Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!decwrl!shelby!neon!pescadero.Stanford.EDU!philip
From: philip@pescadero.Stanford.EDU (Philip Machanick)
Newsgroups: comp.lang.postscript
Subject: Re: ps commands to print "DRAFT"
Message-ID: <1990Jul4.190918.11910@Neon.Stanford.EDU>
Date: 4 Jul 90 19:09:18 GMT
References: <196@heaven.woodside.ca.us> <3937@dogie.macc.wisc.edu>
Sender: news@Neon.Stanford.EDU (USENET News System)
Reply-To: philip@pescadero.stanford.edu
Organization: Computer Science Department, Stanford University
Lines: 29

In article <196@heaven.woodside.ca.us>, glenn@heaven.woodside.ca.us
(Glenn Reid) writes:
> In article <3937@dogie.macc.wisc.edu> yahnke@vms.macc.wisc.edu (Ross
Yahnke, MACC) writes:
> >August 1990 MacUser had a tip on how to print the large word "DRAFT"
> >over a document, using a PS escape font. I've sort of gotten it to
> >work in Nisus, only problem is the word "DRAFT" obscures the
> >underlying text - unlike the example in the magazine. Can anybody
> >suggest what must be done to make the word "DRAFT" transparent?
> 
> You have to draw the word "DRAFT" before you start drawing the page.
> It's not really transparent, it's underneath the rest of the text.
> You can do this by redefining "showpage" to image your DRAFT notice
> after it's done printing the page, but you still have to prime the
> pump so it works on the first page.  Try something like this:
[sample code plus various hints on how to make it work]

Excuse my ignorance, but what's wrong with simply putting the PS
before anything else that prints on the page? This may not always
be possible, but most word processors presumably print from top to
bottom (I don't know Nisus), so you just put your PostScript first
(assuming "a PS escape font" means you just embed PS in your text).
Some DTP packages allow you to "send to back", which is even more
explicit. Of course, none of this will work if the word processor
whites out underneath itself, as Glenn observed, but then neither
will his approach (without changing the stragey, again as he noted).

Philip Machanick
philip@pescadero.stanford.edu