Updated May 2008

//XTEXT, left, top, right, bottom, fspec {, offset}

XTEXT permits printing a text or RTF file via XTEXT into a specified rectangle.

left, top, right, bottom

define the printing boundaries, using the current map mode.

fspec

file to print; must be a plain text or RTF file.

offset (default 0)

starting character offset within the file where printing will begin. This is mainly of use if you have to split the output into multiple XTEXT rectangles.

The output will be wrapped, if necessary, to fit within the left and right boundaries of the rectangular area, and will be clipped if it goes beyond the bottom limit. See MX_GDICALC for a method of determining in advance how much of the file will fit within the area.

XTEXT currently works only in portrait mode.

File Locations

The GDI print commands IMAGE, XTEXT, and METAFILE will locate the specified file in the same directory as the printfile if it fails to find it in the directory specified in the //GDI directive or in the local cache. This is mainly a convenience when printing from another directory. For example, if a printfile BAS:TEST.PRT contains //IMAGE,TEST.JPG,... and you tried to print it from another directory using PRINT BAS:TEST.PRT, versions of A-Shell prior to 995.3 would have failed to find the image TEST.JPG in the BAS: directory, because you weren't logged there. It also comes in handy when moving print files and their associated images to another location (such as with ASHLPD), since now you can combine all the associated files in an arbitrary directory.

Beginning with A-Shell 1111 of 3 May 08, XTEXT, IMAGE, and METAFILE will now look for the file in the same directory as the printfile itself, if not found at the location specified, even when the location specified is a UNIX path. This was previously true, since 5.0.999, but only when the original spec was a Windows path. The new logic is mainly of use in ASHLPD or other environments where you generate the GDI printfile under UNIX and then transfer it to Windows.