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DocPRINT The Paper Saver Version 1.30 January 26, 1991 A Documentation File Formatter for IBM PC Compatible Computers using EPSON Compatible Printers by Lawrence Belan, ][ (This down here is the legal technobabble.) DocPRINT is provided "AS IS" without any warranty of any kind, either expressed or implied as to the merchantability or fitness of purpose. The risk as to the quality and performance of the software is the end user's. The Author shall have no liability or responsibility to the user with respect to the liability, loss or damage caused or alleged to be caused by this software, including, but not limited to, any interruption of service, loss of business or anticipatory profits or consequential damages resulting from the use of, or the inability to use the software. The information in this document is subject to change without notice and does not represent a commitment on the part of the Author. Page 2 DocPRINT Table Of Contents Preface....................................................3 License & Registration.....................................4 Credits....................................................5 Trademarks.................................................5 Files Included With DocPRINT...............................6 Before Using DocPRINT......................................7 Using MLL..................................................8 Using DocPRINT.............................................9 DocPRINT's Main Menu......................................10 Setting DocPRINT Options..................................11 R Input Document File (the file to Read).......11 D Settings File Name (save to Disk)............11 L Form Length in Inches........................12 W Form Width in Inches.........................12 I Lines Per Inch...............................13 C Characters Per Line..........................13 H Horizontal (Left) Margin.....................13 G Gutter Margin................................14 O Output Printer Port..........................14 F Printer Font & Size..........................14 N Page Numbering...............................15 X Page Number Location.........................15 V Vertical Justification.......................16 M Multi-Pass Printing..........................16 U Save User Configuration......................17 Z ReDisplay the Main Menu......................17 P Print........................................18 S Save Settings................................18 Q Quit DocPRINT................................18 Alt-V View the DOC File............................19 Alt-S Shell Out to DOS.............................19 DocPRINT Examples.........................................20 Printing Using The Single Pass Option.................20 Enhancing The Single Sided Printout...................21 Printing Using The Double Sided Option................22 Getting Fancy With Double Sided Printing..............22 Comments & Counseling.....................................24 Advanced uses for DocPRINT............................24 Points Of Interest....................................25 1) Graphics Characters............................25 2) Printer Enhancement............................25 DocPRINT Worksheet........................................26 DocPRINT Page 3 Preface Haven't you come across a Shareware program that you thought was great? I've found many and probably the same for you. The only problem with it is that the Documentation file that comes with the program is SO LONG, printing it out takes an hour, and half a box of paper! Of course after you have it printed, you want to file it in some place for reference. Which means your new stack of paper ends up in one of those computer printout holders (with the nylon posts) or you tear it apart, punch holes in it (hoping that you don't punch out any instructions) and stick it in a 3- ring binder. Remember that ALL of those pages you've printed out are only ONE sided! Essentially this means that HALF of your printout is wasted! Why can't printers PRINT on BOTH sides of the paper automatically? (Why did COKE change their formula?) Who Knows? Currently on my desk I have an EPSON LQ-1050 printer that allows you to switch between tractor feed paper and single sheets at the flip of a switch. You don't have to play with the tractor mechanism to do it either! One more lever would be nice to actually turn the paper over for you. Just a dream now, I believe. Printing companies print on BOTH sides of the paper. So do the new line of photocopiers out these days. I thought it was time to do something about it! Back in the summer of '88, I saw a program on the BITNET Netnews called PRINTDOC, a similar program written by Phillip Garding that got DocPRINT started. It allowed you to print out ASCII files using both sides of the paper. It worked well too; but, I'm a nit-picker that has nothing better to do than find faults with things. A few items were: 1: What if you want to print on odd size paper (like index cards, and wide computer paper)? 2: (sorta related to (1)) I love those IBM Documentation Books that hold the 5½" by 8½" pages. I wanted to print out files that I could easily cut down to size and put in those binders. 3: Page Numbering: Printed books usually have the page numbers on the outside corners of the pages (Good Place to have them when you're looking for page 317.) 4: PRINTDOC needed disk space to save the even pages of the printout. If you run PRINTDOC on a 300k file, you need 150k of space to save the even pages. It Can't Be Done on a 360k Floppy! I said to myself, "Hey, I can write a program to do that!," so that's how DocPRINT came to be. In June of '88, I sat down with my new copy of Microsoft QuickC and began coding DocPRINT. Since I'd never programmed in C, it took me ages to get the hang of the language. (Why some people love to use it still makes me wonder. I started with FORTRAN and still swear by it.) Two months later, finished product. I've tried my best to work out all the bugs, but I'm no computer myself and there's still the chance that something in there smells of RAID. Since I maintain a large library of Shareware programs and documentation (even if I don't use them), DocPRINT should reduce the amount (and weight) of my papers by half. It should do the same for you. Even if you use the program rarely, the usefulness of this utility should be worth the endeavor. Page 4 DocPRINT Now in January of '91, as I look back at the development of DocPRINT, I wonder how long it will go on. The latest revision (1.30) is the seventh set of improvements added at the request of current users. Your feedback IS IMPORTANT! I'd never though of many of them at the time. You have to enjoy something to use it! License & Registration DocPRINT is Copyright 1988-91, Lawrence Belan, ][ All Rights are reserved. Now for the part you've all been waiting for. If you seem to be financially well off, please consider sending a contribution. I'm asking for only Ten Dollars. If you do, send along some constructive criticism for things YOU may want to see in later versions of DocPRINT. I don't plan on becoming rich with your money, but it may help me stabilize my monetary standing and keep my computer running. Think about it. Send your Contribution to: Lawrence Belan, ][ P.O. Box 47 259 Fourth Ave. Crucible, PA 15325-0047 Please include the version of DocPRINT you're using with your phone number and/or CompuServe ID along with where you received DocPRINT. If you downloaded DocPRINT from a BBS, please include the phone number for it too. (It helps me distribute Updates a lot faster!) A registration form is included. Users may contact me via Electronic Mail at: bp3@psuvm.psu.edu (internet) 75745,242 (CompuServe) (I logon to CompuServe VERY seldom, so the internet address is prefered.) Registered users will receive priority response time. The end user of DocPRINT is free to copy and distribute DocPRINT for noncommercial use provided: NO FEE IS CHARGED FOR DISTRIBUTION. The code is NOT modified in any way. DocPRINT is distributed in the Compressed Format ONLY! (DOCPRN.ZIP or DOCPRN.ZOO) Clubs & User Groups are permitted to distribute DocPRINT provided that any charges to the user reflect the Media Cost Plus one (1) dollar. (Why should Groups profit from program distribution? User Groups are established to provide a SERVICE to computer users, not make a PROFIT.) If you wish to distribute DocPRINT, write me, and we'll work out some arrangement that both of us will be happy about. DocPRINT Page 5 Commercial users of DocPRINT MUST Register. Site License fees are as follows: 1 - 10 Copies ........................... $10.00 / Copy 11 - 50 Copies ........................... $ 8.00 / Copy 51 - 100 Copies ........................... $ 5.00 / Copy 100 + Copies ........................... $ 3.00 / Copy If you look at the table, you'll see that it DOES pay to register plenty of copies of the program. Let everyone have a copy! Enjoy! This documentation was created using Microsoft Word 5.0 and printed to disk using the TTYFF printer driver. (Who said everyone uses Word Perfect?) Credits Thanks go to the following people: Phillip Garding, for the double sided printing concept. Germaine Fotta, for providing the incentive for writing the code. My brother Christopher, for assisting in the Menu Implementation. Gino DePaolis, for his assistance in the beta testing phase. All of the registered users, you know who you are! Trademarks IBM is a registered trademark, DOS and OS/2 are trademarks of International Business Machines Corporation. EPSON is a registered trademark of Seiko Epson Corporation. Microsoft, QuickC and Windows are registered trademarks of Microsoft Corporation. Dots-Perfect is a trademark of Dresselhaus Computer Products. Apple and LaserWriter are registered trademarks of Apple Computer, Inc. Word Perfect is a registered trademark of Word Perfect Corporation. Lotus and 1-2-3 are registered trademarks of Lotus Development Corporation. 4DOS is a registered trademark of J.P. Software. PC Magazine is a trademark of Ziff Communications Co. CompuServe is a registered trademark of CompuServe, Inc. COKE is a registered trademark of The Coca-Cola Bottling Co. RAID is a registered trademark of S.C. Johnson & Son, Inc. Page 6 DocPRINT Files Included With DocPRINT DocPRINT.EXE DocPRINT is the executable program that does the formatting and printing of your DOC files. There are no other files necessary for DocPRINT to run other than the File that you wish to print. MLL.EXE MLL is a support program that determines the Maximum Line Length _ _ _ of the given input file. This program comes in handy when determining how wide your printout should be. VIEW.COM VIEW is an ASCII file viewer. To use it enter VIEW <filename> at the DOS prompt. The program is very simple to use. The instruction are at the bottom of the screen. PRSWAP.COM PRSWAP is a TSR program that changes Extended ASCII graphics codes into dashes and lines. Use this program First if you printer does not support the Extended ASCII Set. PRSWAP.DOC The documentation file for PRSWAP.COM *.DPS These files are sample settings files used by DocPRINT. They contain settings and measurements for different types of output. (There are 6 *.DPS files.) DOCPRINT.ICO The DocPRINT Icon for Windows 3.0 DOCPRINT.PIF The DocPRINT Program Information File (PIF) for Windows 3.0 DOCPRINT.DOC The file you are reading now. REGISTER.FRM This is the registration form. Just copy it to your printer (using COPY REGISTER.FRM LPT1 at the DOS promt), fill it out, drop in $10, and mail. Thank you. DocPRINT Page 7 Before Using DocPRINT DocPRINT is simple to use, provided you have some information about the file you wish to print and some measurements of the paper you want to print on. Some things to know are: 1: Does the file you want to print already have FORM FEEDS in it? Use MLL, your favorite text editor or VIEW and see if you find those strange FF characters in it. (I'd show one for an example, but it won't show up on your printer.) 2: Does the file have Page Numbers in it already? Chances are that if it does, you won't have to let DocPRINT add the page numbers to the file. (If the file has page numbers and NO ___________________________________ Form Feeds make sure that you set the number of Body Lines __________________________________________________________ to 66 in DocPRINT.) __________________ 3: What is the Maximum Line Length of the file to print? The best thing to do is run MLL on the file and let it tell you. This count gives you an indication of how wide the longest line of print will be and gives you a chance to adjust the margins and printer font if necessary. 4: What is the Length and Width of the paper you will be printing on? (Not the length & width of the size you'd like to print. DocPRINT will place the text where needed.) DocPRINT does manage most of the calculations automatically, but for SPECIAL applications, you may need a calculator and a copy of the DocPRINT Worksheet (The last page in this file.) Page 8 DocPRINT Using MLL I wrote MLL because I needed to find out what the maximum line length was for my source code file. MLL will give you the count in characters of the longest line any text file. MLL takes into consideration any lines that may be overprinted, such as underlining, backspacing, and tab expansion. MLL is easy to use. At the DOS prompt enter: MLL <filename> The filename can have Drive and Path specifiers if needed. If you do not give a filename on the command line, MLL will prompt you for one. If no extension is given, MLL will assume ".DOC" as the extension. If the file you wish to test has no extension give the name of the file as: MLL <filename.> (include the period at the end of the filename) MLL will search through the file and it will report the number of characters in the longest line of text as shown: The Maximum Line Length for filename is xxx characters. (xxx is some number) MLL will also inform you if there are FORM FEEDS in the file. This count will be useful when having DocPRINT format odd files. NOTE: MLL is now Built-In to DocPRINT and will automatically NOTE: insert it's calculations. This should be beneficial to most users, but MLL is still included for those of you who find it of other value. DocPRINT Page 9 Using DocPRINT DocPRINT is just as easy to start as MLL. To start DocPRINT at the DOS prompt enter: DocPRINT <filename> <settingsname> /P DocPRINT can have two files on the command line. The first is the Document file to be printed and the second is the Settings file. (For more on the Settings file, see Save Settings) Both files can have Drive and Path specifiers if necessary. You MUST enter a filename if you wish to enter a settingsname on the command line. The /P parameter instructs DocPRINT to automatically load the /P file and start printing. You must supply the name of the file that you wish to print for the /P option to work. If you supply a settings file name, it will be loaded before printing begins. This parameter puts DocPRINT into a Batch Mode. and requires NO input if you have a Configuration file saved. (Please see Save User Configuration about that file.) Use this option for files that you create and print using a standard format. As in MLL, if the filename has no extension, DocPRINT assumes ".DOC". If the file has no extension, enter a period (.) after the filename on the command line. The settingsname file is assumed to have the ".DPS" extension. Since DocPRINT saves settings files with the ".DPS" extension, you should be able to forget about entering the extension on the command line. You don't have to enter either filename on the command line. If you choose not to, DocPRINT first determines if you have a Color or Monochrome Display. If a Color display is found, DocPRINT needs to know if a Black & White Monitor is attached. You can respond accordingly. (Running DocPRINT in color mode on a B&W monitor will cause some messages to be VERY hard to read.) DocPRINT then displays a Title Screen before proceeding to the Main Menu. In order to skip the Title Screen, you must enter at least the filename on the command line. One added feature to versions 1.10 and later is that DocPRINT looks for a file called DOCPRINT.CFG which contains a user configuration including the type of Display that you are using. (See Save User Configuration in the Option listing.) DocPRINT now has the capability to search your computer's environment for TWO variables: DOCPRINT and PATH. When DocPRINT need to find ANY file, it will First look in current directory, then the directory named by the DOCPRINT variable, then last look in the directories of the PATH variable. Page 10 DocPRINT DocPRINT's Main Menu After starting DocPRINT, the Main Menu appears on the screen. (If the Title Page appears, you did not filenames on the command line. Just hit any key to proceed to the Main Menu.) This is how the Main Menu appears: ┌───────────────────────────┤ DocPRINT Main Menu ├─────────────────────────────┐ │ R Input Document File Name : │ │ D Settings File Name.......: │ │ L Form Length in Inches.... 11.00 O Output Printer Port...... LPT1 │ │ W Form Width in Inches..... 8.50 F Printer Font & Size...... DFT10 │ │ I Lines Per Inch........... 6 N Page Numbering........... NO │ │ B Body Lines Per Page...... 66 X Pg. Number Location...... N/A │ │ C Characters Per Line...... 80 V Vertical Justification... CENTER │ │ H Horiz. (Left) Margin..... 0 M Multi-Pass Printing...... SINGLE │ │ G Gutter Margin............ 0 U Save Current Configuration │ │ Z > ReDisplay Main Menu < │ │ │ │ Your Selection --» │ │Pick Letter or:Alt-V - View:Alt-S - Shell:P - Print:S - Save Settings:Q - Quit│ ├───────────────────────────────┤ Message Area ├───────────────────────────────┤ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ └──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ The selection of options is performed by entering the highlighted letter before the option. Once an option is selected the Message Area gives a description of that selection and a list of choices or allows you to enter a number (as in the Page Length). You are able to Abort any option by hitting the Enter key with no input. Option Z is here to redisplay the Main Menu in case some of the screen is lost or disfigured by DOS or when entering the wrong sequence of keys at some options. (Hopefully in later versions, this will not be necessary.) Beside each option is it's setting. This may be different if you are using a Settings File. Each option has a unique letter. The correlation between the option and it's assigned letter will become apparent after a few DocPRINT runs. DocPRINT Page 11 Setting DocPRINT Options The following describes each DocPRINT option. R Input Document File (the file to Read) Default: none (or file entered on command line, if found.) Value: any DOS ASCII file. When selected, this option allows you to enter the name of the file you wish to print. You can enter Drive and Path specifications to locate the file. If you leave the Extension off of the name, DocPRINT automatically appends ".DOC" to the filename. For reading files with NO extension enter the filename followed with a period (.). Examples: A:\docs\file (looks for A:\docs\file.doc) sample (looks for sample.doc) sample. (looks for sample) DocPRINT will first search the directory specified in the DOCPRINT environment variable. If not found, it will then search your PATH variable. If it is not found, a message will be printed, and DocPRINT will ask for another filename. Once DocPRINT finds the file, it asks if the MLL values should be calculated. You can respond Yes or No. If you choose Yes, DocPRINT calculates the longest line and sets the line length to that number. The Horizontal margin will be adjusted for centered lines. If you choose No, DocPRINT skips the calculations and just loads the file. You should __________ know the line length of your file by running MLL previously ___________________________________________________________ or by loading a settings file that was previously saved. ________________________________________________________ D Settings File Name (save to Disk) Default: none (or file named on the command line, if found) Value: Any DocPRINT Settings File When selected, this option allows you to enter the name of the Settings file you wish to load. You can enter Drive and Path specifications to locate the file. If you leave the Extension off of the name, DocPRINT automatically appends ".DPS" to the filename. For reading files with NO extension enter the filename followed with a period (.). Examples: A:\docs\file (looks for A:\docs\file.DPS) sample (looks for sample.DPS directory) sample. (looks for sample) Page 12 DocPRINT DocPRINT will first search the directory specified in the DOCPRINT environment variable. If not found, it will then search your PATH variable. If it is not found, a message will be printed, and DocPRINT will ask for another filename. L Form Length in Inches Default: 11.00 inches Value: any number between 2 and 15 inches (I have never seen a form with a length that is NOT a multiple of ½", so please stick with WHOLE or HALF inches.) Choosing this option allows you to change the length of the paper you are using with DocPRINT. Enter the length in inches and hit Enter. Automatic Calculations: Changing the length will automatically change the Body Lines per Page (number of lines to print on each page) while preserving the total Margin (Top & Bottom). If DocPRINT was set at 11 inches per page and 66 body lines at 6 Lines per Inch (no margin here), changing the form length to 12 inches will increase the Body Lines per Page to 72. Going from 11 inches per page and 60 Body Lines at 6 Lines per Inch (6 lines of margin) to 10 inches per page will result in 54 Body Lines per Page (maintaining the 6 lines of margin). W Form Width in Inches Default: 8.50 inches Value: any number between 2 and 13.5 inches (just for simplicity, only use whole or half inches) This option allows you to set the width of your paper in inches. Please be sure not to set it larger than what your printer can handle. (MOST EPSON NARROW CARRIAGE PRINTERS CAN ONLY PRINT A LENGTH OF 8 INCHES! IF YOU HAVE ONE OF THESE PRINTERS SET YOUR FORM WIDTH TO A MAXIMUM OF 8 INCHES.) Automatic Calculations: By changing the width of your print form, the Horizontal Margin will be increased or decreased so that the Characters per Line in the Printer Font Size will be centered. If there is NOT enough room on the line to print Characters per Line you will be taken to select a smaller Font Size! DocPRINT Page 13 I Lines Per Inch Default: 6 Value: 6 or 8 Lines per Inch This option selects the line spacing for the printout. Automatic Calculations: By changing the line spacing, DocPRINT will adjust the Body Lines per Page so that the height of the Top & Bottom Margins will remain constant. If you have 60 Body Lines at 6 Lines Per Inch on an 11 inch form (6 lines of Margin - 1 Inch) and you change to 8 Lines per Inch, DocPRINT will give you 80 Body Lines (leaving 8 Margin lines - 1 Inch). C Characters Per Line Default: 80 Value: from 0 to the maximum allowed using the Form Width and Font Size This option allows you to change the length of the printed lines on the printout. WARNING!, DO NOT USE ANY VALUE LESS THAN THE LENGTH THE PROGRAM MLL GIVES YOU! Automatic Calculations: By changing the length of the print line, the Horizontal Margin will be adjusted so that the print line will be centered on the page. If you have the Multi-Pass option set to DOUBLE, there will be no adjustment. H Horizontal (Left) Margin Default: 0 characters Value: DocPRINT supplies the range of values the you can offset the printing by using the current Form Width, Characters Per Line, and Font Size. This option allows you to change the left margin of the paper when printing single sided pages (Multi-Pass option set to SINGLE). This allows you to set a Left Margin to enable hole punching, etc. of your printout. Automatic Calculations: None. Page 14 DocPRINT G Gutter Margin Default: 0 characters Value: DocPRINT supplies the range of values the you can offset the printing by using the current Form Width, Characters Per Line, and Font Size. You have access to this option ONLY when printing on BOTH sides of the paper (Multi-Pass option set to DOUBLE). This gutter margin is on the Left side of the paper for the odd pages and on the right side of the paper for even pages. This gives you room for punching holes on the left side of the odd pages. Automatic Calculations: None O Output Printer Port Default: LPT1 Value: from LPT1 to LPT4 This option allows you to set which Parallel port your printer is attached to. For those of you that have your EPSON printer connected to your serial port, try using the DOS MODE LPTx = COMy command. (Why on earth would you have a printer hooked to a serial port? I'm still waiting for the day that Apple comes out with a LaserWriter with a parallel input.) For versions 1.23 and later: AFTER this option is selected, you will then be asked it you want the Leader Page printed. This leader page is VERY IMPORTANT if your printer has a PULL tractor. Please set it to YES if you have one. If your printer has a PUSH Tractor, like the Epson FX/LQ 850/1050, you may set this to the NO selection. This will save you an extra sheet of paper. F Printer Font & Size Default: Draft 10 CPI (Characters Per Inch) Value: Either Draft or NLQ mode at 10, 12, 15, 17, or 20 CPI This option allows you to change the font and size of characters printed. Those of you with EPSON LQ printers, NLQ is Letter Quality Mode in the Roman Font. I think that you should stick with Draft Mode unless you want you printout to look it's best (The extra wear & tear on the printhead may be costly over the long run.) DocPRINT Page 15 IF YOUR PRINTER DOES NOT SUPPORT ELITE MODES (12 CPI), YOU SHOULD NOT CHOOSE ELITE OR CONDENSED ELITE (20 CPI) PRINT MODES! THE SAME APPLIES TO PRINTERS THAT DO NOT SUPPORT FIFTEEN PITCH MODES! CHECK YOU PRINTER MANUAL TO BE SURE! IF YOU PRINTER DOES NOT SUPPORT NLQ MODE, DO NOT SELECT IT! Automatic Calculations: DocPRINT will adjust the Horizontal Margin so that the lines are centered if the Multi-Pass Printing is set to SINGLE! If you had manually adjusted the Horizontal Margin, you will have to readjust it again. DocPRINT is just making sure that your printout is neat looking. You may make it messy if you wish. If you select a LARGER size and the present Margins will not allow it, you will be forced to select a smaller size. If you insist on a larger Font Size, first reduce the Margins then select the larger Font Size. N Page Numbering Default: NO page numbering Value: YES or NO This option lets you select if DocPRINT will print the page numbers on each page of the print out. If you select YES, you will automatically go to the option of where on the page you want the page numbers printed. Automatic Calculations: If you choose YES, DocPRINT will reduce the Body Lines per Page by TWO in order to put the page number on. If there is already a margin of TWO OR MORE lines, DocPRINT will use TWO of those lines automatically. If you choose NO, and there are only TWO lines of margin on the page, DocPRINT will reduce the margin to ZERO and increase the Body Lines per Page by TWO. X Page Number Location Default: N/A (not applicable since page numbering is NO) Value: select from the TOP or BOTTOM of the page in the LEFT or RIGHT corners or CENTERED TOP prints the page number then a blank line before the text at the top of the page. BOTTOM prints the text then a blank line then the page number at the bottom of the page. Page 16 DocPRINT If Multi-Pass Printing is set to SINGLE, page numbers will appear where selected. If Multi-Pass Printing is set to DOUBLE, page numbers will appear where selected for ODD pages and on the OPPOSITE side (Centered if Centered was selected) on EVEN pages. Example: If printing Double sided pages with the page number in the TOP Right corner of the page, Page 1 will have the number in the top right corner, page 2 will have the number in the top left corner. (If your confused, pick up a book and look at the page numbers, you'll understand.) PAGE NUMBERS ARE PLACED IN RELATION TO THE PRINT LINE LOCATION, NOT THE PRINT FORM. (Centered numbers will be centered under the text, NOT centered on the page.) V Vertical Justification Default: CENTER Value: TOP, CENTER, or BOTTOM This option allows you to justify the pages on the paper. TOP starts printing at the Top of the Form. CENTER allows half of the margin to be printed at the top of the form and half to be printed at the bottom of the form (If the Body Lines is Less than the Maximum lines per page.) BOTTOM allows all of the margin to be printed at the Top of form. This option is useful if you want to print on 8½ x 11 paper to achieve a 5½ x 8½ sheet of paper by TOP justifying the text. This option also makes an 8 line per inch printout look good when CENTERED. IF PAGE NUMBERING IS ON, TWO OF THE MARGIN LINES ARE USED FOR THE PAGE NUMBER. M Multi-Pass Printing Default: SINGLE Value: SINGLE or DOUBLE This option allows you to print using just one side of the paper or both sides. This feature is the main function of DocPRINT. When printing DOUBLE the printer first prints pages 1, 3, 5, etc. then tells you to turn over the paper. Then DocPRINT prints pages 2, 4, 6, etc. on the back of the other pages so you get a nice printout with page 2 on back of page 1, etc. DocPRINT Page 17 DocPRINT PRINTS A MESSAGE ON A LEADER PAGE (IF YOU'VE CHOSEN ________________ TO PRINT IT OUT FROM THE PRINTER PORT OPTION) TO REMIND YOU ____________________________________________ THAT DOUBLE SIDED PRINTING HAS BEEN CHOSEN. WHEN THE ODD PAGES ARE FINISHED, YOU TAKE OUT THE PAPER AND TURN IT OVER, SO THAT THE LEADER PAGE MESSAGE IS NOT ON THE PRINTING SIDE AND THEN CONTINUE WITH THE EVEN PAGES. THIS LEADER PAGE IS PRESENT FOR THOSE OF YOU THAT HAVE A PULL TRACTOR (THE TRACTOR HOLDS PAPER AFTER IT HAS BEEN PRINTED.) PLEASE MAKE SURE THAT YOU START WITH THE PERFORATION BELOW THE PAGE WITH THIS MESSAGE!!! _____ YOU MAY SHUT OFF THE PRINTER TO CHANGE THE PAPER. CHANCES ARE THAT YOU WILL MESS UP A FEW TIMES BEFORE YOU BECOME ACCUSTOMED TO CHANGING THE PAPER. IT HAPPENED TO ME MANY TIMES. U Save User Configuration This option allows you to save the current state of DocPRINT's settings and configuration (including monitor type, Print Style, and leader page selection) to a file called DOCPRINT.CFG. When you use it the first time, DocPRINT will save this file in the CURRENT directory. Subsequent runs of DocPRINT will search the current directory to see if DOCPRINT.CFG exists. If not found, it will then search your environment for a variable called DOCPRINT. You can set this by issuing the command: SET DOCPRINT=C:\UTILS in your autoexec.bat file or a batch file that runs DocPRINT. If the DOCPRINT variable is not found, the search will continue using the PATH variable. Once the DOCPRINT.CFG file is found, the program remembers where it was loaded from and will OVERWRITE it is you wish to resave the configuration later. Z ReDisplay the Main Menu This option is here in case the display becomes corrupted either by DOS messages or bad entry of data. Since I'm not writing in assembly yet, the input routines for some of the options may cause the cursor to get lost on the screen. If you think that this has happened, first hit the Esc key, then hit the Enter key. After that hit Z to clear and redisplay the Main Menu. Page 18 DocPRINT P Print Once you have selected the Print option, DocPRINT asks to continue. After that, DocPRINT checks to see if the printer is ready. If not, you will be instructed to check the printer. Error checking is done by DocPRINT throughout the printing process. Should an error occur, DocPRINT will notify you. (Just to be safe, make sure that you have plenty of paper for the printout! That will usually be the major cause of Errors.) While DocPRINT is sending the file to the printer, you may pause the program at any time by striking any key. DocPRINT will acknowledge that it has paused. You may hit the SPACEBAR to continue or hit the Q key to Abort the printout and return to the menu. S Save Settings This option allows you to save all of DocPRINT's settings except the Document Filename and the Settings Filename. You will be prompted to enter a filename to save the settings. Drive and Path specifications are permitted. If the file already exists, DocPRINT will ask if you wish to overwrite it. You may respond Y or N. Once the settings are saved, the name of the file appears in the Main Menu. If you wish to use the same settings for another file, you may specify the name of the file as the second filename on the command line when starting DocPRINT. Q Quit DocPRINT If DocPRINT's settings are NOT saved, DocPRINT will ask if you're sure you want to quit. (Like Lotus 1-2-3.) If you don't wish to save them, just reply Y to the prompt. Self Explanatory. (Back to DOS) DocPRINT Page 19 The Following Commands are NEW to version 1.20 and later of ___________________________________________________________ DocPRINT ________ Alt-V View the DOC File The Alt-V combo will shell out of DocPRINT and call the VIEW.COM program to allow you to see what you are about ready to print. VIEW.COM must be in the current directory or available via the PATH variable. (Please consult your DOS manual about the PATH variable.) To exit the VIEW program, hit the Esc key, and you will return to DocPRINT. Alt-S Shell Out to DOS The Alt-S combo allows you to shell out of DocPRINT to DOS to perform any command you need (like a DIR or COPY). If memory permits, the command interpreter indicated by the COMSPEC environment variable will be loaded. By using the COMSPEC variable, you can be assured that the correct version of COMMAND.COM (or other programs like 4DOS) will automatically load. And since COMSPEC is automatically assigned, you don't have to worry about it (unless you're a power user). REMEMBER you must type EXIT at the DOS prompt to return back REMEMBER to DocPRINT. Your DOS prompt will remind you that you have shelled to DOS from DocPRINT. Page 20 DocPRINT DocPRINT Examples Printing Using The Single Pass Option The first DocPRINT example will be to print out a file using only one side of the paper. If you wish, you may use the DocPRINT.Doc file. Start up DocPRINT by entering DOCPRINT at the DOS prompt. After you see the title message strike any key to continue to the Main Menu. Hit the R key to bring up the input file menu. Enter: drive:\path\DOCPRINT (The drive and path are where you have DocPRINT) The menu will show after the selection that DOCPRINT.DOC is selected to be printed. (Since this file already has Form Feeds AND Page Numbers, selections N (Page Numbering) and X (Page Number Location) can be set to NO and N/A respectfully. If they are not, select N from the Main Menu then hit N for No page numbering. The number of Characters Per Line is 80 so hit C then type in 80 and hit enter. This file will print nicely on 8½"(W) x 11"(L) paper, (which should be used for this example) so set the Form Length to 11 and the Form Width to 8.5 inches. Strike the L key for Form Length and type in 11 and hit enter. Then strike the W key for Form Width then type in 8 and hit enter. (IF YOU HAVE AN EPSON PRINTER WITH AN 80 COLUMN CARRIAGE SUCH AS THE MX OR FX-80 OR THE LQ-800, SET THE FORM WIDTH TO 8 INCHES AND CENTER YOUR PAPER ON THE TRACTOR SO THERE IS A ¼" OF SPACE ON BOTH SIDES! THIS IS VERY IMPORTANT FOR PRINTING DOUBLE SIDED PAGES!) (Those of you that have the wide carriage, keep the width to 8 inches for this example.) You may now choose the line spacing you wish. Hit I for Lines Per Inch and select 6 for the line spacing. For the Vertical Justification, set it to CENTER. Hit V then C for CENTERED output. Next, set the Printer Font & Size to Draft 10CPI (DFT10). strike the F key then enter 0 for the Draft Font in 10 Characters Per Inch. Notice that the Horizontal Margin has been adjusted so that the lines will be centered. (If the Form Width is 8" there is No margin, it will be set to 0.) DocPRINT Page 21 At this point, DocPRINT's menu should look like this: ┌───────────────────────────┤ DocPRINT Main Menu ├─────────────────────────────┐ │ R Input Document File Name : DOCPRINT.DOC │ │ D Settings File Name.......: │ │ L Form Length in Inches.... 11.00 O Output Printer Port...... LPT1 │ │ W Form Width in Inches..... 8.00 F Printer Font & Size...... DFT10 │ │ I Lines Per Inch........... 6 N Page Numbering........... NO │ │ B Body Lines Per Page...... 66 X Pg. Number Location...... N/A │ │ C Characters Per Line...... 80 V Vertical Justification... CENTER │ │ H Horiz. (Left) Margin..... 0 M Multi-Pass Printing...... SINGLE │ │ G Gutter Margin............ 0 U Save User Configuration │ │ Z > ReDisplay Main Menu < │ │ │ │ Your Selection --» │ │Pick Letter or:Alt-V - View:Alt-S - Shell:P - Print:S - Save Settings:Q - Quit│ This sample is on the disk called SINGLE.DPS. If your printer isn't on LPT1, go ahead and change it to the port that you have your printer on. Also make sure that the Multi-Pass Printing option is set to SINGLE. (Change it if necessary.) You may wish to print it out now, BUT DocPRINT can do a better job of printing for you. Using a little math, you will see that there will be very little room on the side of the paper for punching holes in the pages. DocPRINT can give you that extra room. Enhancing The Single Sided Printout If we print out 80 characters at 10 CPI, that makes a line length of 8 inches. (That's as wide as our paper almost!) Let's reduce that by changing the Printer Font & Size. Select F for Font & Size and select Draft 17CPI. Notice that the Horizontal Margin has changed to 28 characters (almost 1.75 inches of margin). That's plenty of room to punch holes on the side! If you wish you can now print out the file. Make sure your paper is aligned at the Top of Form (The perforation of the paper should be right above the Print Head). Turn on your printer and let it go! This sample is on the disk as SINGLEM.DPS. Of course you can change the line spacing, move the Horizontal Margin some more, etc. Change an option and print it out again. Tinker with DocPRINT till you get the output you like best, then SAVE the settings using the S option. Then instead of remembering what was set to what, load the Setting File using the D option. Page 22 DocPRINT Printing Using The Double Sided Option Hopefully, you have worked through the Single Sided example. Now we will set DocPRINT for printing double sided pages. Setup DocPRINT like below: ┌───────────────────────────┤ DocPRINT Main Menu ├─────────────────────────────┐ │ R Input Document File Name : DOCPRINT.DOC │ │ D Settings File Name.......: │ │ L Form Length in Inches.... 11.00 O Output Printer Port...... LPT1 │ │ W Form Width in Inches..... 8.00 F Printer Font & Size...... DFT17 │ │ I Lines Per Inch........... 6 N Page Numbering........... NO │ │ B Body Lines Per Page...... 66 X Pg. Number Location...... N/A │ │ C Characters Per Line...... 80 V Vertical Justification... CENTER │ │ H Horiz. (Left) Margin..... 0 M Multi-Pass Printing...... DOUBLE │ │ G Gutter Margin............ 17 U Save User Configuration │ │ Z > ReDisplay Main Menu < │ │ │ │ Your Selection --» │ │Pick Letter or:Alt-V - View:Alt-S - Shell:P - Print:S - Save Settings:Q - Quit│ This sample is on the disk as DOUBLE.DPS. Taking a close look at the settings, DocPRINT is ready to print double sided pages using a 17 character gutter margin in 17CPI characters (a 1" margin). This means on the ODD pages a 1 inch margin will be on the Left side and for the EVEN pages a 1 inch margin will be on the Right side. That should be enough room to punch holes in the paper. The Body Lines per page is set to 66 since this DOC file has Form Feeds in it already. You could now print the file out Double Sided. Page 2 would be on the back of Page 1, etc. Just like a book would be printed. Saves paper too! Getting Fancy With Double Sided Printing The question now, is how can you reduce the size of the output to print on a sheet that can be cut down to 5½" x 8½". This is where the DocPRINT Worksheet comes in handy. The key to printing smaller sheets is by telling DocPRINT the ACTUAL size of the paper that you are using then adjusting the spacing, margins, font, and justification. Make sure that DocPRINT has the ACTUAL Form Width and Length. (Remember, if you have a narrow carriage, set the Form Width to 8".) In order to have DocPRINT print on 8½" x 11" paper to achieve a 5½" x 8½" page is a little complicated, but after doing it a few times, you should get the hang of it. DocPRINT Page 23 First, find the Maximum Line Length of the file. Run MLL to see how long it is and set Characters Per Line to that number. Second, set the Vertical Justification to begin printing at the TOP of the sheet of paper. (If you have to cut it down, why not start with a square edge at the top.) Third, most DOC files assume 66 lines per page (11 inches at 6 lines per inch = 66 lines). For a 8½" page, you can fit 68 lines on the page at 8 lines per inch, so set the Lines Per Inch to 8. Fourth, given the Characters Per Line, find out how many inches a line would take to print. (If it were 80, at 10CPI it would take 8" to print it out, at 17CPI it would take only 4.7 inches, quite a reduction! If your printer supports 20CPI it would only take 4 inches!) Your task is to calculate the best Font Size to print the Characters Per Line in less than 5 inches! (Not too Hard.) When you have it, set the Printer Font & Size accordingly. Last, set the Gutter Margin to at least ½", this will give you enough room to punch the sheets to put in your DOS binder. (You can throw out the contents, unless you need them.) Set the Gutter Margin from 8 - 10 characters if the Font Size you are using is 17 or 20 CPI. There is a sample Setting file called IBMBKNP.DPS.. You may wish to compare it's settings to yours. Another sample file, IBMBKPG.DPS is the same except that page numbers are to be printed also. The Main Menu for IBMBKNP.DPS looks like: ┌───────────────────────────┤ DocPRINT Main Menu ├─────────────────────────────┐ │ R Input Document File Name : │ │ D Settings File Name.......: IBMBKNP.DPS │ │ L Form Length in Inches.... 11.00 O Output Printer Port...... LPT1 │ │ W Form Width in Inches..... 8.00 F Printer Font & Size...... DFT17 │ │ I Lines Per Inch........... 8 N Page Numbering........... NO │ │ B Body Lines Per Page...... 66 X Pg. Number Location...... N/A │ │ C Characters Per Line...... 80 V Vertical Justification... TOP │ │ H Horiz. (Left) Margin..... 0 M Multi-Pass Printing...... DOUBLE │ │ G Gutter Margin............ 10 U Save User Configuration │ │ Z > ReDisplay Main Menu < │ │ │ │ Your Selection --» │ │Pick Letter or:Alt-V - View:Alt-S - Shell:P - Print:S - Save Settings:Q - Quit│ You can now print the file and see the results. Page 24 DocPRINT Comments & Counseling DocPRINT has many uses, probably more than I had imagined when I started writing it. I hope that you enjoy using DocPRINT. Advanced uses for DocPRINT As mentioned earlier in the manual, DocPRINT has been updated to be used in a Batch Mode by using the /P parameter. If you print the same types of files using DocPRINT, and saved corresponding ".DPS" (settings) files, you can run DocPRINT without any user input (other that the prompt to tell you to flip the paper over). By storing all of your DocPRINT ".CFG" and ".DPS" files in one directory, and adding the statment: SET DOCPRINT=<drive>:\<path>, DocPRINT will automatically look in that directory for these files. No more dozens of DOCPRINT.CFG floating around on your hard disk! Let's say you keep all of you DocPRINT files in your C:\UTILS directory. Here's a simple batch file to speed up your work; You can call it DCP.BAT. ECHO OFF CLS SET DOCPRINT=C:\UTILS DOCPRINT %1 LETTER /P SET DOCPRINT= The %1 allows you to enter the DOC file name from the batch file. If the file was called SAMPLE.DOC, you would enter DCP SAMPLE, and away it goes! If you have planned ahead and placed your DocPRINT files in a directory listed in your PATH variable, you're already set, since DocPRINT will search your PATH variable if the DOCPRINT variable is not set. My system PATH variable is set to: C:\BATCH;C:\UTILS;C:\DOS33;C:\; and I keep DocPRINT files in the UTILS directory. That finds them every time. (Yes, all of my batch files are in the C:\BATCH directory.) DocPRINT Page 25 Points Of Interest 1) Graphics Characters DocPRINT passes all extended ASCII characters to the printer! (Those are the ones like the box drawing characters, etc.) If your printer does not support the graphics characters, I recommend that you use a utility called PRSWAP by John Dickinson that appeared in PC Magazine. This is a Resident program that intercepts all those graphics characters and replaces them with normal dashes and lines. It is included with DocPRINT. (Since I believe you could find it on any BBS I don't think I'll get sued for including it here.) 2) Printer Enhancement If by some chance you are still using an OLD EPSON printer (like the MX's, RX's and FX-80 & FX-100), without the NLQ features, then please consider purchasing Dots-Perfect. Dots-Perfect is an upgrade kit for older EPSON printers that gives you NLQ capability, the IBM Graphic Character Set, Push-Button Font Selection and an Option Menu similar to the EPSON SelectType features on newer printers. Cost is about $80 but it sure beats buying a new printer! EPSON has even acknowledged Dots-Perfect and says that installing it will NOT void the Warranty! If you're interested, give them a call or write to: Dresselhaus Computer Products 8560 Vineyard Avenue, Suite 405 Rancho Cucamonga, CA 91730 (714) 945-5600 Take the word of a satisfied customer. Just a Reminder: If you like DocPRINT, please consider sending a ________________ $10.00 contribution. It will help me send contributions to other Shareware programmers. Remember, only YOU can make Shareware Work! DocPRINT Page 26 Page 26 DocPRINT DocPRINT Worksheet Q1: Does file have Form Feeds? Yes or No (if Yes set Body Lines Per Page to 66) (Use MLL to check) Q2: Does file have Page Numbers? Yes or No (if Yes set Page Numbering to NO) (Use VIEW.COM to check) Q3: Put on Page Numbers? (Yes or No) Where on page? (Top or Bottom) (Left, Centered, Right) Q4: Maximum Line Length of File _____ chars. (Use MLL.EXE or let DocPRINT find out. p.??) Q5: Printer Port ? (LPT1, LPT2, LPT3, LPT4) Q6: Size of printer paper ______ Length _____ Width (In Inches. If narrow carriage set width to 8.) Q7: Size of printed page ______ Length _____ Width (If no reduction same as Q6) Q8: Line Spacing (6 or 8 LPI) (If reducing page size, use 8) Q9: Printer Font & Size? (Draft or NLQ) (10, 12, 15, 17, 20 CPI) Q10: SINGLE or DOUBLE Sided Printing? (set Multi-Pass) Q11: If SINGLE, Horizontal (Left) margin _____ Chars. (To check length, (Q11 x Q9 CPI) + (Q4 x Q9 CPI) <= Q7 Width) Q12: If DOUBLE, Gutter Margin _____ Chars. (To check length, (Q12 x Q9 CPI) + (Q4 x Q9 CPI) <= Q7 Width) Q13: Vertical Justification (TOP, BOTTOM, CENTER) (Use TOP if page size is reduced. If Q7 < Q6)