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1Overview
?Overview
`Ghostview for Windows` is a graphical interface for MS-Windows `Ghostscript`.
Ghostscript is an interpreter for the PostScript page description language
used by laser printers.
For documents following the Adobe PostScript Document Structuring
Conventions, Ghostview for Windows allows selected pages to be viewed or
printed.
Ghostview for Windows can be used with Windows Ghostscript 2.6 or later.
Ghostview for Windows was inspired by Tim Theisen's X11 Ghostview
program.
The ability to understand `DSC` comments comes from X11 Ghostview.
2Document Structuring Conventions
?Document Structuring Conventions
?DSC
?Encapsulated PostScript
?EPSF
?EPS
Adobe has defined a set of extended comment conventions that provide
additional information about the page structure and resource
requirements of a postscript file.
If a file contains these Document Structuring Convention (DSC) comments,
Ghostview can display pages in random order using `Goto` and display pages
in reverse order using `Prev`. Selected pages can be extracted to
another file or printed.
If a file does not contain DSC comments, Ghostview can only
display the pages in the original order.
DSC conforming files start with the comment line:
%!PS-Adobe-3.0
where the number 3.0 may change and is the DSC version number.
Some programs write postscript files with a control-D as the first
character of the file, followed by the comment line mentioned above.
Ghostview will correctly report that these files are not DSC conforming,
but will still display them with page selection features available.
Complain to the author of the program that produced the postscript file.
To make the file DSC conforming, edit it to remove the control-D character.
DSC conforming files contain lines such as:
%%Pages: 24
%%Page: 1 1
These lines tell Ghostview how many pages a document contains and
where they start. Ghostview uses this information to select
individual pages.
Encapsulated PostScript Files (EPSF) are single page documents
that contain a subset of the `DSC` comments and PostScript commands.
EPS files start with the comment line:
%!PS-Adobe-3.0 EPSF-3.0
EPS files are commonly used for inclusion in other documents and
for this reason require the bounding box comment:
%%BoundingBox: llx lly urx ury
where llx, lly, urx and ury are integers giving the x and y coordinates
of the lower left and upper right corners of a bounding box which encloses
all marks made on the page.
Some EPS files contain a preview of the postscript document.
This preview can be a Windows Metafile, a TIFF file, or an Interchange
preview (EPSI format).
For the Windows Metafile or TIFF file preview, the EPS file under DOS
contains a binary header which specifies the location and lengths of
the preview and postscript language sections of the EPS file.
For the Interchange format, the preview is contained in DSC comments
starting with
%%BeginPreview: width height depth lines
An EPS file with a preview can be created from an EPS file without a
preview using `Add EPS Preview`
2Opening a Document
?File
?Open
?Select File
?Close
The `Open` command on the `File` menu opens a file and displays
the first page.
If the file contains `DSC` comments, pages can be selected using
`Next`, `Prev` and `Goto`.
If the file does not contain `DSC` comments, `Prev` and `Goto` will
not work. Another file should not be selected until a last page of
the file has been displayed.
When a file is open, Ghostview will display the document filename,
the current page (if available) and while the cursor is over
the image, the location of the cursor in default user coordinates
(1/72 inch).
The cursor location is useful for calculating bounding boxes.
The `Select File` command is similar to `Open` but it does not display
the document.
This command is useful for opening a document prior to printing it.
The `Close` command closes the currently open document.
This should be used before the current file is changed by another
program.
If you do not do this and Ghostview detects that the file length or date
have changed, it will close Ghostscript and rescan the document.
See also `Print`.
2Page Selection
?Page Selection
?Next
?Prev
?Redisplay
?Goto
`Next` moves to the next page of a document.
This works even if the document does not contain `DSC` comments.
`Prev` moves to the previous page.
`Redisplay` redisplays the current page.
`Goto` shows a dialog box which allows selection of the next page
number to display. The `Select Page` dialog box shows page labels
since these are likely to be more useful than a sequential page number.
The `Prev`, `Redisplay` and `Goto` commands work only if the
document contains `DSC` comments.
2Document Information
?Info
A brief information area at the top of the window is used by
Ghostview to display the document filename, the current page number
and label (if available) and while the cursor is over the image, the
location of the cursor in default user coordinates (1/72 inch).
The cursor location is useful for calculating bounding boxes.
The `Info` command on the `File `menu shows a dialog box with the
following information about the `DSC` comments in the current document.
`File `is the full pathname to the document.
`Type` is` DSC`,` EPS` or `No DSC comments`.
`EPS` is an Encapsulated PostScript File - a single page document
that contains a subset of the `DSC` comments and PostScript commands.
`EPS `files are commonly used for inclusion in other documents.
`Title` is a text title that can be used when printing banner
pages and for routing or recognising documents.
`Date` is the time the document was created.
`BoundingBox` specifies a box that encloses all the marks painted
on the page. The four integer values are the coordinates of the
lower left and upper right corners of the bounding box in default
user coordinates (1/72 inch).
`Orientation `is either `Portrait `or` Landscape`.
`Default Media` gives the media name followed by the width and
height of that media in default user coordinates (1/72 inch).
`Page Order` is either `Ascending`, `Descending` or `Special`
`Pages` is the total number of pages in the document.
`Page` gives the page label and page number.
`Bitmap `is the size of the display bitmap in pixels which may be
useful if you are copying the displayed image to the clipboard.
2Printing
?Print
?Print To File
?Print File
?Extract
The `Print` command on the `File `menu allows printing of the document
using Ghostscript.
The Ghostscript printer driver and resolution are selected using the
`Select Device` dialog box. Pages are selected using the `Select Pages`
dialog box. The `All`, `Odd` and `Even` buttons provide quick selection
of pages.
The `mswinprn` printer driver uses the windows printer drivers
and should work with any printer with raster capabilities.
Printer resolution cannot be selected from within Ghostview; use
the Control Panel instead. This driver is very slow.
With all other printer drivers, Ghostscript sends the output direct
to the printer, without passing through a Windows printer driver.
If you have trouble printing you may have to `Print To File`
and then `Print File` or use the DOS command `COPY /B FILENAME PRN`.
This list of available devices and resolutions is stored in the
[Devices] section of gsview.ini. The default list of devices
and resolutions is taken from the standard distribution version
of Ghostscript for Windows 2.6 and may not be complete.
To print a document without displaying it, open the document
using `Select File`.
`Print To File` is similar to the `Print` command except that Ghostscript
will write the output to a file instead of sending it to a printer.
If you want to produce a bitmap, some useful drivers are
`bmpmono`, `bmp16`, `bmp16m` and `bmp256`.
`Print File` sends a file to a local port, bypassing the W