Category : Printer Utilities
Archive   : PCPS533.ZIP
Filename : PCPS.DOC

PCPS.EXE Version 5.33
--------

1. INTRODUCTION
---------------

PCPS is an executable program designed to run under MS-DOS or PC-DOS
version 2.1 upwards. The program will read in a normal DOS text file and
produce POSTSCRIPT* output that can be directly printed on a POSTSCRIPT*
compatible printer, in particular, the Apple Laserwriter.


2. DESCRIPTION
--------------

When executed, PCPS reads in one or more text files, converts them to
POSTSCRIPT* and the outputs them either directly to a printer or optionally
to a disk file. Banner, orientation, fonts, font sizes, line handling, output
format, output path and line numbering options may be specified.


3. USAGE AND ARGUMENTS
----------------------

The format of the command is as follows:

PCPS [-args] file1 file2.....filen

If no arguments are specified the following defaults are true:

1. Default output is to the second printer ie. LPT2
2. Default output page order is normal ie. first page first (this is for
laser printers that do sort the pages out for you.)
3. Default is non-gaudy banner ON ie. a banner containing the file name,
creation date and time and the POSTSCRIPT* page number will be printed
in bold at the top of each page.
4. Default font is Courier.
5. Default font sizes are: Portrait and 1 col Landscape - 10 point.
2 col Landscape - 7 point.
6. Default orientation is Portrait.
7. Default is to wrap long lines.
8. Default is to pass tab characters through as they are.
9. Default is to do page sorting in memory if there is enough free memory
for the operation
10. Default is no line numbers.
11. Default is not to delete input file after processing.
12. Default is for continuous paper feed (ie. Not Manual Feed)

4. ARGUMENTS
------------

-l => List available font codes. This should be used by itself
(ie. PCPC -L) as anything else on the line will be ignored.

-b => Banner OFF (ie. Do not print a banner on each page).

-c => Truncate (Cut) lines longer than the maximum number of
characters allowed for the current mode.

4. ARGUMENTS (cont)
------------

-dl => Delete the input file after successful processing. USE
WITH CAUTION! PCPS considers that if it receives no
errors when processing the file, then it is printed. On
a network, however, the print job might get lost!

-dm => Switch off memory sorting - useful if, for some reason,
PCPS reports a memory allocation error whilst processing
your document.

-f => Code of font to use followed by optional font size.
Refer to section 5 or -l argument for a description of
font codes. The font size must be specified after the
font code(if present) or if you wish just to alter the
size and not the default font, -f will be accepted.

-g => Print a gaudy banner at the top of the page containing
the file last-modified date and time, the file name and
the page number. This argument is meaningless if "-b"
(banner off) is specified.

-i => Inverse page order (ie. Output the last page first).

-m => Manual paper feed at printer - useful if you wish to use
different paper than what is loaded into the paper tray.

-m1 => Manual paper feed for the first page only - useful if the
first page needs to be printed on letter head.

-p => Instead of output to LPT2, output to where
can be the pathname of a file (eg. \bin\example.ps) or
the name of another printer (eg. LPT1).

-q => Quiet mode - no fancy information is displayed. For each
file processed, only the number of pages output is
displayed.

-r => Rotate the print 90 degrees (Landscape mode). This mode
allows lines up to 132 characters before it wraps or
truncates.

-2 => Rotate the print 90 degrees and print in two columns with
the smaller 7 point print. This is a good mode to
economize on paper.

-t[n] => Expand tabs to tabstops. If just -t is specified, tabs will
be expanded to tabstops every 8 columns. If a number (n)
follows the -t, tabs will be expanded to tabstops every
n columns.

-u => Unlimited (almost) line length - PCPS, as a default,
calculates a maximum line length based on the font size
and paper orientation. This calculation is performed
assuming COURIER font (the only non-proportional font)
and so is inaccurate when applied to other fonts. The
usual result of this is that it under-calculates how many
characters will fit on the line. This switch is useful
if you wish to over-ride this feature.

-#[n] => Print line numbers. If just -# specified, the line numbers
default to 4 digits. If a number (n) follows the -#, the
line numbers will be set to that many digits (max 6). If
the line number count increases to greater than the current
number of digits can handle, the digits will automatically
be increased to compensate for this situation.

Wild cards are permitted to be used for the input text files and more than
one file may be specified. The maximum number of characters per line is
automatically calculated by PCPS based on the font Courier and the font
size specified at invocation. For example: if a font size of 48 is specified
and the mode is portrait, PCPS decides that it can fit 18 characters on each
line which works out well for the font Courier. The spacing may vary to some
extent with other fonts. PCPS will wrap a line of text from an input file
that is longer than the maximum number of characters unless -c (Cut) is
specified.

5. FONTS
--------

The Apple Laserwriter has many fonts built into it and any of these pre-
defined fonts are available for use with PCPS. Listed below are the fonts
and the code for each that can be used with the -f argument within PCPS:

FontCode Font
-------- ----

AGB AvantGarde-Book
AGBO AvantGarde-BookOblique
AGD AvanteGarde-Demi
AGDO AvantGarde-DemiOblique
BD Bookman-Demi
BDI Bookman-DemiItalic
BL Bookman-Light
BLI Bookman-LightItalic
C Courier
CB Courier-Bold
CBO Courier-BoldOblique
CO Courier-Oblique
H Helvetica
HB Helvetica-Bold
HBO Helvetica-BoldOblique
HN Helvetica-Narrow
HNB Helvetica-Narrow-Bold
HNBO Helvetica-Narrow-BoldOblique
HNO Helvetica-Narrow-Oblique
HO Helvetica-Oblique
NCSB NewCenturySchlbk-Bold
NCSBI NewCenturySchlbk-BoldItalic
NCSI NewCenturySchlbk-Italic
NCSR NewCenturySchlbk-Roman
PB Palatino-Bold
PBI Palatino-BoldItalic
PI Palatino-Italic
PR Palatino-Roman
S Symbol
TB Times-Bold
TBI Times-BoldItalic
TI Times-Italic
TR Times-Roman
ZCMI ZapfChancery-MediumItalic
ZD ZapfDingbats


6. HELP
-------

A quick help screen is available within PCPS and it is activated by typing
in either of the following commands or if you enter an invalid argument:

PCPS
PCPS ?

7. EXAMPLES OF USE
------------------

PCPS -l List all available fonts and their codes.

PCPS -dl -g HELP.DOC This will read the file "HELP.DOC", convert
it to POSTSCRIPT*, put a gaudy banner at the
top of each page and output it to LPT2 in
normal page order, then delete HELP.DOC.

PCPS -i -b -m HELP.DOC This will read the file "HELP.DOC", convert
it to POSTSCRIPT* and output it to LPT2 with
the pages in inverse order with no banner and
put the printer in manual feed mode such that
the user will have to feed the pages manually.

PCPS -b -pHELP.PS HELP.DOC This will read the file "HELP.DOC", convert
it to POSTSCRIPT* and output it to a file
called "HELP.PS" in normal order with no
banner.

PCPS -i -f7 \UTILS\*.DOC This will read all of the files under the
"UTILS" directory with an extension of
".DOC", convert them to POSTSCRIPT* and
output them in inverse page order with a font
size of 7 to LPT2. Each .DOC file will be
processed one at a time.

PCPS -# -2 -fhn *.C *.H This will read all of the files in the
current directory with extensions of .C and
.H, and output them to LPT2: in landscape
mode with two columns, in the font Helvetica-
Narrow with 4 digit line numbers.
8. FUTURE
---------

Most features that I had planned to include in PCPS are now present in this
version (5.33), however, I am open to input on any enhancements but cannot
give any guarantees as to completion date of the enhanced routine.

Paul Carapetis.
9. SUPPORT
----------

Now you're asking a bit much for an in-house ditty! If you have problems
or find bugs in PCPS, contact:

Paul Carapetis MDC Facilities and Support, Melbourne X944



* POSTSCRIPT is a trademark of Adobe Systems Incorporated.