.no justify .no autojustify .lm +6 .c;TK50 LABEL PRINTER .c;Version 1.1 .c;For LN03 .b .c;27-Sep-1991 .b .c;Jack Harvey .c;GWA Information Systems .b .c;(617)890-1838 .TITLE TK50 Label Printer .B2 .paragraph 0 .AP .HL1 Summary This is a guide to TK-LABELS, a program to format labels fitting the TK50/TK70 tape cartridge. The printer used must be an LN03 (or compatible) but needs ^&no\& advanced features, such as Post Script. The input to the program is a simple text file that can be prepared with an editor, the CREATE function or from DCL. Each line in the file is a line on a label. An empty line signals the end of a label. For instance: .lm +10 .literal $ CREATE TK50.LABS Backup of DUB0: before upgrade 11/15/91 Backup of DUB0: after upgrade 11/16/91 ^ Z .end literal .lm -10 The file TK50.LABS produced by the CREATE above will be converted to two labels. Each line is centered left to right, and the group of lines is centered vertically in the label box. The small Courier 6.7 point font of the basic LN03 is used. This is the font customarily used for landscape printing of 66 line by 132 column listings. The automatic line centering, when used with Upper/lower case text, produces a very professional appearing label. The labels are printed in "three-up" style, portrait mode. That is, they are printed in rows of three across the page. A grid is printed also as a paper cutting guide. By cutting on the grid lines, slips of paper are obtained that just fit into the label window of the cartridge. .page .HL1 Installation and Use The software in this kit uses no special VMS features and can be located in any directory. This documentation assumes you have defined a logical name, TK50__LABELS, that points to the directory where you have placed the kit. To use, put the following (or equivilent) in your login.com file: $ labels :== @TK50__LABELS:TK-LABELS The command file TK-LABELS expects the logical name TK50__LABELS to point to the directory containing the files TK-LABELS.COM and TK-LABELS.EXE. To invoke, $ labels [] where is the file containing the text to be put in the labels. The formated text for printing on the LN03 is placed in . The output file is optional. If it is omitted, a temporary output file will be created and printed. (Modify TK-LABELS.COM to direct the file to the LN03 print queue of your choice.) The input file may also be TT:, so that a one time set of labels may be created simply by: $ labels TT: In this mode, a CTRL Z terminates the set of labels being typed, and prints the result on the LN03. .hl 1 Input Text File Details The input file format was chosen to make producing attractive labels as simple as possible. The default is to produce a label with text centered both horizontally and vertically. However, as explained below, the default can be overruled or modified by inserting space characters in the text. The input text file record is variable length. Each input record is a line on a label. A record with a length of zero is the indicator that the previous non-zero length records, called a label group, is complete. A label is formatted and the zero length record discarded. End-of-file is also treated as an indicator of a complete label group. .page .hl 2 Maximum line length The maximum line length is 30 characters. Any lines longer than that will be truncated and the error reported to the terminal or batch log file during label formatting. .hl 2 Lines per Label For attractive, easily readable labels, do not use more than seven lines. The maximum number of lines per label is ten. If a group of lines is greater than ten, the additional lines are omitted and reported to the terminal during label formatting. Extra zero length records between label groups, or zero length records after the final group produce blank labels. The spacing between lines is reduced if more than three lines are in the group. While the formatter will attempt to squeeze ten lines onto a label, the lines overlap seriously. .hl 2 Horizontal Centering Control If an input line record length is less than 30 characters, the record is centered within the label. Note that leading and trailing spaces are ^¬\& stripped and are included in the record size used for the text centering calculation. This means that leading spaces in the record will shift the text right, and trailing spaces will shift it left from the centered position. If exact control is wanted, simply make each record exactly 30 characters long. The text will then appear in the label determined entirely by the leading and trailing spaces. .hl 2 Vertical Centering Control A record of zero length is the label terminator. However, blank lines containing one or more spaces are not zero length and may be used to adjust the vertical position of the label text. Such lines are significant when the vertical position calculation is done. For example, to print a single line at the top of a label, simply follow it with five lines containing at least one space. .page .hl 1 Label Stock The normal paper stock in the LN03 can be used for TK50 labels. However, it is too light weight for permanent labels unless glued in place. Good bond, such as is common for stationary second sheets performs well. A better permanent (but removable) label can be made by using heavy stock in the LN03. A handy source for heavy stock is the common buff colored manila file folder. This can be trimmed to 8.5x11 on a paper cutter and will pass through the LN03 satisfactorily. .hl 1 Files and Linking The files in this kit are: .list .le;AAAREADME.TXT - The standard DECUS introduction. .le;TK-LABELS.MAR - the source for the formatter program in MACRO-32. .le;TK-LABELS.COB - an alternate source for the formatter program in COBOL. This module and TK-LABELS.MAR are interchangeable and have the same performance. Only one module is needed. Choose TK-LABELS.MAR or TK-LABELS.COB to suit your site. .le;TK-LABELS.RNO - the source of this documentation file. .le;TK-LABELS.COM - the command file which controls execution. .le;TK-LABELS.LABS - an instructive example of input data showing how label formatting works. Run this through the program and compare it with the labels produced. .le;TK-LABELS.BCK - a BACKUP format file containing the six files above. This file is suitable for transfer via Kermit using the procedure described in the following section. .le;TK-LABELS.DOC - this documentation file. .end list .page .hl1 Transferring files with kermit If you want to download this kit using KERMIT, this section describes a procedure that will transfer the TK-LABELS.BCK saveset containing all the basic files. KERMIT is limited in the kinds of files it can handle, and does not transfer VMS specific file header information, such as dates and ownership. One way to transfer any type of VMS file, .EXE, .OBJ, indexed, etc., with complete file header information is to encapsulate it in a BACKUP saveset. The saveset can then be transferred error free with KERMIT and unpacked at the receive end. This is also a convenient way to send a group of files with mixed characteristics. There are three steps to do this: .list .le;Prepare a proper BACKUP saveset file - a little more than a simple BACKUP operation. This has already been done for this kit. .le;Transfer the single saveset file via KERMIT. .le;Get the transferred saveset file back into correct form. .end list .hl 2 Proper BACKUP Saveset File BACKUP was used to create the TK-LABELS.BCK saveset file: .lm +2 .literal $ BACKUP TK-LABELS.MAC,TK-LABELS.COB,TK-LABELS.COM,TK-LABELS.RNO, - TK-LABELS.LABS,AAAREADME.TXT - TK-LABELS.BCK/SAVE/GROUP=0/BLOCK=2048 .end literal .lm -2 This is already done for you; TK-LABELS.BCK is ready for KERMIT. Transferring the saveset file is done as follows. This assumes you have used KERMIT on your system as a terminal emulator to connect to and log into DECUServe. .list .le;On DECUServe at the DCL prompt, type: .list " " .le;$ KERMIT .le;KERMIT-32> SET FILE TYPE FIXED .le;KERMIT-32> SET PARITY SPACE .LE;KERMIT-32> SERVE .END LIST .page .le;Issue your KERMIT escape sequence to regain control of KERMIT at your end. Then type: .list " " .le;KERMIT> SET FILE TYPE FIXED .le;KERMIT> SET PARITY SPACE .le;KERMIT> GET TK-LABELS.BCK. .le;KERMIT> FINI .le;KERMIT> EXIT .end list .end list .hl 2 Correcting _the Received File Create a ^&dummy\& BACKUP saveset using any convenient small file as input: _$ BACKUP LOGIN.COM CORRECT.BCK/GROUP=0/BLOCK=2048/SAVE _$ COPY/OVERLAY TK-LABELS.BCK CORRECT.BCK The file CORRECT.BCK will now contain the saveset data and be in a correct form for BACKUP to unpack. To unpack all of the files: _$ BACKUP CORRECT.BCK/SAVE [] If you want to produce a printable version of this documentation, do: _$ RUNOFF TK-LABELS The resulting TK-LABELS.MEM file is LN03 compatible. .page .hl2 Transferring ASCII files only If KERMIT is not available, or you have problems with the procedure described above, you may want to transfer only the necessary ASCII files and compile and link at your site. Transferring ordinary ASCII text files is somewhat easier with KERMIT. You can also use the basic VMS command SET HOST/DTE/LOG to capture the needed ASCII files. The minimum necessary is TK-LABELS.MAR or TK-LABELS.COB. If you don't have a COBOL compiler, choose TK-LABELS.MAR, as all VMS sites should be able to compile this module. It is also strongly recommended that you transfer TK-LABELS.COM, which is an example showing how to use the program. In addition, TK-LABELS.LABS is an example label input file and demonstrates many of the label formatting features. Finally, TK-LABELS.RNO is the source for this documentation. .hl2 Compiling _and Linking Source Modules The COBOL and MACRO-32 versions are intentionally coded to perform as nearly alike as possible. There are trivial differences in errors messages. The output files formatted for the LN03 printer are identical. Because of the optimization feature of the VAX COBOL compiler, speed should be essentially the same also. However, the MACRO-32 version produces a smaller executable file. Choosing between the two versions will probably depend only on personal taste. The MACRO-32 source file is compiled and linked by: $ MACRO TK-LABELS $ LINK TK-LABELS If you have COBOL installed on your system, the COBOL source file is compiled and linked by: $ COBOL TK-LABELS $ LINK TK-LABELS Define the logical name TK_LABELS to point to the directory where you have stored TK-LABELS.COM and TK-LABELS.EXE from one of the link steps above. Refer to the Installation and Use section above for further details.