Re: pretty printer output
Regarding the discussion of "pretty printer output" In my own search for "doing letter quality/formatting" output from ANY application development language, the only thing I could find that was acceptable was ROFF, NROFF, TROFF. From the first time I did this (15 years ago using text formatter in "Software Tools In Pascal") to my pre-Internet period (using an NROFF clone); there are only a few other solutions (TeX) that have the simple ability to be: 1. programmable 2. configurable Long ago I used WordPerfect to merge and print out of a "Progress" application. This worked but the problem that always reappears is dealing with letters is conditional document assembly. I invariably end of with: If switch = "P" include paragraph "A" If switch = "R" include paragraph "B" If switch = "C" include paragraph "C" and change document to use paragraph "F1" at location 1 instead of paragraph "F2" In 4GL I am currently using an NROFF clone that has been modified to do some "directory switching". The directories in turn have pieces of NROFF macros and verbage such that customized documents can be created for any State or County contract that we do work for. My 4gl report would generate output that looks like this: .LN L-99999 P 11-29-1994 .ST ONEPAGE .SD MD_REPORT MDLOOKALIKE .SD MD .CN "XXX 99 999999" "" "" .BA .AL "Look Alike County Circuit Court" .AL "Office of Attorney General" .AL "AnyWhere, USA 99999" .BA .AL "Private Attorney" .AL "100 S. Main Street .AL "AnyWhere, USA 99999" .pM "Person A" "Doe" "Jane" "L." .pC "Person B" "Smith" "Philip" "" .pF "Person C" "Smith" "Donald" "P." .R1 "" "" "Black" .DW "" "" "11-02-1994" .ZW M .ZW C .LT PARTIAL .EC Each one of the "dot" commands refers to NROFF macros that assemble the variables into the appropriate letter. The first .BA .AL sequence is the addressee The second .BA .AL sequence ends up as a (cc: at the bottom of letter) It has been relatively easy to: 1. do a complicated document that is double sided with verage and explanation on the front and lists and numbers on page 2, Document has over a hundred individual pieces of information. 2. add LaserJet graphics to draw boxes and shading in appropriate places. -- Michael J. Kuhn Consultant phone:410-254-7060 Email: kuhn@rhlab.com or kuhn%rhlab@uunet.uu.net or uunet!rhlab!kuhn c/o Baltimore Rh Typing Laboratory, Inc. phone:410-225-9595