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Printing program files with Propeller Tool V1.3.2 using lots of ink — Parallax Forums

Printing program files with Propeller Tool V1.3.2 using lots of ink

garyggaryg Posts: 420
edited 2013-04-13 09:21 in Propeller 1
Hi
This situation was discussed back in 2009, but I'm thinking that since then there may have been a
solution to this concern.

I'm rather old school, and like to mark up, with a pencil, a printed copy of program that I'm working on.
Whenever I try to print, I always get background colors printing in large blocks.
I only need the programs printed, without the colors in the background.

Printing of the large color blocks uses very much more ink than I would like to use.
My printing ink cost is over $50 per month.
I'd rather spend my money on sensors and microcontrollers.

Is there a setting in the software that I just can't find?

Thanks for any and all suggestions.

Comments

  • Oldbitcollector (Jeff)Oldbitcollector (Jeff) Posts: 8,091
    edited 2013-04-11 13:47
    Gary,

    .Spin files are "text" files which can be opened with other word processors, (or notepad). This should allow you to print them without the color backgrounds.

    Jeff
  • skylightskylight Posts: 1,915
    edited 2013-04-11 14:45
    If you wish to print from the prop tool you could select print and choose monochrome, black and white by turning off colour print
  • garyggaryg Posts: 420
    edited 2013-04-11 15:57
    Thanks for comments so far:
    skylight,
    I tried turning off the colour print option in the print menue.
    The text prints without colour, but the spaces between the text still prints using the wasteful color background.
    Are you using V1.3.2?

    Jeff,
    I tried your suggestion of printing through "Note Pad".
    That worked pretty good.
    I really didn't realize that spin files are actually only text files.
    After that, when I selected All Files in Note Pad, I was able to view and print sucessfully.
    So far in my limited printing test, even the format seems to be preserved.
    I'm starting to realize that the indenting of certain parts of the programs in spin are very important.
    It's an extra step, outside of the Propeller Tool, but If it saves me $$, over the next couple of months, I can
    actually afford to purchase meaningful stuff.

    Thanks guys.
    ANY further suggestions, comments, etc are still welcome.
  • Alexander (Sandy) HapgoodAlexander (Sandy) Hapgood Posts: 360
    edited 2013-04-12 11:15
    I'm using a monochrome laser printer. The background shading used to simulate the background colors is not pretty and I can't seem to make it print just black and white text.

    Notepad and Wordpad don't allow formatting the text file to make it look 'proper'.

    My work around was:
    - copy all the code into Microsoft Word
    - set the margins for header, footer, left and right to .5
    - select all the text and set the font to 13 point Parallax
    - insert manual age breaks as required
    - print

    It's a tedious process I know but I get what I want in the end. The above settings are guaranteed to produce good output using my code on my printer at my house.

    My printer doesn't seem to have a 'Print Black and White Text Only' setting. Probably because it only prints in black and white. There doesn't seem to be any way of turning off shading to simulate color either. A color printer should have a 'Black and White Text Only' setting I would think but you might still end up with the shading.

    Regards,
    Alexander (Sandy) Hapgood
  • juropjurop Posts: 43
    edited 2013-04-12 13:55
    In the editor, select
    edit -> preferences (or F5) ->syntax highlighting->none
    and then print
  • garyggaryg Posts: 420
    edited 2013-04-12 14:31
    jurop wrote: »
    In the editor, select
    edit -> preferences (or F5) ->syntax highlighting->none
    and then print

    jurop
    This is exactly the solution I was looking for.
    It took a bit to find the box to select, as the Propeller tool says to print in spin format,
    however, once I found the setting, It work good.
    I tried it, and it works perfectly.
    Even the formatting stays in good form.
    Thank You

    On another note:
    Printing using NotePad works pretty good also.
    I found out today, after loading and attempting to print a file from the OBEX, that
    the format was absolutely wrong.
    I tried a number of things and I finally figured out that, in some manner, the Propeller Tool reformats
    the file or files after they are saved using the propeller tool.

    Now after saving the file when opening it in the Propeller Tool, I can either print it per Jurop's settings OR
    I can print the files successfully in NotePad.

    I believe I can skip my next month's purchase of printer ink.

    Thanks Again
  • Cluso99Cluso99 Posts: 18,069
    edited 2013-04-12 16:34
    I copy and paste to notepad, then print. My printing is rare. This way I don't print the headings and MIT sections either. I use courier regular 9 (or 8).
    But I was not aware of the preferences - thanks jurop
  • PublisonPublison Posts: 12,366
    edited 2013-04-12 16:53
    jurop wrote: »
    In the editor, select
    edit -> preferences (or F5) ->syntax highlighting->none
    and then print

    Welcome to the forums with a great first post!

    I, for one, had overlooked that little tidbit of information for the last 5 years! Been doing the notepad thing like everyone else.

    Should go in the Sticky :)

    Jim
  • electromanjelectromanj Posts: 270
    edited 2013-04-12 21:02
    Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! I have been looking for a solution to this for quite a while!
    In the editor, select
    edit -> preferences (or F5) ->syntax highlighting->none
    and then print

    I started playing around with the preferences and if you select "simple" the comments print out in blue. Tried to print in landscape so the comments wouldn't wrap and couldn't quite get the settings right to keep the line for line appearance right so I cheated and did a capture with snipping tool. That worked out really well, because the indent markers also print!

    Thanks again!

    traVis.
  • homosapienhomosapien Posts: 147
    edited 2013-04-13 07:11
    One of my favorite features of Spin is the gray arrows that show logical block-group associations.

    My B&W laser printer can print grey-scale, but when I print a .spin file that shows on my screen as B&W with the block-group association arrows visible as a light grey color (I use the 'simple' color scheme), the printed page shows no arrows. Is there any way to adjust the color/depth of these very helpful arrows?


    Nate
  • WBA ConsultingWBA Consulting Posts: 2,934
    edited 2013-04-13 09:21
    Another way to save ink while testing solutions for these types of issues is to print to a PDF printer (like CutePDF) to see what your program output will be before sending it to your printer. There may still be some issues with the differences between the PDF printer and your ink printer, but you can weed out the obvious ones at least.

    I think I was one of the original people that started a thread about this issue a few years ago when I was printing my Reverse Geocache code which was printing out 6 pages long.
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