Bc2000 (for the BCF2000 & BCR2000)

>
> "One man's morning is another man's night."?
>
> >  > > Another thought -
> >  > > Import preset in the Presets window.
> >  > > So - select a preset in the Presets window. (empty or full)
> >  > > File>(suggested new element)Import preset.
> >  >
> >  > This is a lot trickier than you might think: I'd have to
reprogram BC
> >  > Manager's BCL interpreter so that it does NOT accept any other
data
> >  > than a preset. And should we accept a memory preset (i.e. one
with
> >  > $store attached)?
> >  >
> >
> > Yeah, I see what you mean, yes it would have to filter out the
$store
> > and any $Global stuff and how would you define that filter?  Ignore
> > $Global to $preset and $store x to $end.
> > Then tack $preset back in at the front, and $end...
> > My only reason for the request is for building banks of presets from
> > other separate syx or text/bc2 files.  Perhaps there is already a
> way to
> > do this, without opening and closing and copy pasting...
>
> Actually, this morning I suddenly realized that you can basically
> simply use the File -> Open feature from the B-Controls window,
> because it does NOT first initialize the whole data area before
> loading the data from the input file. So the input file can contain
> any BCL data you like: presets or even individual buttons etc.
> The only "problem" is that the Open operation renames the "current
> file name" to your imported file each time. So I think I could simply
> add an "Import" operation to the same menu that simply doesn't rename
> the "current file name".
>

Ok - I will do that next from now on.  If I would just do the correct
command in the first place, there would be no trouble!

> >  > > Is there a way to have the print strips actually bring up the
> printer
> >  > > dialog?
> >  >
> >  > Why would you want this? (And which dialog exactly?)
> >  >
> > If I am working on a computer without a printer or one with several
> > attached, print strips sends the file to whatever the default
> printer is.
> > Here's an image of what I was thinking.
> >
> >
>
[URL=http://img529.imageshack.us/my.php?image=printselectns2.gif][IMG]ht\
tp://img529.imageshack.us/img529/1197/printselectns2.th.gif[/IMG][/URL]
>
> First of all: It turns out that under Windows there are really a LOT
> of printer-related dialog boxes! I think I recognize this type of
> dialog box, but I somehow can't produce it on my computer (Windows
> XP(+SP2)). So how exactly do you get to see this dialog box?

XP + SP2 - I just brought up notepad then went file> print, the above
image was the result.

>
> Secondly: I think you can already do exactly what you want (i.e.
> deviate from the default printer) via BC Manager's main menu: Options
> -> Printer. As I realized only a few weeks ago, it turns out that
> anything you set in that dialog box only holds for the current run of
> BC Manager: once you restart BC Manager you get the defaults again.

Sorry - you are correct!  Not sure how I did not see that.

>
> > What format is it now? I mean you have to send this to print as
> > something, right?
>
> Frankly I have no idea how it works. BC Manager just defines a printer
> object (as defined by a programming library I'm using), then it draws
> a number of lines and characters on that printer's "canvas". So I
> suppose it uses the native printing language of the actual printer
> being used.
>
> > I think the print dialog I mentioned about has print to file
> (checkbox),
> > which is, I think, a .prn.
>
> Yes, I already noticed the "Print to file" checkbox in your dialog
> box. So that's curious too: for some reason the programming library
> I'm using doesn't lead to that "offer".
> (In fact, I guess the ".prn" file contains indeed exactly the
> printer-dependent instructions for printing.)
>
> > First I was thinking of as a .bmp or something.
>
> It might be possible, but the main problem with bmp is that the
> resulting file gets pretty huge if it has to represent a
> high-resolution (e.g. 600 dpi) image, even in black & white.

Why would it need to be 600 dpi?  150 is fine for print? I understand
tho...
I will stop bothering you Mark!

>
> Last Saturday, after your first question about print files, I
> experimented for several hours with Windows metafiles (emf/wmf). These
> should be able to provide a very compact representation of the drawn
> objects (i.e. lines + text, in case of BC element strips), but in
> accordance with my previous experiences with metafiles, it turned out
> to be very hard to get them right in terms of scaling etc., in
> relationship with the image and word processors that can read
> metafiles. And besides, a metafile doesn't constitute a 1-to-1
> representation of what you get when you print to the printer directly,
> so it's kind of dangerous in that sense. Anyway, I'll see if I can get
> the metafile format correct quickly, otherwise I'll abandon it for the
> moment.

Sorry - again, I will leave you alone now.

>
> > I will stop giving you more work. Except for one thing - undo.
>
> This is a bit ironic, perhaps: from a programmer's point of view, an
> "Undo" feature (in particular an application-wide one) is absolutely
> one of the most horribly difficult and time-consuming things to
> implement: I don't think I've ever seen a professional word processor
> or programming environment whose Undo function was NOT buggy in some
> way. The problem is this: the more editing operations a program has,
> the more difficult it is to keep track of all the interacting effects
> of these operations, hence the more difficult it is to reverse all
> these operations. So I don't think that it is on the cards in the near
> future, but I've added it to the "Wish list"...

I was just thinking undo last command.
It sounds pretty complicated.

>
> > I have had to restart bcmanager several times, when I cut a line
then go
> > to paste but do something in the wrong order. This is the case, say
when
> > I am revising a layout.  Moving things around to better suit me.  I
get
> > stuck, I copy something then paste or paste the last thing before i
> > cut... I really need an undo. Otherwise I have to stop close not
save,
> > start over since last save and I don't save after every single move,
> > although I could.
>
> Instead of closing, couldn't you just reopen the current file?
>

Again - you have the simple answer - that  I could not see.
Thanks.

> One thing that might also help in this respect: you can open as many
> "B-Controls" as you wish (you don't have to "link" each of them to a
> real BCF/BCR or even a file) - so instead of saving your intermediate
> presets (or even buttons etc.) to file, you could copy them to another
> "B-Control" now and then.

I had not thought of that either - thanks Mark.

I will stop requesting things, now.

I will go my merry way.

Royce will say, "He's lying", he'll be back!