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1993-01-26
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Version 5.5
Label Printer Program
for
Philips-style Audio Cassette Storage Boxes
----------------------------
Written by: Paul Miller
----------------------------
Introduction
______________________________
J-CARD is a stand-alone program with which you can print your own Philips-style
audio cassette storage box "inserts." The program name comes from the distinc-
tive shape of the finished insert card. The program is a direct descendant of
a similar program originally written on an Apple-II computer.
With each tape box card having a similar appearance, your tape collection will
look neater and more organized, and you may find that tapes are easier to
locate, too.
Ver 5.0 added the capability to store labels in disk files for future use. You
can also modify previously-stored labels, and save them back to disk under the
original name (in the modified form), or as completely new files; all file
handling is done within the "current" drive or directory.
Ver 5.5 removes the requirement that the printer be online when the program is
run. You can now create and modify labels with the printer offline. Printer
setup and operation is now optional. Printer setup MUST be run before printing.
J-Card 5.5 Documentation Page 1 of 7
Hardware Requirements
______________________________
J-CARD was written and compiled in Microsoft's QuickBASIC, and runs on MS-DOS
(or compatible) computers. Any 8086/8088/80286/80386 or compatible computer is
suitable.
J-CARD will run equally well from a floppy or hard disk (although program and
file loading will naturally be faster when using a hard drive).
Lines are drawn on the video screen, but a graphics adapter is not required.
Color is shown when suitable adapters and video screens are used, but this
program should run with no problems on monochrome systems.
An Epson FX-series (or code-compatible) printer is required. Labels will be
printed with a horizontal spacing of 17.5 CPI ("Condensed"), and a vertical
spacing of 8 lines per inch. Unidirectional printing is used for better
horizontal line-to-line alignment.
Paper Suggestions
______________________________
Fairly "heavy" paper is suggested for use with this program. For example, 20#
("20 pound") or heavier is recommended. Alternately, unruled, plain 5" x 8"
white or colored card stock may be used. Any paper of reasonable weight, which
suits your application and imagination, may be used (depending, of course, on
your printer's paper handling capabilities).
5" x 8 " card stock will allow one label per card. Using 9" x 12" paper, two
or more labels per sheet can be printed. Suitable card stock may be obtained
from many corner drug stores, or almost any office supplies store.
Additionally, a paper known as "cover stock" can be used. This is available
in standard letter-size sheets (8.5" by 11") or larger, with a thickness about
halfway between that of heavy bond paper and card stock. Two or more J-Card
labels can can be printed on each of these sheets.
Cutting and trimming templates are printed as part of each label, and at the
end of the program, a cutting and trimming template is shown for review on the
video screen.
Cutting and trimming is probably best done on a flat surface, using a straight
edge of around 6 inches, and a sharp hobby knife (an "Xacto" knife, for
example). #12 blades can be used, but #16 seems to be a better choice of blade
for this application. You can also use a pair of scissors, but more accurate
results seem to be obtained using a knife and straight edge.
J-Card 5.5 Documentation Page 2 of 7
Printer Setup
______________________________
Selected by OPTIONS menu #4, this sends the correct setup commands to your
printer. When this option is selected, your printer should be powered up and
ready to go (online).
This option may be selected at any time while the program is running. Note
that you don't need the printer to be operational or online for creating, re-
viewing or editing J-Card labels. However, printer setup must be done before
J-Card labels can be correctly printed.
Printing Owner's Name
______________________________
You have the choice of printing your name on each card insert (this can help
later for identification purposes).
Each time this program is run, it looks in the current drive/directory for a
file named J-CARD.USR; this is a short one-line ASCII text file which stores
your name.
If the file is not found (as will be the case when this program is first run in
the current drive/directory), you will be asked to enter you name EXACTLY as
you wish to have it printed on your cassette card inserts.
If you wish to have NO name printed, press just the [Return] key at this point
without first entering your name.
If you've already stored your name, and again wish to have no name printed, you
can "delete" the J-CARD.USR file before running this program.
Next, you'll be taken to the OPTIONS menu, where you can enter a completely new
label or retrieve a previously-stored label. (You can also EXIT the program
from this menu., if you wish.)
Beginning A New Label
______________________________
When beginning a brand new label (by selecting #1 from the OPTIONS menu), the
first thing entered will be the "Artist" names (if any) for each side of the
cassette. This option was chosen on the presumption that you may wish to
record two complete albums (one on each side of your cassette), and you can
indicate the artist name for each side.
J-Card 5.5 Documentation Page 3 of 7
If you wish to have NO particular artist listed on either side, as when you may
be recording a collection of "singles" by different artists, simply press the
[Return] key instead of typing in an Artist name, and "Side-1" or "Side-2" will
be automatically entered.
If you wish to have NOTHING shown, enter a single [space] bar press, then the
[Return] key.
After entering the Artist name(s), you'll be asked to confirm your entries; any
needed corrections can be made now.
Entering Song Titles
______________________________
Next, you'll enter the individual song titles. You can enter up to 16 titles
per cassette side, and each title can have up to 30 characters. Any titles
entered with more than 30 characters are truncated to 30 characters.
First, the titles for Side-1 are entered, then the titles for Side-2. To have
NO title entered, press only the [Return] key.
After the song titles for both sides have been entered, all titles will be re-
viewed on the screen, and you'll be asked if you wish to make any corrections.
If corrections are needed, state whether side "1" or "2" needs correcting.
If corrections are to be entered, the original titles will be shown at the
left, and your corrections will be shown at the right as they are entered. Type
in any needed correction(s).
o To keep the same title (with no corrections), press only the [Return] key.
o To erase a previous title, enter a single [space] character before pressing
the [Return] key.
Overall TAPE TITLE
______________________________
After any needed song title corrections are made, you'll enter the overall TAPE
TITLE. This can be one or two lines, each line having up to 64 characters
maximum. For example, the first line could be your tape "title" and the second
line could be the artist name (if the tape contains songs by only one artist).
Of course, you can type anything you choose.
To use only a one-line TAPE TITLE, enter only the first line, and leave the
second one blank (press only the [Return] key at the second line).
J-Card 5.5 Documentation Page 4 of 7
Saving A Label
______________________________
After you've entered a new label and have it looking the way you want, you can
save it to a disk file if you choose.
If you wish to save the label, choose a name which will be distinctive later.
The name will be limited to 8 characters maximum, and will have ".LBL" appended
to it by the program.
".LBL" files are ASCII text files. Each file will have exactly 38 lines, and
can be edited with any ASCII-compatible word processor or text editor, if
desired. However, the J-CARD program will probably prove to be the simplest
way to enter or edit .LBL files.
After you've saved new label into a disk file, your next option will be to
print the label. (See "Printing The Label" later in this documentation.)
After you've printed the label (if you chose to do so), you'll return to the
OPTIONS menu where you can enter another new label or recall a stored label
from disk.
Recalling A Previous Label
______________________________
When you select #2 from the OPTIONS menu, you'll be presented with a list of J-
CARD label files on your current disk/directory (if any have been previously
stored); only those files with the the ".LBL" extension will be shown on your
screen.
If, for example, you had previously saved a label you named "M-JACKSN", the
filename "M-JACKSN.LBL" will be shown on your screen. You would enter
"M-JACKSN" when asked which file to retrieve. (The extension ".LBL" will
automatically be appended to your filename request, and you can use upper or
lower case -- or any mixture -- in your filename request.)
If the specified label exists, it will be loaded into memory, where it will be
available for viewing, modification(s) and printing, as needed.
If the label does not exist (most likely you have typed the wrong name), you'll
be reminded, then returned to the OPTIONS menu.
If you modify a retrieved label, you will have the choice of storing the
modified version with a new name or with the original name. If you select to
use the original name, the old version will be written over. Again, when
specifying a filename, don't put ".LBL" on your filename -- the program does
that for you.
J-Card 5.5 Documentation Page 5 of 7
Printing A Label
______________________________
If you answer "n" to the "Print this label now?" question, you'll be returned
to the main OPTIONS menu.
If you answer "y" you can select to have the song titles centered in their
respective Side-1 or Side-2 area, or they can all be aligned to the left
column. Artist names (or "Side-1" and "Side-2") are also centered if that
option is selected.
TAPE TITLE lines are always centered horizontally. If only one line was
entered (the first one), it is centered vertically within the alloted space;
the 2nd (blank) line is ignored.
Now, you'll be asked to insert your paper into the printer. When you've done
that, press any key to print the label.
After the label is printed, you'll be asked if you wish to print another copy
of the same label. If you do, you'll again have the choice of centering the
song titles.
If you wish to print no more copies of the current label, you'll be asked if
you wish to enter or retrieve another label. If so, you'll return to the main
OPTIONS menu for further action (where you can EXIT the program if desired).
If you're finished with the program for the time being, answer "n" to the
question, and you'll be shown a cutting and trimming template on your screen.
Use this template as a guide in preparing your label. The corner cutting marks
and scoring marks are also printed as part of the label.
While viewing the template, you can press any key to exit. You're then asked
if you wish to re-view the template. If not, the program ends.
J-Card 5.5 Documentation Page 6 of 7
Cutting And Trimming
______________________________
When your label is printed, you'll notice four "+" symbols. These represent
the four corners of the finished label. Also, notice two pairs of "-" symbols
above and below the TAPE TITLE line(s); these are the four horizontal "scoring"
guides you'll need in order to bend the label properly.
1: Using a sharp blade point and a straight edge, lightly score the label
horizontally between the two sets of "-" symbols. Don't cut through the
label; cut just lightly enough to leave a distinctive trail. (If you cut
too deeply, you can place a strip of adhesive tape on the back of the label
to restore the "hinge" integrity.)
2: Using the four "+" corner marks as guides, cut the four sides of the label
completely through the paper. This will leave a correctly-sized printed
label with the two score marks. The four horizontal "-" symbols should not
be visible on the finished (cut) label.
3: Bend the label back at the two horizontal score marks. Make each bend
approximately 90 degrees.
4: Insert the finished label into the hinged portion of the cassette storage
box.
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J-Card 5.5 Documentation Page 7 of 7