Printing Techniques 2
Volume Number: 1
Issue Number: 11
Column Tag: Basic School
Printing Techniques for Basic 
By Dave Kelly, Hybrids Engineer, MacTutor Editorial Board
Managing BASIC Font Printing
Sometimes when talking about the Macintosh, people have asked "How many
columns does the Macintosh have?". My answer to them is that it depends. Many of you
like myself started out on other computers such as the Apple //. Many of the early
computers had only 40 columns of text display. This severely limited the usefulness of
word processing software until the introduction of 80-col display plug in boards.
Back in those days it was very important to ask how many columns there were because
of the limitations that are imposed by the lack of 80 column display. The Macintosh is
an entirely different animal though. Because of the ability of the Macintosh to display
proportional spaced fonts on the screen just as it will look when printed, it is not
applicable to refer to the Macintosh screen as an 80-col display. It is important in
development of applications for the Macintosh that we realize the difference between
the Macintosh and other computers when it comes to displaying and printing data.
Some may have experienced some frustration in trying to format text when using
proportional fonts. I'll try to discuss a few items to keep in mind when using
proportional spacing. There are some advantages and disadvantages to be aware of.
This month we will explore some of the ins and outs of printing in different size fonts.
First, lets take a look at the difference between proportional and monospaced
fonts. The unit of measurement for the spacing is the size of the character "0" in the
current font. For monospaced fonts the character "0" happens to be the same width as
the rest of the characters in the font. For the proportional spaced font, the "0" is an
average width but not necessarily the same width as the other characters. Notice that
the spacing of all the uppercase characters for a monospaced font is the same as for the
lower case characters. Also note that the proportional spaced "A" is wider than the
"a".
The advantage of using the monspaced type of font is that you can always be sure
of just where each character will be printed or displayed. In the proportional font
each of the letters are a different width depending on how much spacing each character
requires. Now that we have a feel for proportional characters, try the following lines
of BASIC and compare the results of printing with monospacing and proportional
spacing:
' Sample program #1
' Dave Kelly
' MACTUTOR ©1985
l1$="Name #1":r1$="Name #2
l2$="123 Main St.":r2$="456 Central Ave.
l3$="Anyplace, USA":R3$="Anywhere, USA
FOR i=1 TO 40
zero$=zero$+"0
NEXT i
WIDTH 40,20
TEXTFONT(4):TEXTSIZE(12) 'Monaco
GOSUB printit
TEXTFONT(2):TEXTSIZE(12) 'New York
GOSUB printit
END
printit:
PRINT l1$,r1$
PRINT l2$,r2$
PRINT l3$,R3$
PRINT zero$
PRINT l1$;TAB(21);r1$
PRINT l2$;TAB(21);r2$
PRINT l3$;TAB(21);R3$
PRINT zero$
RETURN
In the sample program it is clear that the spacing of "0" is different for the 2
fonts, which explains why the second column does not line up. RULE 1: Remember that
when mixing fonts you can't expect them to line up. This program demonstrates the
use of the BASIC WIDTH command. The syntax of the WIDTH command is defined on page
264 of the MSBASIC manual. In general the syntax is: WIDTH [size ] [,print-zone ] .
The size is the number of standard characters that a line may contain. In other words,
BASIC will force a carriage return after the line size is full. If the size is 255 then
BASIC will not force any carriage returns. The print-zone assigns the width of the
print zone. The print zones are similar to tab stops, and they are forced by comma
delimiters in the PRINT or LPRINT statements. In the sample program you can see that
by using TAB or by using WIDTH the same result can be achieved. Using WIDTH the
position of the 2nd column is determined by the print-zone. By using TAB(I), print
position moves to the position indicated by I. An understanding of how these commands
may be used is helpful when you are trying to format your printed output. An example
would be the printing of a multiple column roster or newsletter where different fields
might be combined together to create an entire line. The traditional way to do this
would be to combine the fields together as one string variable and then to print the
variable. The spacing of each field is filled to the size of the print-zone before
combining all the fields, so that the total width of all the fields will fit. This works
fine with monospaced fonts but it quite difficult to accomplish with proportional spaced
fonts. An alternative solution is to use TAB or WIDTH functions to specify where each
field will be printed. It is still important to check the length of each field before
printing to make sure that each field will fit into the specified print zone. If it won't
fit then either the field must be truncated or the print-zone should be adjusted. If not,
then the field will print past the assigned print-zone and into the next print-zone.
The next field to be printed will be pushed over to the next available print-zone.
This can be demonstated by changing the sample program. In the program the
print-zone is set at 20 characters wide. If fewer than 20 characters are printed then
the next print field will begin 20 characters after the start of the first print field.
Try changing the line: l1$="Name #1":r1$="Name #2" to a field that has more than
20 characters, for example: l1$="Name #1 is too long now":r1$="Name #2" to
demonstate the problem. To fix the line change it to:
l1$=LEFT$("Name #1 is too long now",20):r1$="Name #2" or adjust the
WIDTH statement to: WIDTH 40,25.
Another consideration when using fonts of different sizes and widths is that each
font will use a different number of lines to print the same thing. Because there are so
many different fonts and sizes available it is difficult to examine the effect of each one.
So, before using any set of fonts you should test each one out to see how many lines will
fit on a page and adjust your program to count the lines as they are printed. If you are
printing in a 10 pt. font it is probable that you will have more lines than for a 12 pt.
font. The Disk Labeler program is a quick sample of what might be done with the
WIDTH statement. Keep in mind that this is just a sample and may or may not be a
useful application, however it may be modified to meet your needs.
Disk Labeler Program Sample
The program will read filenames one at a time from the disk and place them in an
array called filename$(i). I have limited the size to 10 files to simplify the program.
Choose Add/Remove from the files menu to add or remove a file. The selected files are
printed in window 1. The second menu lets you select the font info. This illustrates a
method of changing the fonts and sizes that will be used. This could be expanded to
select various attributes such as Bold or Italics. Keep in mind that the different
attributes will also change the width of each character. The printlabel routine
demonstrates printing different fonts to the printer. If you have had trouble changing
fonts when printing to the printer you may want to take a closer look at this routine.
The key is the WINDOW OUTPUT #1 statement. This statement is necessary to direct
all graphics commands, including those which change the fonts, to the printer. The Set
Disk Label item of the files menu will let you set the number of lines and the number
of columns that will be printed. The columns are formatted with the WIDTH
statement. Disk labels may be printed in any desired font by adding additional fonts to
the menu. I recommend printing labels in a small font (9 point) in order to fit more
on a label. Have any useful printing tips? Send your best suggestions to me care of
MacTutor!
' Disk Labeler
' By Dave Kelly
' MACTUTOR ©1985
' Watch line breaks. A few Basic lines are longer than
' this Journals column width, but the breaks are
' obviously placed so that it is clear the Basic line
' continues from the previous line.
number.of. files=0:DEFINT i-m:max files=10
number.of.lines=5:number.of.col=2
DIM filename$(max files)
'fonts
chicago=0: Appl=1: Newyork=2: Geneva=3: Monaco=4
activefont=Geneva: activesize=12
WINDOW 1,"",(200,50)-(400,275),2
'menu clear
FOR i=1 TO 5:MENU i,0,0,"":NEXT i
'set new menus
MENU 1,0,1,"File
MENU 1,1,1,"Add/Remove a file
MENU 1,2,1,"Clear all files
MENU 1,3,0,"-
MENU 1,4,1,"Print Disk Label
MENU 1,5,1,"Set Disk Label
MENU 1,6,1,"Quit
MENU 2,0,1,"Font Info
MENU 2,1,0,"Fonts
MENU 2,2,1,"NewYork
MENU 2,3,2,"Geneva
MENU 2,4,1,"Monaco
MENU 2,5,0,"-
MENU 2,6,1,"9 point
MENU 2,7,1,"10 point
MENU 2,8,2,"12 point
ON MENU GOSUB Menucheck:MENU ON
idle: GOTO idle
Menucheck:
Menunumber=MENU(0): Menuitem=MENU(1)
ON Menunumber GOSUB Filemenu, Fontmenu
RETURN
Filemenu:
MENU
ON Menuitem GOSUB Add, Clear files,Blank,Printlabel, Setlabel,
RETURN
Add:
x$=FILES$(1)
IF x$="" THEN GOSUB display:RETURN 'x$=MID$(x$,INSTR(x$,":")+1)
'optional line:use to strip volume name
FOR i= 1 TO number.of.files
IF x$=filename$(i) THEN filename$(i)="zzzzz":
i=number.of. files+2: CALL Sort(filename$(), number.of. files):
number.of. files= number.of. files-1
NEXT i
IF number.of. files>=maxfiles THEN GOSUB display: RETURN
IF i=number.of. files+1 THEN filename$(i)=x$: number.of. files=i
CALL Sort (filename$(),number.of.files )
GOSUB display
RETURN
Clear files:
number.of. files=0
GOSUB display
RETURN
display:
TEXTFONT(chicago):TEXTSIZE(12)
CLS:PRINT number.of. files;"files have been selected."
TEXTFONT(activefont):TEXTSIZE(activesize)
FOR i=1 TO number.of.files
maxlength=30
IF activesize<=10 THEN maxlength=40
PRINT LEFT$(filename$(i),maxlength)
NEXT i
IF number.of. files=maxfiles THEN
PRINT"Max.";max files;"files allowed"
RETURN
Blank:RETURN
Printlabel:
IF number.of. files=0 THEN RETURN
OPEN "LPT1:PROMPT" FOR OUTPUT AS #1
WINDOW OUTPUT #1 TEXTFONT(activefont):TEXTSIZE(activesize)
colwid=30:IF number.of.col=2 THEN colwid=20
WIDTH "LPT1:",(colwid+1)*2,colwid+1
PRINT: items=number.of.files
ON ERROR GOTO Error.handle 'check for printing abort
IF number.of.col=1 THEN onecol
IF number.of.lines
FOR i= 1 TO items STEP 2
PRINT #1,LEFT$(filename$(i),colwid), LEFT$(filename$(i+1),colwid)
NEXT i
CLOSE #1
Exit.printing:
WINDOW OUTPUT 1
GOSUB display
RETURN
onecol:
IF number.of.lines
FOR i= 1 TO items
PRINT #1,LEFT$(filename$(i),colwid)
NEXT i
CLOSE #1
GOTO Exit.printing
Error. handle: RESET:RESUME
Exit.printing:STOP
Setlabel:
CLS:TEXTFONT(0):TEXTSIZE(12)
LOCATE 1,1:PRINT"Lines per label:"
LOCATE 3,1:PRINT "# of columns:" lines$=STR$(number.of.lines)
cwid$=STR$(number.of.col)
EDIT FIELD 2,cwid$,(125,31)-(155,46),1,2
EDIT FIELD 1,lines$,(125,1)-(145,16),1,2
BUTTON 1,1,"OK",(25,70)-(75,88)
i=1
loop:
d=DIALOG(0)
IF d=1 THEN Done ' got OK button
IF d=2 THEN i=DIALOG(2):EDIT FIELD i 'got field
IF d=6 THEN Done 'got return key
IF d=7 THEN i=(i MOD 2)+1:EDIT FIELD i 'got TAB key GOTO loop
Done:
lines$=EDIT$(1)
number.of.lines=VAL(lines$)
IF number.of.lines<1 OR number.of.lines>9 THEN loop
cwid$=EDIT$(2)
number.of.col=VAL(cwid$)
IF number.of.col<1 OR number.of.col>2 THEN loop
EDIT FIELD CLOSE 1:EDIT FIELD CLOSE 2
BUTTON CLOSE 1
CLS
GOSUB display
RETURN
Quit:
MENU RESET
WINDOW 1,"Disk Labeler",(2,40)-(510,250),1
END
Fontmenu:
ON Menuitem GOSUB Blank,NY,Geneva,Monaco,
Blank,Pt09,Pt10,Pt12
GOSUB display
RETURN
NY: activefont=Newyork
MENU 2,2,2: MENU 2,3,1: MENU 2,4,1
RETURN
Geneva: activefont=Geneva
MENU 2,2,1: MENU 2,3,2: MENU 2,4,1
RETURN
Monaco: activefont=Monaco
MENU 2,2,1: MENU 2,3,1: MENU 2,4,2
RETURN
Pt09: activesize=9
MENU 2,6,2: MENU 2,7,1: MENU 2,8,1
RETURN
Pt10: activesize=10
MENU 2,6,1: MENU 2,7,2: MENU 2,8,1
RETURN
Pt12: activesize=12
MENU 2,6,1: MENU 2,7,1: MENU 2,8,2
RETURN
SUB Sort (item$(max files),N) STATIC
FOR i=1 TO N-1
FOR j=i+1 TO N
IF item$(i)> item$(j) THEN SWAP item$(i),item$(j)
NEXT j
NEXT i
END SUB
Referenced by (2):