BRDGPRN3 Information for Programmers

BRDGPRN3.DLL is distributed with Duper and Dynamic Dealer.

Printing bridge deals with BRDGPRN3 consists of these steps:

1. Add all the hands you want printed to a queue, using the AddDeal routine.
2. Print all deals in the queue by calling one or more of the printing routines.
3. Clear the deal queue, using ClearDeals.

Routines and parameters

Important note:

All parameters passed to the routines must be passed using the Windows stdcall calling convention. Please consult your compiler documentation on this calling convention.

BRDGPRN3 exports six routines. They are AddDeal, ClearDeals, PrintCustom, PrintIndividual, PrintMulti, and AbortNag. Each is described below.

AddDeal

• Function : Adds a deal to the printing queue.

• Syntax: AddDeal(Deal)

• Parameter:
  • Deal is a pointer to a null-terminated string. The string must be in PBN format (http://home.iae.nl/users/veugent/pbn.html), except that all PBN 'tags' passed to AddDeal must be passed as a single concatenated string. The Deal parameter must include the PBN Deal Tag; the PBN Board, Vulnerable, and Dealer Tags may optionally be concatenated with the Deal Tag. All tags must comply strictly with PBN standards, including, for example, the use of brackets.

ClearDeals

• Function: Clears the queue of all deals added by calls to AddDeal. ClearDeals must be called explicitly after all desired printing is done. Otherwise, the already added deals will be printed again, along with any newly added deals, when the next printing call is made. The BRDGPRN3 routines were designed this way so that you can, for example, do a printout of all the South hands, and then do a printout of all the North hands for the same deals. Simply add the deals, then invoke the printing routine twice (with the appropriate parameters), then clear the deals.

• Syntax: ClearDeals

• Parameters
  • None.

PrintCustom

• Function: Of the three printing routines, PrintCustom gives the programmer the most control over printing. The trade-off is that it takes 48 parameters. If your printouts will be in English, you can probably ignore this routine and use either PrintMulti or PrintIndividual instead; they require far fewer parameters.

  The nuisance of the large number of parameters is offset to some extent by the fact that you may pass null strings (or 0) to many of them and have the printouts use the default values for the parameters. (See the description of each parameter for its default value, if any.)

• Syntax: PrintCustom (PrintMode, PageOrientation, Header1, Header2, Footer1, Footer2, ASymbol, KSymbol, QSymbol, JSymbol, TenSymbol, NorthTerm, EastTerm, SouthTerm, WestTerm, NoneTerm, BothTerm, DealerTerm, DealTerm, VulTerm, MaxEWString, Header1FontName, Header2FontName, Footer1FontName, Footer2FontName, CardFontName, CurtainHeader1FontName, CurtainHeader2FontName, Header1FontSize, Header2FontSize, Footer1FontSize, Footer2FontSize, CardFontSize, SymbolFontSize, CurtainHeader1FontSize, CurtainHeader2FontSize, Header1FontStyle, Header2FontStyle, Footer1FontStyle, Footer2FontStyle, CardFontStyle, CurtainHeader1FontStyle, CurtainHeader2FontStyle, WidthCM, HeightCM, UseColor, AutoNumberDeals, AutoDealerAndVul)

• Parameters
  • PrintMode is a signed 32-bit parameter indicating the printing mode, as follows:
    • 0: Prints one deal per page.
    • 1: Prints multiple deals per page, showing all four hands
    • 2: Prints multiple deals per page, showing only the North hand for each deal.
    • 3: Prints multiple deals per page, showing only the East hand for each deal.
    • 4: Prints multiple deals per page, showing only the South hand for each deal.
    • 5: Prints multiple deals per page, showing only the West hand for each deal.
    • 6: Prints multiple deals per page, showing only the North and South hands for each deal.
    • 7: Reserved.
    • 8: Prints curtain cards for all four hands.
    • 9: Prints curtain cards for North.
    • 10: Prints curtain cards for East.
    • 11: Prints curtain cards for South.
    • 12: Prints curtain cards for West.

  • PageOrientation is a signed 32-bit parameter indicating the page orientation, as follows:
    • 0: Portrait.
    • 1: Landscape.
    • -1: Leave the page orientation as it has already been set before the call to PrintCustom.

  • Header1 and Header2 are pointers to null-terminated strings that will appear as headers on each page. Pass null strings if no headers are desired. (Except that, if Header 1 is a null string and PrintMode = 0 (each deal to its own sheet), a header will be printed consisting of DealTerm + the board number.)

  • Footer1 and Footer2 are pointers to null-terminated strings that will appear as footers on each page. Pass null strings if no footers are desired.

  • ASymbol, KSymbol, QSymbol, JSymbol, and TenSymbol are pointers to null-terminated strings representing how the symbols for honor cards are to be printed. If a null string is passed as a parameter here, the default values 'A', 'K', 'Q', 'J', and 'T' will be used. Users who want to use English characters can therefore use null strings, unless they want to represent tens with '10', in which case they should pass '10' to TenSymbol.
    • Note that regardless of the symbols passed as ASymbol, KSymbol, QSymbol, JSymbol, and TenSymbol, the Deal Tag passed to AddDeal must use the English symbols required by PBN standards.

  • NorthTerm, EastTerm, SouthTerm, and WestTerm are pointers to null-terminated strings representing the terms to be used for the positions North, East, South, and West. If null strings are passed, the English terms will be printed. In some situations in which the terms appear (for example, diagram representations in multiple-deal-per-page printing) only the first character of the term will be used.
    • Note that regardless of the strings passed to NorthTerm, etc., the terms used in any tags passed to AddDeal must be the English terms required by PBN standards.

  • NoneTerm and BothTerm are pointers to null-terminated strings representing the terms to be used in describing vulnerability. A null string passed to NoneTerm will result in 'None' being used. A null string passed to BothTerm will result in 'Both' being used. (When the vulnerability is North-South or East-West, vulnerability designations will be based on NorthTerm, etc.)
    • Note that regardless of the strings passed to NoneTerm and BothTerm, the terms used in any tags passed to AddDeal must be the English terms required by PBN standards.

  • DealerTerm is a pointer to a null-terminated string representing the term to be used to identify the Dealer. A null string passed to DealerTerm will result in 'Dealer' being used if PrintMode is 0, and 'Dlr' for all other print modes.
    • Note that regardless of the string passed to DealerTerm, the term used in any tags passed to AddDeal must be the English term required by PBN standards.

  • DealTerm is a pointer to a null-terminated string representing the term to be used to identify each deal. A null string passed to DealTerm will result in 'Hand'. Many English-speaking users may prefer to use 'Board' instead.
    • Note that regardless of the string passed to DealTerm, the term used in any tags passed to AddDeal must be the English term required by PBN standards.

  • VulTerm is a pointer to a null-terminated string representing the term to be used to represent the term for vulnerability. A null string passed to VulTerm will result in 'Vul'.
    • Note that regardless of the string passed to VulTerm, the term used in any tags passed to AddDeal must be the English term required by PBN standards.

  • MaxEWString is a pointer to a null-terminated string used to represent the approximate maximum length of suits in the East and West hands (on multideal, four-hand printouts). Longer suits will wrap to the next line. (There should never be a need for North and South suits to wrap.) The length of MaxEWString affects the width of each box containing a hand diagram, and thus the number of hand diagrams in each row, and thus the number of deals printed on each page. If a null string is passed to MaxEWString, the default value will be used; the default is 'AKQJTx', after giving effect to any substitutions for A, K, etc. made via the ASymbols-TenSymbols parameters.

  • Header1FontName, Header2FontName, Footer1FontName, Footer2FontName, CardFontName, CurtainHeader1FontName, and CurtainHeader2FontName are pointers to null-terminated strings for the names of the fonts to be used, respectively, for Page Header1, Page Header2, Footer1, Footer2, the card-denomination characters, and Header1 and Header2 on individual curtain cards. If null strings are passed to any of these parameters, Arial font will be used.

  • Header1FontSize, Header2FontSize, Footer1FontSize, Footer2FontSize, CardFontSize, SymbolFontSize, CurtainHeader1FontSize, and CurtainHeader2FontSize are signed 32-bit integers for the various fonts to be used. SymbolFontSize is the size for the symbol font used for the suits. If 0 is passed to any of these parameters then the following defaults will be used:
    • Header1FontSize: 12 for PrintMode 0; 14 for all other printmodes.
    • Header2FontSize, Footer1FontSize, Footer2FontSize: 10 for all printmodes.
    • CardFontSize: 12 for PrintMode 0; 10 for printmodes 1-6; in printmodes 7-12, PrintCustom will attempt to find the largest reasonable font size
    • SymbolFontSize: 14 for PrintMode 0; 12 for all other printmodes. In printmodes 7-12, SymbolFontSize will be set equal to CardFontSize if 0 has been passed as CardFontSize.
    • CurtainHeader1FontSize: 10.
    • CurtainHeader2FontSize: 14.

    I have found that printouts look best if the font size used for the suit symbols is slightly larger than the font size used for the card denomination characters.

  • Header1FontStyle, Header2FontStyle, Footer1FontStyle, Footer2FontStyle, CardFontStyle, CurtainHeader1FontStyle, and CurtainHeader2FontStyle. These are unsigned 32-bit values passed to indicate font style. The value to pass is the sum of the desired attributes, using
    • 1 = Bold
    • 2 = Italic
    • 4 = Underline
    • 8 = Strikeout

  • WidthCM and HeightCM are signed 32-bit values indicating the width and height of curtain cards. The default values (i.e., if 0 is passed) are 5 and 7, respectively.

  • UseColor is an 8-bit value indicating whether the heart and diamond symbols should be printed in red. 1 = yes; 0 = no. On most black and white printers, setting UseColor to 1 will result in half-tone hearts and diamonds, which are not unattractive.

  • AutoNumberDeals is an 8-bit value indicating whether the deals should be numbered automatically (beginning with 1) in the printouts. 1 = yes; 0 = no. If autonumbering is used, any Board Tags that have been passed in the parameter to AddDeal will be ignored. If autonumbering is not used and no Board Tags are passed via AddDeal, then the deals will not be numbered.

  • AutoDealerAndVul is an 8-bit value indicating whether the dealer and vulnerability should be printed according to the normal scheme for duplicate board numbering. 1 = yes; 0 = no. If this is set to yes, any Dealer Tags and Vulnerable Tags that have been passed in the parameter to AddDeal will be ignored. If this is set to no and no Dealer and Vulnerable Tags are passed via AddDeal, then there will be no indication of dealer and vulnerability.

PrintIndividual

• Function: Prints all deals in the deal queue, each deal to an individual page.

• Syntax: PrintIndividual (PageOrientation, Footer1, Footer2, TenSymbol, UseColor, AutoNumberDeals, AutoDealerAndVul)

• Parameters
  • TenSymbol is an 8-bit char character indicating the symbol to be used to represent tens. Pass '1' to have tens represented by '10'.
    • Note that regardless of what character is passed to TenSymbol, the character used in the Deal Tags passed to AddDeal must be 'T', the character required by PBN standards.

  • All other parameters: See the identically named parameters under PrintCustom.

  • Note: Internally, PrintIndividual calls PrintCustom with the following parameters:
    • PrintMode: 0
    • PageOrientation: PageOrientation
    • Header1: null string (this causes Header1 to be DealTerm + the board number for that page)
    • Header2: null string
    • Footer1: Footer1
    • Footer2: Footer2
    • ASymbol: 'A'
    • KSymbol: 'K'
    • QSymbol: 'Q'
    • JSymbol: 'J'
    • TenSymbol: TenSymbol
    • NorthTerm: 'NORTH'
    • EastTerm: 'EAST'
    • SouthTerm: 'SOUTH'
    • WestTerm: 'WEST'
    • NoneTerm: 'None'
    • BothTerm: 'Both'
    • DealerTerm: 'Dealer'
    • DealTerm: 'Hand'
    • VulTerm: 'Vul'
    • MaxEWString: 'AKQJTx'
    • Header1FontName, Header2FontName, Footer1FontName, Footer2FontName, and CardFontName: 'Arial'
    • CurtainHeader1FontName and CurtainHeader2FontName: ''
    • Header1FontSize: 14
    • Header2FontSize: 0
    • Footer1FontSize: 10
    • Footer2FontSize: 10
    • CardFontSize: 12
    • SymbolFontSize: 14
    • CurtainHeader1FontSize and CurtainHeader2FontSize: 0
    • UseColor: UseColor
    • AutoNumberDeals: AutoNumberDeals
    • AutoDealerAndVul: AutoDealerAndVul

PrintMulti

• Function: Prints all deals in the queue, multiple deals per page.

• Syntax: PrintMulti (PrintMode, PageOrientation, Header1, Header2, Footer1, Footer2, TenSymbol, UseColor, AutoNumberDeals, AutoDealerAndVul)

• Parameters
  • TenSymbol is an 8-bit char character indicating the symbol to be used to represent tens. Pass '1' to have tens represented by '10'.
    • Note that regardless of what character is passed to TenSymbol, the character used in the Deal Tags passed to AddDeal must be 'T', the character required by PBN standards.

  • All other parameters: See the identically named parameters under PrintCustom.

  • Note: Internally, PrintIndividual calls PrintCustom with the following parameters:
    • PrintMode: PrintMode
    • PageOrientation: PageOrientation
    • Header1: Header1
    • Header2: Header2
    • Footer1: Footer1
    • Footer2: Footer2
    • ASymbol: 'A'
    • KSymbol: 'K'
    • QSymbol: 'Q'
    • JSymbol: 'J'
    • TenSymbol: TenSymbol
    • NorthTerm: 'North'
    • EastTerm: 'East'
    • SouthTerm: 'South'
    • WestTerm: 'West'
    • NoneTerm: 'None'
    • BothTerm: 'Both'
    • DealerTerm: 'Dlr'
    • DealTerm: 'Hand'
    • VulTerm: 'Vul'
    • MaxEWString: 'AKQJTx'
    • Header1FontName, Header2FontName, Footer1FontName, Footer2FontName, and CardFontName: 'Arial'
    • CurtainHeader1FontName and CurtainHeader2FontName: ''
    • Header1FontSize: 14
    • Header2FontSize: 10
    • Footer1FontSize: 10
    • Footer2FontSize: 10
    • CardFontSize: 10
    • SymbolFontSize: 11
    • CurtainHeader1FontSize and CurtainHeader2FontSize: 0
    • UseColor: UseColor
    • AutoNumberDeals: AutoNumberDeals
    • AutoDealerAndVul: AutoDealerAndVul

AbortNag

• Function: suppresses the advertisement that appears when BRDGPRN3.DLL is loaded. It must be called immediately after loading.

• Syntax: The AbortNag parameters are supplied upon registration.

Registering BRDGPRN3.DLL

David Howorth
1420 South 10th Street
Oxford, Mississippi 38655

or send $25 via PayPal to howorthd@bellsouth.net

In either case, please supply the following information:

• Name
• Address
• Email Address

The information necessary to suppress the BRDGPRN3 self-advertisement will be supplied by email.