FORMAT.CO (c) 1991, R.W. Hess ----------------------------- This document has been uploaded in two parts and both are required for operation: FORMAT.DX1 includes Sections I through IV. FORMAT.DX2 includes Sections V and VI. Contents I. Introduction II. A Quick Tour o Overview o Starting FORMAT o The Menu Options III. Using the "Print Format" Menu o Setting Values o "Continuous Y/N ?" o "R"ead/scroll Preview o "D"ot Plot Preview o "P"rinting Your Document IV. Using the Print Commands o Print Commands, General o UNIVERSAL Print Commands o PRINTER-SPECIFIC Commands V. Customizing FORMAT o Creating a New Printer file o Loading the New Printer file VI. Important Operational Considerations The two required programs, FMTLDR.BA and FORMAT.BA, are contained in FORMAT.200, DL10. FMTLDR.BA creates FORMAT.CO which is the actual operating program. FORMAT.BA allows you to customize FORMAT.CO. Follow the instructions in FORMAT.200 for creating FORMAT.CO and FORMAT.BA. I. Introduction FORMAT.CO is a 1280 byte, machine-language program which enhances the TEXT formatter built into the model 200. It runs in the ALT/LCD buffer by simple cursor selection from the main menu and doesn't require any special memory settings or "set-up" procedures. FORMAT.CO is EASY to use but please read all these instructions BEFORE your first use. FORMAT works within TEXT. You use TEXT's familiar editing routines to create your document and the "Print Format" window to set printing parameters. FORMAT adds these features to TEXT's formatting functions: - 13 single-character, print commands - File previewing using dot plotting and formatted display FORMAT is entirely self-contained and includes certain print commands pre-set for EPSON/FX-80 and compatible printers. If you're not certain if your printer is one of these, try FORMAT's print commands anyway. If the printer doesn't respond correctly to these commands, consult Section V, Customizing FORMAT: it's simple to make FORMAT work with YOUR printer! II. A Quick Tour Overview Text Formatting FORMAT works as a text formatter on two levels. On one level, it operates from the familiar "Print Format" menu accessed using within TEXT. Here you can set GLOBAL values that affect the entire document. You can easily change format values from document to document as needed. Additionally, a Printer Set-up String lets you set GLOBAL printer values for type style, character set, paper size, margins etc. On another level, FORMAT operates from WITHIN your documents using PRINT COMMANDS you enter with your text. You can add these commands using either TEXT alone or by entering the file through FORMAT. Print commands appear on your screen and count as file characters but they do not appear in FORMAT preview or print output. They only have the desired effect when you use FORMAT to preview or print your document. Previewing Among its other features, FORMAT lets you preview documents on the screen before printing. You can "Read" the lines of a document on the screen, formatted exactly as they would appear when printed. Or you can produce a "Dot" pixel plot of your document which will show the general layout of each page. Starting FORMAT Conventions UPPER and lower case letters are interchangeable at prompts. Bracketed letters mean keys labeled as shown within the brackets: e.g. . Two keys shown together are expected to be pressed together: e.g. . = "CR" = Carriage Return. at the "File to edit:" prompt returns to the T200 Main Menu. or pressing twice at any prompt in TEXT's "Print Format" window returns to the file as usual: F8 returns to the T200 main menu and clears FORMAT. or at most FORMAT.CO prompts or during "reading" or "plotting" will abort to the "Print Format" window. Selecting a File Run FORMAT.CO by cursor selecting it from the T200 main menu. A list of RAM files will display and TEXT's "File to edit:" prompt. Type an existing file name or a NEW file name: then press . You will access the file via the built-in TEXT routines. Processing Your File Write/edit your file as usual. When you are ready to "R"ead, "D"ot plot or "P"rint your file, press the keys from anywhere in the file to display the familiar "Print Format" window. Use these prompts to set the GLOBAL print parameters to be used by FORMAT. When satisfied with the settings, press and answer the "Continuous Y/N ?" prompt. The legend "Print Format" at the top of the window will change to "Printer: (name)" to let you know which print command set has been stored in this copy of FORMAT. The Menu Options FORMAT's brief sub-menu, "R/D/P", will appear to the right of your "Continuous" response. The letters represent FORMAT's three functions: "R" Read preview - scrolls your file showing formatted lines, page breaks and page numbers. "D" Dot/pixel preview - displays a pixel plot of your file as it would look when printed. "P" Prints the file using the GLOBAL settings shown as well and any print commands within the file. These functions are described in detail in Section III. returns to the "Print Format" window. III. Using the "Print Format" Menu Setting Values FORMAT uses the values from the TEXT "Print Format" menu for its GLOBAL printing parameters. Consult the Tandy 200 manual for acceptable values and how these values interact. Although 0 (zero) is an acceptable T200 value for the "Page Size" prompt, it defeats the purpose of FORMAT and creates unreliable Dot preview plots. Zero also makes the only way to return to the file from the "Print Format" window until a different value is entered. "Continuous Y/N ?" FORMAT recognizes your response to this prompt in two routines: "R"eading your file and page printing. If you answer "N" to this prompt, FORMAT will pause after each page is displayed or printed: otherwise operations are continuous. You can return to the file from this prompt by simply pressing . at any "Print Format" window prompt also returns to the file. "R"ead/scroll Preview Press "R" at the "R/D/P" menu to read/scroll your file, formatted as it would print. You may enter a page number at the subsequent "Read#" prompt to begin the display at the top of that numbered page: alone starts with Page 1. Any skipped page numbers will list, followed by the selected page. Any part of formatted lines that exceed the 40 column screen width of the T200 will display in reverse video. Margins are NOT displayed. Press to return to the "Print Format" window: any other keypress pauses scrolling. After the entire file has displayed, the screen will pause and any keypress other than resumes scrolling at the top of the file. From the "Print Format" window you can return to where you left the file by pressing twice. You can rapidly edit your way through an entire file by alternating between "R"ead and TEXT. When you return to the file, use the F1, "Find", function to locate text which needs work. Then quickly re-display that portion of newly edited text by simply re-entering the "R"ead function and typing the appropriate page number at the "Read#" prompt. "D"ot Plot Preview Press "D" at the "R/D/P" menu. You will be prompted to select the GLOBAL font ("Fnt") which your printer will use when printing the file. Because the spacing of the pixels on the screen is fixed, the width of the display "page" will change based on your font selection. Although FORMAT has no way of displaying font changes which you might do WITHIN a file, you COULD plot a "changed-font" file area by setting the GLOBAL "Width:" value for the appropriate font and choosing that area's font before previewing. The "pixel page" width has been calculated for the 4 font choices using the values shown below on 8" of printable page width. (These values can be changed by you if desired: see Section V, Setting the Dot Plot Values.) P = "Pica" 10 chr/inch (80 chr/line) R = pRoportional 11 chr/inch (88 chr/line) E = "Elite" 12 chr/inch (96 chr/line) C = Condensed 16 chr/inch (128 chr/line) As soon as you press an appropriate letter, the screen clears and a "page" is drawn based on the font choice and the "Page size" value from the "Print Format" window. Your choice of fonts displays in the lower left portion of the screen and your file begins to "plot". The appropriate page number will also print and the display will pause between "pages" waiting for a keypress before showing the next page. returns to the "Print Format" window: any other keypress pauses the display. When all the pages have plotted, the plot returns to the top of the file and starts again. Experiment with different GLOBAL format and font combinations until you find one you like. FORMAT expects YOU to enter the appropriate printer commands in your file or Printer Set-up String to actually print the file with the font/s you choose as a result of your "preview". "P"rinting Your Document Press "P" at the FORMAT sub-menu. You'll be prompted "1st Pg#": this is where you set your page numbering parameters. - alone returns to the "window". - You may enter any number from 1-255: it will be printed on the "first" document page and each following page will be numbered one higher to a max. of 255. - 0 (zero) or any other entry not beginning with 1-9 disables page numbering. The page number is centered between margins on the 5th line from the bottom of the first and subsequent printed pages. If you do not leave at least 5 lines of bottom margin in your "Print Format" settings, page numbering will not occur. (To change any page numbering parameter, simply return to the "R/D/P" submenu, press "P" and enter a different choice.) Make sure the printer is "on-line" with paper loaded: then press . As provided, FORMAT first sends a form-feed to clear the printer and set a new page. Then it prints your document, following any print commands within the file. You may abort the printing process in the "usual" way by pressing . After each print job, FORMAT returns to the file. Use F8 to exit TEXT or for more FORMATting work. IV. Using the Print Commands Print Commands, General Print commands are the way you affect the appearance of a document from WITHIN the document itself. Enter the print commands in your file at the point where you want the print attribute to operate. They are created by pressing the key TOGETHER with a letter key. These characters do NOT display in the "preview" functions and are never sent to your printer, but they ARE counted as one character for line-centering and file-size calculations. FORMAT recognizes two categories of print commands: UNIVERSAL and PRINTER- SPECIFIC. The three UNIVERSAL commands for Line Centering, Line Spacing and Form-Feed will operate with ANY printer and in FORMAT's two preview modes. In addition, FORMAT has been uploaded with 10, PRINTER-SPECIFIC, command sets suitable for use with EPSON/FX-80 compatible printers. (Try them: if your printer doesn't work correctly with these commands, consult Section V, Customizing FORMAT.) UNIVERSAL Print Commands FORMAT recognizes 3 UNIVERSAL print commands. Form-feed/Page-break Forces a page break. Insert this character immediately preceeding the last CR on a page. Use sparingly, and as "final" editing, because it forces all text below it into different paging. Two or more sets in a row will create numbered blank pages if numbering is selected. (FORMAT also recognizes <'>, CHR$(140), as a form-feed command.) <=> Center a Line Centers a line of text between margins. Insert the character at the beginning of each line to be centered: all characters, including the <=> symbol and the CR, are counted as part of the line. For obvious reasons, a title or any other text should always be shorter than the line on which it is to be centered. Lines longer than the selected line "Width" should be split into two or more lines. Double-width printing will probably require some space padding on the right of the line for proper appearance. Single/Double-Space Lines Toggles between single and double-spaced printed text: default value is SINGLE -space. Depending on the selection, FORMAT sends one or two line-feeds for each CR encountered. Insert the character at the beginning and end of the text to be changed to the "new" value. The line-feeds sent by FORMAT and those inserted by you are counted equally in meeting "Line/page" limits. Therefore: Double-spaced, "50" Line/page will print 25 file lines/page Double-spaced, "49" Line/page will print 24 file lines etc. Single-spaced prints the number of file lines entered. PRINTER-SPECIFIC Commands: ALL of the PRINTER-SPECIFIC commands operate in pairs. The first occurrence of a print command character turns the feature "on"; the second turns it "off". The actual code sent to the printer by each "on" and "off" command can be changed if desired: consult Section V. The 10 command sets provided with FORMAT are a somewhat arbitrary choice based on: 1) the capabilities of the EPSON printer 2) FORMAT's 10 set limit 3) the relationship of the letters to the print commands invoked Consult your printer manual for a detailed description of how each of these print attributes operates and the conditions governing their use. (If your printer has less than 10 print-commands to use, and/or you prefer to change characters or their functions, Section V explains how to proceed.) Press the key and letter key simultaneously to create the graphics character which invokes the print attribute shown: Bold print * Condensed (16 letters/inch) * Italics letter set * Normal (Elite, 12 letters/inch) *

Pica (10 letters/inch) pRoportional spacing Superscript Underline Wide letters subsXript * The "off" command for the three font-change sets and Italics returns the printer to the Elite font. You can change this default by modifying FORMAT using the procedures set forth in Section V. Keep in mind that the LEFT margin of a document line is created with Spaces whose "length" is determined by the font size in effect at the time of the CR which ends the preceeding line. And the RIGHT margin is determined by the number of characters printed on a line as set by the "Width:" value. For example: 78 "Condensed" characters will print a wider RIGHT margin than 78 Pica characters. With some careful planning, you can change the print margins WITHIN your document by judicious use of font-change print commands. ENDING a line of Condensed text with a WIDE print command and beginning the next line with another WIDE command followed by a Condensed command could give you wider left and right margins than the "normal" text. That's because toggling WIDE "on" before the CR would cause your printer to print the left margin with "WIDE" spaces: the second WIDE command would turn WIDE "off" and the Condensed command would print the subsequent characters in Condensed mode.