remind/man/rem2ps.1

.\" $Id: rem2ps.1,v 1.1 1998-01-15 02:50:18 dfs Exp $
.TH REM2PS 1 "27 April 1996"
.UC4
.SH NAME
rem2ps \- draw a PostScript calendar from Remind output
.SH SYNOPSIS
.B rem2ps [\fIoptions\fR]
.SH DESCRIPTION
\fBRem2ps\fR reads the standard input, which should be the results of running
\fBRemind\fR with the \fB\-p\fR option.  It emits PostScript code (which
draws a calendar) to the standard output.
.SH OPTIONS
.TP
.B \-v
Be more verbose.  This causes \fBRem2ps\fR to print progress messages
to the standard error stream.  Normally, it is silent.
.TP
.B \-p file
Include the contents of \fIfile\fR in the PostScript prologue.  This
allows you to define procedures, variables etc. which can be used
by the \fBPS\fR and \fBPSFILE\fR reminders.  You should not
include any document structuring comments in your prologue.
.TP
.B \-l
Produce the calendar in landscape mode rather than the default
portrait mode.
.TP
\fB\-c\fR[\fIn\fR]
If \fIn\fR is omitted, disables the small calendars for next and previous
months which are normally generated.  If \fIn\fR is supplied, it can range
from 0 to 3, with the following meanings:
.RS
.TP
.B 0
Disable small calendars
.TP
.B 1
Place the small calendars at the bottom-right if there is room; otherwise,
place them at the top-left.
.TP
.B 2
Place the small calendars at the top-left if there is room; otherwise,
place them at the bottom-right.
.TP
.B 3
Place the previous month's small calendar at the top-left and the next
month's at the bottom-right if there is room; otherwise, follow \fIn\fR=1.
A moment's thought reveals that an option which splits the calendars if
there is room and otherwise follows \fIn\fR=2 yields the same results as
\fIn\fR=3.
.RE
.TP
.B \-i
Use ISO 8859-1 standard encoding for the PostScript fonts.  If you do
not use this option, the default encoding is used.
.TP
.B \-e
Make the calendar fill the entire page.  By default, the calendar is
slightly smaller than the page.  This allows days with many reminders
to "expand" as needed.  However, if you don't have days which expand,
you can use this option to make all of the boxes slightly bigger.  
One caveat: If you do use the \fB\-e\fR option and one day has many
reminders, the calendar may expand off the page, losing some information.
Experiment!
.TP
.B \-m media
Set the page size.  If you use the \-m option, you must specify the
media type, which can be one of the
following.  (Sizes are approximate.)
.RS
.TP
Letter
8.5 x 11 in.
.TP
Legal
11 x 17 in.
.TP
Ledger
8.5 x 14 in.
.TP
Statement
5.5 x 8.5 in.
.TP
Executive
7.5 x 10 in.
.TP
A3
29.7 x 42 cm.
.TP
A4
21 x 29.7 cm.
.TP
A5
14.8 x 21 cm.
.TP
B4
25.7 x 36.4 cm.
.TP
B5
18.3 x 25.7 cm.
.TP
Folio
8.5 x 13 in.
.TP
Quarto
8.5 x 10.8 in.
.TP
10x14
10 x 14 in.
.PP
Type "rem2ps -m help" for a list of available media.  Note that the media
type (and all \fBRem2ps\fR options) are case-sensitive.  If you don't use
the \fB\-m\fR option, the media defaults to a compiled-in default - this
is usually Letter for North America and A4 for Europe.  The "-m help"
option will display the compiled-in default.
.RE
.TP
\fB\-f\fR[\fBtshed\fR] \fIfont\fR
Set the font for the calendar title,
the small calendars, the day-of-week headings, the calendar
entries, and the day numbers, respectively.  \fIFont\fR must be the
name of a valid PostScript font.  The default fonts are equivalent to
specifying:
.RS
.PP
.nf
	-ftshe Helvetica -fd Helvetica-BoldOblique
.fi
.PP
In other words, the heading, entry and small-calendar fonts are set
to Helvetica, and the font for the day numbers is set to
Helvetica-BoldOblique.
.RE
.TP
\fB\-s\fR[\fBthed\fR] \fIsize\fR
Set the size (in points) of the text for the the calendar title,
day-of-week headings, the calendar entries, and the day numbers,
respectively.  \fISize\fR must be a decimal number.  The default sizes
are equivalent to specifying:
.RS
.PP
.nf
	-sthd 14 -se 8
.fi
.PP
In other words, the heading and day numbers are 14-point fonts, and the
calendar entries are printed in 8-point text.
.RE
.TP
\fB\-b\fR \fIsize\fR
Set the size of the blank white border in each calendar box to \fIsize\fR
points.  The default border size is 6 points, or 1/12 in.
.TP
\fB\-t\fR \fIsize\fR
Set the thickness of the black calendar grid lines.  The default is 1,
for a line thickness of one point (1/72 in.)
.TP
\fB\-o\fR[\fBlrtb\fR] \fIsize\fR
Set the left, right, top, and/or bottom margins to \fIsize\fR points.
For this option only, \fIsize\fR must be an integer.  It represents the
margin size in units of 1/72 in.  The default margin sizes are 36, for
half-inch margins.  If you wish to punch holes in the calendar page to insert
it into a binder, you may wish to increase the left margin to one inch.
In that case, you should also decrease the heading font size to 12 points
for good output:
.PP
.nf
	# This gives good results for putting into a binder
	rem2ps -ol 72 -sh 12
.fi
.SH USAGE
To use \fBRem2ps\fR, you should pipe the output of \fBRemind\fR with the \fB\-p\fR
option to \fBRem2ps\fR, and then send the result to a printer.  This is most easily
illustrated with examples:
.PP
.nf
	remind -p12 /dev/null 1 jan 1994 | rem2ps | lpr -Plaser
.fi
.PP
That example creates a blank calendar for the entire year of 1994, and
sends it the the printer named "laser."
.PP
.nf
	remind -p ~/.reminders | rem2ps -l -sd 18 > cal.ps
.fi
.PP
This reminder creates a calendar for the current month, filling in
entries from the reminder file "~/.reminders."  The calendar is produced
in landscape mode, with a font size of 18 for the day numbers.  The result
is put in the PostScript file "cal.ps."
.PP
.SH VARIABLES AVAILABLE TO USER-SUPPLIED POSTSCRIPT CODE
.PP
The following variables are available to \fBPS\fR and 
\fBPSFILE\fR-type reminders.  (This material is duplicated
in the \fBRemind\fR manual page.)
.TP
LineWidth
The width of the black grid lines making up the calendar.
.TP
Border
The border between the center of the grid lines and the space used to print
calendar entries.  This border is normally blank space.
.TP
BoxWidth and BoxHeight
The width and height of the calendar box, from center-to-center of the
black gridlines.
.TP
InBoxHeight
The height from the center of the bottom black gridline to the top
of the regular calendar entry area.  The space from here to the top
of the box is used only to draw the day number.
.TP
/DayFont, /TitleFont, /EntryFont, /SmallFont and /HeadFont
The fonts used to draw the day numbers, the month and year title,
the calendar entries, the small
calendars, and the day-of-week headings, respectively.
.TP
DaySize, TitleSize, EntrySize and HeadSize
The sizes of the above fonts.  (The size of the small calendar font
is \fInot\fR defined here.)  For example, if you wanted to print
the Hebrew date next to the regular day number in the calendar, use:
.PP
.nf
	REM PS Border BoxHeight Border sub DaySize sub moveto \\
	   /DayFont findfont DaySize scalefont setfont \\
	   ([hebday(today())] [hebmon(today())]) show
.fi
.PP
.RS
Note how /DayFont and DaySize are used.
.RE
.PP
Note that if you supply PostScript code, it is possible to produce invalid
PostScript files.  Always test your PostScript thoroughly with a PostScript
viewer before sending it to the printer.  You should not use any document
structuring comments in your PostScript code.
.PP
In addition, prior to drawing a calendar page, \fBRem2ps\fR emits
the following PostScript code:
.PP
.nf
	save (mon) (yr) PreCal restore
.fi
.PP
where \fImon\fR and \fIyr\fR are the month and year of the calendar
page.  The default \fBPreCal\fR procedure simply pops
the arguments and does nothing.  However, you can define a \fBPreCal\fR
function in your prologue file to do whatever you want - it can draw a
background for the entire calendar, for instance.
.PP
In the context of the \fBPreCal\fR procedure, the following conditions
hold:
.TP
o
The PostScript origin is at the bottom left-hand corner of the page, and
PostScript units of 1/72" are in effect.
.TP
o
The variables MinX, MinY, MaxX and MaxY define the bounding box within
which the calendar will be drawn.
.TP
o
The font and font-size variables, as well as Border and LineWidth described
previously, are valid.
.PP
For an example, create a file called "myprolog" whose contents are:
.PP
.nf
		/PreCal {
		 /yr exch def
		 /mon exch def
		 /xsiz1 MaxX MinX sub def
		 /ysiz1 MaxY MinY sub def
		 /xsiz xsiz1 MinX sub MinX sub def
		 /ysiz ysiz1 MinY sub MinY sub def
		 xsiz
		 ysiz
		 lt
		 {/len xsiz 1.41 mul def
		  MinX MinX add ysiz1 xsiz1 sub 2 div MinY add MinY add moveto}
		 {/len ysiz 1.41 mul def
		  xsiz1 ysiz1 sub 2 div MinX add MinX add MinY MinY add moveto}
		 ifelse
		 /Helvetica-Bold findfont 1 scalefont setfont
		 mon stringwidth pop
		 ( ) stringwidth pop add
		 yr stringwidth pop add
		 len exch div /len exch def
		 /Helvetica-Bold findfont len scalefont setfont
		 0.95 setgray
		 45 rotate
		 mon show
		 ( ) show
		 yr show
		} bind def
.fi
.PP
Use that file with the \fBRem2ps\fR \fB\-p\fR option to create calendars
with the year and month in large grey letters in the background of the
calendar.
.PP
.SH AUTHOR
David F. Skoll
.SH BUGS
All \fBRem2ps\fR options are case-sensitive, unlike \fBRemind\fR.
Any time you supply
a font name or size, line thickness, or border width, it is treated as a
string and sent straight to the PostScript interpreter.  Thus, if you
supply invalid fonts or sizes, \fBRem2ps\fR will not complain, but the
resulting PostScript output will probably not work.
.PP
You should ensure that the values you supply for margin widths are sensible.
If they are too big for the media size, \fBRem2ps\fR will not complain,
but again, the PostScript output will probably not work.
.SH SEE ALSO
\fBRemind\fR