Copyright: Copyright 1991-2 Harvey J. Kaye
Citation: All Rights Reserved


Help Index
INDEX

Main Screen

Font Catalog

Sample Page

Font Metrics

Print

Settings

Links

Common Problems and Questions

Registration

Technical Support

Warranty and License

FontShow for Windows

FontShow Copyright © 1991-2 Harvey J. Kaye - All Rights Reserved


MAIN SCREEN

The FontShow main screen is used as a vehicle to explore the various fonts that are installed in the system. Using the main screen, you can select any of the printer fonts installed in the system, and adjust the size to a point size you desire.

In addition, all of the other FontShow functions are launched from the main screen. Click on the tools on the toolbar below to display help on that topic. (wherever the mouse cursor displays a "hand" symbol)

Toolbar:

The FontShow toolbar provides you with quick access to the commonly used FontShow functions. For a description of what each button on the toolbar does, click the right mouse button on it. A short description of that tool's function will display in the lower left corner of the screen.

The Font combo box on the left is used to select one of the fonts that were processed by FontShow at startup. If you clicked on the stop sign or entered Alt-S during startup, only those fonts processed up to that point will be available. This number will be reflected in the Fonts box beside the combo box.

The Sample button will start the sample page function.

The Catalog button will start the font catalog function.

The Metric button will display the font metric function.

Text Setting:

When FontShow starts, it is in single character mode:

The character displayed is controlled by the scroll bar in the middle left area of the screen. When the scroll bar is moved, the character displayed in the main window changes to reflect the ANSI value selected by the scroll bar.

Note: The character displayed in the left section of the screen is the Windows system font character for that ANSI value. In the main screen, it is the character for the currently selected font The two may not display identically.

To switch to User Defined Mode click on the mode button:

This will clear the character selection scroll bar from the screen, and display an edit window:

In this window you can enter as much text as you like. If you save settings, this text will be saved (up to 127 characters) and displayed the next time you use FontShow. There is also a CAPS only option button. Activating this control will cause FontShow to display only uppercase characters. This is useful for CAPS Only fonts.

Text Size:

To set the point size, use the scroll bar in this area to adjust the point size from 4 to 900.

Note: Some font scaling packages have a limit on the size that they can display or print. Refer to your package's documentation for details

To switch back to single character mode, click the mode button again.


Catalog
FONT CATALOG

 The Font Catalog is the workhorse of FontShow.  Its functions are:

1.	Printing of a Font Inventory Sheet.

2.	Printing of a Font Catalog in one of two styles.

3.	Batch Printing of Sample Pages and/or ANSI Maps or Keyboard Maps.

When the Font Catalog screen is displayed, there are two font list boxes. The left one contains a list of all the fonts that were processed at startup. The right one Selected Fonts is empty.

All functions are performed on the list of fonts in the Selected box.

To select all fonts, click on the Select All button.

To pick and choose from the list, use standard Windows list selection action:

Hold the SHIFT key while using the mouse to select a range,

Hold the CNTRL key to select non-contiguous fonts from the list with the mouse.

CNTRL-\ will select all fonts.

When you wish to add the selected fonts to the selected list on the right, click on the Copy Selected Fonts button.

To remove fonts from the selected list, select them in the same manner as described above, and click on Delete. To clear the list completely, click Clear.


SAMPLE PAGE

The Sample Page screen performs the following functions:

1.	Previews or prints 1 of 5 different sample page styles

2.	Displays a complete map of the Font to allow selection of characters that cannot normally be entered from the keyboard.

3.	Prints a map of the selected Font providing the ANSI code numbers for all the characters in the font. This is particularly useful for Dingbat style fonts which have characters that do not correspond to the keyboard, and for use of the extended and foreign characters in the font which also do not correspond to the keyboard.

When displaying the sample page, typically it is larger than the screen. When that happens, it will pause at the bottom of the screen and display a More button. To display the remainder of the sample, click on [image] and the display will continue.


Metrics
FONT METRICS

The Font metrics function will display information about the font such as character size, leading, ascent, descent and others.

Font Metrics Diagram:


Print
PRINT MODE

 Clicking the print mode button will alternate between Print To The Printer, and Print To The Screen.

Print to printer: The print to printer function is use to print the main screen text (with the current main screen setting of Font, Point size and Styles) to the currently selected printer.

Whenever the [image] button is pressed, the text that is printed is the text in the main screen text display box.  (either single character or user defined).

When the desired text has all been sent, click the [image] button to send the accumulated text to the printer.  Should you fill a page before clicking the print send button, Windows will print it automatically.

Print to screen: The print to screen function enables you to compare fonts.

It removes the text display box from the screen and whenever the [image] button is pressed, text with the current main screen settings (point size, bold, italic etc) will be painted on the FontShow screen background. Change the settings and click the print button, and another line of text will be printed.  This function is useful for comparing various fonts or styles of the same font.

Click the [image] button to clear the print area and start again. Maximizing FontShow will provide a larger screen print area.

Note: Not all fonts are available for print to screen, if the font you have selected is one of those, FontShow will display a message when you click the print button.


SETTINGS

The settings screen provides a means to customize the operation of FontShow. It will display a list of all the available settings in the upper area of the settings screen. When as setting is to be changed, click on the desired setting in the upper area, and the lower area of the screen will change to reflect that setting, and display a control appropriate to the type of setting.

For Numeric settings FontShow will display a "spin" control, set to minimum and maximum settings appropriate for the item being changed. Click on the up and down arrows to adjust the setting to the desired value.

For Font settings, a combo box will be displayed,  providing a list of all fonts processed at startup (a warning message will be displayed if you prematurely stopped the enumerating of fonts at startup). Open up the combo box and select the Font desired. A small sample of the font will display to the right of the control, whenever a new font is selected.

Warning: Once a new font is selected, it is important that you retain that font on your system.

Should you remove that font, you may receive an error message from FontShow, or it may terminate abnormally.

If you receive an error code 380 this may be the cause.

Review the M_Font= and ID_Font settings in the FONTSHOW.INI file should this occur.

For Switch settings, a simple on off control will be displayed click on [image] to turn the setting on, and on [image] to turn the setting off.

For Text type settings, a edit window will be displayed.

In order to update the current setting, click on [image].

To update the current functional settings of FontShow, click on OK, and FontShow will operate with the new settings. If you wish to cancel the update to the current functional settings, click on CANCEL.

In order to permanently save the current functional settings,  use the Control/Save Settings pull down menu, or press F12.

To alter the colors that are used to display on screen text displays, use the Control/Text Colors pull down menu (or press F6).

To rebuild the font list from Windows, use the Control/Rebuild Font List pull down menu (or press F5).


Problems
COMMON PROBLEMS and QUESTIONS

Printing:

Print Cancel Function

As implemented, Visual basic applications have precise control over placement of text and graphics on the printer. However control of the printer's function, especially aborting printout is not one of the implemented functions.  It is suggested you break your printing into small groups until you are sure FontShow is set up the way you want.  The primitive print cancel function in the Font Catalog is the best that can be done at this point. It tells FontShow to stop generating output. However all print that has been generated up to that point must be printed, short of restarting Windows.

Printing Locks out Windows

Any complex printout generated by any Visual Basic application (such as FontShow) on the printer, will lock out the system until the page(s) is sent to the printer or print manager.

Problems with Windows 3.0 Print Manager

In batch mode, FontShow generates a large files to be printed. This is due to the way most font scaling packages work, they send the page to the printer as graphics. In Windows 3.0, large print jobs can stall Print Manager, and the batch printouts from the Catalog can exceed the limits of Print Manager as well. In short, when running Windows 3.0, disable the print manager.

Print Manager or no Print Manager

In Windows 3.1 the Print Manager has been dramatically improved, however the printer will not start printing until much later than if it were disabled. I suggest you experiment with turning Print Manager on and off to determine which one is faster in your setup. My experience suggests that for batch printing, disabling Print Manager will provide the fastest print.

Error Messages:

Error Code 380 (or Invalid Property Value Messages)

More error code has been added to FontShow to prevent these problems from occurring.  There is one BIG difference between Visual Basic and "normal" applications written in C (or others). If VBasic asks for a font that is not available, it gets rejected by VBasic. In a C language program using CreateFont, Windows will choose a font that is "close" to what you ask for, if the specific font requested is not installed.

For most users in previous versions of FontShow, the Invalid Property Value or error 380 was caused by removal of Windows system fonts, or removal of Fonts defined as the default font or the Title/Heading Font.

Hopefully all the 380/IPV opportunities have been trapped, however should you receive either of those messages, check the M_Font= and ID_Font= settings in the FONTSHOW.INI file and ensure that the fonts specified are actually available in your Windows setup.


Links
LINKS - DDE LINKS BETWEEN APPLICATIONS

Links

Use the links function to setup a link between FontShow and another application. In order to use this function, the link must first be started, and then formatted text can then be sent to the linked application. Note only one application can be linked at a time. Currently only Word for Windows and Microsoft Excel are supported.

Note: If any of you require support for other applications please forward any information you might have on setting up a DDE link with the application you require. In particular information on LINK TOPIC and LINK ITEM is required, and whether the application supports the SYSTEM topic.

To start the link, start up the desired application. Note the application must be setup to accept text entry. In the case of Excel, it must be in a cell. The send will fail if the cursor is in a text box for example. In Winword, the cursor must be in the document area. Occasionally a link send will fail for no apparent reason, and if this happens, FontShow usually terminates.

Edit Paste Link

If an application has setup an Edit Copy which supports the link, once the paste link has been done in FontShow, any text that is changed in the linked text, will change in the FontShow text window. This would be useful for copying text from one application and experimenting with various font and style settings.


REGISTRATION

FontShow is shareware. That is, it is distributed on a trial basis. If after a reasonable trial period, (suggested to be no more than 30 days), should you continue using FontShow, you MUST pay the registration fee. Otherwise you must discontinue using it and it should be removed from your system(s).

On the other hand, when you find that you cannot live without FontShow and it meets all of your needs, kindly forward $15

(U.S. or Canadian Dollars Check/Money Order/Postal Money Order/Travelers checks) to:

Harvey J. Kaye

633 Bay Street, Suite 1701,

Toronto, Ontario, CANADA,

M5G 2G4

Note: US Postage to Canada is 40 Cents

Please print the Invoice and include with your payment.
Click on INVOICE above then PRINT FORM
(ensure your Printer is on and ready!)

Multi-license and site-license discounts are available.

P L E A S E    D O    N O T   S E N D   C A S H!!!

Normally no diskette is distributed, (or I would have to charge more). Should you require a diskette, please add $5 to the registration and indicate which diskette size you require and I will forward the latest copy to you.

Also please feel free to send me any suggestions you have, many of the features of FontShow are a result of user input.

FontShow is not free software.

FontShow is not "Public-Domain" software.

Shareware is not free software, it is a distribution method.

FontShow Copyright 1991-2 Harvey J. Kaye ---- ALL Rights Reserved


I  N  V  O  I  C  E

Remit to:	From:
	_____________________________________
Harvey J. Kaye
633 Bay Street, Suite 1701,	_____________________________________
Toronto, Ontario, CANADA,
M5G 2G4	_____________________________________
	_____________________________________
	Contact Individual:
	_____________________________________
In order to serve you better in the future:

Where did you obtain your copy of FontShow: 	________________________________

If a BBS: Telephone number:	(______)-______-________

What version of FontShow are you running (important):	_____________

Any Comments or suggestions(always welcome):

___________________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________________

Qty	Description	Unit Price	TOTAL
___	FontShow for Windows - Registration only	@ $15.00	__________
___	FontShow for Windows - Release Diskette	@ $ 5.00 (S&H)	__________
___	FontShow for Windows - Upgrade Diskette	@ $ 5.00 (S&H)	__________
		TOTAL:	__________
Diskette Size(s) Required: ____ 3.5"  ____ 5.25" (high density)

Checks or Money orders are accepted. (U.S. or Canadian Dollars) (No cash please!)
Please make your check payable to: Harvey J. Kaye

Note: Upgrade Disk Charge is for a copy of the next version of FontShow. To be mailed to the address and contact above when the next release of FontShow is available. This is a shipping and handling charge only. Release diskette is a copy of the version specified above.


Support
TECHNICAL SUPPORT

At this time, technical support is provided via two vehicles:

1) By letter (see registration for the address)

2) By RIME Windows and DTP conferences.

Please note that I do NOT provide telephone support at this time.

Should you have difficulty with FontShow, the quickest method of contacting me for support is to locate a BBS that carries the RIME(Relaynet) conferences and locate the Windows conference. Address private mail to me: Harvey Kaye (leave out my middle initial) and be sure to include a subject of  FontShow, so I will pick it up when I scan for mail.

You can also leave me public mail if you wish, if you think that others might find your message of interest.

Messages of praise and admiration are best made public...

Technical Support Form

Helpful are printouts of or copies of:

FontShow.INI;

ATM.INI or control files of your font scaling package;

Win.INI;

General system configuration.

Detailed description of how and when the problem occurred, and when it started occurring.

Anything else you might think would be useful.


TechSupport
Technical Support Information

Please print and fill out this form when submitting a problem to me for resolution. It will greatly speed my response to your problem.

System Type(286, 386,386SX etc):	______________________________
Windows Version:	______________________________
Windows Mode (Standard, Enhanced):	______________________________
Memory:	___________________________ MB
Printer	______________________________
Printer Driver Version (from Printer Setup About):	______________________________
Printer Driver Date:	______________________________
Video Card and Driver Information	______________________________
Font Scaling Package(s) used: (ATM, TrueType etc):	______________________________
If ATM, Font Cache Size:	______________________________
Disk Space Available:	______________________________
System Resources Available When Problem Occurs:	____________________________ %

General Problem Description (how and when it occurs):

________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________

If the problem is with a printout, please enclose a sample.

Note: Although I will attempt to solve every problem, preference will be given to registered users.


Software License and Warranty

FontShow is not and has never been public domain software, nor is it free software.

Non-licensed users are granted a limited license to use FontShow on a 30-day trial basis for the purpose of determining whether FontShow is suitable for their needs. The use of FontShow, except for the initial 30-day trial, requires registration. The use of unlicensed copies of FontShow, outside of the initial 30-day trial, by any person, business, corporation, government agency or any other entity is strictly prohibited.

A single user license permits a user to use FontShow only on a single computer.  Licensed users may use the program on different computers, but may not use the program on more than one computer at the same time.

No one may modify or patch the FontShow executable files in any way, including but not limited to decompiling, disassembling, or otherwise reverse engineering the program.

A limited license is granted to copy and distribute FontShow only for the trial use of others, subject to the above  limitations, and also the following:

1.	FontShow must be copied in unmodified form, complete with the file containing this license information.

2.	The full machine-readable FontShow documentation must be included with each copy.

3.	FontShow may not be distributed in conjunction with any other product without a specific license to do so from Harvey J. Kaye.

4.	No fee, charge, or other compensation may be requested or accepted, except as authorized below:

a.	Operators of electronic bulletin board systems (Sysops) may make FontShow available for downloading only as long as the above conditions are met.  An overall or time-dependent charge for the use of the bulletin board system is permitted as long as there is not a specific charge for the download of FontShow.

b.	Vendors of user-supported or shareware software approved by the ASP may distribute FontShow, subject to the above conditions, without specific permission.  Non-approved vendors may distribute FontShow only after obtaining written permission from Harvey J. Kaye. Such permission is usually granted. Please write for details (enclose your catalog). Vendors may charge a disk duplication and handling fee, which, when pro-rated to the FontShow product, may not exceed eight dollars.

c.	Non-profit user groups may distribute copies of the FontShow diskette to their members, subject to the above conditions, without specific permission.  Non-profit groups may collect a disk duplication fee (not to exceed five dollars).

FontShow Copyright © 1991-2 Harvey J. Kaye

ALL rights reserved

LIMITED  WARRANTY

Harvey J. Kaye guarantees your satisfaction with this product for a period of 90 days from the date of original purchase.  If you are unsatisfied with FontShow within that time period, you must Inform Harvey J. Kaye (address below) in writing within 7 days of the expiration of the warranty.

Harvey J. Kaye warrants that all disks (if provided) are free from defects in material and workmanship, assuming  normal use, for a period of 90 days from the date of  purchase.

Harvey J. Kaye warrants that the program will perform in substantial compliance with the documentation supplied with the software product. If a significant defect in the product is found, the Purchaser may return the product for a refund.  In no event will such a refund exceed the purchase price of the product.

Except as provided above, Harvey J. Kaye disclaims all warranties, either express or implied, including, but not  limited to implied warranties of merchantability and  fitness for a particular purpose, with respect to the product. Should the program prove defective, the  purchaser assumes the risk of paying the entire cost of all necessary servicing, repair, or correction and any incidental or  consequential damages.

In no event will  Harvey J. Kaye be liable for any damages whatsoever (including without limitation damages for loss of  business profits, business interruption, loss of business information and the like) arising out of the use or the inability to use this product  even if Harvey J. Kaye has been advised of the possibility of such damages.

Use of this product for any period of time constitutes your acceptance of this agreement and subjects you to its contents.

U.S. GOVERNMENT RESTRICTED RIGHTS

Use, duplication, or disclosure by the Government is subject to restrictions as set forth in subdivision (b)(3)(ii) of  the Rights in Technical Data and Computer Software clause at 252.227-7013.

Contractor/manufacturer is:

Harvey J. Kaye - 633 Bay Street Suite 1701, Toronto Ontario  Canada, M5G 2G4


Printer Fonts are defined as "Fonts that are stored in your printer's memory, or soft fonts that are sent to your printer before a document is printed". However in the world of font scaling packages such as Adobe Type Manager or Bitstream Facelift the terminology is blurred slightly.

In the case of most font scaling packages, most fonts are available both for the screen and for the printer, so the definition is meaningless.

In addition, there is usually some confusion regarding font installation in Windows. Most applications(including FontShow) will display a font family name only. For example, if you have Arial Normal, Bold, and BoldItalic Fonts installed, you have one Typeface Family, and four Fonts.  In this case, FontShow and most other applications will show only one FONT.


Font Style: When a font is designed, there may be more than one style of a font designed. Typical styles available in the Windows environment are Normal (or Roman), Bold, Italic and BoldItalic. The various versions of a font may look quite different. For example, many italic fonts add curly lines to the start and end of a character to simulate handwriting.

If a True version of a font is not available, Windows will slant the type slightly to simulate the Italic effect, and will broaden the character slightly to simulate Bold.

 Neither is usually as effective as having a true font style installed.


The Font Catalog is available in one of two styles:

Style1:

Style2:


Font Leading (pronounced Ledding) is defined as:

Vertical spacing between lines of type. Leading is typically measured from the baseline of one line to the baseline of the next line.


Ascent is defined as:

The units above the baseline to the top of the highest characters.


Descent is defined as:

The measurement (below the baseline) of lowercase letters (such as g, p and y) that drop below the baseline.


FONT

In typographical terms, a font is defined as:

A Complete assembly of all the characters of one size of one typeface.

For example:

10 Point Arial	is one Font
12 Point Arial	is another Font.
However in Windows and other environments, where scaleable typefaces are available, a "font" typically refer to all the sizes of a given typeface.

For example:

1-999 Point Arial-Normal	is one Font
1-999 Point Arial-Bold	is another Font.

All the Fonts having the same base name (i.e. Arial) are part of the same typeface family. Typically only the family name is displayed on font selection menus, such as in Word or Excel, and the menus used in FontShow. Typically wherever this help file or any FontShow documentation refers to a font, it is referring to a Font or Typeface FAMILY.


SCALEABLE FONTS

Scaleable fonts are fonts such as Truetype or Adobe Postscript fonts that can be mathematically scaled to various sizes without distorting the characters. Scaleable typefaces are stored as a series of mathematical formulas which describe the shape of the characters, and can be scaled from small to large sizes.


ATM STATUS Check

The ATM status check area is for those users of Adobe Type Manager:

In the above example, there are true Normal and Bold style of the Font installed, indicated by the green color.

If you request Italic or BoldItalic in this case, if you are using Adobe Type Manager or other scaling packages such as TrueType, it will simulate the style, except when printing to PostScript printers.


Font Styles

The area shown above is used to select the style of the font selected.

Click on each of the four buttons above for a description of the style that button selects.


BOLD

The Bold or BoldFace style is defined as:

Heavier version of a regular typeface, normally used for emphasis.


ITALIC

The Italic or Oblique style is defined as:

Letterforms that slant to the right.


UNDERSCORE {BMC UNDER.BMP}

The Underscore or Underline style is defined as:

Letterforms that have a vertical bar underneath them.

Usually used for emphasis, however it is not considered

good form.


STRIKETHROUGH {BMC STRIKE.BMP}

The StrikeThrough  style is defined as:

Letterforms that have a dash over printed to

indicate the word is crossed out.