Windows Tips for Current AVScripter Users
Tom Schroeppel, 3205 West Price Avenue, Tampa, FL 33611-3720  (813) 831-0947
E-mail: Tom@TomSchroeppel.com / Home Page: www.TomSchroeppel.com

1. Open My Computer.

2. Click on "C."

3. Select File | New Folder -- name it AVScripter.

4. Copy AVSCRIPT.EXE and any other files you might need to the folder AVScripter.

5. In the AVScripter folder, right click on AVSCRIPT.EXE  for the drop down menu.

6. In Windows 95, click on Create Shortcut, then drag the shortcut to the desktop. In Windows 98 and up, click on Send to: Desktop as shortcut.

7. On the desktop, right click on the shortcut icon for the drop down menu.

8. Click on Properties.

9. Click on the Program tab at the top.

10. To the end of the command line, add [SPACE] C -- so it should look something like this:
                C:\AVSCRI~1\AVSCRIPT.EXE C

11. In the Working Directory, enter the folder where your ASCII script files will be located, for example,
                C:\Program Files\MSW95\Scripts

12. Check "Close on Exit" at the bottom.

13. Click on Change Icon at the bottom.  I suggest using the Pencil and Paper about midway in.  After selecting an icon, click on OK.

14. Click on the Font tab at the top.

15. Select Bit Map only.

16. Click on the Screen tab at the top.

17.  Select Full Screen.

18. Click on the Compatibilty tab at the top.

19. Checkmark to run in compatibility mode for Windows 95.

20. At the bottom, click on Apply, then OK to exit.

21. Double click on the AVScripter icon to load AVScripter. NOTE: When AVScripter comes up in Windows XP, you will see briefly at the top of the screen an error message about extended memory. You can safely ignore this message. 

If you prefer, you can right click on the icon and Rename the icon to simply AVScripter.

NOTE: When you're finished with AVScripter, exit by typing  X or the ESCAPE key. Don't try to close the window. It will
close automatically after you exit AVScripter.

Use ALT+TAB to go back and forth between AVScripter and other programs.

Be sure to name your ASCII DOS script files in the old DOS 8.3 format (for example, MYFILE.ASC), which AVScripter
prefers. Most Windows word processors will accept a non-standard file name if it's typed within quotes when saving, like this: "MYFILE.ASC"

If your Windows word processor insists on adding its own extent to your file name, as in MYFILE.ASC.TXT, then in AVScripter, in the Filename or Directory Mask Box, backspace over the default .ASC extent, and change it to an *, so it shows all files *.*. Or you can change the extent to .TXT

In Word for Windows, I'm told the best results come from saving your script files as "MS-DOS text with line breaks." If that isn't available, try "Text only with line breaks." Both of these formats should save your scripts as pure ASCII files, with a hard return at the end of each line--which is what AVScripter needs.

In WordPerfect for Windows, save as "ASCII DOS Text."

MSWorks and the other works-type programs usually save as generic text, which can lose you lines in the AVScripter output. See "Don't Use Generic Word Processing Format" in the AVScripter manual.

A common problem with Windows (3.1 and Win95/98) is that word processing programs will sometimes deny AVScripter access ("File Access Denied") to a script file if the same file is currently open in the word processor. Here's what I do to get around this problem:
            1)Save the file in your word processor;
            2)Close the file in your word processor;
            3) Switch to AVScripter and open the file in AVScripter for processing;
            4)Switch back to your word processor and reopen the file to make any changes.
            5) Then repeat the process as necessary.

I've found that the most foolproof way to fax an AVScripter-created script with a faxmodem is:

    1. With AVScripter, print a hard copy of the two-column script.

    2. With AVScripter, print the script to a two-column disk file (Print to Disk), in the process losing all underlines.

    3. Import the two-column disk file, as an ASCII DOS text file, into your word processor.

    4. Start to Print the document. In the Print dialog box, select your faxmodem as the printer, then close the Print dialog box without printing. This will set your word processor's defaults for the faxmodem.

    5. Set your margins to the minimum all around (usually .3 inches), and set your font to 12 point Courier. You may have to change it to 11 point or smaller for the page breaks to fall correctly. Also, I usually Select All of the file and set the font to Bold; this makes for a sharper looking, easier-to-read fax.

    6. Using the hard copy script as a guide, put any underlines back in.

   7. Fax the script using your faxmodem program.

AVScripter can print directly only to one of the parallel printer ports: LPT1, LPT2 or LPT3. To print to a USB printer, you have to print to a two-column disk file (Print to Disk), import that file into your Windows word processor, then print to the USB printer from the word processor. Follow the same setup tips above as for faxing with a faxmodem.