     BONNER LAB RUNOFF                                                 Page  1
     ABSTRACT






                                     ABSTRACT

                              Bonner Lab Runoff (RNO)

     Bonner  Lab Runoff is a text formatter which when used with your favorite
     editor makes a complete word processor.  Its syntax is almost a  complete
     emulation of DSR (Digital Standard Runoff) and it is very compatible with
     previous versions of Runoff.  The intent of this program  is  to  support
     complete  scientific  word  processing  to  produce  publication  quality
     output.  It has been  used  to  produce  thesis,  progress  reports,  and
     scientific papers here at Rice University.  

     This version allows complete control of any special printer available via
     user definable escape sequences.  In addition  a  macro  facility  allows
     text  or  sequences  of commands to be abbreviated to a single label.  If
     the printer has the correct features then variable  spacing,subscripting,
     superscripting, and equation formatting are possible.  By properly defin-
     ing escape sequences  the  user  may  support  different  printers  in  a
     transparent  fashion.   In  other words the same input text will print in
     identical fashion on different printers with different control codes  and
     escape sequences.  

     Table of contents, indexing and sub-indexing are all supported.  Multiple
     table of contents or multiple indexing may be constructed from the avail-
     able  commands.   A  variety  of LAYOUT and STYLE commands may completely
     change the look of the  pages.   Table  layout  is  simplified  by  right
     justified and 'decimal' justified tabs.  Permanent margins which apply to
     the page headers are available.  These simplify the setting of header and
     text margins.  

     This  runs  under  VMS,  RSX, IAS, RT11, TSX, and probably RSTS.  RNO oc-
     cupies a minimum of 31 to 37 kbytes depending on the operating system.  

     BONNER LAB RUNOFF                                                 Page  2
     Distribution

                                   DISTRIBUTION

     This distribution of BONNER LAB RUNOFF contains all the .MAC, .RNO, .TST,
     .CMD, .COM and .DOC files necessary to build and test RNO.  BUILD.DOC  or
     RUNOFF.DOC  give the necessary preceedures to build RNO.  The distributed
     RUNOFF.DOC file refers to the VMS version, but in the process of building
     RNO  you  may  generate  documentation  suitable for the target operating
     system.  The following are enhancements since the Fall '83 version.  

                                   ENHANCEMENTS

          1.  .TEXT  DEFERRED  allows  a  block  of  text  to  be declared for
              output on the next available page.  This is intended for  defin-
              ing captioned figures.  
          2.  .ENABLE/DISABLE  NUMBERING  commands  allow  page  numbering  to
              be suspended.  These are not affected by the .NUMBER  PAGE  com-
              mand.  
          3.  .ENABLE/DISABLE  NUMBERING  CHAPTER  allow  chapter-page number-
              ing to be suspended  without  having  it  reenabled  by  .NUMBER
              CHAPTER.  
          4.  .ENABLE  ODD  forces  the  first  page  of  each chapter onto an
              odd page by skipping pages if necessary.  .PAGE  ODD,.PAGE  EVEN
              force page numbers to be odd or even by skipping pages if neces-
              sary.  
          5.  /EV,/OD switches allow selection of odd or even page output. 
          6.  Limits  have  been  set  on  parameters so that the maximum page
              size is 127 lines by 255 spaces.  This limitation  has  been  in
              previous  versions  even  though not explicitly stated.  Now at-
              tempts to exceed these limits will cause error  messages  rather
              than mysterious errors.  
          7.  .TAB  STOPS  may  now  be  specified as a relative value +n from
              the previous one.  The first tab stop may be  specifed  relative
              to  the  current  left  margin.  This is not compatible with DSR
              usage, but is much more useful than DSR usage.  
          8.  .TAB   PROPORTIONAL  command  allows  tab  stops  to  be  evenly
              proportioned across a page.  
          9.  Commands  not  available  in  DSR  have been marked in the docu-
              mentation.  In addition parameters which  differ  from  DSR  are
              also noted.  
         10.  RT-11 support has been added to this version.  
         11.  .ELSE has been added the same as in DSR.  
         12.  .LAYOUT has been extended to 15 values from 7.  
         13.  .RIGHT TEXT and .END RIGHT commands added.  
         14.  .TYPE  command  has  been  added  to  allow messages to be typed
              on the terminal.  
         15.  .HEADERS  has  been  made  the  standard  command and .HEADER is
              now the nonstandard alternate.  
         16.  .REQUIRE  "TI:"  may  now  be  used to get input from the termi-
              nal.  Previously .REQUIRE "TI:filename" was necessary for input. 
         17.  Multiple  input  files  are  allowed  on  the  RNO command line.
              The first input filename is the default output filename.  

     BONNER LAB RUNOFF                                                 Page  3
     Enhancements

         18.  .NO VARIANT turns off a variant.  
         19.  .FLAGS   TAB  and  .NO  FLAGS  TAB  have  been  added  to  allow
              redefinition of the tab flag.  
         20.  .PAGING/.NO   PAGING   commands  have  been  added.   These  are
              useful in generating help files.  
         21.  Both   .AUTOHYPHENATION  and  .PERIOD  commands  have  been  ex-
              tended to allow user selectable punctuation rules.  
         22.  .DEFINE  COMMAND  has  been  extended  to  allow  multiple  word
              labels.  
         23.  .DELETE  COMMAND/SUBSTITUTE  have  been  added  to  allow remov-
              ing a single entry.  
         24.  Literal  input  has  been  modified  to allow imbedded quotes or
              apostrophes.  
         25.  The  .DISPLAY  commands  have  been  enhanced to allow automatic
              underlining, bolding or use  of  any  special  feature  of  your
              printer.   The  pre  and post-fixes may contain any flags except
              for equations and tabs.  
         26.  .DISPLAY   LEVELS  now  supports  level  numbers  with  separate
              pre  and  post-fixes  for  each  level.   This  allows  possible
              autotmatic underlining, bolding etc.  of header levels.  
         27.  .DISPLAY   TITLE/SUBTITLE   make  automatic  underlining/bolding
              of page titles and subtitles feasable.  
         28.  .SAVE   and   .RESTORE   commands  allow  the  user  to  quickly
              change the current status, and set up automatic status.  
         29.  .STYLE   HEADERS   has   been  extended  to  allow  for  section
              header numbers in the form of lists (a or  b  or  c  instead  of
              a.b.c) 
         30.  The  new  style  and  display  features  are illustrated in DIS-
              PLA.tst which works on a VT-100 terminal and DISLEV.tst.  
         31.  The  command  syntax  has  been  further  loosened  to  allow  a
              large variety  of  command  abbreviations  in  addition  to  the
              standard ones.  
         32.  A  parameter  has  been  added  to  the  .PRINT INDEX "entry" to
              allow printing only a specific entry (subindex).  .DELETE  INDEX
              "entry"  allows deleting an index entry, and .RESET INDEX clears
              the entire index buffer.  
         33.  .SEND  PAGE  TOC  allows  text  to be inserted into the table of
              contents with a page number.  The text may be  braketed  by  .IF
              commands.  
         34.  .ENABLE/DISABLE   UNCONDITIONAL   allow   turning  off  uncondi-
              tional lines of input.  This may be used with .SEND PAGE TOC  to
              produce separate table of contents for figures, tables etc.  
         35.  The  .TOC  command  was  changed  to  produce  better  table  of
              contents output by using the paragraph test text parameter.  
         36.  A  parameter  has  been  added  to .PARAGRAPH, .TEST PAGE, .TEST
              TEXT which prevents orphan lines on the next  page.   This  also
              applies to lists, and notes.  
         37.  Dynamic   memory  is  reclaimed  more  efficiently,  to  prevent
              memory overflow.  
         38.  .DO INDEX was changed to conform to DSR usage.  



     BONNER LAB RUNOFF                                                 Page  4
     Enhancements

                                       NOTE

          If  you find any bugs I would appreciate getting a copy of both
          the .RNO and .DOC files containing these bugs.   If  you  could
          isolate the bug and demonstrate it in just a few lines of input
          I would appreciate the effort.  I will try to fix bad  bugs  or
          at least create a workaround.  I do not guarantee anything.  


                                                                  John Clement
                                                            Bonner Nuclear Lab
                                                               Rice University
                                                                      Box 1892
                                                             Houston Tx, 77251
                                                                (713) 527-4018

