VII. DYNAMIC PRINTER CONTROLS
There are nine characters (Greek letters) affecting the operation of the printer. These characters are not printed along with the text although, they are displayed on your screen as they are entered. These characters are also not marked on the keyboard. They can be entered by holding down the GRAPHIC Key and striking a number from 1 to
9
or by striking CTRL "P", followed by a number from 1 to 8.Rho Formfeed
The form feed character ejects the page being printed and starts a new page. It works with continuious form printers, tractor fed printers and those with automatic page insertion. The formfeed character is typically used on pages with less than the normal number of lines. It tabs down the page until it reaches the normal end of page. The CRs PAGE END option in the Y Table will complete the process. These commands insert the appropriate number of line feeds, and should work with any printer.
2. Sigma Vertical Tab
The vertical tab character tabs back up to the top of the page. This feature is used for two column pr~nting and overlays. For example, on the first pass a form is printed and on the second pass the form is filled out.
3.
Tau Downshift4.
Tau is a downshift character causing the printed line to be shifted downward a fraction of a line. It is used to print subscript characters slightly above the normal printed line.
Nu Upshift
The upshift character causes the printing head to move up a fraction of a space for printing superscript. Although, both up and downshift characters require a space on the screen, a space or character is not printed. These characters must be used together, and only the character between them will be printed above or below the line. The first character indicates the direction of the printhead.
Word Processor will automatically change the direction indicated if the line is being printed backward.
VII. Dynamic Printer Controls Page 42
5.
Phi ReformatThis character permits the adjustment of the Y Table during printing. Subsequent printing is performed with the new Y Table settings, until the printer encounters another Phi character or you enter the Y Table and make adjustments. This command must be placed on a separate line by itself. Figure
3,
shows the Phi command format.Phi aa bb cc dd ee ff gg hh ii aa
=
lines per pagebb
=
return at page end cc=
title at top of page dd=
indentationee
=
between line spacing ff=
right justification ee=
line widthff
=
line spacegg
=
character space hh=
special character ii=
proportional typeFigure
3,
Phi Command FormatAll entries on the command line must be followed by a space.
If a vaFiable is not being changed, then a single slash (/) can be entered in its place. The execution of Phi command can be terminated at any time by entering a carriage return. If adjustments are not going to be made after the dd location on the command line, you may just enter a carriage return after the dd entry. This is the short version of Phi command and it can save you a lot of time.
The Phi command actually replaces the Y Table printing options with others that suit your purpose for the time they are in operation. This feature has many applications, a few are listed here.
Saving print parameters. If you change the Y Table manually, you must record the values by hand and save them
some~lace for reference, so you can reproduce the desired
VII. Dynamic Printer Controls Page 43
results at some other time. If you entered the Y Table settings in the Phi command format on the first line of your file, the information would be saved, and it would also set the Y Table before beginning to print.
Two column printing. In addition to the vertical tab, two column printing requires the indentation to be changed on the second column.
Imbedded tabular printing. Tables can not be printed with proportional spacing because the columns will not line up.
Therefore, you must shift out of the proportional mode before printing a table.
Headings. Headings and subheadings can be set off from other text by changing the character spacing.
Set off material. Typed copy often has a paragraph of indented and single spaced text imbedded in the body of double spaced text. This type of printing can be accomplished using Word Processor, by dynamically changing the indentation and the between line spacing. Indenting the right margin is accomplished by simultaneously altering the identation while in the EDIT mode, and the printing identation using the Phi commands.
6. Chi Merge Character
The merge character designates a place in the text where sequential items on a list are going to be merged each time the text is printed. For example, this character is used to print a form letter, with different names and addresses. In such cases, Chi is followed by a single digit, makingi t possible to merge items from as many as 10 lists, into any number of locations in text. In all cases, the existing text is automatically realigned to fit around the item being merged.
7.
Psi Line TweakerNormally, Word Processor prints lines just as they appear on the screen. However, the screen is not proportionally spaced like the printed lines are, and some lines with large numbers of w's or i's may not look correct on paper.
The line tweaker character appears at the end of a line on the screen, if the line has less than half a lines width of characters. The line tweaker appen1s the short line to the preceding line when they are printed. If the line has more than half a lines width of characters, it is followed by a carriage return and is printed as.
VII. Dynamic Printer Controls Page
44
8. Omega
i Macro Delimiter.
9·
This character designates merged with text. It is character. It prevents the character in the text.
Capital Omega Mark
the beginning of a list to be typically used as a search printer from going beyond this
The mark character is the one you can only enter using the GRAPHIC key. It has a dynamic effect on the printer as well as other operations. The mark terminates printing, whether or not the entire page has been printed. It is entered by holding down the GRAPHIC Key and striking