Printers' Apprentice History File

Version 1.0 * 28 June 1991      

Initial Release written in Visual Basic
Simple viewing of fonts
Ability to invoke ATM & CONTROL.EXE
Color support
Rescanning of system font information
Bold, Italic, Roman, BoldItalic support
Ability to scan through ANSI codes
Points sizes 1 - 99
Screen only support
No help!

Version 2.0* XX July 1991       

1. Error trapping for "file not found" while shelling
   to the ATM & Windows control panel

2. Added API code to determine if shelled applications
   are currently running

3. Previous version only viewed ANSI 33 & above,
   range is now 1 - 255. "ASCII" was also spelled
   wrong in the application! (Yes, I am a college senior!)
   All references to ASCII have been changed to ANSI. The ASCII
   character set is only used by non-Win apps. Windows has always
   used the ANSI character set.

4. Special thanks to Sage Osterfeld at Atech software (the "Publisher's
   PowerPak" folks) for his suggestion that the user be able to directly
   enter the ANSI code. This has been implemented as a new menu item and
   an editable text box in the main window. Beer mugs to Sage! []) [])

5. The refresh font list menu item & button has been removed. The list is 
   now refreshed anytime the current device is changed. Printer's 
   Apprentice 2.0 defaults to the screen device on startup.

6. Printer's Apprentice now makes use of its own INI file to store values
   for the font, size, color, user name, and ANSI #. The PA.INI is read 
   at startup and whenever the font lists are refreshed to determine 
   how the font specimen is displayed. These items may be saved to the 
   PA.INI file (*must* reside in the Windows directory) through a simple 
   menu selection. The user's name is also stored in the PA.INI file.

7. Clipboard support is now offered. Selecting Copy from the Edit menu
   will send the specimen character to the clipboard in raw text format.
   No formatting is sent. A link option is also there. If you paste a 
   link into WinWord or Excel with the autoupdate field on, the 
   character WinWord/Excel will change when you change the character
   in PA. A nifty trick with no real purpose.
	
8. A DDE channel to Microsoft Word for Windows now allows you to send
   the currently displayed specimen character directly to Word! All
   formatting commands, with the exception of color, are sent along 
   with the character. The character will appear in WinWord exactly as
   you saw it in The Printer's Apprentice preview window.

9. Batch printing is easy! A single menu click will bring you to the
   batch operations window. Select your batch operation from the 
   drop down combo box. Use the "add", "delete", "add all", and 
   "delete all" buttons to move fonts to the print list. After 
   pressing go, a gauge will inform you of your printer's progress.

10. A new menu item has been added to start the Windows clipboard. As with
    all other program starting options, the EXE for the clipboard must
    be in current path.

11. Input from Printer's Apprentice 1.0 users everywhere has led to the
    creation of an editable text box for font samples. A new menu item, 
    User Entered Text, has been added under Options. This puts up a 
    floating text box where the user may enter his/her (let us not 
    be sexist!) own text in the current font and style. This text 
    changes as the options are changed. This box is a floating text box, 
    it may be moved around, hidden, iconized, or closed. The print 
    button will dump the contents to the printer. Thanks to the users 
    who asked for this feature! Beer mugs to you! [])

12. Printer's Apprentice 2.0 is now copyrighted software. If you use 
    PA to create font samples, browse ATM fonts, or use it simply as
    an on-line resource, please register your copy. A single $15 
    registration fee entitles you to a registration certificate, 
    mail upgrades of registered versions, and a guilt free concious.
    Please join the users who have made the shareware system work.