Frequently Asked Questions

  1. How do I create wider left margins for a particular printer...?
  2. Does CRPrint ever modify any disk files that it prints...?
  3. Can CRPrint print Word, PostScript or WordPad documents...?
  4. Can I add CRPrint to the Microsoft DevStudio tools list...?
  5. Can I add my own keywords to the list of keywords to be highlighted...?
  6. What are literal constants and why are they highlighted in red by default...?
  7. What is printed in the index (Table of Contents)...?
  8. How does CRPrint save money for my organization...?
  9. What kinds of things can I place in my customized page headers and footers...?
  10. Can I print jobs from the system command line?
  11. Can I schedule my weekly report for automatic, unattended printing?

How do I create wider left margins for a particular printer?

Click on Options>>Printer Adjustments..., select (or add) a printer, and change the XOffset setting to the number of printer "dots" to add to the left margin. If the right margin then moves off the right side, you can then reduce the XScale setting from 100% until the right margin appears where you want it. These settings will be saved for each printer, so you only need to do this once for a particular printer in your work environment.

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Does CRPrint ever modify any disk files that it prints?

Never. CRPrint only reads text from disk files, parses it in memory, formats it in memory, and sends the formatted text to the printer. Text files on disk are completely unmodified by CRPrint.

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Can CRPrint print Word, PostScript or WordPad documents?

No. Word, PostScript and WordPad documents contain proprietary binary formatting information that will not print correctly when interpreted as ordinary ASCII text.

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Can I add CRPrint to the Microsoft DevStudio tools list?

Yes, this is easy to do. The online help file contains detailed instructions for adding CRPrint to the dropdown list of tools in developers studio. Just click on the Help button in any CRPrint screen and find the instructions in the Help contents list.

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Can I add my own keywords to the list of keywords to be highlighted?

Yes. From the main screen, select Options>>File Options... and select the filetype that you wish to modify. Edit the Keywords string to add any keywords that you want in addition to the standard language keywords for the selected filetype.  Separate each keyword by a comma.

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What are literal constants and why are they highlighted in red by default?

Literal constants are "hard-coded" values consisting of "quoted text strings" and numeric values, often referred to as "magic numbers".

In many software organizations, internal standard coding practices forbid or strongly discourage the use of literal constants in their code, regardless of the programming language. This form of highlighting allows code reviewers to quickly spot such usage.

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What is printed in the index (Table of Contents)?

The index is printed at the end of the print job and contains the job name, each file name printed and the page number on which the file begins. For selected file types (.cpp, .bas) an alphabetical listing of function names with the page number and line number where the function begins is also listed in the index.

To inhibit function names for a particular filetype from appearing in the index, go to the Options>>File Options... dialog, select the filetype, and uncheck the "Search for function names when index is requested" checkbox.

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How does CRPrint save money for my organization?

By allowing two pages per sheet and two files per page, CRPrint can significantly cut down on paper and toner/ink usage. This also proportionately reduces purchasing, archival and disposal costs as well.

In addition to saving on printing costs, the highlighting and indexing features can help to make the time spent by code reviewers more productive.

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What kinds of things can I put in my customized page headers and footers?

Text placed in headers and footers may be aligned at the <LEFT>, <CENTER> and/or <RIGHT> of the page and may consist of any literal text plus any of several keywords such as <PAGE>, <DATETIME> etc.
Also, the keywords may be extracted from the text file itself if they are placed there using standard keyword syntax by version control software, such as PVCS or SourceSafe. These keywords are <$HEADER>, <$ARCHIVE> and <$AUTHOR>.

(The standard  keyword syntax is "$Archive: $", "$Author: $", and "$Header: $", where the version control software will place the relevant information between the colon and the terminating dollar sign.)

For example, a Page Footer in the Options... dialog specified as

    "<LEFT>MyCorporation, Inc. <CENTER><$HEADER><RIGHT>Page: <PAGE>"

would print as shown below,

     "MyCorporation, Inc.                  C:\Somedir\Somefile.xxv 1.23 Nov 1 2001 10:56:35                           Page: 6"

filling in the <$HEADER> field from the value found in the the text of the file being printed on the current page (6).

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Can I print jobs from the system command line?

Yes. CRPrint has a batch mode and can be run from the command line. See the help file topic Command Line Interface in the program help file.

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Can I schedule my weekly report for automatic, unattended printing?

Yes. Jobs may be scheduled from within CRPrint for automatic, unattended printing. This is very handy for weekly or monthly reports, etc. and they may be directed to a job-specific printer.

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Copyright © 2002-2007  Coffee River Software, Inc. All rights reserved.
Revised: 03/04/07.