Chapter 3: More Print Control C O M M A N D S - Epson MX-80 User Manual

More Print Control C o m m a n d s
Chapter 3
More Print Control Commands
That last Chapter was a heavy one, but it gave us a good overvieVv of many MX-80
features. In this Chapter we'll explore a few of the features in more detail, plus
learn to use additional features related to print size and quality.
As always, CHRS is the magic wand. Continue to refer to Appendix B as needed
to help maintain perspective on what we're doing and where we're going.
A Cheap Buzz
Type:
>LPRINT C H R $ ( 7 )
Sorry if that scared the dog! Just couldn't resist it. It really has nothing to do with
printing, but is widely incorporated in programs as an alarm to indicate some-
thing. The built-in alarm is a pretty standard feature on quality printers.
Sure . . . do it again. We'll wait.
If your computer has a Real Time Clock, we can use it as a "time is u p " alarm.
Just include LPRINT CHR$(7) in the program. It also makes a great audio
prompter, telling the operator it's time to do something. The applications are
virtually endless. Most expensive alarm clock in the place.
Technically, what we heard is called The BELL, and ASCII 7 makes it ring.
Buzzers have pretty well replaced bells, so we'll usually refer to it as a buzzer,
alarm or something more contemporary.
Back to Printing
We learned in the last chapter that COMPRESSED Characters and Normal Width
characters cannot be printed on the same line. There is, however, an easy way to
print 2 sizes of characters on the same line. We simply switch back and forth
between single and double WIDTH. The result is quite impressive.
Type in this simple program:
10 L P R I N T T A B ( 1 0 ) ;
20 L P R I N T C H R $ ( 1 4 ) " D O U B L E " C H R $ ( 2 0 ) " W I D T H CHARACTERS";
30 L P R I N T " A D D " C H R $ ( 1 4 ) " E M P H A S I S ! "
I V E .
ALA ft M
OV-OOY\
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