Microsoft KB Archive/71041

Getting Correct Shading with Bitstream PRD Files

PSS ID Number: Q71041 Article last modified on 11-02-1994

5.00 5.50

MS-DOS

SUMMARY

The printer drivers created by Bitstream Fontware version 2.00 do not contain the revisions necessary to produce correct shading on the Hewlett-Packard (HP) LaserJet printers. To get correct shading from a Bitstream driver, the MergePRD or MakePRD utility must be used to combine the Bitstream driver and a driver from Microsoft Word version 5.00a or later.

MORE INFORMATION

The following instructions refer to the HPLASER.PRD driver, but any HP driver from Word 5.00a or later can be used in its place.

To Add Correct Shading Using MergePRD

1. Copy MergePRD.EXE, the Bitstream driver, and HPLASER.PRD to the Word program directory or to a user directory if you are on a network.
2. Type “MergePRD” (without the quotation marks). Choose Option 1, “Enter input PRD list.” Type the name of the revised shading driver, HPLASER.PRD, and press ENTER. Then type the name of the Bitstream driver and press ENTER. Press ENTER again to return to the main menu.
3. Choose Option 4 “Select fonts and font sizes.” This screen will have a list of the available fonts and the drivers the fonts are from. Choose the LaserJet’s internal fonts (Courier, CourierPC, LinePrinter, and LinPrinterPC) from the list of fonts supported on the shading driver (HPLASER.PRD). Choose all of the downloadable fonts from the Bitstream driver.
4. Press ENTER to return to the main menu. Choose Option 7, “Create output .PRD from selected fonts and sizes.” Type in a name for the new printer driver and press ENTER. MergePRD will begin combining the information from the Bitstream driver and HPLASER.PRD.
5. Copy the new printer driver to the Word program directory.

To Add Correct Shading Using MakePRD

1. Copy MakePRD.EXE, the Bitstream driver, and HPLASER.PRD to the Word program directory or to a user directory if you are on a network.

2. Use MakePRD to create text files from HPLASER.PRD and the Bitstream driver. Instructions on how to do this are located in the “Printer Information for Microsoft Word” manual.

3. Start Word and load the text file from HPLASER.PRD. Open a window, clear it, and load the text file from the Bitstream driver.

   In Word 5.50, simply open both files.

4. In the text file for HPLASER.PRD, search for the text string “DownloadFlag:”. This flag will have a value of 0 (zero). Change the value from 0 to 1. Repeat the search, changing the value of each occurrence until no more occurrences are found.

5. Press F1 to move to the window containing the text file for the Bitstream driver. Highlight and delete the model block in this file. The model block begins with the characters “{M” and ends with “}M”.

   In Word 5.50, press CTRL+F6 to move from one document window to the next.

6. Press F1 to move back to the text file for HPLASER.PRD. Copy the model block from this driver to the scrap, move back to the text file for the Bitstream driver, and insert the model block. Make sure that the new model block occupies the same position in the file as the old model block.

   In Word 5.50, press CTRL+F6 to move from one document window to the next.

7. Save the text file for the Bitstream driver and use MakePRD to create a new driver from this file. This new driver will now support the Bitstream fonts and use correct shading techniques on HP LaserJets.

   Note: Be sure to give the new printer driver the same name as the old one and place it in the same directory. Word will look for .DAT files with the same name as the driver; giving the new driver a different name will cause error messages.

KBCategory: kbprint KBSubcategory: Additional reference words: ============================================================================= Copyright Microsoft Corporation 1994.