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                             Byline Instructions

   Byline is a utility for extracting and moving selected portions of text 
files, either to a printer or to another disk file.  The purpose is to al-
low you to print only parts of a long document, or to add all or part of
one disk file to all or part of another.

   Byline's main menu menu offers you the choices of:

        A)Viewing the instructions (which you've already
          figured out).
                          
        B)Checking or changing the program's defaults. 
     In this version there are only two defaults to deal with, and 
     they both apply only to the print option, so I'll describe 
     them later.
               
        C)Continuing with the program.

        Q)Quitting.

    When you choose 'Continue', Byline will prompt you to enter one of two
main functions: printing text, or moving text to another disk file.  I sup-
pose this is a good time to mention that Byline won't work except with
text files, that is, files in which the end of each line is marked by a
carriage return, or a carriage return/line feed.  You can try it with a
WordSt*  or similar file, but I don't know what it will do.

    Anyway, after you select either the printer or the disk file option,
Byline will prompt you for the name of the source file.  Include drive or
path specifications in your answer as appropriate (not necessary if the
file is on the default drive and current directory).  After you designate
the file, Byline will try to find and open it.  If for some reason it can't,
it will let you know.  Retry after checking the file name, path specifica-
tion, disk drive door, and so on.

    Byline will then prompt you to enter the starting and ending points of 
the text section you want it to print or move.  You'l be given the choice
of designating line numbers or page numbers.  (Note: The page numbers will
NOT match, page for page, any page numbers your document may already have.)

   At this point, the print and disk options diverge.  If you've selected
print, Byline will prompt you to check that your printer is ready, and then,
as soon as you press a key, it will start reading the source file.  When it
gets to the starting point which you designated, it will start printing, and
will keep printing until it gets to your endpoint, or the end of the file.
   This seems to be a good place to discuss the default settings.  There are
two of them:  1)the page length and 2)the number of lines to print per page.
'Page length' means the length of the sheet of paper, expressed in lines.  
The default setting is 66, since a standard sheet is eleven inches long, and
a standard printer prints six lines per inch.  The default setting for the
number of lines to be printer per page is 56, which will leave you margins
of a bit less than one inch at top and bottom.     





   You can change these settings by selecting 'B' at the main menu.
(Please note that the new settings will be lost as soon as you quit Byline 
and return to DOS.  Byline always starts with settings of 66 and 56.)
Changing the settings will let you change the top and bottom margins  
or adjust to nonstandard paper sizes.

   If you've selected the disk file option, Byline will prompt you to speci-
fy the file you want the text to go to.  (Again, designate the drive and path
if appropriate.)  The program will then ask you if this is a new file, or if
you're adding text to a file which already exists.  

   If you tell Byline that the target file is a new file, it will check to 
see if it encounters one already there by that name, and will refuse to pro-
ceed if it finds one.  This is in order to make it more difficult to acci-
dentally erase a file with Byline.  (I've tried to make it impossible, but
I'm sure it's not.) So if the program gives you a lot of guff here, just
give it a different target file name.  If you're adding text to an old file,
and Byline can't find the file in the place you designated, you'll also
be asked for another name.
   Once Byline has found (or created) and opened the target file, its opera-
tion is similar to the print case.  It will read the source file, and trans-
fer all text between the start- and endpoints you designate (or from the 
startpoint to the end of the source file).

   After the transfer is complete, Byline will give you the choice of running
the program again, or returning to DOS.


  If you like the program (or don't like it), or if you have any suggestions,
please let me know:  Tony Rein
                     P.O. Box 75069
                     Cincinnati, OH  45275  CompuServe #76276,2662.
  
  If you find Byline useful, you might want to send a contribution of about
three dollars, to help cover the time I spent on it.  This is optional, and 
it won't get you anything formal like registration, although I will keep
your name on a mailing list IF YOU WANT ME TO.


   Byline, Version 2.0 (this version) is copyrighted, but feel free to copy 
it as much as you like, and distribute it to anyone by any means, including
posting on public bulletin board systems.  However, each person receiving the
main program (BYLINE.EXE) must also receive a copy of INSTRUCT.TXT (this 
file) and BYLINE.DOC, either on paper or on diskette.
   Byline, Version 2.0 is copyright 1988, by Tony Rein.