Programmable Printer PopUp Users Guide


(c) Copyright 1987, 1988 Mark Allen Neil, All Rights Reserved

Revision 1.07
2/05/88

Welcome to PPP-Programmable Printer PopUp


This program is being distributed as user-supported software.

A limited license is granted to all users of this program, to make
copies of this program and distribute them to other users, with the
following conditions :

1. The program is not to be distributed to others in modified form.
2. No fee is to be charged (or any other consideration received) for
copying or distributing the program without an express written
agreement with :

Mark Allen Neil
5627 Silver Leaf Road
San Jose, CA 95138

You are encouraged to copy and share this program with other users.
If you find this program useful, please consider sending a contribution
of $20.00 to the above address to support future enhancements. Thanks.



Table Of Contents

Section Contents

1.0 Introduction
2.0 Features
2.1 Important files
2.2 The PPP Main Menu
2.3 The Help Menu
2.3.1 The HotKey Menu
2.3.2 The Printer Selection Menu
3.0 Command Line Switches
4.0 Printer Definition Files
5.0 Acknowledgements


1.0 Introduction

Programmable Printer PopUp (PPP) is a utility which allows you to send
configuration codes to your printer. PPP can be loaded as a resident

PPP107 Users Guide -- Page 2


utility (40 K), or it can be executed from a run-time prompt with command
line parameters. This document will explain in detail what PPP does, and
how to use it to your advantage.

2.0 Features

PPP was designed to be as easy to use as possible. There are now two or
three printer pop-up programs on the market which have more features, but
there are advantages to a program with fewer features:

- Easier to learn
- Easier to use
- 80 % of the "nifty" features are useless from day to day
- PPP costs less

2.1 Important files

There are 2 basic file types which make up the PPP package. The first is
the PPP executable file, called PPP107.COM. The other type of files are
called "printer definition files." Each one of these files has the
extension .PPP, e.g. P321.PPP. The printer definition files define the
control codes which PPP will send to the printer. You may have several
printer control files, and you can switch between them at will.


2.2 The PPP Main Menu

When PPP is invoked, either from a command line or by pressing the
"hotkey," the user is presented with a menu of choices. This menu consists
of a list of "options" from which the user can select. Any combination of
options can be selected. An option is selected by moving the ">" character
up or down to the desired option and pressing the space bar. Options can
be toggled off and on by pressing the space bar repeatedly. An option is
"selected" when it appears in reverse video.

An "option" is something you would like to tell the printer to do. For
example, turning on bold print, enabling compressed mode, or even sending
the string "DEAR SIR," to the printer. The definition of each option is
completely under your control, because you can customize your option
menu (Section 4).

When finished selecting options, you can either hit to send
the codes to the printer, or to exit PPP with no action.

PPP107 Users Guide -- Page 3


Below is an example of a PPP main menu designed for use with the Toshiba
P321 printer :

+============================+
Title -------> | P321 Printer Control |
+----------------------------+
| |
Options -----> | > Eject Page |
(up to 16) | High Speed |
| Quality Elite |
| Quality Courier |
| 10.0 cpi |
| 12.0 cpi |
| 16.7 cpi |
| Italics On |
| Italics Off |
| Bold On |
| Bold Off |
| "DEAR SIR," |
F1 key brings up | |
Help Menu ----> +========[ F1 - HELP ]=======+


2.3 The Help Menu

If you have trouble remembering what to do, pressing the F1 key will bring
up a help menu screen.

This is the PPP Help screen :


+==========================================+
| PPP Help Screen |
+------------------------------------------+
| Select previous option |
| Select next option |
| Toggle highlighting |
| Exit without action |
| Send highlighted commands |
| to printer |
+------------------------------------------+
| F1 Change Hotkey |
| F2 Change Printer File |
+========[ Hit any key to exit help ]======+

This screen gives a short description of the keys used in the PPP main
menu. There are 2 functions which can be accessed from this menu, changing
the hotkey (F1 key) and changing the current printer file (F2 key).
Hitting any other key will return you to the main menu.

2.3.1 The HotKey Menu

The HotKey menu appears if you press F1 from the Help menu. The
hotkey is the key, or combination of keys which causes PPP, in a resident

PPP107 Users Guide -- Page 4


mode, to appear on the screen. The hotkeys which can be recognized by PPP
are the function keys F3 through F10, F1 through F10, and
F1 through F10. The hotkey is unimportant when PPP is used
as a nonresident utility. The default hotkey used by PPP is F8.

When the HotKey menu appears, hit the key combination that you want to
invoke PPP. Choose a combination which doesn't conflict with the software
you use most often. When you enter the new combination, the keyboard scan
code for the chosen hotkey will appear on the menu for three seconds, and
then control will return to the Main menu.If you enter the HotKey menu and
decide not to change the current hotkey, press the key.

To permanently change the hotkey, use the following table to determine the
scan code for the desired hotkey, and edit this number into a batch file
which starts PPP107 (Section 3). PPP will only accept the key
combinations defined in the table below.

HotKey ScanCode HotKey ScanCode HotKey ScanCode

F1 RESERVED F1 94 F1 104
F2 RESERVED F2 95 F2 105
F3 61 F3 96 F3 106
F4 62 F4 97 F4 107
F5 63 F5 98 F5 108
F6 64 F6 99 F6 109
F7 65 F7 100 F7 110
F8 66 F8 101 F8 111
F9 67 F9 102 F9 112
F10 68 F10 103 F10 113


This is the PPP HotKey screen :

+======================+
| Hit Key Combination |
| for New HotKey |
| |
| Current Hotkey = 108 |
| |
| New Hotkey= |
| |
+==[ to Abort ]==+


2.3.2 The Printer Selection Menu

The Printer Selection menu appears if you press F2 from the Help
menu. This menu presents a list of all of the printer definition files
(*.PPP) in the PPP default directory (where PPP was invoked). The first
printer listed appears in reverse video. Use the up and down arrow keys to
highlight a new printer, and hit to select the new printer. PPP
will default upon initialization to the first printer definition file it
finds in the current directory.

PPP107 Users Guide -- Page 5


To permanently change the default printer definition file, edit the name of
the file into the batch file which starts PPP (Section 3).

This is the PPP Printer Selection screen :


+==========+
| Printers |
+----------+
Printer definition | P321 |
files ------> | EPSON |
| OKIDATA |
| CITIZEN |
+==========+


3.0 Command Line Switches

The default configuration of PPP can be modified by entering new defaults
on the command line, preceded by "switches." The command line switches
recognized by PPP are defined as follows :

-R [or \R] nnn -- This is the Residency switch. If you want PPP to be a
resident application, include this switch. The default is non-resident.
The "nnn" is the 3 digit hotkey which causes PPP to appear (Section 2.3.1).

-D [or \D] fname -- This is the Default printer configuration file name
switch. This switch tells PPP which printer configuration file to use.
If this switch is omitted, PPP will find the first "PPP" file in the
directory.

-Q [or \Q] -- This is the "quick" startup switch, and disables the
startup screen. PPP would be an impractical tool if you had to see my
name all the time, but at least the first time you will see who wrote PPP.

Examples :

A>PPP -- invoke PPP, nonresident, default to first .PPP file

A>PPP -Q -R 108 -- invoke PPP, resident with F5, no startup screen

A>PPP \Q \D EPSON -- invoke PPP, nonresident, default to EPSON.PPP
configuration file, no startup screen

A>PPP -Q -R 103 -D P321 -- invoke PPP, resident with F10, default to
P321.PPP configuration file, no startup screen

To simplify using PPP, you might want to create a batch file which starts
the program, especially if you use one of the longer forms of the startup
command. Create this file with your ASCII text editor or with the COPY
CON command.

PPP107 Users Guide -- Page 6


4.0 Printer Definition Files

PPP is useless without a definition of control commands to send to the
printer. Each printer must have at least one printer definition file
defining the control commands. Printer definition files must have the
extension .PPP, and they must exist in the directory from which PPP is
invoked. Printer definition files are in ASCII format, e.g. they can
contain no control characters nor tabs. When editing or creating a new
printer definition file, edit your work using a "nondocument" mode, or
use a straight ASCII editor, such as PC-Write.

The first line of a printer definition file contains the title. This title
appears in the PPP main menu. The title cannot be more than 40 characters
in length.

Examples :

P321 Printer Control

Mark's Special Control Menu


The next sequence of lines defines the printer control options. Each line
defines a separate control option. There can be up to 16 options in each
file. Each control option has two parts, the option name, and a sequence
of decimal byte (< 256) values to send to the printer when that option is
selected. The option field occupies the first 40 characters of the line,
and the byte values follow on the same line anywhere after column 40.
There can be no additional spaces following the last control byte on a
line.

Examples :

Option name 40 Control bytes

Eject Page 12

10.0 cpi 27 42 48 27 69 49 50

"DEAR SIR," 68 69 65 82 32 83 73 82 44 13 10


The last example above sends the string "DEAR SIR," to the printer.

After the last option line, the next line must contain a star (*),
signifying the end of the printer definition file.

To find the control characters to use with your printer, consult your
printer's manual. Enter the characters, using their ASCII numbers, just
as shown above. Use the included .PPP files as examples to create your
own personal printer control files.

PPP107 Users Guide -- Page 7


Sample printer definition file for Toshiba P321 printer :

P321 Printer Control
Eject Page 12
High Speed 27 42 48
Quality Elite 27 42 49
Quality Courier 27 42 50
10.0 cpi 27 42 48 27 69 49 50
12.0 cpi 27 42 48 27 69 49 48
16.7 cpi 27 42 48 27 69 49 48 27 91
Italics On 27 18
Italics Off 27 20
Bold On 27 75 51
Bold Off 27 77
"DEAR SIR," 68 69 65 82 32 83 73 82 44 13 10
*

5.0 Acknowledgements

This program would not have been possible were it not for the superior
programming skill of the following individuals :

STAY-RES routines written by Lane H. Ferris of San Francisco, CA. These
public domain routines allowed me to make PPP a resident application.

Q SCREEN routines written by Jim LeMay of Ft. Worth, TX. These routines
sped up my screen displays tremendously.

My thanks to both of these individuals.

----------------------------
Editor's Note:

PPP107 can be installed as a memory-resident program when loaded with the -R
switch. Do not install it more than once in a computer session -- the program
does not warn you when a copy already exists in memory. The only way to
remove memory-resident programs is to reboot the computer.

Conflicts sometimes exist between applications programs and
memory-resident utilities, or between memory-resident programs themselves when
two or more are simultaneously installed. If you experience difficulties,
reboot the computer and install PPP107 alone.

Memory-resident programs are also somewhat hardware dependent. While
they may work on other systems, they may not work on yours. To avoid problems,
test PPP107 with your applications programs and other memory-resident programs
before you do any important work. It's wise to take this precaution when using
any new memory-resident program for the first time.