ECPage V3.14 Design & Print Laserjet PCL Form & Macro Design Program Documentation INTRODUCTION What is ECPage? ECPage Design & Print is a DOS based page or form design and printing program that permits you to design pages or forms in pure PCL code (you don't write a line of code - the program does that for you), from the simple to extremely complex; using the scalable proportional fonts in the Hewlett Packard LaserJet 3, 4L, 4, Epson ActionLaser 1500, or other PCL5 clone that can properly emulate (100%) a HP LJ series 3 or 4. Proportional font text can be used in right, left or center justification as desired. In addition, boxes - both plain border and shaded can be used, with an optional choice of fill pattern or gray scale. Lines, both horizontal and vertical can be placed as desired. With ECPage 'Near Type-Set' quality designs can be created and printed on your laser printer. P1 In addition to printing on paper, the page designs can be 'printed', in PCL code format, to a diskfile. All PCL formatting is within the PCL file so the page, when printed from the diskfile, will look as it does when printed from within the program - as long as the same fonts are resident within the printer. Storing blank forms on disk saves the cost of maintaining an inventory of pre-printed forms and allows them to be changed or modified easily. The PCL files are relatively small, and quickly printed, either at the command prompt or in a batch file by just using COPY /B to copy them to the laser printer. Programmers or advanced users may want to use the PCL diskfile as a Laserjet macro overlay file. This could, for example, allow the form to be filled out from a database report. For this purpose a diskfile (MACRO) without a form feed at the end and bracketed with PCL MACRO OVERLAY commands can be created instead of the normal diskfile, which does have a form feed to eject the printed page. THE PROGRAM Both the 'Shareware' version and the registered version of ECPAGE contain the same features, however the registered version can be updated to use additional font styles. The ECPage is not a 'WYSIWYG' program (What you see is what you get). Rather you lay out the page in rows and cols, inches or cm, indicating what you wish to go where. This permits text, boxes and lines to be placed accurately within hundredths of an inch on the page, and each may extend over another. For example, text may be placed inside a gray scale filled box. The program is quick to learn and very easy to use - no steep learning curve. If you should need it on-line help is just a keystroke away ([F1) from any screen. You could almost run the program without this manual - but don't - read these directions first for a better understanding of the program. P2 The creation of 'Near Type-Set Quality' forms, letterhead masters, announcements, invitations, flyers, brochures, price lists, invoices, service tags and menu's are just a few possible uses of ECPage Design & Print. The output will rival programs costing hundreds of dollars and yet is so easy to use even a novice computer user can be creating with 'Desktop Publishing' quality in minutes. HARDWARE REQUIREMENTS Minimum Requirements: -------------------- XT Computer (AT 286/386/486 PS/x recommended) keyboard (mouse not needed) 640 KB Ram 5MB available on hard drive DOS 3.1 or later Video monitor (Color EGA/VGA recommended) HP Laserjet Model 3,4L,4, Epson ActionLaser 1500 or other PCL5/PCL5e laser. (Must emulate a HP III or above 100%) A complex page printed with an XT type computer may take several minutes to generate the PCL code; on a AT class, such as a 386-33, just a few seconds (depending on page design.) You need a PCL5 laser printer such as the Hewlett Packard Laserjet model 3, 4L, 4, Epson AL 1100, 1500, 1600 or a true PCL5 clone to use the internal scalable fonts within those printers. Limited font cartridge and Hewlett Packard Type Director scalable soft font support is provided for users with a Laserjet IIP/IID, Epson AL1000 or true PCL4 clone who are using a supported cartridge or Type Director soft fonts. ECPage Design & Print is not a Microsoft 'Windows 3.x' program, but may be run in 'Windows' as an exclusive full screen text program. A mouse is not needed. Reserve [CTRL]+[ESC] shortcut keys. Program filename is EPAGE.BAT and the startup directory should be \ECPAGE. Needs maximum available conventional memory (640 desirable), but no expanded/extended. Window title is ECPage then browse/select a ICON as desired, such as the blank page icon. A sample ECPAGE.PIF is included for Windows 3.1 P3 INSTALLATION Installation of files to a \ECPAGE directory is recommended, but not a requirement. All the files from the program's self-extracting archive file, ECPARC.EXE should be installed in the same directory, \ECPAGE (then type: ECPARC to extract files). Your CONFIG.SYS should have a FILES=30 or greater. ECPage is started by typing the command EPAGE while in the \ECPAGE directory. You should have at least 512K or more of free memory available after loading DOS. After installing the program and starting it, go to the menu choice 'Install LJ Printer' and select your model of Laserjet. Answer [Y]es to creating a default font file. Need help? Pressing the [F1] key at any point provides a pop-up help reference screen. Make sure you install the actual printer driver you will be using. Installing fonts for a LJ4 will not print them out properly on a LJ3. If you are using a PCL5 clone select the model HP which your printer emulates directly. UPGRADING If you are upgrading from an earlier version of ECPAGE, see the file: UPGRADE.DOC. Your earlier version designs can be transferred into ECPage Version 3.14. MENU SUMMARY HINT: As you go through the program, press [F1] for specific help in each area of the program. This will help you get started as easily as possible. The main menu contains these choices: Page layouts ------------ This is where you create page designs, edit existing designs or delete them. This is the main area of the program. P4 Print The Page -------------- This is where you will print the design to paper or to a disk file. Here you can specify landscape or portrait mode. Scalable Font Utility --------------------- This is where you create a font ID# in a typeface and point size you specify. You can also print a list of your current font set. Generally, fonts are the internal laser printers internal scalable fonts, although soft font support is available. Install LJ Printer ------------------ Here you install the printer driver for the printer you will be using. Font File Maintenance --------------------- Here you can view, edit the set-up string of a font or delete an un-needed font ID#. Copy A Page Design ------------------ Here you can copy an existing page design to a new file. You specify which file to copy or select it from a scrolling table, then specify a new name for the copy. Exit Program ------------ Exit the program to DOS. Also, pressing [F4] beings up the screen for setting basic defaults. P5 ABOUT THE FONTS This program contains NO fonts. They are internal in scalable form within your laser printer. The program just contains character width data for those scalable proportional fonts. 'TrueType' or 'Postscript' fonts are not currently supported, nor are .PCX files. When you create a form (page) you should decide which fonts and point sizes you will use prior to page layout. In the menu choice 'Scalable Font Utility' you then create them, actually you are creating a character width file for those fonts. Each font used will have a unique ID number that you specify that will reference that particular type face and point size font. When you want to use that font you just specify that ID number. When the page is printed that font will be used. Un-needed font ID's may be deleted in the menu choice 'Font Maintenance'. You may create as many font ID's in as many styles and sizes as you need in the 'Scalable Font Utility'. Point sizes may be used from 1 to 99.75 points. To verify which font ID#'s you have already created, use 'Font Maintenance'. In 'Font Maintenance' you can also delete un-needed ID's. While you can select to view or edit a font ID#'s set-up string, normally you would have no reason to. New font ID#'s are created in 'Scalable Font Utility, not in 'Font Maintenance'. During printer driver installation you can create a brief set of default font ID's for use. These font ID's can be deleted as desired. A printer driver can be re-installed as often desired to re-create a starting set of font ID#'s. Normally you would install fonts for another printer only if you want to print the same form design on more than 1 model of printer. If you just work with a LJ4L, you would not have any reason to install a LJ3 or another default set of fonts. P6 NOTE: If you make changes to the font selection file, ie, you add a soft font, change a symbol set, etc, they will be lost when you re-install a new 'Default' set of fonts. However, you can save these new fonts to the default font file by pressing [F10] on the Fonts Maintenance selection table. Then specify if for LJ2 or LJ3/LJ4L/L4 default font set. At the 'Scalable Font Utility' screen you can press [F2] or [F3] to print out a font ID# listing of available fonts. [F2] prints out the list using the listed font, [F3] uses a fixed pitch as larger size fonts will not print out properly within the [F2] report spacing. You may want to record a page/form title on the report for future reference, should you need to rebuild a font selection file for that page/form. Press [F5] for a table view of currently available font ID#s'. The 'Main Menu' option [F4] 'Defaults' will allow you to specify which Symbol Set should be the default one used when creating 'Scalable' font ID's to use in ECPage. To create an ID# for a new scalable font size go to the 'Scalable Font Utility' screen and enter the new ID# to reference it - keep it unique. Then select the font typeface family from the scrolling table of available choices for your printer. Finally enter a point size. Then press [ENTER] to create the font ID# entry. If it is a duplicate ID# a message will so notify you - repeat the procedure with a new ID# - you may press [F5] to verify existing font ID numbers. FOR LJ2 USERS ONLY If you are creating a scalable 'Type Director' font ID#, make sure you create exactly the same font with 'Type Director' and download it prior to use. Remember, with soft fonts every time you turn on the printer you will have to download the soft fonts again. Also consider that larger font sizes require a great deal of printer memory. The starting set of font ID#'s created during 'Install LJ Printer' are available in Pacific Data Products '25 in 1' CF-120 cartridge. Many are also available in HP's Times/Helv Z1A & S2 cartridge. If they are not available in your cartridge don't use them - default fixed pitch printing will result. Justification problems may also result if other font cartridges are used. The font's name may be the same but it's character width may well vary - creating spacing problems. P7 If you are using a LJ3 or 4 but want to use some of the decorative 'Type Director' scalable soft fonts - install a LJ2 but do not 'Create a Default Set of Fonts'. Use the 'Scalable Font Utility' to create the 'Type Director' soft font ID's you need. Then re-install your normal printer and answer 'NO' to 'Create a default set of fonts?' Use the 'Scalable Font Utility' to create any additional LJ3/4 fonts you will need. A word of caution, deleting font ID's that have been used in a text line in a page design will result in default fixed pitch printing and lack of justification for that line, if the page is printed later. This will also occur if you try to use a font that is not available within your printer. Once printed to disk successfully, the PCL5 Internal scalable font information is contained within the PCL file, so later font ID changes in ECPage will have no effect on copying the diskfile for printout to a valid printer (unless you reprint the page from within the program - the proper font ID's must be used when printing or reprinting with ECPage to either paper or a diskfile for PCL code generation). Printing, including to disk file, must be done with a printer driver installed (in 'Install LJ Printer') that is valid for the page fonts used; printing on a LJ3 when you have used LJ4L fonts will result in default fixed pitch printing. For example, printing a form that used an ALBERTUS font (in the LJ4) on a LJ3 will result in fixed pitch printing - with incorrect text justification - since that font is not in the LJ3. Fonts that are available in the LJ3 AND LJ4 can be used interchangeably - such as CG Times or Univers. If you are using a Laserjet II P/D with cartridge or soft fonts, those fonts must be available within the printer when printing; soft fonts must have been downloaded before printing either from ECPage or by reprinting the diskfile. ENHANCEMENTS In addition to text with proportional fonts, lines - both horizontal and vertical - and boxes may be used. These require a LJ IIP/D or better printer. P8 Line widths are specified in dots (1/300"), from 1 - 99 dots, 5 is a average width line, 1 is very fine, 15 is fairly heavy. Boxes may also be used, with a plain or shadow (shaded) border, with a specified border width. The boxes may be filled with various percentages of gray scale or patterns. Text, boxes and lines may overlap as desired. As with text, boxes and lines may be positioned in whole or whole and hundredth's of a row and column, inch or cm, according to your 'Defaults' setting. PAGE STORAGE Pages are stored under a page title. When prompted to enter the page title - either enter the page title or simply press [Enter], which will pop-up a scrolling selection table - select the desired page from the table by placing the high-light bar on it and press [Enter]. The high-light bar is moved with the up and down cursor arrows and/or [PgUp] [PgDn] keys. The table lists the page title, creation date and the 'Owner' of the page. To EDIT a page, you select it from the scrolling table of stored page titles. To ADD a new page, press [Ins] at the scrolling table. When you create a new page title you specify a name with up to 12 alpha-numeric characters. The 'Owner' (author) of the stored page is also entered. Once a new page title has been entered you may select it with the high-light bar for editing. To DELETE a page title, place the high-light bar on it and press [DELETE], then confirm the delete as prompted. You may also COPY a page design from a Main Menu selection. PAGE LAYOUT ELEMENTS The basic steps involved in laying out a page are quite simple. You need to envision the page as rows and columns and plan on placing the page elements at the desired row and column. For this program there are a standard 6 rows and 10 columns to the inch (if you are using the Row & Col layout option. For accurate positioning you can specify the rows and column positions to hundredths of a row & column, inch or cm. P9 Text, boxes and lines can overlap if needed. For example, text can be placed within a box. Using a type setting ruler may assist you in laying out complicated forms. You can also select to use inches or metric units (cm) instead of rows and cols. On the 'Main Menu' press [F4] to enter your default choice of layout measurement, RowCol, Inches or Metric (cm). You can change as desired, but note: This only affects how the printer driver prints the design - it does not update the design records to reflect a change of units. If you have a design laid out using rows & cols and have an entry at row 8 - for example - changing the units to [Inches] with [F4] will now print the element at 8" (or 8 cm if you select metric units) instead of at row 8. It's up to you to make the needed changes to reflect the change from Row & Col to the corresponding inch or cm position. Pick the method you are most comfortable with and stick with it. To work on a page design, select the main menu choice 'Page Layouts'. You will be then prompted to enter the page title - do so if has already been created, or just press [ENTER] to bring up a selection table. Place the high-light bar on the specific page title and press [ENTER] to select it. A page may be deleted by placing the high-light bar on it and then pressing [DELETE], then confirm the delete as prompted. To add a new page to layout press [INS]. You will be asked to supply a page title and page owner's name. You can then select this page title for layout. On the 'Page Layout Screen' each line entry reflects what type entry it is, these entries are in Row/Col order. To create a new entry (page element) press [INS]. To view/edit an existing entry, place the high-light bar on the entry and press [ENTER]. To delete an entry, place the high-light bar on the item and press [DELETE], then confirm the delete as prompted. When you press [INS] to add a new entry, a pop up screen will ask you what type of entry is desired. Select either a [T]ext, [S]hadow Box, [B]ox, [H]orizontal line or [V]ertical line. A form specific for the entry will pop up, asking for row & col position, as well as other entry specific information. P10 To quit a layout, press [ESC] to exit out to the main menu. Select 'Page Layouts' again to work on the same or another page layout. TEXT Text may be positioned in right, left or center justification as desired. You may position the text line in whole, ie 2,4 etc, rows or columns, inches or cm's or in whole and hundredth's of a row or column, inch or cm, ie 2.15, 4.25 etc. This permits very precise text positioning. Upto 200 alpha-numeric characters can be used on one line. How much of that line that prints out will be dependent on point size and page orientation, either portrait or landscape can be used. A small point size, such as 6, will permit many characters on a line; a large font, such as 36 points, will print far fewer characters per line. At the 'Page Layout Screen' pressing [INS] for a new page element entry will pop up the 'Entry Type' form. Select [T] for a text line. A second pop up form will prompt you for specifics, text line (upto 200 characters depending on point size), row and column placement, type of justification (R C L) and font ID. If you need to create a new font ID for a new font, just press [F2] to jump directly to 'Scalable Font Utility'. Be careful not to specify a justification that will run the text line off the page. At Column 80, for example, you can print a text line using [R]ight justification. [C]enter or [L]eft justification would run it off the page. To use the scalable proportional fonts in your Laserjet, you need to plan which fonts you want to use and create them in the 'Scalable Font Utility'. Assign each font a unique ID# and then reference that ID# when you want to use that font in a text line. As noted above, during entry of a [T]ext line, you can press [F2] to go directly to the 'Scalable Font Utility' to create a new font ID line. BOXES Boxes can be plain bordered or with a 'Shadow' on them for a '3D' appearance. The width of the box border line can be specified from 1-98 'Dots' (1/300th"). The width of the shadow is related to the width of the box border. P11 If you create a 'Border' box AND use a line width of '99', then NO border will be printed around the box, it will just be your fill pattern. This does not apply to the 'Shadow Box' style. At the 'Page Layout Screen' pressing [INS] for a new page element entry will pop up the 'Entry Type' form. Select either [B] for a plain border box or [S] for a shadowed box. A second pop up form will prompt you for specifics, starting row & col, box length (across from the starting column), fill pattern and box height (down from the starting row), and width of the border line from 1-99 dots (1/300'). Boxes can be filled with various percentages of gray scale or line patterns. A special pattern selection, 'CB' creates a scalable square 'Check-Off' box. Boxes, other than a 'CB' pattern box, extend DOWN from the starting row position and RIGHT from a starting column position. Boxes may overlap other page elements; text may be placed in a box, or one box may be placed within another larger box. A 'WF' pattern (white filled) box may be placed within a larger pattern or gray scaled box to create a interior white area. White filled boxes do not have a border/shadow - they are blank areas. To create a box, either bordered or shadowed, without any pattern, select 'NONE' as the fill pattern. CHECK-OFF BOXES A 'CB' (Check-Off Box) pattern box is square and unlike the normal box, it extends up from the starting row position so as to match a text line that may be placed next to it. A CB may be sized to fit the font point size. A 'CB' box sized 1 row by 1 column will be fine for text upto 12 points in size, it could be .5 row by .5 column for a smaller point size, such as 4 or 6 points. Larger fonts may need a larger CB, such as 2 rows by 2 columns for text fonts in 14 to 18 points. P12 LINES Lines can be placed horizontally or vertically, depending on need. The width of the line can be specified in dots (1/300"). Lines may intersect boxes or text as desired. As with boxes, lines extend down (vertical lines) from the specified starting row. The lines length or height (down) is specified in rows and columns, inches or cm. At the 'Page Layout Screen' pressing [INS] for a new page element entry will pop up the 'Entry Type' form. Select either [H] for a horizontal line or [V] for a vertical line. A second pop up form will prompt you for specifics, starting row & col, line length (across from the starting column) or height (down from the starting row), and width of the line from 1-99 dots (1/300'). ENTRY COMMENTS And LISTING REPORT On any entry form (Text, Line, Box etc,) you can press [F7] to enter a brief comment as to what this entry is for. If you press [F3] to print a listing of elements, this comment will be listed there. If you later EDIT this form and it's comment, by pressing [F7], remember to continue going thru the form and finally 'Press [Enter] to save. HINT: Pressing [CTRL] + [ENTER] will jump over all the fields and exit, SAVING the form. Pressing [CTRL] + [ESC] will always back out without saving the form or changes you made this edit. GENERAL PAGE LAYOUT All the page design elements can be positioned within hundredth's of a row and column, inch or cm. Elements can be positioned over each other for complex page designs. Look at the sample page 'SAMPLE' that is included. It contains examples of each layout element. Delete it when you are finished with it. Note that laying out a design that includes elements that extend beyond the printable area will not print correctly. If part of an element extends beyond, that part may not print. Some justification problems can occur if a text string is too large (either in length or point size) for a specified point. P13 MOVING/COPYING ELEMENTS You can either move a single element or a group of elements. Notice that each element has a Reference Point. Edit the element(s) and change the Rp (Reference Point) to a 'B' for example, leaving the others as 'A'. HINT: Some elements may be better grouped together with the same 'RP'. This will enable them to be moved or copied as a group. Next, press [F9] and enter the desired Rp to process, for example B. This will enable all type B reference points to be processed. The actual shift amount will be based on what your default 'Units' setting is, Rows & Cols, Inches or Cm's. You can now specify how many 'Units' you wish to move the specified Rp's. You can specify either a Row shift, a Col shift or both. To shift in the opposite direction, after you enter the desired shift amount then use the '-' minus key rather than [Enter] to complete that field. (The amount will now show a trailing minus sign. When you press [Enter] to complete the process all the desired Rp's will be shifted one or both directions. This may be repeated as often as needed. To COPY existing elements, it's basically the same procedure, with this exception, use a '+' plus sign as the Rp on the desired element(s) you want to copy. Now when you press [F9] to move, enter '+' as the desired Rp to process. If you also enter a optional Row & Col value (+/-) the copied elements will be shifted from the current position to that position. The newly created elements will have a Rp of 'Z' to identify them. You can later change this as desired. The original '+' Rp will not be changed, so you can repeat the process over and over. In this way you can quickly populate a form with many similar elements - just use new positions for each copy operation. You can change the '+' Rp's back to their original or any other letter. Start out designing a simple page and work on toward more complex designs; help, if needed is just a [F1] keystroke away. P14 PRINTING WITH ECPage These printing instructions assume that your printer is using the factory defaults for the control panel settings. However, set the control panel to 'Legal' or A4 for printing on those size forms. To print, select the menu choice 'Print The Page'. You will be prompted for a page title, as if you were going to 'Page Layout'. Either enter a page title or press [Enter] to pop up a scrolling selection table. At the 'Print Set-up' screen press [F10] only if you need to change the page orientation to 'Landscape' from the default 'Portrait'. Then select either printer or diskfile output, press [Enter]. If you selected a diskfile you will be prompted for a file name. The default is 'Pageprnt', type over it with any desired file name. The extension is fixed at .ECD for diskfiles and .ECM for 'Macro' files. Select 'M' if this will be for a 'Macro' file or 'D' for a diskfile. A 'Macro' type file does not have a form feed at the end of it and contains PCL commands to use it as a MACRO. See end of manual for MACRO information. Press [Enter] to continue. If you selected printer (PRTR) output you will be prompted for a printer port, LPT1 is the default - if another is desired (LPT2, LPT3, COM1 or COM2) - toggle to that selection. Make sure any selected printer is ready and loaded with paper. Press [Enter] to continue. You will now enter the number of copies desired - enter from 1-99. On a slower XT class system, a complex page may take a few minutes to print - be patient, take a break while it generates the code. P15 PRINTING DISKFILES To print out a saved diskfile, just COPY it to your printer, using the /B (Binary) switch, for example: COPY /B YOURPAGE.ECD LPT1: If needed, specify the full path, for example: COPY /B C:\ECPAGE\YOURPAGE.ECD LPT1: If you created the page using LJ4L fonts, printing on a LJ3 or LJ2 will result in fixed pitch with improper text justification. However, if the fonts are available in both printers this limitation does not apply. The common fonts to both (LJ3 & LJ4L/4) would be UNIVERS and CG TIMES. HINT: You may want to print (store) all your forms on disk and print them out later as desired, perhaps as a Laserjet macro or called from a batch file or program. Printing to disk allows this option. A 'Macro' type diskfile does not have a form feed in it so it will not work as well for printing directly from disk. NOTE: The diskfiles, once created, print very quickly no matter what type computer you are using. If you elect to print a MACRO diskfile, you will be prompted to enter a MACRO ID# and whether or not to leave it enabled. The macro created is ready to use. Just COPY /b it to your printer and every text page will be 'Overlaid' with the macro. P16 ADVANCED PRINTING HINTS If you should ever need to, specific PCL codes can be sent to the printer as part of your page layout by placing them at a row 0, column 0 position and entering them in a text line. Make sure they are the first page element in the table. The font ID and justification can be anything -it does not affect the PCL command you entered. The character for the PCL codes is entered by holding the [ALT] key down and entering, on the right hand numeric keypad: 027 (zero two seven). For example the PCL code for 5 copies is: (Substitute any number between 1 and 99 for the 5) &l5X If the code prints out on paper you did not enter it correctly - verify letter case. Your printer manual will contain a listing of these PCL codes, but unless you are an advanced user you should not use them freely. They have to be used in proper sequence and entered in an exact format for proper results. PRINTING PROBLEMS & LAYOUT HINTS Probably the most common problem is using a font not available within a printer - text will be in a default fixed pitch style with improper justification. A 300 DPI setting is also recommended. Placing text near a page edge and using a justification that forces the text off the page will result in missing text. Printing with too large a font (point size) may not allow all of a desired text line to print out - reprint after selecting a smaller point size. If you have specified a font but it does not print out and you know the font is available within the printer, check that the symbol set is valid for that font. This is especially true for soft and cartridge fonts. Do a font printout with the softfonts downloaded and any cartridge installed to verify which symbol set is used. You could then, in FONT MAINTENANCE' change that font ID# symbol set to the correct one, ie, from (8U to (10U or ???. P17 Placing a vertical line at COL 80 for example, will not show up as it will extend past the right margin by the width of the line. Use 79.99 in this case or as needed, depending on line width. With soft fonts, if you exceeded your printer's memory, a font may not actually be available in the printer and fixed pitch printing will occur for that font. Right justified alignments of a row of numbers may appear 'off' slightly if several font styles or point sizes are used within the column of numbers - stick to one style & size for best alignment. If you are laying out a vertical text string, as in the 'SAMPLE' page, notice that thin letters, such as the letter 'I' have been offset slightly to the right, by .25 column, from the other wider letters. This is because thin letters will not line up centered below wider letters, they will be flush left. Slightly offsetting them to the right gives a better appearance. Good looking pages will have lots of 'White Space' and just a few font styles on a page. Forms are usually more complex, but try to keep them easily readable. Refer to books on Desktop Publishing for design tips. Review the 'Sample' page layout for information, then delete it if desired. If you are using extended characters (above 126), CGTimes may give *Slightly* better right justification. MEMORY ISSUES ECPage needs at least 512K to run normally. V3.14 can swap files to disk if memory is too low to run all options. If you have extended memory available, but are low on conventional memory you can create a 750 - 1MB ram disk and have the swap file placed on the ram disk - much faster than to a fixed disk. To enable this option you need a SET= command in EPAGE.BAT to point to the ram disk. The command is: SET CLATMP=[Drive:\] Example: SET CLATMP=E:\ P18 This is assuming you have a ram disk set up and it is labeled by DOS as E. Change drive letter as needed. Note EPAGE.BAT has this command in it, just REM'ed out. To use it, remove the REM's and set up the proper RAM DISK. BACKING UP YOUR FILES All your data files have an extension of .DAT and the related key files have an extension of .K01 or .K02. Either back up all the files within the \ECPage directory, recommended, or just back up the *.DAT and *.K0? files in \ECPage. NETBIOS PRINT SPOOLERS On networks using NETBIOS (Not NOVELL) you can send a call to INT2A to force the spooler to start printing if you select YES for NETBIOS SPOOLER in the ECPage Defaults (press [F4] on the 'Main Menu' screen.) Without this option, the spooler won't start until it times out or you exit ECPage to DOS. For NOVELL always use a form of CAPTURE L=1 P=0 NFF NB TI=5 (Use whatever is equivalent in your Netware version, with the correct P=0 parameter). Note that ECPage is not a multi-user program. USING THE MACRO DISKFILE PRINT OPTION (BEFORE STARTING NOTE: Use care to enter these PCL commands correctly, using the same upper/lower case ; all these PCL commands will end with a UPPER CASE letter. As with a normal diskfile, the specified fonts MUST be available within the target printer. Do not mix orientations, use PORTRAIT with PORTRAIT, or LANDSCAPE with LANDSCAPE, NOT PORTRAIT and LANDSCAPE) A special note is in order about the creation and use of the 'Macro' diskfile printing option in ECPage. P19 MACRO are handled very much like soft fonts, they are downloaded to the printer and specified with an ID#, followed by a termination command specifying 'Temporary or Permanent' status. When a MACRO is loaded onto your laser printer (do so by using the COPY /B command, as in COPY /B PAGEPRNT.ECM PRN: ) EVERY page subsequently printed will be 'Overlaid' by the macro's page format. This will continue until you power off the printer, you or your software sends a RESET (E), a MACRO disable (&f5X) command or you do a hard RESET. You could have hundreds of MACRO OVERLAY forms loaded onto your laser printer - basically limited by available printer memory, enabling them as desired and then disabling them until needed again. Macros can be one of the most useful and exciting features of your laser printer. You can have a form design active as a MACRO OVERLAY and use your data-base application's report to print under it, filling in the blanks on the MACRO OVERLAY form, then disable it and enable another MACRO OVERLAY and fill it in, etc. As created by ECPage V3.14, a MACRO diskfile will be generated that includes the commands to enable it (if that is specified). Therefore, you just need to COPY /B it to your printer to use it AS IS (if you'll just have one loaded at a time). PROBLEM: some programs will reset the printer before beginning their print jobs. This will disable the macro overlay. To use it, you will have to re-enable it at the start of the print job. Do so by sending the printer a control command to enable the MACRO through your program - by whatever method is provided. If you have created a Macro file in ECPage with an ID# of 1 for example, enable the MACRO OVERLAY with: &f1y4X by sending this as a printer command from within your application. This is especially true for Windows applications. (For Windows, you may need to use the generic text driver.) For example, in Q&A Write the command is *PRINTER \027&f1y4X* Here is entered as \027. P20 If you are going to be using more than 1 MACRO OVERLAY on your printer at a time, ie, YOURFIL1.ECM, YOURFIL2.ECM, etc. assign unique ID#'s when they are 'Printed' with ECPage. They should be created as 'Disabled' so that each can be 'Enabled' by ID# from within your other application (word processor or data-base, etc) as it is needed ; and Disabled when you are through with it. Use the COPY /B format to load all the macros onto your Laserjet. Now you can use your word processing program or database to enable the desired MACRO by it's ID number, and when done, disable it and enable another if desired. The actual method for sending these printer control commands from within your other application will depend on the specific application. Consult your other programs reference materials on how to use printer control commands. Normally you create by holding down ALT and entering 027 (zero-two-seven) on the NUMERIC keypad. If you are using MS-DOS's 'Editor' you will have to first press CTRL+P then create the character with ALT 027. The two printer control commands you are going to need are these: The command to enable MACRO OVERLAY 1 (ID# 1) is: &f1y4X The command to disable the last enabled MACRO is: &f5X This assumes that the MACRO ID# is number 1. Change the 1 to whatever the MACRO ID# is for the desired MACRO. Once you have gotten used to using MACRO OVERLAYS you will find more and more uses for them. Your printer manual may have some further information on using MACRO OVERLAYS or you can consult the HP PCL5 Technical Reference Manual. P21 COMMAND LINE OPTIONS ECPage is started from the batch file EPAGE.BAT, the actual executable program is ECP.EXE. There are several options that can be used to start ECP.EXE. You may edit EPAGE.BAT to modify these options if needed. V=0 is a video timeout feature. '0' represents the number of minutes before the screen blanks out (pressing any key restores it). '0' is a default for no blankout. V=10 would blank out the screen after 10 minutes of no activity, V=30 would be 30 minutes, etc. /B=NO or /B=YES disables or enables keyboard error beeps /E if using an 'Enhanced' Keyboard /C disables [Control][Break] exit from the program /F Enables fast video, may cause 'Snow' on early CGA's /L=NO or /L=YES disables or enables keyboard locks (Running in Desqview Window may require /L=NO and /B=NO) The batch file, EPAGE.BAT, may be edited as needed with these options. As shipped EPAGE.BAT will work fine in almost all circumstances. ERROR MESSAGES Error messages are usually self explanatory. Make a note of them and also find an error created log file in \ECPAGE called CLARION.DMP. If you can't determine the cause of a problem, contact me by Compuserve Mail (70062,431), or regular mail, with the error message, the CLARION.DMP file and information as to what you were trying to do with the program at the time. I'll check out the problem. It has been the norm that most error messages are related to hardware problems, lack of disk space, memory errors, etc. CONCLUSION If you got this far you're ready to begin - have some fun trying out these features and creating pages on your Laserjet. Start off simple then work your way up to complex designs - there is no real limit to the number of elements you can have on a page. P22 REGISTRATION If you find this program useful please register it today, the fee is nominal and will support further enhancements as they develop. As a registered user you can upgrade at no added cost and can receive support if it should be needed. The registered version supports many more font styles - use bold or bold-italic, for example. The registered version will also include ECData, a companion program that uses your ECPage created MACRO files and downloads them to your printer. It also has a 15 field database that allows you to 'Fill In' your print-outs. If, for example, you wanted to print out some package labels, each addressed to a different party, ECData could handle it. ECData can import data from your existing database in Comma Delimited ASCII, DIF or dBase II/III format. Also included with the registered version is a utility to change how characters are sorted and lower/upper case translations are handled. This optional utility can be useful to international users who use extended characters in their language. The registered version also includes a set of 6 Helvetica soft-fonts, a download utility and a new LJ2 driver to use them. This option is for users with a LJ II without the cartridge support available in the standard LJ2 driver. It is expected that un-registered versions will either be registered or removed use after an evaluation period. Continued un-registered use is not allowed. See REGISTER.DOC, included with the program files, for registration information. When you register a password will be sent which will convert this 'Shareware' version to a 'Registered' single user version. Low cost site and enterprise wide licenses are available. It is asked that you maintain the password in a confidential manner. Upgrades will use the same password unless it has been abused. The program, ECPage, and it's related materials are (C) copyright protected. Unauthorized distribution of the registered user version or registration password is prohibited. (C) Copyright 1993, 1994 David R. Erickson, Fairbanks, Alaska, All Rights Reserved - World Wide. The ownership of all Trademarks, including those of Hewlett Packard, Microsoft, Epson and IBM is hereby acknowledged. P23 WARRANTY Limited warranty terms are in the file, WARRANTY.DOC. LICENSE License terms are in the file, LICENSE.DOC David Erickson, P.O. Box 82910, College, Alaska 99708-2910 Compuserve ID 70062,431 Internet 70062.431@compuserve.com Revised November, 1994 For V3.14 ECPage and ECData are Trademarks Of Erickson Consulting. P24 INDEX LISTING Backups 19 Registration 23 Boxes, PCL 11,12 Support, Tech 22 Boxes, Check-Off 12 Symbol Sets 7 Boxes, Fill Pattern 12 Text Elements 11 Command Line Options 22 Text, Vertical 18 Comments, Element 13 Upgrades 4 Copy Elements 14 Warranty 24 Diskfiles 16 Windows 3.1 3 Error Messages 22 Fonts, Generally 4, 16 Fonts, Cartridge 7 Fonts, ID Number 6, 8 Fonts, LJ2 Fonts 7 Fonts, Point Sizes 6 Fonts, Saving Default Set 7 Fonts, Scalable 5, 7 Fonts, Type Director 8 Hardware Requirements 3 Installation 4 Layouts, Page 10, 13 License 24 Lines, PCL 13 Listing Report 13 Macros, LaserJet 2, 15, 19, 20, 21 Memory Usage 18, 19 Moving Elements 14 Network, Netbios Printing 19 NEW changes to ECPage 26 Pages, New/Delete/Edit 9, 10 PCL, Code 2 PCL, File 8 Printers, Selection 6, 8 Printing, Diskfiles 16 Printing, Hints 17 Printing, Landscape 15 Printing, Output Selection 15 Printing, Prob. 17, 18, 20 P25 New Changes To Version 3.14A SETTING BASIC DEFAULTS You set some basic system defaults by pressing [F4] on the 'Main Menu' screen. These are as follows: 1) Set Units, here you specify if you desire the layouts to be in RowCol, Inches or Metric CM. Note that this setting determines how the row & col positions in your designs are printed. An element could be at Row 8, 8 Inches or 8 CM depending on this setting. 2) Set Default Symbol Set: Here you can specify the desired symbol set to be specified when generating scalable character widths. These need to be available within your printer or the results may be printing in a fixed pitch or other than specified font. 3) Use NetBios Spooler: In some network situations, printing will not begin until the spooler 'Times Out' or you exit the program. Setting this to YES will send a call to the spooler to start it at the end of a print job. For NOVELL you should use CAPTURE L=1 and do your printing to LPT1. With Novell you set this to NO. 4) Use a CR/LF in PCL CODE: The normal diskfiles contain PCL code without any delimiters between elements, so in effect you have one large string. This makes viewing the code difficult and may cause problems in some situations. Setting this field to YES will place a CR/LF at the end of each element. This may cause an extra form feed after a print operation. USING THE QWIK MODE On the 'Page Layout Elements' screen you can press [F6] to toggle between normal edit mode and Qwik Mode. Normal edit mode brings up the full entry form for each element, when you press [ENTER] to edit a element. If you toggle [F6] to QWIK MODE, a brief form is used instead, just permitting changes to the RP field. This is most useful when tagging elements to be moved or copied. Note also, the entry field is set for immediate entry, so when you enter a character, the entry is finished and it saves/exits. You do not make the entry and then press [Enter] to complete it. As it's name indicates, it's for QWIK entries. P26