205 S. Higley Sp. 306 Mesa, AZ 85206 Quantity Total _______ Formfit! Disk (latest version) $ 6.00 ea. $ ______ Note: If you haven't registered, this does NOT include registration. _______ Registration ONLY. $ 20.00 ea. $ ______ _______ Registration plus latest version. $ 25.00 ea. $ ______ Please note: We accept only checks or money orders as payment. No C.O.D. orders will be processed. Name: ___________________________________________________ Address: ___________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________ Phone: ____________ Add you to our mailing list? Y N B.1 Formfit! 2.0 (C) Copyright 1987 Sidebar Software APPENDIX C. FORMFIT! ERROR MESSAGES Formfit! can detect many of the standard DOS errors pertaining to perpherial devices. The following is a list of the specific errors Formfit! looks for when requesting disk and/or printer service from DOS. All other errors not listed below will usually result in Formfit! returning to the Main Menu, although it is possible (if you work at it) to get Formfit! to just forget everything and either return to DOS unexpectedly, or maybe even lock up your machine. Error Number Message Displayed ---------------- -------------------------- 24 DEVICE TIMEOUT 25 PRINTER NOT RESPONDING 27 OUT OF PAPER 52 BAD FILE NUMBER 53 FILE NOT FOUND 54 BAD FILE MODE 57 DEVICE I/O ERROR 64 BAD FILE NAME 68 DEVICE UNAVAILABLE These errors listed above are trapped in such a way as to let you correct the error and proceed, or abort the operation, retaining all data. For other errors, you will only be given an error number, and then you are prompted to return to the Main Menu, as mentioned above. (Data will still be kept intact.) Since this program was written and compiled with Microsoft QuickBASIC, a complete list of error conditions and their corresponding numbers can be found in the Microsoft literature, if available. The errors listed above, when encountered, print out the given error message as well as the number, in the error box. C.1