I’ll be honest. I think XPrint is the greatest thing since sliced bread. If you’ve been frustrated by the inability to get attractive and useful printing out of HyperCard, except with slow and clumsy interfaces like... (did I hear someone mention Reports!)... I think that you will, too.
XPrint adds fast, full-featured, easy to use, highest-quality text printing to HyperCard. It does so by adding a few new commands to HyperTalk, the HyperCard scripting language.
The commands are simplicity itself. The single command 'XPrint("Print", card field 1)', for example, will spool a competely formatted document. The command 'XPrint("EndJob") prints it.
Or, you can combine an unlimited number of easy-to-use printing, formatting, and positioning commands to build a single, complex page or an entire document. The possibilities are limited only by your imagination, like Macintosh applications are supposed to be.
How you wish each document to be formatted is up to you. XPrint gives you the ability to exercise full control over how your document will look--directly from a HyperTalk script!
This means you can design forms, form letters, complex reports--literally anything--and get reliable, fast, high quality printing directly from HyperCard, and get it the way YOU want it. Positioning measurements, by the way, are in inches and fractional inches, NOT screen dots or picas, making XPrint really easy to use.
Even better, you can do all this from ANY HyperCard stack. Simply plug the 'XPrint' XFCN into either your Home stack or just the stacks you wish to use it with and that’s it. No complicated installation procedures, no extra cards in your stacks, no jumping around to other applications or stacks, no quirky dialog boxes to horse around with. Just results.
Now for the bad news.
As its title implies, this is a demonstration of the XPrint XFCN. The version of XPrint included with this stack WILL NOT work with any other stack. If you like XPrint, (and I’m sure you will) I‘ll make you a deal on the unrestricted version you won’t be able to turn down and still sleep nights.
But first, a brief word about how this demo stack works.
GENERAL CHARACTERISTICS
XPrint gives you about the same ability to format documents as any standard word processing application. It lets you:
• Set document sizes
• Set margins
• Set tabs
• Have full control over positioning
• Have full control over text fonts, styles, alignment, and spacing
• Mix text styles and alignments in the same page
• Print in either 'Best' or 'Faster' mode (it has its own 'Page Setup' dialog)
• (The demo version does not contain the line-drawing routines included in the unrestricted version.)
This demonstration stack offers a couple of simple examples of what you can do with XPrint. The stack uses XPrint to print letters, envelopes, and mailing labels.
WRITING & PRINTING WITH THE XPRINT DEMO
Letterheads
The text block at the top of the screen is the first line of your letterhead (leave it blank if you don’t want to print a letterhead). To change it, click on it and type what you want in the small text field that pops up. The first line will be formatted as you specify (see below); subsequent lines are for your address. Click on the 'Letterhead' block again to make the small address field go away.
Letters
This field (the one you’re reading) is where you type your letter. You can also load and save letters as TEXT files with the Open... and Save... buttons to the right. The small Trash can at the lower right clears this field.
Margins
To set margins for your letter, click on the small page icon above the 'Open...' and 'Save...' buttons. You can set all margins at once by clicking where it says 'margins...' or set them individually by clicking on the appropriate numbers around the border.
Type Styles
To the left is a box containing standard Macintosh type styles. Notice the two radio buttons above and below the style box. When the bottom one is ON (highlighted), all formatting changes apply to this field. When the TOP one is on, changes apply to your letterhead line. Any combination of styles can be assigned independently to either your letterhead or the body of your letter.
Fonts & Font Sizes
Changing fonts and type sizes works the same way. To change fonts, click the 'Fonts' button below. Select the desired font from the font menu presented by clicking on its name. Turn font selection off by clicking again on the 'Fonts' button. Only the fonts currently installed will be shown, by the way. If you add or delete fonts from session to session, the demo updates this menu each time you start it up.
Clicking the 'Size' button, below, gives you a menu of standard font sizes. Select the desired size by clicking on it; remove the 'Size' menu by clicking on the 'Size' button again.
Additional Formatting Options
The 'Word Spacing', 'Line Spacing', and 'Paragraph Spacing' buttons apply only to this field, the body of your letter. Use them to fine tune your final output.
PRINTING YOUR LETTER
The 'Page Setup' button presents the standard page setup dialog for your printer (NOT the one HyperCard uses). For demonstration purposes, this stack includes a printing record formatted for standard business letters, a couple of different sizes of envelopes, shipping labels and mailing labels.
When you have formatted your letterhead and the body of your letter the way you want it, click the 'Print' button below. This gives you the standard 'Job' dialog where you can select how you want your letter printed. If you decide you want to cancel printing in the middle of a job, simply hit the standard 'Command-period' keys and you’ll exit neatly (unlike another, unnamed, HyperCard printing utility).
One of the nice features of XPrint is that it conforms exactly to the standard Macintosh printing interface. There’s nothing extra to learn. It behaves just as you might expect from your experience with other Macintosh applications.
ENVELOPES AND LABELS
We’ve mentioned envelopes and mailing labels. To print one of the standard size envelopes or labels included here, first click on the 'Envelope' button below (this displays a picture of an envelope), type or paste in your return address and the address of the recipient, select which kind of envelope or label you want from the 'Page SetUp' dialog, then click the 'Print' button. That's it.
When your envelope finishes printing, dismiss the envelope from the screen by clicking on the Envelope button again (or click on any blank portion of the envelope).
...ABOUT THAT OFFER YOU CAN’T REFUSE
As mentioned above, this version of XPrint can only be used with this stack. Please feel free to use it as long and as hard as you wish to see if XPrint is your cup of tea. If you do decide you would like the unrestricted version, here’s the deal:
XPrint is only one of a number of new HyperCard multi-function XFCN’s included with STaK-X, a shareware collection of extensions to the HyperTalk scripting language written by Sam Thornton (that’s me).
STaK-X also includes a number of very useful tutorial and demonstration stacks showing how to use these new XFCN’s. To get the unrestricted version of XPrint, PLUS all the rest of the XFCN’s and stacks in STaK-X, send $19.95 plus postage and handling fees (see below) to:
STaK-X Software
508 Fairfield Avenue
PO Box 123
Fairfield, NE 68938-0123
P&H: $3 US / $5 Canada & Mexico /$10 Overseas
(Nebraska residents add 4% state sales tax)
When you consider that you could easily spend more than $40 alone for an inferior HyperCard printing utility (we’re not mentioning names here), I think you might agree this is a phenomenal bargain.
The reasons for the current low price are that you won’t get glitzy, four-color packaging, I don’t have a secretary or a press agent, and the only shareholder I have to answer to is me. This may change, so don’t get caught short.
Some of the other goodies included in STaK-X...
Multi-Function XFCN’s:
XPrint - (that’s what makes this stack
work)
Strings - 28 advanced string functions
(including alpha and numeric sorts, word
and phrase replacements, string searches,
string formatting, indexing utilities, etc.,etc.,
etc.). The latest version, completely re-
written.
SFile - The COMPLETE implementation of
the Macintosh Standard File Package,
tailored for the HyperCard environment.
Memory - Complete memory management
for HyperCard
SysEnvirons - Pinpoints the hardware and
software environment your distributed
stacks are running on. Includes complete
implementation of standard Macintosh
SysEnvirons plus other important additional
information.
ScripX - Simply the best HyperTalk script
compacter/expander available at any price.
UPSCharges - automates current UPS and
Federal Express rate charts (1989 update)
ZipCheck - validates zipcodes for the 850+
three-digit zip areas in the 50 states
(1989 update)
XScroll - simultaneous scrolling of scrolling
fields (not instantaneous, but much faster
than any other similar function; plus it only
takes one command to accomplish)
PLUS a few other surprises...
Demonstration Stacks: (These are stacks written specifically as guides demonstrating how to use the many new functions included in STaK-X. They are also pretty useful stacks in themselves. Full script comments are included in addition to stack and XFCN documentation.)
ListFinder - HyperCard version of the
familiar desk top list finder with added
features: sophisticated cross-indexing,
automatic phone tracking logs, dialing
with modem or speaker, nearly instant
access to any listing, export and import
of entries, selective export of phone logs.
This is the primary tutorial for the
indexing utilities in the 'Strings' XFCN.
ScriptPacker - I’m prejudiced, but I think
this may be one of the best HyperCard
utilities around for stack designers. It
does script packing and expansion, highly
selective script search & replace, script
transfers between containers and stacks,
export and formatting of scripts for
publication or documentation. It even
includes a mini-text editor for quick review
of scripts exported to text files.
XText - A very interesting and friendly
search & replace for text in any stack’s
fields. Good demonstration of many of
the most frequently used 'Strings' XFCN
functions.
XPrint - (an expanded version of this stack)
Transfer Menu - Installs a self-modifying
transfer button in any stack that lets you
transfer to any other stack or application
through a pop-up menu choice. The menu
includes selections for updating itself. It’s
kind of like having a desktop in a button.
STaK-X Invoicer - a version of the stack
I use to print invoices and track
registrations (modified for general use).
This is another demonstration of how to
use XPrint to generate frequently used
forms. Not a bad stack for a small business
user.
Naturally, I reserve the right to add as many other new XFCN’s and stacks as I can possibly fit in. The above is the absolute minimum. Plus, you will receive any new additions or modifications to STaK-X published in the year following your registration for NO additional charge. (Well, maybe a buck or two for postage.)
In the meantime, as the saying goes, “Enjoy!”.
Sam Thornton
3/20/89
P.S. Can you make a copy of this stack and give it away to your friends? You bet. As long as no money changes hands (except for nominal copying and distribution fees), the stack is passed on “as is” and this file accompanies the stack, there are no restrictions.
