4TeX: OPT files

4TeX OPT files

A complete workbench should offer the user to choose which printer he/she uses. This is done with the printer LST file (US_PRN.LST). Since 4TeX also offers the user to set all kind of printer options in the Printer options menu, 4TeX needs a list of available printer options and the parameters that are used when using the selected option. Hence for every printer an OPT file is used, e.g. for the DVIPS.EXE program (used to print on PS printers) 4TeX has the file DVIPS.OPT. This file looks like:

outputextension=ps
manpage=dvips.ps
tooutputfile=-o
pagerange=-pp
firstpage=-p
lastpage=-l
oddpages=-A
evenpages=-B
collated=-C
copypage=-c
copybody=-b
usetexnumbers==
reverseprint=-r
landscape=-t landscape
manualfeed=-m
printerresolution=-D
xresolution=-X
yresolution=-Y
xyoffset=-O
xoffset=
yoffset=
magnification=-x
dvimagnify=-y
stripspace=

Below we will explain all the options. Note that for every printer, 4TeX also defines a PAP file, which contains a list of all available paper sizes for the given printer and in the file MAGSTEPS.LST you will find a list of available magnifications. If 4TeX can't find the OPT file for the specified printer it will use the DVIPS.OPT file. Note that the printer option is every thing after the equal sign, e.g., oddpages=-A>/tt> means that the DVIPS option to print only the odd pages is -A If your printer hasn't got a certain option leave it blank after the equal sign, or just remove the option from the OPT file.

outputextension=: When printing to a file this options specifies the default file extension that is used in the save file menu.
manpage=: The documentation showing/explaining all the printer options.
tooutputfile=: The option that will write the output to a file
pagerange=: The option the specifies a page range that should be printed, e.g. for DVIPS the range could be 3:10,21,73:92 meaning pages 3 until 10, page 21, and pages 73 until 92.
firstpage=: Specifies the first pages that should be printed.
lastpage=: Specifies the last page that should be printed.
oddpages=: Specifies that only odd pages are printed
evenpages=: Only even pages are printed
collated=: Include this command line option to create a number of copies, but collated (by replicating the data in the PostScript file). Slower than the copypage option, but easier on the hands, and faster than resubmitting the same PostScript file multiple times.
copypage=: Insert this command line option to generate copies of every page, by using PostScript's #copies feature.
copybody=: Include this command line option to generate copies of each page, but duplicating the page body rather than using the #numcopies option. This can be useful in conjunction with a header file setting /bop-hook to do color separations or other neat tricks.
usetexnumbers=: The page ranges that are specified are the page numbers as generated by (La)TeX and not the pagecounter.
reverseprint=: The last page is printed first.
landscape=: Output is printed in landscape mode.
manualfeed=: You need to manually feed every page to the printer.
printerresolution=: The printer resolution (X as well as Y resolution)
xresolution=
yresolution=: Vertical (Y) printer resolution.
xyoffset=: Page margin/offset to move the origin by a certain amount. The offset is a comma-separated pair of dimensions, such as .1in,-.3cm The origin of the page is shifted from the default position (of one inch down, one inch to the right from the upper left corner of the paper) by this amount.
xoffset=: Horizontal offset.
yoffset=: Vertical offset.
magnification=: Insert this option to set the magnification ratio to x/1000. Overrides the magnification specified in the .dvi file. (Use the dvimagnify option or the Multiply by .dvi magnification checkbox to multiply this factor for that in the .dvi file.) Must be between 10 and 100000. It is recommended that you use standard magstep values (1095, 1200, 1440, 1728, 2074, 2488, 2986, and so on) to help reduce the total number of .PK files generated.
dvimagnify=: see above
stripspace=: Some printers need printer options where the option and value are separated by a space, others need option and value not separated at all (e.g. -l 10 or -l10). Use stripspace=y to ensure that the option and value is separated by a space.