the default vertical tabs, which are set for every other line, or you can
set tabs in one of two ways, in a single set or, for forms, in up to
8
sets,
called channels.
Ordinary vertical tabs
Most often you probably will only need one series of vertical tabs.
You set them with ESCape “B” in this format:
CHR$(27)“B”CHR$(n
1
) . . . CHR$(n
k
)CHR$(0)
where n
1
to n
k
represent up to
16
numbers that specify the lines that get
tab stops. The process is terminated by CHR$(0). If your system won’t
send a 0, use any number lower than n
k
.
The allowable range of tab settings in the ESCape “B” sequence is
1
to
255,
but a number greater than the current form length is ignored.
Therefore, you would use a setting as large as
255
only when the line
spacing is less than three dots (3/72-inch).
Because the top line of a page is line 0, you can set tabs at line
1
through
65
with the default form feed of
66
lines.
You can set up all the tabs you’ll need for a form without having to
use all of them at once. Here, for example, is the beginning of a pro-
gram that will result in a form used by a rental agent:
NEW
10
V$=CHR$(11)
20 LPRINT CHR$(27)“B”CHR$(J)CHR$(8)CHR$(18)CHR$(27)
CHR$(37)CHR$(48)CHR$(0)
30 LPRINT V$; “RENTAL MAINTENANCE REQUEST”;
50 LPRINT V$
90 LPRINT V$; “TENANT”
So that your program will be concise, line
10
defines the vertical tab-
bing code as V$. Then line
20
specifies the six lines to which the printer
will tab. When you RUN this program, the two sets of text of lines
30
and
90
print out at the first and third stops, while line
50
causes the
printer to skip over the second stop. Figure 9-10 shows the printout.
You set the first tab for line 3, but the first printing is on the fourth
line. This is because the printer counts the first line as the zero line.
123
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