curzon@kaoa01.dec.com (Richard Curzon KAO4-3/7A DTN 621-2196) (10/26/87)
This is a little program I have found useful for printing out text,
especially Action! source listings, and saving time & paper. It may be
useful for other text printing jobs too, e.g. sources that are saved to
disk in ATASCII text form. Check the LL.DOC file included below for a
quick rundown.
PRINTER OUTPUT OPTION
Littlelister composes columnar output in memory. It can be used with
any printer, to print any size of input file. I wrote it for my 1027,
but it works even better with my new NX-10 printer. For maximum speed
printing, it can be set to represent "unprintable" bytes with
combinations of printable ones; full graphics ATASCII printing is also
possible using G: (see below).
THE CODE
The UUencoded binary file follows in a separate message. If it doesn't
make it through some gateway in its travels, I will mail a copy direct
on request. For least frustration, use the YAU UUdecoder to decode it.
It seems some of the other decoders might require extra padding
on each line; I used YAUE to encode it. Action! sources also available
on request, due to length I haven't posted them... yet)
(Thanks to JRD: YAU and YAUE are very nice tools; they work fine with
SpartaDOS in both command line and prompt modes.)
(Thanks also to Bruce Langdon, for the ideas in his PRINT.ACT program
posted to Usenet some time ago)
-----------------------LL.DOC-------------------------------------
LittleLister 2 features:
------------------------
INPUT: file formatted in a single
column, or unformatted.
OUTPUT: formatted in n columns,
[ 0 < n < 256 ] with
several options.
Use with any DOS:
-----------------
With a command line DOS such as
SpartaDOS or DOS XL, type
LL [input [output]]
Used with this command line, LL
starts without presenting a menu; the
variable settings last SAVED will be
in effect. File specifications may
be used for input/output, and the
"D:" prefix is assumed by default.
Output defaults to "P:" (printer).
"LL" alone will bring up the menu.
With other DOS's, just load LL
like any other binary file, and work
from the menu.
Variables include:
------------------
*input file
*output device (default = P:)
*starting page number (default = 1)
page pause
output options
ASCII
(^ prefixes control characters;
@ prefixes inverse characters;
few special chars output in hex)
HEX
(all bytes represented in HEX -
e.g. $FF)
ATASCII
(no transformation of bytes from
input file)
output width
output page length
number of columns
column width
margin between columns
filler lines at top and bottom
* - not included in variables SAVED
by menu choice 'S'
Other features:
---------------
-you can save special configurations
of LL.COM, by using 'S' option
and copying to a different *.COM
filename
-outputs page header with filename,
and page number (if you select
at least 4 filler lines before
the first text line)
-allows any single column file to be
produced in multiple columns:
program listings, database output,
utility output, etc.
-chops off blanks at the end of each
text line (useful for trimming
Action! source code)
-produces output to any device (but
page pause is disabled when output
is to disk file)
-try ATASCII output to G: device,
the graphics printer utility for
Epson/Star & compatibles released
by Analog in October 1985 issue -
very nice ATASCII output.
-Action! programmers may output HEX
to disk to transform binary files
(character sets, code blocks) to
blocks for the Action! compiler.
Version 2 notes:
----------------
- added HEX output
- compiled high enough to allow use
of the G: device by CF Johnson, for
pretty graphic ATASCII output.