DBT Tutorial Working with Existing Documents

 Opening an Existing Document
Making Changes to an Existing Print Document
Saving Documents: Save vs. Save As
Printing a Document
Editing an Existing Braille Document
Managing Documents
Applying This to My Everyday Work
 

Opening an Existing Document

Now that we've already created a new document and closed DBT, we want to go back and make some changes.

  1. Open DBT again. Once you've done that, we'll open the document
  2. Select "File: Open" from the menu OR: Type CTRL-O
  3. Select "letter.dxp". This is the file that you already created and saved.
  4. Click "Open." You can double-click the file that you want to open in lieu of clicking the "Open" button.

Making Changes to an Existing Print Document

Notice where the cursor is located. When you save a document, the position of your cursor is also saved. When you open that document, you can move the cursor one of two ways:

Now we'll continue working with our letter.

  1. Insert the cursor in front of the question mark in the sentence "How are you?" (See Fig. 7)
  2. Add the word "doing"
  3. The text should now say "How are you doing?"

Cut & Paste, Copy, Insert, Highlight

You can do all of these things just as you do in other word processing programs.
To select text, use your mouse or use the shift key with arrows. (Incidentally, I find that using the keyboard instead of the mouse is much quicker and more accurate in DBT.)

  1. Select the words "I'm learning how to use the Duxbury braille Translator. " (See Fig. 8) You may select text by using your mouse, or by using your keyboard.
  2. To cut text, select "Edit: Cut" from the menu or type CTRL-X. Cut the words you selected.
  3. To paste text, select "Edit: Paste" from the menu or type CTRL-V. Move the cursor and paste the words "I'm learning how to use the Duxbury Braille Translator. " before the words "How are you doing?"
  4. To copy text, select "Edit: Copy" from the menu or type CTRL-C. Copy the words "I'm well. "
  5. Paste the words "I'm well. " before the words "I'm learning how to use the Duxbury Braille Translator."
  6. Save your changes.
  7. Close the document.
  8. Close DBT.

You have just made changes to your document, saved the changes and closed both the document and the application that created it.

The text should now say

Dear Mother,

I'm well. I'm learning how to use the Duxbury Braille Translator. How are you? I'm well. It isn't very hard! All you have to do is to type in the text, tell the program to translate, and emboss!

Love,
Misty.

Saving Documents: Save vs. Save As

There are two ways to save a document. You have already seen the save command, which saves any changes to the document that you have made. The Save As command does the same thing, but saves the changes as a new document.

  1. Delete the fourth sentence, "I'm Well." from the document.
  2. Choose "File: Save As" from the menu or type f3
  3. Name the file "letterch.dxp"
  4. Save the document in the \dbtdocs folder
  5. Close the document
  6. Open letter.dxp

As you can see, the changes made to "letter.dxp" have not been saved. This is because you selected "Save As" rather than "Save." "Save As" saves the changes you have made into an entirely new document.

If You Have Windows 95/98/NT

  1. Close "letterch.dxp"
  2. Choose "File: Open" from the menu
  3. Select "letterch.dxp" without opening it.
  4. Click once more on the title, not the icon, of the file (See Fig. 9) OR: press f2
  5. Type "rename.dxp"
  6. Type the enter key once OR: click outside the file icon
    Your file should now be named "rename.dxp" (See Fig. 10)
  7. Right-click on "rename.dxp" (See Fig. 11)
    Or -- in order to access this shortcut menu with your keyboard, select the file name without opening it, and type your shortcut menu key (located directly to the left of your right-hand control key). If you don't have a Windows 95 keyboard, type SHIFT-F10

Observe your options

  1. Select "Rename"
  2. Type "letterch.dxp"
  3. Type the enter key once
  4. Select "letterch.dxp" without opening it
  5. Type the delete key

Windows asks you whether you want to delete the file.

  1. Select "Yes" or type the enter key

As you can see, it's possible to delete documents while doing common actions like opening and saving documents. You should now see the changes you saved to your letter.

  1. Translate the document and save the braille document as "letter.dxb"

The ".dxb" extension tells DBT that the document is a braille document created by DBT. Whether you are using Windows, DOS, or the Mac, you should use the ".dxp" and ".dxb" extensions.

If You Have Windows 3.1

  1. Select "File: Open" from the menu or type CTRL-O
  2. Observe that the file "letter.dxp" is still in existence.
  3. Open "letter.dxp"
  4. Delete the first sentence in the letter, "How are you doing?"
  5. Select "File: Save" from the menu or type CTRL-S

You have now saved your changes to the "letter.dxp" document without creating a new document.

  1. Open "letterch.dxp" and compare it with "letter.dxp" to see how the changes you have made have affected the two documents

Printing a Document

Your printer may be set up in the Global menu.

  1. Make sure your printer is set up in Windows. Since printers vary so widely, we cannot go into printer setup as it applies to MS Windows here; if you need further information, please refer to the help resources provided by your printer manufacturer and Microsoft.
  2. Select "Global: Printer Setup" from the menu
  3. Set your margin preferences.
  4. If your printer is not listed at the top of the dialog box, click the "Select Printer" button (See Fig. 12) and set up your printer.
  5. Click "OK" until you are back to the DBT document window
  6. Type CTRL-P or select "File: Print" from the menu. IMPORTANT: IF YOU HAVE NOT SET UP A PRINTER, DO NOT USE THE "PRINT" COMMAND!
  7. There is a way of printing a translated line of print above each line of braille. In order to activate this feature, select "Interline Print" in the print dialog box.
  8. Set the number of copies and the print range
  9. Click "OK"

Editing an Existing Braille Document

It is possible to edit a braille document directly using 6-key chording. This means that six of the keys on your keyboard correspond with the six dots in a braille cell. In order to create a braille cell, press the keys which correspond with the dots in that cell simultaneously. Usually, the corresponding keys are:

Dot 1 = f
Dot 2 = d
Dot 3 = s
Dot 4 = j
Dot 5 = k
Dot 6 = l

However, these corresponding keys vary from keyboard to keyboard, so trial and error may be required to determine the corresponding keys. In order to determine if your keyboard supports 6-key chording, open DBT and start a new braille document. Type all of the above keys at once. If you get a full cell, your keyboard probably supports 6-key chording.

Managing Documents

When you install DBT Win, two directories are created on your hard drive: \duxbury and \dbtdocs. The \duxbury directory is used to contain all information pertaining to the DBT Win application - the application itself, help files, the Read Me file, sample files, etc. We recommend that you don't mess around with these files, because many of them are needed to run DBT and control how it runs. The \dbtdocs directory is used to store documents. We recommend that you store all of your DBT documents - both print and braille - in the \dbtdocs directory.

Lastly, always name your document something that will make sense later. Windows 95, 98, and NT allow long file names, so if you have one of these versions of Windows, giving your documents longer names may be helpful. If you have Windows 3.1, however, you may need to find other ways to name your documents. Dates can help, but just because a file is named "03059dxp" doesn't mean you can remember what you were writing about back in March of '97. Create subdirectories - get creative - and don't be afraid to use as many as you need. You'll thank yourself later when you can find that obscure letter you wrote a year and a half ago!

Applying This to My Everyday Work

The skills covered in this chapter have built on the most basic knowledge needed to use DBT in order to allow you to use DBT more efficiently. With these skills, you should now be able to:

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