Prose: A Text Processor

When you license Qedit we give you a text formatter named Prose. Prose is in our Qlib; it works well for user manuals and program documentation.

We use Prose for everything and find it flexible and reliable. It reads a Qedit or Editor file of text and commands, and produces a final document on a screen, line printer, LaserJet, or a disc file.

Prose can justify, underline, hyphenate, number pages and paragraphs, format the page the way you want, produce an index, and produce a table of contents. If you have a LaserJet, you can use the font cartridges and proportional spacing, as well as draw boxes and lines. Prose can not do footnotes, or generate two-column output.

Prose User Manual

To print the Prose User Manual, using Prose, enter these commands:

  /set udc udc.catalog.robelle  /file print;dev=lp,,copies  /prose prose.qlibdoc.robelle,*print  

The UDC file contains two User Defined Commands for Prose. Qedit icon razz Prose: A Text Processor ROSE formats a specified “input” document to a specified “output” file (usually a printer, but defaults to $stdlist), while Qedit icon razz Prose: A Text Processor DISC takes only an input file and formats it into a temporary disc file named PLIST.

You can also use the Printdoc program to print the Prose user manual or any other Robelle user manual. Run Printdoc.Pub.Robelle, and Printdoc displays a menu of user manuals for you to choose from. You then answer a few questions about your printer.

Templates for Prose

There are two template files, MANUALS and LETTERS, in the Qlibdata.Robelle group. These files are designed to get you past the hurdle of deciding what Prose options to use; they decide for you! Both template files are explained in the Prose User Manual.

Fixing Hyphenation Errors

When you finish a Prose document, you usually need to make a couple of formatting passes over it to resolve hyphenation problems. Use the Qedit icon razz Prose: A Text Processor DISC UDC to writes all errors (including hyphenation errors) into a separate file named PERRFILE. Then use Qedit to find and fix words that need hyphens:

  /set udc udc.catalog.robelle  /open howmessy.doc  /:pdisc *    {format HowMessy Manual into PLIST}  

Justify Command and Prose Documents

While editing Prose files, you will want to use the Justify Format command to make the raw text more tidy and easy to read. This command adjusts text so that the words fill the margins as much as possible, adjusting lines that are too short or too long. You can configure Justify with Set Justify to start and stop justification when it encounters certain characters in column one. This avoids having your format commands and text all run into one long paragraph.

  /set justify stop ".+" start "` "  

Prose: A Text Processor