Forms

[Joe Solla]

Here follows is an application of XY3+ that may be of interest to those who
work with HP compatible (PCL) printers and forms of one sort or another. By
combining the use of the FO command, Hewlett-Packard's PCL language, the IN
command, and a text editor (eg Norton disk edit), it is possible to send a
"mask" to a laser printer and then position text or PF commands within the
boundaries of the invisible form and print it all out as a "filled-in" form. A
couple of files are attached to demonstrate. Here's the process:
  1. Use XyWrite to design the form that will be sent to the printer by the IN
command. This could be a letterhead, a fill-in-the-blank sort of thing, a
border - whatever.
  2. Use the FO command to send the formatted output to the fo.tmp file.
  3. Use Xy to edit out the page eject and reset codes at the end of the
fo.tmp file. Insert the following string to return the print head to the 1st
column, 1st line of the document: