The calendar uses many features of DBT, and in turn you may learn some useful
lessons about DBT's Styles and Codes.
I probably won't finish this in one go, so here is Part 1. Basic set up.
The initial idea was to create a simple braille calendar which would fit into a
lady's purse (or handbag as we call them here in the U.K), or into a gent's
inside jacket pocket.
Let us start with the basic design.
Line 1 is a Page Header. This comprises of the name of each month, e.g.
"January 2019" and is centered on the line. As we have 12 months, each month is
on a separate page, and the Page Number top right is prefixed with the letter m
(as in "Mike") meaning the Month Number.
Line 2 are essentially column headings for the days of the week, and beginning
Monday. They are kept to the common 3 letter abbreviations, such as mon tue
wed, etc.. The last heading is only two characters "wk" to indicate the Week
Number.
Lines 3 thru 8 are for the days of the month.
Line 9 is a Footer intended to be the same on all 12 pages.
Many of you may have spotted that each page has 9 lines, which is OK if you are
using 12 inch deep paper. We will cover this issue later.
So let's get down to a couple of basics. First you need to know how in DBT to
both View Codes (Alt-F3) and insert Codes (Ctrl-[), as well as the normal
Window commands for Highlighting, Copying and Pasting text. When and if you
need to change a Code, you will need to highlight it first, and then press Ctrl
left square bracket.
We will begin opening the "Calendar 2019.dxp" file, and explaining what the
Codes do in this file. So now press Alt-F3, and they will appear.
To keep things simple for every reader, you will see the very first pair of
Codes [tx[g1] where the [tx] sets the default language for the Template you
have selected, and the [g1] tells DBT to produce Grade 1 or Uncontracted
braille.
Next is [pv1~m]. This sets the page number to 1, and the ~m prefixes the
letter m to the Page Number.
As we have a Running Footer on all pages the [svrfs0:0] Code sets the side-room
of the Footer to zero cells on each side. If we do not have this code, it will
use the default of 8 cells.
Next a Code [svrfp3] tells DBT which pages to place the Running footer on. In
this case the 3 means both left and right pages. (1 is for odd pages only and 2
is for right pages only.)
We now need to define our columns and we have done this using a Set Tab
command, the first being [stb1:r:3] which effectively says, "Set the first Tab,
right justified, at column 3". The next [stb2:r:7], "Set the second Tab, right
justified, at column 7" and so on.
Now if anyone is counting, the last Tab is set at column 31. This is the
extreme right hand side of the page where the Week Number will appear, and
leaves two spaces between the Sunday and Week Number.
Finally we set the sideroom of the Page Header with the Code [svrhs7:7] The
reason for this is to allow room for the page number on the same line as the
Header.
Well that is it for Part one everyone. In Part 2 we will deal with how data
entry was approached and done.
George
