SB BBC @ GBR Oldie hints/tips #135-138 Hints and tips from the archives of Wakefield BBC Micro User Group... 135. Wordwise cursor hint ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ When printing or previewing with Wordwise or Wordwise-Plus, odd things sometimes happen if the cursor is not 'homed' to the start of the text first. I don't know if this has been cured on later versions. 136. Wordwise margin tips ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ This applies equally to Wordwise-Plus, of course. When mixing different character sizes on a printer, you have a problem. You must decide on the necessary Line Length and Left Margin settings in order to achieve approximately the same apparent left and right margins. Here, therefore, is a list of the Line Lengths and Left Margin settings I use for each character size. I have an Epson-compatible printer, but I imagine most dot matrix printers will be much the same in this respect. You cannot do condensed enlarged text to match these margins, but you should be able to manage it with condensed Elite on an Epson LX80. SIZE STYLE COLUMNS SETTINGS Enlarged Pica/NLQ 40 LL36 LM2 Standard Pica/NLQ 80 LL72 LM4 Standard Elite 96 LL86 LM5 Condensed Pica 132 LL123 LM7 Further to this, when changing from one character size to another, I find it best to issue the printer command first, (terminated in a White code), and then change the Line Length etc on the next line. It doesn't matter if you start your text on the same line as the Line Length command, but if the printer command is on the same line, or if it is on the previous line but not terminated in a White code, then the first line of new text tends to have the wrong left margin. Below are five examples of changing to Elite text using ordinary Wordwise commands, (if you have Wordwise-Plus then OC27,77 becomes ES"M"). The first three tend to give odd results, but the last two are OK. In both of these, the printer command is not on the same line as the start of the text, and the line that it is on is properly terminated in a White code. I usually use the last method, but everyone to their own. This demonstrates the point that if you don't at first get the result you expect from Wordwise, then try a slightly different way. Certainly, I find that mixing printer codes which change character size, with text on the same line, is almost guaranteed to cause trouble. This doesn't apply to commands for emphasized, double-strike, italic etc, nor to most of the other embedded commands. WRONG: {G}OC27,77{G}LL86{G}LM5{W}This is your text. WRONG: {G}OC27,77{G}LL86{G}LM5 This is your text. WRONG: {G}OC27,77 {G}LL86{G}LM5{W}This is your text. RIGHT: {G}OC27,77{G}LL86{G}LM5{W} This is your text. RIGHT: {G}OC27,77{W} {G}LL86{G}LM5{W}This is your text. 137. Wordwise-plus line tip ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ A very simple way of drawing a straight, unbroken horizontal line across the paper is to use the commands {G}us{G}fi{G}ue{W}, where the {G} and the {W} represent the Green and White embedded codes respectively. The line will conform to the current Line Length and Left Margin settings, and of course the printer must already be in a suitable print mode. Sadly, this does not work properly on all versions of Wordwise-Plus. 138. Wordwise-plus bug ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ After acquiring version 1.4E of this splendid program, I found that unfortunately a bug has crept into the Full Indent facility. This bug was not present on my earlier version, and unfortunately 1.4E is actually on a ROM rather than on EPROM. This means any corrections can be expensive for Computer Concepts, and slow to be implemented. The irony is that I was perfectly satisfied with the version I had before, but it wasn't compatible with my new Master 128! The bug appears in two situations. First, I showed you in the previous tip how you can easily draw a horizontal line across the page. Well, this no longer works, so you have to remove the "fi" term, and stick in the appropriate number of spaces or Pad characters. The second problem occurs if you use Full Indent when in the Double Strike mode; ie you have issued a "ds" somewhere prior to the "fi", but haven't cancelled it. The indent simply doesn't work in this situation. The solution is to use "de" just before the "fi", and then use "ds" again just after. I'm a great fan of Computer Concepts, but they are definitely getting a raspberry from me this time! I've since acquired InterWord, and happily it doesn't appear to have similar bugs, (so far). NB: The bugs have been cleared in version 1.4F! 73 Rick G4BLT @ GB7WRG