ZIPFMT.100/200 (c) 1989 Wilson Van Alst All rights reserved CONTENTS I. GENERAL ... What's different about ZIPFMT. II. FEATURES ... Why you might like it. III. INSTALLATION ... The romance begins. IV. STARTING OUT ... On a blissful honeymoon. V. USING ZIPFIX.BA ... To add some variety. VI. APPLICATIONS ... A versatile partner. VII. TECHNICAL NOTES ... X-rated. VIII. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS ... To the father. IX. SUPPORT ... In case love sours. I. GENERAL A. While there are many TEXT formatters available for the Tandy laptops, none of them works quite like ZIPFMT. This program's main advantages are: very small size, machine language speed, and the creation of formatted documents =in RAM=, for easy output to a printer or, via TELCOM, to another computer, EMail service, or FAX receiver. B. The significant difference between ZIPFMT and other formatters: instead of using a large program that asks for various options every time you run it, ZIPFMT creates small .CO programs that are pre-set to a single "layout" -- meaning a user-defined combination of margins and line-spacing. Each of these .CO files is just 142 bytes; yet each is a fully self-contained text formatter. So, if you normally use just one or two standard "layouts," you'll need just one or two small .CO files to handle your formatting chores. C. Another important ZIPFMT feature is that it formats files "in place" -- letting it handle much larger documents than formatters that must copy the original file. II. FEATURES A. Formatting Options 1. ZIPFMT gives you control over the following elements: a. Left margin b. Maximum characters printed per line 1) the combination of (a) and (b) establish the Right Margin; so you have control over this also c. Top margin d. Bottom margin e. Line spacing f. Maximum lines printed per page 1) the combination of (c), (d), (e) and (f) establish Page Size; so you also control it B. Machine Language 1. The formatter is fast. It typically handles a 6K file (5,000 words) in less than 30 seconds. C. AltLCD Operation 1. Because ZIPFMT works in a "protected" area of system memory, it does not conflict with other machine language programs, and you don't have to CLEAR space or change HIMEM. D. Formatting "In Place" 1. Since ZIPFMT doesn't copy the document it's processing, you can work with very large files. E. Versatility 1. Rather than dumping output to an external device, ZIPFMT creates a formatted TEXT file in the computer's memory. This lets you: a. send files to a printer with the "Save to: LPT:" option in TEXT -- which (unlike SHIFT/PRINT) will pass along printer control codes b. send completely formatted files via TELCOM. F. Size 1. Each of the .CO files is a self-contained TEXT formatter -- but takes just 142 bytes of memory. III. INSTALLATION A. You need to download either ZIPFMT.100 or ZIPFMT.200, depending on which laptop you have. B. Your new file contains listings for =two= programs: ZIPFMT.BA and ZIPFIX.BA. Separate these into individual .DO files, then convert them to .BA programs. 1. ZIPFMT.BA is the program you'll use to create a new formatter if you =don't= already have one on the menu. 2. Once you have made a formatter, you can use a shorter program, ZIPFIX.BA, to change it -- or to create new formatters as explained below. IV. STARTING OUT A. Whenever you want to make a ZIPFMT .CO file, but don't have one in your computer, you need to use ZIPFMT.BA 1. Run it as you would run any BASIC program from the main menu 2. The first display will show a rapidly changing number in the middle of your screen, as the program loads machine language data to the proper addresses 3. Next, you'll see the "layout" menu for a formatting file a. it is the "default" file that ZIPFMT.BA just loaded, and it is pre-set to a format of: 1) Left Margin: [ 5] Printed Chrs: [ 34] Top Margin: [ 3] Bottom Margin: [ 4] Spc Btw Lines: [ 0] Printed Lines: [ 59] 4. With these settings displayed on the screen, the cursor will be flashing next to the first option, Left Margin: a. to change the setting, enter a new number 1) the change appears on your screen b. to accept the setting as shown, press 5. Continue, as in the previous step, through all the formatting elements -- defined as: a. Margin - number of spaces before the first text character in each line b. Printed Chars - maximum number of text characters in each line c. Top Margin - number of carriage-return / linefeed combinations at the top of each page d. Bottom Margin - number of CR/LF's at the bottom of each page e. Spc Btw Lines - number of CR/LF's between each line of printed text 1) this number will be 0 for single-spacing, 1 for double-spacing, and so forth f. Printed Lines - maximum number of actual text lines printed on each page 6. As you set various options, you'll see two important numbers re-calculate on the first line of your screen. a. LinSiz - indicating the =total= size of a line, including Left Margin and Printed Chars 1) this is equivalent to a Right Margin b. PgSiz - indicating the =total= number of lines printed on a page, including Top and Bottom Margins, Printed Lines, and Spc Btw Lines: 1) final adjustments to Page Size should be made with the 'Printed Lines' setting. PgSiz should total 66 for most printers. If your printer is set to 'skip over perf,' or you're printing on special forms, you may have to experiment. 7. After you've finished with the range of format choices, you'll be given an "OK? (Y/N)" prompt. Answering with anything other than 'Y' or 'y' at this point will take you back through the settings for further changes; otherwise .... 8. You'll see the final prompt: Save to #_____.CO NOTE: Throughout this document, the symbol '#', as in #_____.CO, above, is used in place of a graphics character that will actually be shown on your computer (but will not transmit properly in this ASCII file). The character will be a 'Paragraph' symbol, which looks like a 'P' in reverse. It is used as a reminder of what the ZIPFMT files do. Also for the purposes of this document, the formatting files beginning with this character will be known interchangeably as "#files," or "layout files," or simply "formatters." 9. This is where you enter a name for the layout file you've just customized: a. any name of five characters or fewer will work, though you should probably use something that reminds you of what the layout is for: #FAX.CO, or #MEMO.CO, for example b. you might also want to use numbers, indicating the left margin and line-length: #5/65.CO 10. If you enter a 'null string' (by just pressing ) at the "Save to:" prompt, nothing will happen; you'll just return to the main menu, with no #file created. V. USING ZIPFIX.BA A. This program is about half the size of ZIPFMT.BA, and it's intended for use when you already have a #file on the menu. With ZIPFIX, you can change the settings of an existing #file -- or create a brand new one by using one of the existing formatters as a "seed." 1. These are the principles to keep in mind: a. You change a seed file if you answer the "Save to:" prompt with the file's own name b. If you respond with any other name, you'll create a new #file, and the seed file will remain unchanged B. Run ZIPFIX.BA from the main menu 1. The first screen will show you a list of files and prompt for the name of a "Source:" a. this is what we've been calling a "seed file," and it must be an existing formatter 2. When the screen changes, you'll see the seed file's layout settings and you can change them to suit your new format a. See detailed instructions in Section IV. 3. If you respond with 'Y' or 'y' at the OK? prompt, you'll get the "Save to:" prompt for naming a new layout or (by saving the seed file to itself) changing the seed file a. Again, a null entry at this prompt will take you back to the main menu with no changes made VI. APPLICATIONS A. Because ZIPFMT creates formatted, .DO files =in RAM=, it lets you do some things that weren't possible before: 1. Printer a. Instead of using to send files to a printer you can now use , designating "LPT:" as the output device 1) this means you can send printer control codes -- to underline, overstrike, or change fonts -- by embedding the controls as you write a document (see the TEXT section of your computer manual for more on this). 2. TEXT a. You can use the left and right margins to configure your .DO files for easiest reading, or to make room for notes alongside the main body of the document. 3. TELCOM a. while you could previously specify a right margin (at the "Width:" prompt) when sending files to another computer, there was no provision for left margins or page sizes b. ZIPFMT lets you add those elements to a file =before= sending it 1) this is especially useful for sending professional looking documents via FAX VII. TECHNICAL NOTES A. Size Limits 1. ZIPFMT's "in place" formatting technique lets it work with larger files than most other formatters, but there is a limit: when you add formatting to a file, the size increases -- and it's possible to run out of RAM. a. If this happens, the formatter will beep, flash a "Memory full" message on the screen, and return to the main menu. b. With most layouts, you can avoid this problem by allowing a 20% overhead for the file being formatted; i.e., you would want 200 bytes of free memory to format a 1,000 byte file. If you're using a format that calls for very wide left margins, this overhead will increase. B. Unformatting 1. DEFORM a. A while ago, I wrote a machine language program that strips left margins and most "soft" carriage returns from formatted .DO files. It's called DEFORM (in different versions for the M100/102 and T200 laptops), and it works quite nicely on documents that have been formatted with ZIPFMT -- in case you want to convert them back to original form. C. Tabs 1. ZIPFMT will not work properly on files that use the TAB character to indent paragraphs or set up columns of data. If you need to format such files, you can use another (100 byte) machine language routine, called ZAPTAB, to replace TABs with an appropriate number of spaces; then ZIPFMT will work as you'd expect. III. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS A. Beta Testing 1. Randy Hess gets credit for suggesting (strongly) that a program like ZIPSRT might be useful. He was also kind enough to invent problems that the earliest generations of ZIPFMT couldn't solve. IX. SUPPORT A. Message Board vs. EPlex 1. For questions or suggestions concerning ZIPFMT, contact me on the M100 Forum. Rathern than EMail, I would prefer open correspondence on the SIG message board because it lets more people know -- more efficiently -- about the program's strong points and weaknesses. Thanks. Wilson Van Alst [76576,2735]