Overview
Scan&Fill 1.72

With Scan&Fill you can fill in (nearly) any form with a pc and a printer. The image of the form is uses as a background. At those places on the form where you have to enter text you make a field. The text you entered there is then printed on the form (or any other paper) that you put in the printer.

A double click left of the mouse creates a field. With the border it is sized. With a pressed right mouse button you may move the field.

Menues

Dialogues

Keybord & Mouse

Error messages

Tips


Menues
Menues:

File

 Forms

  New ...

  Change ...

  Open ...

  Store

  Store as...

 Data

  New ...

  Change ...

  Store

  Store as...

 Print ...

 Directories ...

 Registration ...

 Quit

Edit

 Undo

 Cut

 Copy

 Paste

 Delete

 Delete a field

 Font ...

 next page

 previous page

 grid

Help

 index

 search

 using help

 about


Dialogues

build a form

change a form

store a form

open a form

store data

read data

Font Selection

select directories

Registration

Print

Printer Setup


keyboard & Mouse

Mouse

With the left click a field may be activated. You may  then enter the text which should be printed on the form or change the field attributes and the size of the activated field.

A double click left creates a field. The attributes of the last activated field are copied.

The text on an activated Field is marked  when you move the mouse with a pressed left button.

Moving the mouse with a pressed right button over an activated field moves the field.

Keyboard

<PG_DN>	scrolls one screen down

<PG_UP>	scrolls one screen up

STRG-<PG_DN>	pages to the next page of the form

STRG-<PG_UP>	pages to the previous page of the form

STRG-<arrow>	moves to the next field in the direction given by the arrow

<F1>	activates the help concerning the menuepoint/dialogue

STRG-Z/ALT-Backspace	undoes the last edit action

STRG-X/SHIFT-Del	deletes the marked text and copies it to the clipboard

STRG-C/STRG-Insert	copies the marked text to the clipboard

STRG-V/SHIFT-Insert	inserts the text from the clipboard

Del	deletes the marked text

STRG-Del	deletes the active field


Submenue File

Scan&Fill usually works on two files simultaneously:

The measure and image of page and the field definitions are stored in a forms file. The submenue Forms works on these kind of files

The data which is printed on to the form is stored in data files. The submenue Data works on these kind of files.

Further choices you have on this menue:

Print

select the directories for storing images, forms and data

register Scan&Fill

leave Scan&Fill


Submenue Forms

In form files the measures of each page, the images and the input fields are stored.

With forms files you can do:

make a new form

change a form

read a form

store a form

store a form with a new name


build a form

For each page of the form you give the measure and the name of file the background image is stored in.

Please check if  you have enough core memory available. Images tend to use lots of memory, If you scanned the image with 100 dots per inch and you use 256 colours you need 10.000 bytes per square inch.

If you have a system with not  so much core memory and you use a small swap file it is possible to make a multi page form stepwise. You just add a page, store the form system dependent and load it again. This you repeat for all pages.

Possible Error messages

Not enough memory for XX bytes

cannot read anymore from file XX


change a form

Here you can change the measure and image of a form.

Please note the hints for "build a form"

Possible error messages:

not enough memory for XX bytes

cannot read anymore from file XX


open a form

You select form files with the common file selection diaologue of Windows. The suffix of the file name determines the file format of the forms file.

The name of the form is shown in the caption bar..

Possible error messages:

not enough memory for XX bytes

cannot read anymore from file XX

cannot open file XXX

file XXX is corrupted


store a form

If the form does not  have a name the menue point store as is executed. Otherwise the old form file is replaced by the new one.

If you loaded the form file from a read only media (Floppy, cd rom or network) you get the error message "cannot open file XXX".

Possible error messages:

not enough memory for XX bytes

cannot write anymore to file XX

cannot open file XXX


store a form under a new name
store as a new form

Using the common file selection diaologue of Windows you enter the name of the file the form is to be stored into.  The suffix of the file name determines the file format of the forms file.

If you select a read only media (Floppy, cd rom or network) you get the error message "cannot open file XXX".

Possible error messages:

not enough memory for XX bytes

cannot write anymore to file XX

cannot open file XXX


storage formats of forms
file format of the forms file

forms file may be created using to file formats:

system dependend *.fsa

The images of the form pages are stored in a format which is the native format of the graphics adapter used. They are loaded quicklier, but they cannot be used in a different  adapter setting (VGA to SuperVGA, etc.). The measure of a page cannot be changed afterwards.

There are graphics drivers which do not implement the GetBitmapBits() function correctly so that the fsa format does not work!

In this format the image of the form may only be printed if the image in printer resolution was saved before.

portable *.fpo

The original images are stored in the file. At load time the bitmaps will be adapted to the currently used graphics adapter. The measure of the pages may be changed any time. In this format the image of the form may always be printed.


error messages

cannot write anymore on file XXX

You get this error if there is not enough enough space on the drive for the file to be written. The incomplete file is not deleted afterwards!

file XXX is corrupted

Either the file is damaged or it was not generated by Scan&Fill.

cannot create file XXX rsp. it does not exist

The file name XX is syntactically incorrect or the drive does not exist or is read only.

expected a fixed point number with at most XX precision

The fixed point number was syntactically incorrect. The number may vary in precision according to the metrics (inch or mm).

cannot open file XXX

The given file is on a floppy which was removed from the drive after selection. If you work on a networked system maybe another user selected the same file.

maximum width of a form:

XX SSSS

The maximum width and height of a form is 50 cm or 20 inch.

minimum width of a form:

XX SSSS

The minimum width of a form is 2 inch or 5 cm.

not enough memory for XX bytes

May be there are to many applications running simultaneously on your system. Just exit some of these. If this does not help, you executed applications which did not free the memory they used. In order to find out if the application returns all the memory just look at the info box of the program manager at start and end of the application.

cannot create directory XX rsp. it does not exist

The directory name XX is syntacticallly incorrect  or the drive does not exist or is read only.

cannot read anymore from file XXX

The file XXX is incomplete. Either it was written incompletely or you have a grave error on your file system. You should chedk it with checkdsk.

SS_WRONGDISPLAY,"wrong graphics adapter:\n"

"the form was generated for the adapter %s\n"

"now the system uses %s"

wrong graphics adapter:

the form was generated for the adapter XXX

now the system uses ZZZ

You opened a form file in a system depend formatwhich was generated with a different graphics adapter or adapter setting. If you want to change the graphics adapter or the graphics adapter setting and you have a system depend forms file you can select File/change a form and read the images of the pages again. Then store the form in the portable form and change the adapter.

the printer driver for XXX does not support Windows 3.0

You must update your printer driver.

general printer error

This what Windows says if something went wrong while printing the operating system does not know what. The most probable reason is shortage in system resources.

Try it again with less applications running at the same time.

not enough memory for printing

The printer driver could not be loaded inot memory. You can minimize the memory demand of Scan&Fill with using the  *.fsa file format.

not more than 256 fields

Scan&Fill uses a fixed amount of memory for storing field data. So you got to split your form!

wrong registration number or virus infection

The executable and registration name and registration number do not fit together. If name and number are correct someone change the executable.You should install the executable again.

all pages of the form must have the same size if  you use a user defined size

If you want to print using a user defined paper size, all pages in the form must have the same size.

there is no hlp file, please install again

The help file must exist in the same directory as the executable. If you use the install program there should be no problem.

the compressed BMP format iss not supported

please convert the image in monochrome 1-bit format  or true color 24-bit format

The run length encoded BMP format which some scanner software generates for 4-bit and 8-bit images is not supported by scan&fill.

there is on standard printer installed

You selected the default printer for printing and do not have installed.

Internal Error messages

you should not see these error messages:

internal error in module XXX at line DD

This error usually indicates that your system has only a small amount of free system ressources (see about box). You should leave the program at once.

If the same happens when you have only Scan&Fill running and you are sure that you have enough free system ressources please drop us a line. We really appreciate all error reports!

no string at DD

All messages are stored as string ressources. These strings are loaded at run time. If there no string at a given number you get this message. This can only mean that you use a modified version of Scan&Fill.


Dateiauswahlbox
file selection box of windows

This is the common windows dialogue to select a file.


build a form dialogue
building a form

The dialogue "build a form" consist of three columns:

Files

Directories

Pages

The first two colums are just like the file selection box of windows. The information about the pages of a form is presented in the column "pages". The filenames of the images of each page are listed in the upper list box.

The current page is highlighted. Beneath the measure of current page is shown. In the lower part a standard measure may be selected for each page rsp. may be defined for further use.

assignment of images

Select image and page. If Scan&Fill understands the file format of the image file the button "assign image" is enabled. By activating it you assign the image to the page and the next page becomes the current page.

deletion of images

Select a page and activate the button "delete image".

measure of a page

Width and height of a page may be given in inch or cm. The permissibles values range from 2.0000 inch to 22.0000 inch or 5.000 cm to 50.000 cm.

standard measures

You may define standard measures. Just enter the unit, measure and name. Then activate the "+" button to insert the new standard measure. The "-" button deletes a standard measure, in order to change a standard measure activate the "<->" button. Up to 16 standard measures may be defined.


store a form dialogue

With the common file selection box of windows you select an existing file or you enter a new file, in which you want to store the forms file.

The suffix of the forms file determines the file format ot the forms file.


open a form dialogue

With the common file selection box of windows you select an existing.

The suffix of the forms file determines the file format ot the forms file.


change a form dialogue

This is an adapted  build a form dialogue.

Please note that  the *.fsa forms file format only contains fixed images in the bitmap format of the currently used graphics adapter. Therefore you cannot change the measure of a page!

If you like to change the measure of a page in a *.fsa forms file you must first delete the image and read the image anew.


submenue data

The content ot the input fields are stored in data files.

You can do with data files

make a new data file

read a data file

store a data file

store a data file with a new name


new data

This command resets the input fields.


read data

This command read a data file and sets the content of the input fields. The order of the input fields is the order of creation.


store data

The content of the input fields is written into the currently used data file.

If the data file was loaded from a read only drive (floppy, CD-rom or network device) you get  the error message "cannot open file XXX".


store data as ..
store data with a new name

Using the standard file selection box of windows you enter the file into which you want to store the content of the input fields.

If you select a file on a read only drive (floppy, CD-rom or network device) you get  the error message "cannot open file XXX".


data open dialogue

Using the standard file selection box of windows you select an existing file which is considered a data file for the currently used form.

There is no check that you select the right data file for the form! Thus you may use data files in order to copy data from one form to the other.

.


store data dialogue

Using the standard file selection box of windows you enter a file name into which the content of the input fields is written.


Printing

You print a filled in form  usually using the print manager. Scan&Fill itself does not contain any logic to control the print process. Therefore you should have any print manager software installed (not necc. the original one).

For each page a print job is generated, so that you can see in used print manager which page is to be printed.

If you have a form with more than one page you must put the pages in the right order in printer or insert each page as requested by the print manager. The title of the print job tells you which page is to be inserted.

If you store the form after printing the used printer setup is stored along with the forms file.


Directories

After the installation of Scan&Fill the program, the help file, the metrics file for the standard measures and the subdirectories for forms, data and images are stored in one directory. This is not always advantageous esp. if using a network you should think of the following points:

the executable and the help file will not be changed and should be stored on read only partitions or drives.

the forms files and the metrics file should be changeable for anybody.

data files should be local files.

If you like to install Scan&Fill in a network, install it at first on a server. On each workstation create the icon Scan&Fill. With the "directories" dialogue you connect the workstation with the subdirectory on the server.  Please note:  for each workstation you nead a registration.

If you don't like to reserve a directory for Scan&Fill, please note that you must store the helpfile scanfill.hlp in the same directory as the executable scanfill.exe.


Registration

Scan&Fill must be registered for each workstation (PC). The unregistered version might be used 30  days. If that trial period is over the forms cannot be filled in any more.

A registration costs per PC 30,- $. You get a registration key which you enter along with your address in the dialog registration.  The registration number includes a check sum which is used to check the program code. That means that a virus infection of a registered Scan&Fill program should be noted (unless the virus programmer knows about Scan&Fill and implements special code to handle its checking mechanism)

Special licences:

a site license 	500,- $

(all PCs on that location)

a school license	500,- $

(all teacher/employees on a school)

a dealer/maintainer license 	750,- $

(to copy on all directly sold/maintained pcs,

except mail-order!)

a runtime license 	750,- $

(to integrate into systems/software package,

the end user is restricted just to fill the forms and print them)

CREDIT CARD ORDERS ONLY -

You can order with MC, Visa, Amex, or Discover from Public (software)

Library by calling 800-2424-PsL or 713-524-6394 or by FAX to 713-524-6398

or by CIS Email to 71355,470. You can also mail credit card orders to PsL

at P.O.Box 35705, Houston, TX 77235-5705. Refer to item  #14464.

THE ABOVE NUMBERS ARE FOR CREDIT CARD ORDERS ONLY.

THE AUTHOR OF THIS PROGRAM CANNOT BE REACHED AT THESE NUMBERS.

Any questions about the status of the shipment of the order, refunds,

registration options, product details, technical support, volume discounts,

dealer pricing, site licenses, non-credit card orders, etc, must be directed

to SoftwareSchmiede (see below).

COMPUSERVE MEMBERS  may use SWREG:

PC license 	refer to registration ID:   	10295

site license	refer to 	10367

school license	refer to	10368

dealer license	refer to	10369

runtime license	refer to	10370

It is also possible to transfer the registration fee directly to our bank account at

Direkt Anlage Bank

Westendstraße 162

D80339 München

Germany

BLZ 701 204 00, account number 0089625008

and order the licenses at our address below.

SoftwareSchmiede

Dipl. Inf. Thomas Gawehns

Gerberstraße 3

D-78050 VS-Villingen

Tel./fax +49-7721-90107

Compuserve: 100434,3277


Quit

On leaving Scan&Fill the file of standard measures is automatically written on disk (if a measure a changed). If you changed the form or entered some data you are prompted if you want to save it before leaving.


Clipboard

The clipboard is temporary memory to store data which might be used between different applications. The type of the data ranges from text to images and sounds.

Scan&Fill 1.x supports only text data.


Mark

A part of the text in an input field is marked when using the cursor keys with a pressed shift key. The marked text is highlighted in some color as the background color of the title bar. You can also mark text by moving the mouse with pressed left button.


short keys

For speedy working you can use the following short cuts:

in an input field:

Shift+Del or Ctrl+X

the marked text is erased and written to the clipboard.

Shift+Insert or Ctrl+V

if there is some text in the  clipboard it is inserted into the input field.

Ctrl+Insert or Ctrl+C

the marked text is written to the clipboard.

Alt+Backspace or Ctrl+Z

the last action in an input field is undone.

Del

the marked text is erased.

Shift+cursor key

the text cursor is moved and markes a part of the current text in the input field.

In a forms page:

Page-Up

scrolls the page upward.

Page-Down

scrolls the page down.

Ctrl+Del

The actual input field is deleted (this action cannot be undone!).

Ctrl+cursor key

The next field in the given direction is selected and becomes the current input field.

Ctrl+Page-Up

pages to the previous page of the form.

Ctrl+Page-Down

pages to the next page of the form.


Submenue edit
Edit

commands working on the text in the current (selected) input field:

Undo

Cut

Copy

Paste

Delete

misc. commands:

Delete a field

Font

next page

previous page

grid


Undo

Undoes the last action (input, deletion, insertion) in the current input field.


Cut

The marked text of the input field is erased and written into the  clipboard. This text might be inserted into another input field.


Copy

The marked text of the input field is written into the  clipboard. This text might be inserted into another input field.


Insert

The text in the  clipboard is inserted in the input field.


Delete

The marked text of the input field is erased and not written into the  clipboard.


Delete a field

The current input field is deleted with all text in it. This action cannot be undone and the content is not written into the clipboard.


Font

The font and the font styles may be selected here. In the version 1.x of Scan&Fill only TrueType fonts might be used.


next page

The next page of form is displayed.

A form can have up to 10 pages. Each page might have different dimensions.


previous page

The previous page of form is displayed.

A form can have up to 10 pages. Each page might have different dimensions.


grid

In order to support the position of input fields a grid might displayed. The lines of the grid have one unit (inch or cm) distance.

If the grid is displayed fields moved or created are adjusted along a finer grid. The mesh size of this grid and other grid option can be set in the grid option dialogue.


Submenue Help
Help

This is the usual help menue:

Content

Search

Using help

Info


Searching for Help

Here you can search for help topics by keywords.


Using the help system

Here you get help using the help system.

Actually you're already performing nice so you should not need that much help on using the help  system. But if you like to you might give it a try.


Info

The info box of Scan&Fill shows the memory and system ressources available.

Every system component of Windows 3.1 (e.g. Window, Menue, etc.) uses an entry in a global system table. That table is fixed so you might run out of system ressources with having lots of memory available.


Font dialogue
Font

The font which is used for displaying the text of the input fields is defined by:

type

you can select any installed TrueType font. Please note that not all printer driver support correctly all TrueType fonts. (see printing)

size

the size of a font is given by points (1 point = 1/72 inch). The maximal size is given by the size of the input field.

color

If you have just a bw printer a color might be mapped to white so you don't see the text!

Scan&Fill options

You can enter the adjustment of the text entered and if the field is the first field to active if the current page is displayed.


Print Dialog
printing

This is the standard Windows print dialogue. For each page which contains an input field a print job is generated (even without data entered).

If your printer always prints with an offset this can be adjusted in the setup.

With setup you can select a different printer than the standard printer or change the setting of it. The print setup can be assigned to the form file. If you store the form after printing with a specialized setup, the setup is stored to the file.

Scan&Fill specific options

WYSIWYG

though the font size is specified in the device independent point metric the fonts Windows selects for printing and display may not agree on the width of some characters. In this case the WYSIWYG button enforces the width of the printed text to be the same as seen on screen. It does so by shrinking/expanding the blanks.

Instead of right adjusting fields by inserting blanks use the right adjust field option in the font dialogue.

intermediate print

the print options are reset after this print. This is useful if you have the printer image already saved and you like to try a different printer/printer setup.

print with image

the forms image is printed along with the text you entered. In case of newly created form or a form stored in the .fpo format the image image can always be printed. If the form is stored in the .fsa format it can only be printed if the print image is stored along with the form.

store print image

the bitmap adjusted to the printer resolution can be saved to forms file after printing.

offsets

If there is an offset from the scanner or the actual form this might be adjusted here. In case the printer always prints with offset use the printer setup.


printer setup

Here you define a special printer setup for the form to be printed. If you use a user defined paper size all pages must have the same size.

The paper format and the feeder may be assigned to the form, if the form is stored to file after printing.

Offsets

here you define the offset the printer starts printing. These offsets are not assigned to the form but to the printer!


Registration Dialogue

After you registered you will receive a license card, which gives your address and the registration number. The first line of your address will be displayed in the title bar of Scan&Fill.

Enter the address and the registration number in the fields given. Please take care that you write the address correctly.


Select directory dialogue

You see the actual directory setup. You may change it by giving complete path names or activate with "search" the file selection box.


select form directory

Here you select the directory where you want to store the form files to.

A double click left on directory symbols opens resp. closes it.


select image directory

Here you select the directory where you want to read the image files from.

A double click left on directory symbols opens resp. closes it.


select data directory

Here you select the directory where you want to store the data files.

A double click left on directory symbols opens resp. closes it.


determine metrics file

With this  file selection box you determine the file into which the standard measures will be written.


Tips
Tips using Scan&Fill

An image appears stretched or shrinked

The size of a page of a form is not stored in the image file. So you must enter it in forms new dialogue correctly. You can and should define standard measures.

Command line arguments

scanfill.exe {-c <bmp file> -r[+|-][dDmMfFcC]*} form-file data-file

-c <file.bmp>	 reads the image of file.bmp and inserts it into a new page

-r[+|-][dDmMfFcC]*	disable/enables functionalty:

dD 	deletion of fields

mM 	movement/sizing of fields

cC 	creation of fields

fF 	font assigment of fields

form-file data-file

name the files to be read at startup.

restricted Scan&Fill

The following entries in the [Restrict] chapter of scanfill.ini disable functions of Scan&Fill:

NoDeletion = 1	Fields cannot be deleted.

NoCreation = 1	Fields cannot be created

NoMove = 1	Fields can neither be moved nor sized.

NoFont = 1	The font of a field cannot be changed.

Assign forms to feeders

If you have a printer with many feeders you can assign frequently used forms to special feeders. The printer setup can be assigned to a forms file!

Rapid field definition

A newly defined field uses the dimensions of the last activated field. Thus you can replicate field definitions!


grid options
Grid options dialogue

If the grid is active an invisible mesh is put over the form and fields created/moved will be aligned to this mesh. In this dialogue the line styles of the grid, the color and the mesh size can be changed.

For changing the color just click on the coloured rectangle.