Category : Printer Utilities
Archive   : IMPRT4B.ZIP
Filename : CONTROL.DOC

CONTROL
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WHAT IS CONTROL?

CONTROL is a memory-resident program that allows you to easily
access the features of your printer. Simple commands, embedded
in your printed text, are converted into printer control
codes. You can also define text substitutions that allow you
to "boiler-plate" letters, forms, etc.

Configuration files allow you to specify what effect each
embedded command has.

CONTROL can be removed from memory without rebooting your
computer.


FILES INCLUDED WITH CONTROL

The files are:

CONTROL.EXE The main memory-resident program.

REM-CTRL.EXE Removes CONTROL from memory.

CONTROL.DAT Sample data file for Epson or IBM printers.
It contains substitution definitions that
select bold, double width, etc.

SAMPLE.DAT Sample data file for text. It contains
example text substitutions.

Both of the .DAT files are plain "ASCII" files. They contain
comments to help you understand their contents.


LOADING CONTROL

The syntax for loading CONTROL is:

CONTROL [-Tx] [configuration_file] [printer]

All bracketed items following CONTROL are optional.

The "-Tx" option allows you to select an alternate trigger
character for the embedded commands contained in the text that
you are sending to your printer. The character following the
"T" (here shown as an "x") becomes the new trigger character.
The default trigger character is a backslash ("\"). A typical
example of an embedded command would be:

\BThis would print as bold, \Cand this wouldn't.



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CONTROL
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In the above example, "\B" turns on the bold feature of your
printer, and "\C" turns it off. (The "\B" and "\C" commands
could mean something entirely different; they are used here
only for the purpose of showing commands embedded within
text.)

The trigger character is always immediately followed by a
character that identifies which substitution string is to
replace the embedded command. Upper and lower case are
equivalent for the second character. For example, "\b" and
"\B" are the same.

The "configuration_file" option allows you to select an
alternate configuration file. The default configuration file
is CONTROL.DAT. To load SAMPLE.DAT instead, type:

CONTROL SAMPLE.DAT

The "printer" option allows you to use CONTROL with a printer
connected to a printer port other than the default LPT1:
(PRN:). "Printer" can be LPT1:, LPT2: or LPT3:. For example,
to control the printer connected to LPT2:, type:

CONTROL LPT2:

To remove CONTROL from memory, run REM-CTRL from the DOS
prompt.


CONFIGURING CONTROL

The CONTROL configuration file determines what strings are
substituted for the embedded commands contained in your text.

The default CONTROL.DAT file contains the following
substitution definitions for an Epson or IBM printer:

\B : turns on (B)old printing
\C : (C)ancels bold, underline, double width
\E : turns on (E)ight lines per inch printing
\N : turns off superscript and subscript
\S : turns on (S)ix lines per inch printing
\U : turns on (U)nderlining
\V : turns on subscript ("arrow" points down)
\W : turns on double (W)idth
\^ : turns on superscript ("arrow" points up)
\< : turns on compressed mode
\> : turns on 10 characters per inch mode

Configuration files must be in "ASCII" format. The file must
contain only printable characters ("A...Z, 0...9"), with no


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CONTROL
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word processor or printer control codes. Most word processors
have a facility for editing and saving ASCII files.

You may find the following explanation of the contents of a
configuration file easier to understand if you first copy
CONTROL.DAT to your printer with the following command:

COPY CONTROL.DAT PRN:

The substitution definitions contained in the configuration
file consist of a header character, followed by a colon,
followed by the substitution string. For example, to define
the string that will be substituted for "\B":

B: {ESC} "E"

In the above example, each occurence of "\B" in your text will
be replaced by the ESCAPE character, immediately followed by
an upper case E. This is the IBM or Epson command for bold
printing.

Comments in a definition file are enclosed by parentheses "("
and ")".

Special control character representations recognized are:

{ESC} This is the escape character (decimal 27, hex 1B)
{LF} This is a line feed character
{CR} This is a carriage return
{NL} This is a newline (line feed, plus carriage return)
{TAB} This is a tab character
{FF} This is a form feed character

Not all string substitutions have to be printer control commands.
You can define ordinary text substitutions. For example:

A: "This is what will print if '\A' is sent to the printer"

The parsing of the configuration file uses the following
rules:

comment ::= (anything enclosed in parentheses)
substitution definition ::= header & body
header ::= alpha & :
alpha ::= ASCII characters greater than 32 (hex 20)
body ::= (string | number | control character) & separator
string ::= "anything enclosed in double quotes"
number ::= integer <= 255
control character ::= {ESC} | {LF} | {CR} | {NL} | {TAB} | {FF}
separator ::= SPACE | COMMA | TAB | LF | CR | FORMFEED



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