Readers Feedback

---

The Editors and Readers of COMPUTE!

Wide SpeedCalc Printouts
Does SpeedCalc work with the Sideways program? I would like the ability to print out a spreadsheet with lots of columns.

Because SpeedCalc allows as many as 50 cells per horizontal row, many worksheets can't be printed on a standard 80-column printer. For example, a 12-month worksheet with an extra left cell for row titles and an extra right column cell for totals will be 126 columns wide (if you use the default column width of nine characters per cell). If you print this in the normal manner, you'll find that each worksheet row wraps to one and a half lines on the printout, making the sheet difficult to read.
    A crude solution is to divide the completed sheet into several sections - each no more than 80 columns wide - then print the sections separately and tape them together. Condensed printing mode offers a more elegant solution, if your printer supports it (Commodore printers do not). On most printers this allows a 132-character line, enough for more than 14 default-width cells across. You'll need to set the printer for condensed printing before you run SpeedCalc, either by setting the appropriate DIP switch on the printer or by sending the proper command codes. For example, CHR$(15) works for Epson and Epsoncompatible printers. You may have to use "transparent mode" to send this command through your interface. For instance, Cardco interfaces require OPEN 4,4,4: PRINT#4,CHR$(15): CLOSE 4.
    With the Commodore (January 1986) and Apple (February 1986) versions of SpeedCalc, the commercial program Sideways does let you print your sheets vertically down the page instead of horizontally across. This allows you to print spreedsheets of virtually unlimited width. The only restriction is that Sideways requires ASCII text files. For the Apple, just use Open Apple-CTRL-P to print a copy of the sheet to disk. For the 64/128, the procedure is slightly more complicated, since Sideways requires that the data be in a SEQ (sequential) file and SpeedCalc prints a PRG (program) file to disk. (The SpeedCalc article in the January issue is in error when it states that printing to disk stores the data in a sequential file.) To use Sideways with Commodore SpeedCalc, you must print (not save) the sheet to disk, then convert the printed data file from PRG format to SEQ format. The short program below performs this conversion:

10 PRINT"{CLR}{DOWN}{RVS} PRG
      {SPACE}-> SEQ FILE CONVE
      RTER ":Z$=CHR$(0):OPEN 3
      ,8,15,"I0:":GOSUB 100
20 FP$="":INPUT"NAME OF PRG-TY
      PE FILE";FP$:IF FP$=""T
      HEN 20
30 OPEN 1,8,8,"0:"+FP$+",P,R":
      GOSUB 100:IF S THEN CLOS
      E 1:GOTO 20
40 FS$="":INPUT"NAME FOR SEQ-T
      YPE FILE";FS$:IF FS$=""
      {SPACE}THEN 40
50 OPEN 2,8,9,"0:"+FS$+",S,W":
      GOSUB 100:IF S THEN CLOS
      E 2:GOTO 40
60 PRINT"WORKING...";:GET#1,A$
      ,A$
70 GET#1,A$:A=ASC(A$+Z$):S=ST:
      PRINT#2,CHR$(A);:IF (S O
      R ST)=0 THEN 70
80 IF (S<>64) OR ST THEN A$=""
      :GOTO 120
90 CLOSE 2:CLOSE 1:CLOSE 3:PRI
      NT"DONE":END
100 INPUT#3,S,A$:IF S=0 THEN P
      RINT:RETURN
110 IF (S=62) OR (S=63) THEN P
      RINT"{RVS}";A$:RETURN
120 CLOSE 2:CLOSE 1:CLOSE 3:PR
      INT"{DOWN}{RVS}DISK ERRO
      R: ";A$

    Sideways is a product of Funk Software (222 Third Street, Cambridge, MA 02142); the Commodore 64/128 version is distributed by Timeworks. Inc. (444 Lake Cook Road, Deerfield, IL 60015).