Re: Macros for printing envelopes?
Nate -- On Thu, Jul 15, 2021, Nate Bargmann wrote: > As I see it, with groff I can easily create files for addresses I > use often and should be able to code a script that accepts those > one-off addresses. I use this strategy with the mom macros. Here's the .mom template file: --envelope template--- .\" #10 envelope (US) .PAGE9.5i 4.125i .3i .3i .4i .4i .FAM Futura .FT R .PT_SIZE 11 .LS 13 .LEFT .\" Return address here .IL 3.5i .SP |2i-1v .PT_SIZE 12.5 .LS 15 .\" Destination address here The Return address is always filled in. In a script, the Destination address can either be cat(1)ted together with the template from an address on file, or groff's .rd request can be appended to the end of the template so one-off addresses can be typed in at the command line. Depending on your printer, you may need to rotate the file to landscape orientation (the -P-l flag at the command line). Hope this helps. -- Peter Schaffter https://www.schaffter.ca
Re: Macros for printing envelopes?
On Fri, 16 Jul 2021 12:44:04 -0400 Peter Schaffter wrote: > On Thu, Jul 15, 2021, Nate Bargmann wrote: > > As I see it, with groff I can easily create files for addresses I > > use often and should be able to code a script that accepts those > > one-off addresses. > > I use this strategy with the mom macros. Here's the .mom template > file: But ... don't you need some kind of input-tray selection escape, or something? How does the printer know to pause and wait for you to insert an envelope? --jkl
Re: Macros for printing envelopes?
On Fri, Jul 16, 2021, James K. Lowden wrote: > On Fri, 16 Jul 2021 12:44:04 -0400 > Peter Schaffter wrote: > > > On Thu, Jul 15, 2021, Nate Bargmann wrote: > > > As I see it, with groff I can easily create files for addresses I > > > use often and should be able to code a script that accepts those > > > one-off addresses. > > > > I use this strategy with the mom macros. Here's the .mom template > > file: > > But ... don't you need some kind of input-tray selection escape, or > something? How does the printer know to pause and wait for you to > insert an envelope? Depends on the printer, I guess. My one-tray printer knows I've inserted envelopes because I insert them before processing/sending-to-printer. Very old school. :) The OP was wondering about how to set up envelopes using groff without having to write new macros. It's easy, as my example showed, and that's what I hoped to convey. FWIW, it doesn't require a macroset. It's a walk in the park to create an envelope template using just groff requests. How such a template is used with a script, however, is entirely site dependent. As far as selecting trays goes, that can be done with lpoptions(1) or the -o flag to lpr(1) in the script. -- Peter Schaffter https://www.schaffter.ca
Re: Macros for printing envelopes?
Thanks, Peter! My printer, a Brother HL-5240, takes input from the manual tray and like you I insert the envelope and then print. Typically, I feed the envelope in with the short side at the return address in first. To be honest, I'm not entirely sure if that is portrait or landscape orientation for envelopes. On a regular letter sheet of paper the print would be in landscape orientation, so I assume the same here. - Nate -- "The optimist proclaims that we live in the best of all possible worlds. The pessimist fears this is true." Web: https://www.n0nb.us Projects: https://github.com/N0NB GPG fingerprint: 82D6 4F6B 0E67 CD41 F689 BBA6 FB2C 5130 D55A 8819 signature.asc Description: PGP signature
Re: Macros for printing envelopes?
Hi, Peter & James! At 2021-07-16T18:07:10-0400, Peter Schaffter wrote: > How such a template is used with a script, however, is entirely site > dependent. As far as selecting trays goes, that can be done with > lpoptions(1) or the -o flag to lpr(1) in the script. And options to lpr can be passed via groff's -L option, so you can say "groff -L -o -L orientation-requested=4" or whatever. At 2021-07-16T17:18:04-0500, Nate Bargmann wrote: > My printer, a Brother HL-5240, takes input from the manual tray and > like you I insert the envelope and then print. Typically, I feed the > envelope in with the short side at the return address in first. To be > honest, I'm not entirely sure if that is portrait or landscape > orientation for envelopes. On a regular letter sheet of paper the > print would be in landscape orientation, so I assume the same here. Not in groff world! To be militantly consistent, I suppose, in groff, standard paper formats are always at least as long as they are wide. groff_tmac(5) discusses the "papersize" macro file. papersize This macro file is normally loaded at start-up by the troffrc file, so it is seldom necessary to call it explicitly. It pro‐ vides an interface to set the paper size on the command line with the option -dpaper=size to groff or troff. Possible values for size are the ISO and DIN formats “A0–A6”, “B0–B6”, “C0–C6”, and “D0–D6”; the U.S. formats “letter”, “legal”, “tabloid”, “ledger”, “statement”, and “executive”; and the envelope formats “com10”, “monarch”, and “DL”. All formats, even those for en‐ velopes, are in portrait orientation, with their longer dimen‐ sion as the length. Appending “l” (ell) to any of these denotes landscape orientation instead. An output driver typically re‐ quires command-line switches -p and -l to override the paper di‐ mensions and orientation, respectively, defined in its DESC file; see subsection “Paper sizes” of groff(1). Some of the foregoing language is pretty recent. By the way, papersize.tmac doesn't support formats A7, B7, C7, D7, but the output drivers do--thanks to libdriver. Does anyone know why this is the case? Regards, Branden signature.asc Description: PGP signature
Re: Macros for printing envelopes?
* On 2021 17 Jul 18:14 -0500, G. Branden Robinson wrote: > Not in groff world! To be militantly consistent, I suppose, in groff, > standard paper formats are always at least as long as they are wide. > > groff_tmac(5) discusses the "papersize" macro file. > > papersize > This macro file is normally loaded at start-up by the troffrc > file, so it is seldom necessary to call it explicitly. It pro‐ > vides an interface to set the paper size on the command line > with the option -dpaper=size to groff or troff. Possible values > for size are the ISO and DIN formats “A0–A6”, “B0–B6”, “C0–C6”, > and “D0–D6”; the U.S. formats “letter”, “legal”, “tabloid”, > “ledger”, “statement”, and “executive”; and the envelope formats > “com10”, “monarch”, and “DL”. All formats, even those for en‐ > velopes, are in portrait orientation, with their longer dimen‐ > sion as the length. Appending “l” (ell) to any of these denotes > landscape orientation instead. An output driver typically re‐ > quires command-line switches -p and -l to override the paper di‐ > mensions and orientation, respectively, defined in its DESC > file; see subsection “Paper sizes” of groff(1). > > Some of the foregoing language is pretty recent. Thanks, Branden. I find my system has an interesting quirk. Either Evince (Gnome Document Viewer), or CUPS, or something in between defines left and top margins of 0.25i for envelopes. After testing with cut pieces of scratch paper I set the lm and tm of the template to 0.05i and the positioning is where I want it. Changing the return address point size a bit and choosing Helvetica as the font family as Futura is not on my system, and I am up and going. I now have a working template for the #6 3/4 (US) envelopes I use along with setting up a custom size in the Gnome print dialog. I just ran a #10 envelope and it comes out just as I'd like. No proprietary software required!! Thanks to all. - Nate -- "The optimist proclaims that we live in the best of all possible worlds. The pessimist fears this is true." Web: https://www.n0nb.us Projects: https://github.com/N0NB GPG fingerprint: 82D6 4F6B 0E67 CD41 F689 BBA6 FB2C 5130 D55A 8819 signature.asc Description: PGP signature
