DOS/Direct Observation Form (DOF) FAQs

NOTE: Questions marked with the symbol are specific to the Macintosh

These are instructions for installing the Cross-Informant Program version 5.x. The instructions should work for all of our DOS programs. Simply substitute the name of your program for “CROSS.”

• From the Start menu, choose Programs and then MS-DOS Prompt.
• At the C:\WINDOWS prompt, type CD\ to get to the root directory.
• Insert the distribution disk in drive A: (or drive B:).
• Type A: (or B:) to switch to the floppy disk drive.
• Type INSTALL C:\CROSS. The Cross-Informant Program will be installed in a folder called C:\CROSS. In order to locate the PRINTERS.LST file properly, the program (CROSS.EXE), the template files (files with the extension .TPL or .T9*), and PRINTERS.LST must be installed to the same directory.
• Type EXIT to get back to the Windows Desktop.
• Right click your mouse in a blank area to get the popup menu.
• Choose New and then Shortcut.
• Click the Browse button, navigate to the C:\CROSS folder, and select the CROSS.EXE.
• Click Open.
• Click Next. Name the shortcut “Cross Informant” or whatever identifies the program to you.
• Click Next again and select an icon.
• Click Finish to create the shortcut on the desktop.
• You can drag the shortcut from the desktop to a convenient folder or to the Start menu if you wish.
• To run the Cross-Informant Program, double click on the new shortcut. If you want to work in a larger DOS window, press [ALT] and [ENTER] together.

Before you can print from any of our DOS programs, you need to tell the program what printer you are using. These instructions are for selecting a printer on a DOS or Windows-based PC. If you are using a Mac, see How do I set up printing on a Macintosh? for instructions.

Within our program, choose Set-Up from the Menu Bar at the top of screen. Then choose Select Printer from the submenu. You will be shown the name of the currently-selected printer (if any). If the printer shown is correct, just answer Yes. If you answer No, or if no printer is selected, you will be presented with a list of printers. Highlight your printer and choose Select.

If your printer is not listed, look in your printer manual to see if you can emulate a printer that is listed. See My printer is not included in the list of printers for more information.

If you still have not found a printer that will work, look in your printer manual to find the ASCII codes to make your printer print “compressed”. Then choose Setup, Manually Enter from the menu. You will be presented with a dialog box with a space to enter the name of your printer and another space to enter the necessary ASCII codes. Enter the codes with spaces (not commas or dashes) between them, and choose OK.

Selecting a printer from the DOS software only sends an escape sequence to put the printer in condensed mode. It doesn’t select a printer in the same sense that you do that in a Windows environment.

Q:

Our programs were written to be used on PCs running DOS or Windows. You can run them on a Mac running DOS emulation software. If you are using emulation software, the process for selecting a printer is slightly different than on a PC. These instructions are for SoftWindows. If you are using different emulation software, the process will be similar.

Selecting a Printer on a Macintosh:

• Install your emulation software. Install our program to run under your emulation software according to the instructions in our program manual.
• In our program under SETUP and ERROR REPORT (from the Main Menu Bar), select SELECT PRINTER.
• SELECT the first choice (**MACINTOSH PRINTER SETUP**) or choose no printer.
• Select SETUP from the SoftWindows menu appearing at the top of the screen.
• Select PC PRINTER PORT from the dropdown menu.
• Under PC APPLICATION INSTALLED FOR: select EPSON LQ-2500; Click on OPTIONS.
• Settings on the Printer Options window:
  • Auto Line Feed: (Off)
  • Condensed: (Off)
  • Pitch: ( 15) Monospace: (Courier)
  • Select SAVE (OK)
• Return to our running program and continue.

The file, PRINTERS.LST, is installed in the directory (or folder) in which the scoring program has been installed, e.g. C:\CROSS, for the Cross-Informant Program.

To ensure that our program can find PRINTERS.LST, you will need to do one of the following:

DOS users:

Type CD\CROSS and press return to change to the program directory before running the program; or

Make sure that PRINTERS.LST file and the template files (any files with the extension .TPL or .T9*) are in your current directory.

Windows95 or WindowsNT users:

See How do I install your DOS software under Windows95/98/NT/2000? to make sure the program was installed correctly.

The latest version of PRINTERS.LST is available for download from this website. See Where can I get the latest PRINTERS.LST? for download instructions.

PRINTERS.LST is a file that contains compression codes for many kinds of printers. PRINTERS.LST is available for download from our website.

Download: PRINTERS.LST (3KB) December 6, 1999.

Directions for download:

• In Netscape Navigator, right-click on the filename and choose Save Link as.... In Internet Explorer, right-click on the filename and choose Save Target As...
• Save the file as PRINTERS.LST in the directory where our program is installed (i.e., C:\CROSS).
  

Many printers emulate Epson dot matrix protocols, Hewlett-Packard PCL, or Apple ImageWriter protocols.

Try selecting a printer that is similar to the one you have. For example, if you are using a color DeskJet printer such as the HP DJ 600C or 800C series, select the HP PaintJet printer. See your printer manual for more information about selecting the proper emulation.

If you cannot find a printer that will work, look in your printer manual to find the ASCII codes needed to make your printer print "compressed". Then, from within our program, choose Setup, Manually Enter from the menu. You will be presented with a dialog box with a space to enter the name of your printer and another space to enter the necessary ASCII codes. Enter the codes with commas (not spaces or dashes) between them, and choose OK.

This is usually because you are scoring a CBCL for a child under six years of age. Because competence scores are not calculated for these children, the first page of the profile will not be printed.

The first page will also not be printed if too many Competence items or Adaptive Functioning items are missing.

If page 1 is present but not printed properly and you are using one of our DOS programs, the problem is usually that the printer is not compressing properly. See How do I select a printer? for more information.

Insert an extra ESC(27) in the ASCII sequence. For example 27,27,38,107,50,83 for HP Color DeskJets.

Our computer programs write directly to the first printer port on the running workstation.

Configure your network software to CAPTURE printer port LPT1. See your network software manuals or network administrator for assistance. If you are using Windows 95, 98, NT, or 2000 see the instructions below.

Windows 95 and 98 users

• From the Start menu, choose Settings and then Printers.
• Right click on the your default printer, then select Properties. Click on the Details tab, and click the Capture Printer Port button. You will see a Capture Printer Port dialog box.
• On the Device dropdown, choose LPT1.
• On the Path dropdown, select the network printer to which you want to send the output or type in the network path.
• Be sure that Reconnect at Logon is checked.
• Click OK to close the Capture Printer Port dialog.
• Click OK to close the Properties dialog.

Windows NT and 2000 users

Make a batch (.bat) file with the following command in it and copy the file to the C:\WINNT folder on the user's machine.

net use lpt1: \\servername\printqueue /persistent:yes

where 'servername' is the name of the server, and 'printqueue' is the name of the print queue. If your server name or print queue name has spaces or other characters not recognized by DOS, you should enclose the specification in double quotes:

net use lpt1: "\\MHMR1\Butler ED's" /persistent:yes

Place a shortcut to this batch file in the ALLUSER profile under Startmenu\Programs\Startup. Your configuration may vary from this, but the idea is to invoke the batch file upon startup. This procedure should capture the printer port from the user's machine and send output to the designated networked printer. You should still select the proper type for compressed print from our printer setup dialog.