Changing default units in v4+ [was Re: Lifetime of magical moments/NBwin vs. XyDos 4 conversion problems]

[cld@xxxxxxxx (Carl Distefano)]

Lisa:

Xy 3.55 is a great editor -- a classic -- but it's really
too bad that something as simple as changing the default
unit of measurement kept you from exploring Xy4.
Hopefully the same non-barrier won't keep you from
enjoying NBWin.

Earlier versions of Xy, reflecting their typewriter-era
origins, offered only one unit of horizontal measurement,
deci-inches or tenths of an inch. Later versions give
you options -- quite a few options, actually, more than
any one person will ever need. Two default settings, UH
and UV, control the units used to measure horizontal and
vertical distances. Each unit has an associated
abbreviation or symbol. The available units and their
symbols include:

Unit          Size (in inches) Symbol
----
Inches         1         IN
Tenths of an inch    1/10       DI
Twelfths of an inch   1/12       TW
Picas          1/6        PI
Points         1/72       PT
Centimeters       0.39       CM
Millimeters       0.039       MM
Ciceros         0.1776      CI
Didots         0.0148      DD
Lines          1/6        LI

You can change the default horizontal units by editing
the settings file. (To find out where your settings file
is, command VA/NV $DL). SEarch for the line that now
probably reads:

df uh=in

comment it out with semi-colons and add a new line that
reads

;;df uh=in <== this is now disabled
df uh=di

STore the file. Re-LOAD the settings file (LOAD
[d:\path\filename]), or simply quit and restart the
program. The rendering of horizontal distances in your
Xy3 files will now be accurate. (There is also a way to
change the UH setting via the menus.)

Note that you can always override the default unit
settings by specifying different units when you issue a
command. Thus, even if your default UH is deci-inches
(DI), you can still establish margins, etc., in inches or
any other unit by adding the appropriate symbol to the
command argument. For example, to set a left margin of 1
inch, command LM 1IN (note the space following LM and the
absence of a space between the value, 1, and the units,
IN).

If you omit the unit symbol from your command, the
default is assumed. Thus, LM 5 (no unit symbol) embeds
 if your default UH is set to DI.

The default unit of *vertical* measurement is typically
LI (lines). There is usually no reason to change this,
but when you alter the current typeface size from the
command line (with the SZ command) or in a SaveStyle
command (with the SZ parameter), you'll have to remember
to specify points (PT) along with the value. Thus, to
change the typeface size to 13 points, command SZ 13PT.
A bare SZ 13 would specify a size of 13 *lines* (the
default vertical unit), or 155 points (2.16 inches),
which would really tax your paper supply.

I hope this helps.

--
Carl Distefano
cld@xxxxxxxx
http://users.datarealm.com/xywwweb/

Lisa's original message said:
>
> --- Morris Krok  wrote:
>
> > code at that time was through Herb Tyson's book "XyWrite Revealed".
>
> Is there any way to get a copy of this book?
>
> Xy III+ has given me magical moments since I adopted it as my prime
> writing and indexing tool way back when. Because of sav/gets written on
> the fly and speed, I have more time to enjoy magical moments of the
> type Leslie described.
>
> Now I've bought the NBwin because I want to support a live program.
> However, I'm still using XyIII+ (3.55).
>
> The barrier to switching to Xy4 was difficulty converting XyIII+ files.
> A simple thing -- XyIII margins, tabs etc. are set to number of
> characters, Xy4 to inches. And I kept getting error messages to the
> effect that my indents went beyond my right margin.
>
> Now the same thing is happening in NBwin.
>
> How can I fix this?
>
> Question 2. Do Xy4 files convert easily to NBwin? Or is it better just
> to learn to use Xy4 and save documents in RTF so they are readable to
> the rest of the world? (And printable in recent versions of Word?)
>
> TIA,
> Lisa
>
>
> =====
> Lisa Kleinholz
> Dancing with Mr. D, Avon
> www.kleinholz.com
>
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