The Business Master (3rd Edition)

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┌───────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │ │ │ BOOKLET │ │ version 2.01 │ │ A Text File Dividing Program │ │ Users Guide and Manual of Operation │ │ │ └───────────────────────────────────────────────┘ Copyright 1987 by Woodrow Smith All Rights Reserved __ Distribution Notice ──────────────────────────────── Booklet is distributed under the concept of USER SUPPORTED SOFTWARE. This allows software authors to bring quality software to users at the least cost possible. Under this distribution concept Booklet is yours to evaluate, copy and share with other computer users. If, after evaluating Booklet, you find it useful then register your copy with the author. It is important to register. We trust users to register the software that they continue to use after evaluating it. This remuneration keeps software authors producing USER SUPPORTED SOFTWARE. Registered users are also entitled to one year of free advise in the use of Booklet. To register (1) Fill out the Order Form in file ORDER.TXT (2) Print the order form on you printer. (3) Mail the order form and the $5.00 registration fee to the author: Woodrow Smith 10908 Oleander Street Fontana, CA. 92335 If you continue to use Booklet without donating, you are undermining the concept that has bought this and many other fine programs to you. If Booklet has no use in your computer environment you are still encouraged to copy and distribute Booklet to other computer users. As Booklet is copyrighted, please observe the following restrictions: 1) The Booklet package and included programs are unmodified. 2) No charge be made for coping or distributing the Booklet Package, except the cost of the diskette, handling, and/or mailing charges. 3) Booklet, or any part of the Booklet Package, may not be distributed as part of another software package, without written agreement with the author, Woodrow Smith. 5) No group, organization or individual has the right to act for the author as agent in the collection of donations, fees or any other remuneration for the Booklet package or any part there of, except by written agreement with the author. 6) By accepting and using the Booklet package the user accepts all responsibilities and liabilities for any damage created to files, loss of data or legal consequences resulting from the use of Booklet. Keep USER SUPPORTED SOFTWARE viable - register your software. Booklet Page -1- __ Requirements and Limitation -Booklet can be used with either monochrome or color monitors. -Booklet is not memory resident, so it will should not conflict with any other program you are using. -Booklet will run on any computer with a minimum of 64K memory. -Booklet will only work with text file pages of 66 lines or less. This is based on the standard page length of a 8.5 x 11 page if using the standard printer setting of 6 lines-per-inch. -Booklet will work with page widths of 1 to 132 characters. -Although Booklet will divide a text file with the computer alone, a printer connected to your computer is necessary to realize the full potential of Booklet. -To use Booklet, your system must have one or two floppy disk drives. Introduction Booklet is a program that divides text files into even-page and odd-page files. The even-page and odd-page files can then be printed back to back to form pages very similar to pages in a book. When these pages are assembled in a binder the text file can be used like a book. This type of document printing has many advantages over the normal fan fold that printers produce. Documents printed on both sides of the paper are easier and more pleasant to handle than the fan fold. Also indexes and table of content now are more convenient to use. This printing technique also cuts your paper use in half, saving natural resources and your money. Finally, document printed on both sides of the paper take up half the storage space. Booklet can be used on any text file. These files can be spreadsheet or data base results written to disk, word processor files you created, program documentation you receive on floppy disks, et ceter. By using BOOKLET you can have easily produce professional appearing, convenient to use, hardcopy of all your reference manuals, spreadsheet projects and database records. Booklet Page -2- __ How Does Booklet Work? First a few words about printers. Printer have a default spacing of 6 lines per inch. This makes the regular 8.5 x 11 inch page is 66 lines long. When you print a page of text that is less than 66 lines long, a special symbol is used after the last line to signal the printer to move to the top of the next page. This special symbol is the Form Feed symbol. It looks like a small circle with a plus sign under it, or the the medical symbol for female. This symbol forces the printer to advance to the top of the next page before starting to print the next page. This is how files of varying length pages are handled. When the page has 66 lines of text (even if some of them are blank lines) the printer fills each page of paper with the appropriate 66 lines and the Form Feed symbols are not needed. This is how standard ASCII code files are structured. Your favorite word processing program may handle page breaks in a similar or very different way. Booklet reads a text file from a disk drive. It then looks in the text file for the Form Feed symbol or alternately counts the lines needed per page. This is how BOOKLET defines a page. Booklet also allows you to include the Form Feed symbol in the even-page and odd-page output files, if it is needed for your printing setup. Booklet then divides the text file into the even-page and odd-page files; SIDE1.DOC and SIDE2.DOC. These two files can then used to print you document on both sides of the paper. How do I Use Booklet? General Program Use Notes If BOOKLET asks for an item and it is enclosed in square brackets (eg: [drive]) then it is an option that can be skipped by a <CR>. This will cause the default value to be used. If you make a mistake while typing a response, use the left arrow or backspace key to erase the error. Correcting an error this way only works if done before hitting the <CR> to enter the information. If you type a selection that is out of the range; BOOKLET will prompt you for a in-range selection. In a similar manner if you give BOOKLET a non-existent file name or subdirectory a error message with directions will be displayed. Step One If you have not already done so boot your computer. Also copy the text file you want to divide onto a blank, formatted diskette. Use this copy to work on so if anything goes wrong you will still have the original text file available to create another copy from. Always keep the original and work from a copy to protect yourself from accidents. Booklet Page -3- __ Step Two Determine what defines a page in the text file you want to divide. First check the text file for the Form Feed symbol. View the file with the DOS TYPE command (eg: A>TYPE SAMPLE.DOC). To stop the screen hold the Ctrl key down and press the "S" or "Num Lock" key; a <CR> will restart the screen. Carefully look at the text in the area between pages. If you see the Form Feed symbol at the left margin, then your text file uses Form Feed symbol to define the pages. If you did not find the Form Feed symbol your text pages may be organized by lines-per-page. The easiest way to test if your text file is line-per-page format is to call part, or all of it if isn't too large, with your favorite word-processing program. Use your word-processing program to automatically set page breaks at various lines-per- page counts and see where the page breaks fall. Change the lines- per-page until the page breaks seem to be a aesthetics pleasing and logical points in the text file. (Hint: A common format is full page or 66 lines-per-page. Many other files are formatted at 52 or 53 lines-per-page to allow for a blank header and footer on each page.) If your text file does not have Form Feed symbols and does not seem to be a lines-per-page format then your file is one of those very unusual and also very rare files. The easiest way to handle these files is to use your favorite word processing program to add blank lines in appropriate places so to form pages of 66 lines long. Due to the variety of word processors available detailed instruction for this step are beyond the scope of this documentation. If your text file has Form Feed symbols in it and you want to divide it by lines-per-page you must use the find-replace function of your favorite word processor to remove the Form Feed symbols. However, be cautioned that this may result in division of the text file in places that are not pleasing to you. STEP THREE Running Booklet. At the DOS prompt, place the disk with BOOKLET.COM in one of your disk drives. Call the program by typing: [drive] [subdirectory] BOOKLET After the opening screen you will be asked for the [drive][subdirectory] filename of the input text file to divide. Your response must be 64 characters or less. You will then be asked for the [drive][subdirectory] you want the odd-page and even-page output files to appear on. This entry must also be limited to 64 characters or less. The odd and even page files are always name SIDE1.DOC and SIDE2.DOC respectively. The next screen is the parameter screen. This screen allows you to enter the information that defines a page in the input file. This is the information you discovered when you looked at the input text file earlier. It also allows you to select for the Form Feed Symbol in the output files, SIDE1.DOC and SIDE2.DOC. If printing will be done with a DOS command or a word processor that uses the Form Feed Symbol to create page breaks; then select to include the Form Feed Symbol. All other printing situations should select to exclude the Form Feed Symbol. Booklet Page -4- __ The next screen is a report on the progress of the division of the input file. It is important to watch this screen to see if anything unexpected happens during division of the input file. Unexpected activity, like pages with 3 lines, usually means that a stray form feed symbol is in the input file. When the program is finished it will display a sign off mes- sage. You now have the odd pages (SIDE1.DOC) and the even pages (SIDE2.DOC) in separate files. Step FOUR Inspect the files SIDE1.DOC and SIDE2.DOC to make sure the text file has been divided to your satisfaction. This is most easily done with the DOS TYPE command (eg: TYPE SIDE1.DOC). If the files are not acceptable, re-evaluate what determines a page in your text file and rerun Booklet using different parameters. Step FIVE Print the pages of your booklet. If the original text file was generated by your favorite word processing program it may contain non-ascii code. This is usually encountered if you used word processor functions like underlining, bold or shadow printing, subscripts, et cetera. In this case the pages of the text should be printed using the print-function of the word processing program that generated the original text file. This way the embedded non-ascii code will be interpreted correctly. However if the original text file is standard ascii code, as is most documentation files you receive on diskettes, then the pages can easiest be printed using the DOS TYPE command and redirects it to the printer (eg: TYPE SIDE1.DOC > PRN). With either method of printing, it is advisable to use the printer's tractor, if the printer is so equipped, as this prevents the paper from drifting better than friction feed of the paper. Also you may want to offset the paper in the printer to make the left margin 1/4 inch wider than the right margin. This allows space for the binding of the pages in a notebook. Because of the variety of printers and text files margins, you are encouraged to experiment with the size of print and margins until you find the combination that is satisfactory to you before attempting to print all the pages of your text file. Also make sure enough paper is available to the printer to complete the printing of the number of pages reported by Booklet on the report screen. Using one of the two printing methods mentioned above, print the file SIDE1.DOC. Please note the position on the printer platen where the left edge of printing begins. When the printer is finished with the file SIDE1.DOC. Remove the paper, turn it over and feed it into the printer with the top and reverse side of page one under the print head. At this point you may want to adjust the paper so the left edge of printing will be about the same place as the right margin edge on the reverse side. Do this by off centering the paper in the printer until the point on the platen where the left edge of printing begins is at the same place where you want print on the paper. Using the same method of printing used for SIDE1.DOC, print the file SIDE2.DOC. Booklet Page -5- __ STEP SIX Assembling your booklet. The paper should now have sequential pages printed on both sides of the paper. Remove the paper from the printer. Remove the perforation strip from the edge of the paper and separate the pages. Assemble the pages in numeric order. In the left margin, paper punch holes to match the attaching mounts of a binder or report cover. Install the pages in the binder or report cover. For the finishing touch, type a label for the outside of the binder or report cover. This should include the program name, version number, and title. For Booklet the label might be: BOOKLET ver 2.01 A Text Dividing Program User's Manual and Guide for Operation This completes the creation of a booklet from your text file. I think you will find the booklet approach makes text files far less frustrating to deal with than the fan fold printer normally produce. In Addition, printing on both sides of the paper will cut you paper cost in half, saving you money. This also saves natural resources and make you printed documents store in half the space normally used. Keep USER SUPPORTED SOFTWARE viable - register your software. Version History ────────────────────── Version numbers indicate which features are in the Booklet you are running. Major program changes are reflected in the left number. Version refinements are reflected in the first decimal number. Minor or cosmetic refinements are reflected in the second decimal number. ver # comments 1.00 This was the original Booklet. 1.10 Could now handle any imbedded print commands. Including subscripts, underlining, bold, double strike or shadow printing. 1.20 Corrected occasional glitch in error checking for "disk to full to continue" operation. 2.00 Supports drive and subdirectory selection for both input and output files. 2.01 Improved invalid-path-name checking. Comments and question concerning Booklet can be sent to Woody Smith by: (postal mail) (electronic mail) Woody Smith Woody Smith, 10908 Oleander St. F.B.B.S., Fontana, CA. 92335 U.S. Mailbox section (714) 822-9424 Booklet Page -6- __