Re: Patricia's template (Was: Re: Xywrite Revealed)

["Robert Holmgren" holmgren@xxxxxxxx]

** Reply to message from "Patricia M. Godfrey"  on Tue, 07
Feb 2006 18:17:54 -0500


>> DF JB=81
>> PG<) s showpage {3-byte_13}%%Page: {3-byte_13} restore save /x 18 def /y
4150 def l (
>> (the preceding were two lines, not three. Compare the A4 instructions in the
>> PRN for an idea of what's going on here. Then insert ordinary formats in
your
>> documents.

> Just let me be SURE I understand this correctly: it's not enough to just
> change the PB code for the particular doc you're printing, you have to
> change the DEFAULT PB command?

Did I mention PB? No: *do not use* PB -- at all, anywhere! Break that habit
(I see it was in Manuel's A4 version of your "template", whatever that is -- I
haven't been following this thread; but he's been messing with this stuff for a
long time, and you haven't). You use JB instead, and yes, it's a DeFault
command: "DF JB=81" for Legal Portrait or "DF JB=142" for Legal Landscape.
Enable these DeFaults in POSTGHST.PRN. (OK, yes, there are circumstances in
which you can use PB; but in general PB is the *wrong* way to go about this,
and leads to heartbreak and hairtearing in the end -- you want to define page
controls for the whole Job, not for individual Pages (don't you? yes, you do!)
-- JB=JobBegin, PB=PageBegin). Think about it: the ORientation command can
only be issued once per document, and it applies to the whole document.
=Landscape. Now, since the XyWrite system default is portrait, and the
PRN default is portrait, to manipulate your doc into a landscape interpretation
on a per page basis is insanity. And because, in *any* event, you MUST have a
different PG< command for Landscape, and therefore you MUST revise and reload
your PRN file, it is no big deal to ALSO enable a JB command in the PRN at the
same time. We're talking two tiny edits here, and a relaunch of XyWrite.
That's the cost of using Landscape + Ghostscript + your no-name el cheapo
Winprinter.

I may continue to refine this PRN over the next day or two. Some of the
graphics coordinates may be off by a digit or three. I.e. the A4 Portrait "y"
coordinate should, I think, be 3466 instead of 3460 (Manuel? see what you
think. "3460" appears in two places). Et cetera.

-----------------------------
Robert Holmgren
holmgren@xxxxxxxx
-----------------------------