CREATING ASCII TEXT FILES FOR UPLOAD TO COMPUSERVE CompuServe accepts text input of up to 79 characters per line both on the message board and in the Data Libraries. Formatting messages or .DOC files for the DLs using Tandy 600 WORD is simply a matter of setting the page width to 79 characters and the page length to 1 line as follows: FORMAT DOCUMENT page width: 79 page length: 1 margin top: 0 bottom: 0 left: 0 right: 0 page numbers: Yes(No) start at: 1 To Print the document to an Text file, set the following parameters: PRINT to: filename.ext formatted:(Yes)No copies: 1 range:(All)Selection Pages page numbers: Tabs, line indents and centered lines will be "printed" using spaces, so there's no need to worry about different Tab settings on the editor to which you're uploading. Using this document format, you can still FORMAT PARAGRAPH individual paragraphs within your specified format. For instance, this paragraph, besides being Justified, uses a LEFT & RIGHT INDENT of 10 to set it off within the document. Be sure, if you are preparing Messages for upload to CompuServe via the SIG Editor, that you specify SPACE BEFORE & AFTER as 0 and LINE SPACING as 1, since the SIG Editor interprets blank lines as "end of message." If you are using the FILGE editor, then that's not a consideration since only the line "/exit" can end the message. If you want to preserve any lines exactly as written without the editor reformatting them, rather than specifying SU (Save Unformatted) at the end of the upload, insert a period as the first character of each line (including blank lines). Be sure to work from the top of the file down. If a long file, temporarily changing your editor to FILGE might be preferable. When you Print the file to a Text file, even though your page length is set at 1 line, the paragraph formats will be preserved. You could even create very odd-looking paragraph formats, such as circles or even Christmas trees (I'm not trying to make any hints as to this SIG come December.) This particular one -- actually a series of one-line paragraphs -- was created by simply formatting this paragraph as "centered" and pressing ENTER when each line reached the width I was looking for. Simple? Of course, try to keep in mind the interests of those who will be reading the messages. Some may want to reformat the file you uploaded with wide left margins so that they can punch holes for inclusion in notebooks. Justification results in extra spaces being inserted toward the right margin which would make reformatting to a narrower column extremely tedious. So a format similar to this paragraph, using a Left alignment and not justified, would seem the most considerate. At 300 Baud you can upload messages directly from text files created with WORD. The upload may get a bit ahead of the editor and seem jumbled, but if you Preview the resulting upload you'll see that the CIS editor straightened it out. At faster Baud rates you'll get hopelessly ahead of the editor, which will likely go haywire. To send the file use the TRANSFER SEND option in TELCOM, being sure to specify "None" in the Protocol field. CREATING A BOILERPLATE FILE You can easily create a boilerplate file which contains the formatting information you use to send messages or .DOC files to CompuServe. Create a new WORD file named "MSG" and Format Document as described above. You may want different paragraph formats; for instance in the example below (I use equal signs to represent paragraph markers because WORD doesn't allow you to print CTRL-T and who knows what CompuServe would make of it anyway) the first paragraph -- for salutations -- is aligned Left with no indents. The second is aligned left with a first line indent of 5, for normal paragraphs. You might place your normal closing, including your name or handle, as the last line. When you have finished, be sure that none of the WORD options at the bottom of the screen are highlighted (i.e. you're in the Edit mode) and that the cursor rests on the first paragraph marker so that you'll be immediately ready to enter text. Example: ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- = = Cheers, --jam= > Copy Delete Edit Format Insert Jump Merge Options Print Replace Search Edit document or press Esc to use menu Word: MSG {} ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- With, remember, the cursor on the first paragraph marker. Press CTRL-F10 to get back to the System Manager Menu. Put the cursor on MSG.WRD and press "N", then TAB. I've adopted the convention of starting all my boilerplate filenames with an apostrophe and not using an extension (that leaves them at the bottom of the Menu screen, out of the way). Type the filename.ext you want, 'MSG to follow this convention, or perhaps #CIS or C.BLR, and press ENTER. Unless you used the .WRD extension, your boilerplate is no longer listed as a WORD file. To use your boilerplate, simply COPY the boilerplate to ????????.WRD, put the Menu cursor on ????????.WRD, press ENTER and type in and edit your text. PRINT the file to a Text file and that Text file is ready for uploading to CompuServe. If you've got Basic for your 600, you can Delete the .WRD file and peruse the Text file with BROWSE.600 (in DL0) to double-check it, if you wish. "STYLESHEETS" & "GLOSSARIES" For users of desktop Microsoft WORD, such boilerplates can be viewed as a combination of Stylesheets and Glossaries. You can include headings containing your address and phone number, for example, which precludes you from accidently typing (especially the latter) erroneously. In fact, you can create "Stylesheets" of paragraph and tab formats and "Glossaries" of often-used (or mispelled) terms, names, addresses or even paragraphs! Setting up a "Stylesheet" entails creating a new WORD document (STYLE.WRD?) in which you create various paragraph/tab formats, perhaps naming them. Using CTRL-F9 to jump back and forth from the document you're typing, you just COPY the paragraph marker you want to the SCRAP and INSERT it (F2) into your document. Following the tips given in WRD001.600 (in DL0 here) you may be able to create printer control codes which could be COPYed into your document, but that is dependent upon which printer you have. "Glossaries" entail creating Text files (PRINTing them from WORD), naming them mnemonically, again using some kind of convention (perhaps this time simply not having an extension or beginning with an exclamation mark), and MERGEing them into your document. This seems faster than creating a GLOSSARY.WRD file and COPYing information from there into your document. If, however, you want to retain the format as well as the content of a Paragraph, then creating a GLOSSARY.WRD file would be preferable. Of course, since the operating system of the Tandy 600, Microsoft Works, is an integrated environment, you have the additional ability to easily copy data from your FILE database or (MULTI)PLAN spreadsheet or CALENDAR programs into your document. Further tips: To prevent the screen shifting right and jumping back when you reach the end of lines, you may prefer to set the page width to 75 characters or less. If you have saved your Text file to a filename without extension and deleted the original .WRD file and then you decide to re-edit it, you cannot Run application: WORD file: FILENAME. You could rename the file to add an extension and later Format Document to 1-line pages, but it might be quicker to COPY your boilerplate to a new WORD file and then MERGE from: FILENAME. To "automate" your uploads even more, you can use the advice given in MESSAG.HLP in DL0 and create a first line such as: L;Dave Thomas 76703,446;Tandy 600 Help which would 'L`eave a message to Sysop ^Dave^ (be sure to include the PPN, otherwise your message won't be flagged for the recipient) on the subject of Tandy 600 Help. You can also add as the last line "S#" (for 'S`tore message/Section #) after the blank line or "/exit" line ending the document, which will automatically store the document. If you have Tandy 600 Basic then for quick messages online or those not likely to require extensive editing, MESSGE.600 in DL1 should prove faster. Or you might type the following: re;1234567 which would 'RE`ply to message number 1234567 (you don't have to give the recipient's PPN or subject for replies). Since the Section # is also in the previous message, you need only specify S after the blank or /exit line. Read MESSAG.HLP for many more useful tips. Similarly, you can at least partially automate uploads to the Data Libraries; read UPLOAD.HLP, also in DL0, for that information. When uploading Text files to the Data Libraries or EasyPlex, you could send the file using XMODEM protocol rather than without protocol. It will still be a Readable ASCII text file. Hope that I've gotten you into a mind to explore the capabilities of your Tandy 600; and if you chance upon any undocumented features or, for instance, create a Printer Contol Code "stylesheet" for your printer, please upload a "tip" file to the DLs. ------ James A. McGreevy 70206,1115