Add-ons are special purpose PEP components that are not copied from your disk into your computer's memory when you first load PEP. Instead, in order to maximize available memory and reduce loading time, these modules remain on disk until you use them the first time. When you invoke the ADD-ONS command, it displays a menu of the names of all files in the home directory with the extension ADD. Choose a name from this menu to load the corresponding add-on into PEP. The add-on will then be activiated and the appropriate add-on menu will be displayed. There are five add-ons supplied with PEP: The PCX add-on <[13.1]> exports pictures to bitmap files in the PCX format. The TEXT add-on <[13.2]> imports ASCII text files into boxes with word wrap. The FRAME add-on <[13.3]> generates decorative borders by replicating objects. The GRID add-on <[13.4]> facilitates inserting grids of horizontal and vertical lines. The PIC add-on <[13.5]> reads a 123/SYMPHONY graph file which becomes the open object.

Use the PCX add-on to output (or export) a picture of the open object to a file in the PCX format. Pictures in PCX files are accepted by many word processors and publishing programs. By using the PCX add-on, you will be able to incorporate pictures drawn in PEP, into documents produced by any of these compatible packages. When running the PCX add-on, first use the ROTATION, STRETCHES, IMAGE, WINDOW, and COLORS commands, if necessary, to define the properties of the image that you want to produce. Then use the OUTPUT command to enter a file name, and output a PCX image to that file.

After you have specified the image that you want to export using the ROTATION, STRETCHES, IMAGE, WINDOW, and COLORS commands described below, use the ADD-ONS/PCX/OUTPUT command to create a bitmap image according to these specifications, and to output it to a file. Type the command letter, and then enter a file name. A file is created with that name, and a bitmap image is written to the file in the PCX format. The file is given the extension PCX.

Use the ADD-ONS/PCX/ROTATION command to export a rotated picture of the open object. Press the command letter to display a menu of the eight rotation options: 0, 90, 180, 270 (degrees clockwise), \, -, /, | (mirror images).

Use the ADD-ONS/PCX/STRETCHES command to control the magnification applied to the open object when it is being written to the output file. This XY input command allows you to set either or both of the X and Y stretch factors. These numbers may be integers, decimals or fractions. The maximum stretch is 255. Note: the stretch factors are overridden when an output image size has been requested. A side effect of executing the STRETCHES command is to turn the image size override off.

Using the ADD-ONS/PCX/IMAGE command, you can explicitly set the number of pixels wide and the number of pixels high that the exported PCX picture will be. There are two modes: ON and OFF. If the mode is ON, the output image is forced to be a specified size. When the open object is exported, PEP will ignore the stretch factors displayed in the PCX menu and calculate new ones. The new stretches are chosen so that the exported picture will have the required size. If the mode is OFF, the output image size is determined by the stretches and the size of the open object. The IMAGE command toggles the image mode between ON and OFF. When you turn IMAGE ON, the command becomes an XY input command so that you can set the horizontal (X) and vertical (Y) image size that you want PEP to produce. Note: executing the STRETCHES command described above automatically turns the image mode OFF.

If you do not want to export the entire open object, you can use the ADD-ONS/PCX/WINDOW command to specify a rectangular sub-window which can then be exported. There are two windowing modes: OFF and ON. Press the command letter to toggle between these modes. The boundary of the window is given by four coordinates which appear in two sets of XY input lines under the command name in the menu. You can type in these numbers, using WINDOW as an XY input command. Or you can specify the window graphically using the cursor. Proceed as follows: press the command letter to turn windowing ON. Then position the cross-hair cursor at one corner of the desired window and press RETURN. The cross-hair is replaced by a stretchable box cursor. Position the mobile corner of that cursor at the opposite corner of the desired window and press RETURN again. The area outlined by the box cursor becomes the exported sub-window.

PEP can export either color PCX files or black and white PCX files. The ADD-ONS/PCX/COLORS command controls which type of file is produced. If the colors mode is OFF, black and white images are exported. Picture elements in background color are drawn white, and elements in any other color are drawn black. This is the default setting. If the mode is ON, then each element is drawn in its true color. Note that a black and white PCX file is substantially smaller than the coresponding color PCX file. This is so even if the picture being exported contains only black and white data.

The TEXT add-on can be used to import text into boxes in the open object with word wrap and to import text from a file into multiple objects. Use the FILE command to identify the source text file and the BOX-SIZE command to specify the size of box to receive the text. When the source file has been specified, a cross-hair cursor appears. Position this cursor at the upper left corner of the area you want to fill and press RETURN. Text from the file is imported and flows into a box of the specified size at the chosen point. If you prefer, you can change the cross-hair cursor into a box cursor of the appropriate size by pressing SPACE. If the source file contains more text, you can move the cursor and press RETURN again to continue the import at another point. If you leave the add-on to close the open object, the source text file remains open and you can continue the text import into a new object. The text box inserted is a GROUP. It acts as a single element for DELETE, MODIFY, and COLLECT operations. If you want to operate individually on the text lines that compose the box, you must first use the MODIFY/EXPLODE <[4.23]> command to ungroup it.

Use the ADD-ONS/TEXT/FILE command to specify the source text file. Press the command letter to display a menu of all files in the current directory with the extension TXT (or other extension set by the ADD-ONS/TEXT/EXT command below). Choose one to be the source for text import.

The ADD-ONS/TEXT/EXT command allows you to specify the file extension used by the ADD-ONS/TEXT/FILE command described above.

Use the ADD-ONS/TEXT/BOX-SIZE command to set the width and depth of the box into which text will flow. This is an XY input command.

The ADD-ONS/TEXT/MODIFY command automatically selects the most recently created box of imported text and displays a MODIFY menu for it. You can now change as many of the properties of this element as you want. Since text boxes produced by this add-on are PDL groups, the modify menu appropriate for groups is displayed, although some commands (for example, FILL) are not relevant in this context. (See Chapter <[4]> for a description of each of the commands available in the different MODIFY menus.)

Using the FRAME add-on, you can add borders to the open object. You can control the size and position of the borders, and by nesting multiple borders, you can control the thickness and complexity. The FRAME add-on generates these borders by replicating objects in a rectangular pattern. One such rectangle is called a frame. Each frame produced by this add-on is a GROUP. It acts as a single element for DELETE, MODIFY, and COLLECT operations. If you want to operate on the individual objects that compose the frame, you must first use the MODIFY/EXPLODE <[4.23]> command to ungroup it. To create a frame, first use the BOX command to set the size and position of the border you want to create. Then use the FILE and OBJECT commands to construct the border.

Use the ADD-ONS/FRAME/FILE command to identify the source file for the objects from which the frame is to be constructed. Press the command letter to display a name menu of all files in the source directory with the extension PDL and choose a source file from this menu. The source directory may be either the current PEP directory or the PEP home directory. The choice is determined by the ADD-ONS/FRAME/DIRECTORY command below. Collections of objects specifically designed for creating frames have been included with PEP. These are the files FRAMEx.PDL. Of course, you can also use objects from any other files to construct frames including objects that you have created yourself. However, note that new objects must first be saved to a file on disk before they can be accessed by the FRAME add-on.

Use the ADD-ONS/FRAME/OBJECT command to select an object from the source file and construct a border by replicating it. If an object with that name is already present in the loaded PDL file, that object is used to construct the frame. Otherwise, the object you chose is first imported from the source file, and then used to build the frame. Once an object has been specified, FRAME checks the source file for a companion object to use at the corners of the frame. By convention, the name of a companion object is the tilde character (~) followed by the original object name. If no companion object is found, the original object is used for both the edges and the corners of the frame. Use the OBJECT command a second time if you want to construct another frame immediately inside the one just created. This new frame is nested within the old one. Any number of frames may be so nested to create a border of arbitrary thickness and complexity. The border shown in <[FIG19]> is made up of three nested frames. To construct a new frame which is not nested, simply use the BOX command described below to define a new position for the next constructed frame.

Use the ADD-ONS/FRAME/BOX command to define the size and position of the frame to be created. Press the command letter, position the stretchable box cursor, and press RETURN. The next created frame is constructed inside the box so defined. Alternatively, the four coordinates defining the box can be typed directly into either or both of the two XY coordinate pairs following the BOX command menu item.

Use the ADD-ONS/FRAME/REPLACE command to replace the most recently created frame with another. Press the command letter to enable replacing, then use the OBJECT command above to construct a new frame which then replaces the old one.

Use the ADD-ONS/FRAME/DIRECTORY command to select the directory containing the source files for frame objects. This is a multiple choice command. The choices are: HOME (source files are located in the PEP home directory) and CURRENT (source files are located in the current directory). You may want to construct frames with objects from either the PEP standard libraries or libraries of your own creation. This command provides a rapid method of switching between the relevant directories. The current directory can be changed by using the SETUP/DIRECTORY menu <[12.6]>.

The GRID add-on can be used to insert grids of horizontal and vertical lines into the open object. First use the NUMBER command to specify how many rows and columns you want and use the UNITS command to specify the width and height of a grid cell. Then position the cross-hair cursor and press RETURN. A grid of horizontal and vertical lines is inserted with its upper left corner placed at the cursor position. If you prefer, you can change the cross-hair cursor into a box cursor of the appropriate size by pressing SPACE. The grid is a GROUP. It acts as a single element for DELETE, MODIFY, and COLLECT operations. If you want to operate individually on the horizontal and vertical lines that compose the grid, you must first use the MODIFY/EXPLODE <[4.23]> command to ungroup it.

The ADD-ONS/GRID/NUMBER command is an XY input command. Use it to set the number of grid spaces required horizontally and vertically. X equals the number of columns in the grid, and Y equals the number of rows.

The ADD-ONS/GRID/UNIT-SIZE command is an XY input command. Use it to set the grid line spacing horizontally and vertically. X equals the width of one grid cell, and Y equals the height

The ADD-ONS/GRID/MODIFY command automatically selects the most recently created grid and displays a MODIFY menu for it. You can now change as many of the properties of this element as you want. Since the grids produced by this add-on are PDL groups, the modify menu appropriate for groups is displayed, although some commands (for example, TEXT/FONT) are not relevant in this context. (See Chapter <[4]> for a description of each of the commands available in the different MODIFY menus.)

Use the PIC add-on to import PIC format graph files created by Lotus 1-2-3 and Symphony. The registered version of PEP includes a special font file, LICS.FON, that supports the Lotus International Character Set. LICS.FON is similar in appearance to BORIC.FON, but the bold and italic characters have been replaced by the extended characters of the LICS set. If an imported PIC graph file contains international characters, you can display these in PEP by installing the LICS font as PEP font 0 or 1. (See SETUP/INSTALL/0-FONT <[12.5.1]>). Normally, the first title in a PIC graph uses font 0, and all other text uses font 1. Note: the LICS font is not part of the shareware PEP package.

The ADD-ONS/PIC/LOAD command displays a name menu of all the files in the current directory with the extension PIC. Use it to choose the PIC file you wish to import. The imported PIC data becomes the open object. The former contents of the open object are lost.

Use the ADD-ONS/PIC/SIZE command to control the size of the imported PIC file images. You may set a size explicitly, or import the file in its native size.

When you import a PIC file, you can optionally convert solid fill regions into pattern fill. This feature is useful for adapting color PIC files for black and white printing. The ADD-ONS/PIC/PATTERNS command is a multiple choice command with two values: ENABLED and DISABLED. Press the command letter to toggle between these two choices. If PATTERNS are ENABLED (the default choice), then solid regions in the PIC data are automatically converted to pattern fill. The pattern used is determined by the color of the region.