Printfil Manual - Getting Started

Chapter 2 - Getting started with Printfil

The fastest way to try Printfil is by using the guided configuration to setup the basic parameters, needed to capture the print jobs created externally.

If this is the first time you run Printfil on this machine, the guided configuration will be started automatically, otherwise you can start it manually, by right clicking the Printfil's trayed icon (in the lower right corner, near the clock) and choosing Configuration -> Guided

After answering the questions shown on screen, the guided configuration will automatically run the Test function.

This function creates some testing pages which will be shown on the preview window (if enabled), so that you can print them on your own printer by clicking the "Print" icon.

At this point, if the configuration has been made correctly, you can print directly from your source program obtaining the same result.

Now you only have to open the standard configuration dialog by choosing Configuration -> Standard in the Printfil's menu to setup the last details: preview, page margins, text color etc.

If then you want also to manually test some Printfil details, then follow the steps below. They probably makes sense only to advanced users and programmers.

Let's start:

Right click the Printfil's trayed icon and choose Configuration -> Standard, then check which file name is inserted in the "File to check" field. Let's say it's c:\program files\printfil\filename.txt

Now open the "Command Prompt" or "MS-DOS Prompt" and navigate to the directory corresponding to that file. In our example:

CD "C:\PROGRAM FILES\PRINTFIL"

Tip: If the "File to check" field starts with [e:HOMEPATH], then the right path is the user's home directory (for example c:\Documents and Settings\Administrator). In this case probably the Command Prompt is already positioned in the right directory, otherwise please type CD %HOMEPATH%

Now type:

DIR > FILENAME.TXT

After a few seconds, you will see a preview of the contents of the directory.

Now close the preview and type:

DIR /B > FILENAME.TXT

The preview window appears again, but now the print job is narrower and PRINTFIL has scaled the selected font to fit the page.

Now we can create the optional configuration file. Type:

NOTEPAD FILENAME.CFG

Type (or cut & paste) the following 3 lines into the empty file:

My First Print Job
10
80

Save the file and select "Redo Last Print" from the PRINTFIL menu (right click the PRINTFIL tray icon in the lower right corner, near the clock).

The preview window will now have 10 rows per page and the selected font will be taller than before. It will be also narrower to accommodate 80 characters (max) per page.

Now we can add another two rows to the configuration file, thus:

My First Print Job
10
80
backgr.bmp
2

Selecting "Redo Last Print", we will again get the same preview, but with file BACKGR.BMP added as a background. If you click on the printer icon, 2 copies will be printed (as indicated on the 5th row of FILENAME.CFG)

Tip: If the bitmap is not merged, then it's not in the current directory. In this case please insert the 4th row with the full path. For example c:\program files\printfil\backgr.bmp

Now change the 4th row to read as follows:

backgr.bmp|2|3|7|-1

and again select "Redo Last Print".

To try other effects relating the to background files, see chapter 6.

Now choose Configuration -> Standard from the PRINTFIL menu.
Put a check mark in the RAW checkbox and select a real printer (not a virtual printer, like a PDF writer)

Click OK to apply your changes and select "Redo Last Print" from the PRINTFIL menu.

This time the preview window does not appear and the job is printed directly, unless your printer is a GDI (Windows-only) model.
All the GDI stuff (the background, font, margins etc.) are not included in the job because the file has been sent to the printer AS IS, bypassing the Windows printer driver.

Please disable the RAW option now, otherwise all the subsequent jobs may not be printed correctly in the following tests.

Testing the LPT capturing option is relatively easy. In Configuration -> Standard

• select the LPT port you prefer (from LPT1: to LPT9:)
• ensure the Mode field is set to 0 (zero)

Once Printfil is configured for capturing a parallel port you can simply:

DIR > LPT1: (or any other port you've selected in the configuration dialog)

The directory content will be shown on screen if the Preview option is enabled, otherwise it will be sent directly to the chosen printer.

DIR > PRN: 

Will do the same (PRN: is just an alias for LPT1:).

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