Documentation for the fmt.prn file

The fmt.prn file contains user definable control strings for several printer features that can be activated with dollar sign commands invoked from the BNS print feature. You create this file when you need to use the features it can offer for customizing your printing.  Additionally, the special command printerinit can be used within this file to send an initialization string to the printer every time a print command is issued.  This may be helpful particularly for customers whose printers always default to the english character set, but who would rather have a different language as the default

The fmt.prn file must contain lines of text in the form

<identifier>=n1 <n2> <n3> ... <n16>

<identifier> must be from the following list:

identifier          meaning                       fmt command
printerinit=        define printer startup cmds   (see below)
boldon              bold face on                  $bb
boldoff             bold face off                 $bf
italicon            italic print on               $ib
italicoff           italic print off              $if
user1on             user definable mode 1 on      $u1on
user1off            user definable mode 1 off     $u1off
user2on             user definable mode 2 on      $u2on
user2off            user definable mode 2 off     $u2off

user1off
user2on
user2off

No spaces can appear between the <identifier>, the '=' sign, and the n1 parameter.

The n1 through n16 parameters are decimal numbers in the range from 0 to 255; they should be separated by spaces; these are the ASCII values that will be sent to the printer when the '$' commands are used during printing.  The bold face and italic print commands have a default setting that is controlled by the printer compatibility setting in the status menu; the user 1 and user 2 on and off commands have no default value, and will be ignored if the '$' directives for them are encountered without corresponding entries in the fmt.prn file.

A new command has been created for the fmt.prn file: the printerinit=.  This, like all other entries in the fmt.prn can have up to 16 numbers after it.  Unlike all the other entries, this command is not activated by a dollar sign command.  If the printerinit= command is specified then anything defined by it will be send to the printer as the first characters in any transmission.  By default this has no value and nothing is sent.  This command can be used to set your printer to any special printing modes, alter printing emulations, or anything else you desire.

Any blank line or line starting with a semi colon in the fmt.prn file will be considered a comment line and ignored.

The fmt.prn file may reside in flash memory.

The next feature we've added is the ability to define what Braille characters display for a particular ASCII character in your files.  The Braille Lite now supports user-defined braille tables. A table specifies how each ASCII character is shown in braille. It can also control how braille keystrokes are translated into ASCII. It doesn't change translation of chords. Translating input works best if each ASCII character is translated into a unique braille character.

The table is stored in the Braille Lite file "brl.tbl". The Braille Lite can be directed to "load" the file "brl.tbl".  This feature can cause strange results. In such cases, turn the power off, hold down all 6 dots and the spacebar, and power the unit on. Effects of loading a braille table are eliminated.

The file "brl.tbl" contains pairs of ASCII and braille values. Hexidecimal numbers are used. The ASCII value is specified first, then the braille value. ASCII and braille values are separated by any number of space, tab (control i) or colon characters. Pairs of ASCII/braille values are separated from each other by any number of space or control characters. For example, the line

     41  41

specifies that ASCII character code 041 hex (the capital a) displays dots 1 and 7.

Bits within the braille byte specify dots. The following lists braille dots and their corresponding hex values:

     Dot 1 1 hex
     Dot 2 2 hex
     Dot 3 4 hex
     Dot 4 8 hex
     Dot 5 10 hex
     Dot 6 20 hex
     Dot 7 40 hex
     Dot 8 80 hex

The status menu contains two items for working with braille tables. They appear at the end of the "braille display options" section. 
     These status menu items remain hidden from view until the file brl.tbl is created in the file area.  Once this file is created, you can see these two new status menu items at the end of the status menu.  When the file brl.tbl is deleted, these status menu items disappear again.  The first new item reads in part:

     load, unload, save user braille table

Following this is an indication of whether a table is "loaded" or "unloaded". When this item is displayed, type the letter "l" to load a table from the file "brl.tbl". Type "u" to unload the table and use the built-in table. Type "s" to save the current braille table in the file "brl.tbl". The second new item controls whether input typed on the keyboard is translated using the table.

Errors can be detected while loading a braille table. In this case, the Braille Lite speaks the message "Error in brl.tbl file". The current position in file brl.tbl moves to the location where the error was detected.

For more information or further details, please contact Blazie Engineering technical support staff
Blazie Engineering
105 E. Jarrettsville Rd.
Forest Hill, MD  21050
410 893-9333
fax 410 836-5040
E-mail support@blazie.com
