One document matched: draft-hain-msword-template-00.txt
Internet Draft T. Hain
Document: draft-hain-msword-template-00.txt Microsoft
Category: Informational February 1999
Using Microsoft Word to create Internet Drafts and RFC's
Status of this Memo
This document is an Internet-Draft and is in full conformance with
all provisions of Section 10 of RFC2026 [1].
Internet-Drafts are working documents of the Internet Engineering
Task Force (IETF), its areas, and its working groups. Note that
other groups may also distribute working documents as Internet-
Drafts. Internet-Drafts are draft documents valid for a maximum of
six months and may be updated, replaced, or obsoleted by other
documents at any time. It is inappropriate to use Internet- Drafts
as reference material or to cite them other than as "work in
progress."
The list of current Internet-Drafts can be accessed at
http://www.ietf.org/ietf/1id-abstracts.txt
The list of Internet-Draft Shadow Directories can be accessed at
http://www.ietf.org/shadow.html.
Abstract
This document will describe the steps to configure the Microsoft
Word application to produce documents in Internet Draft and RFC
format.
Conventions used in this document
In this document the steps for walking a pull-down tree are indented
on subsequent lines. This allows abbreviation rather than a barrage
of 'then click' or 'select' strings in a paragraph form. Example:
Help
About Microsoft Word
The key words "MUST", "MUST NOT", "REQUIRED", "SHALL", "SHALL NOT",
"SHOULD", "SHOULD NOT", "RECOMMENDED", "MAY", and "OPTIONAL" in
this document are to be interpreted as described in RFC-2119 [2].
Using Microsoft Word to create Internet Drafts and RFC's February 1999
Overview
This is a Microsoft Word 97 template to assist those producing
Internet drafts. It allows for simple WYSIWYG editing of drafts and
RFCs while producing output that is in accordance with IETF draft
and RFC submission regulations. (72 Characters per line, 58 lines
per page, each line terminated by a CRLF, and each page followed by
a LF, etc.) Using Word's text justification capabilities may
facilitate creating ASCII stick drawings.
This document is not a product of Microsoft and is unsupported. It
may be freely modified and distributed.
Included is a detailed description of how the RFC Text and RFC
Heading styles are defined. This should prove useful to those
wishing to do further customization work or create a similar
template for other versions of Microsoft Word.
It also includes a description and the source of the CRLF.EXE
program that is needed to create the final text file output. A copy
of the CRLF source, and makefile for the CRLF.EXE program, can also
be found at http://www.ietf.org/apps
Instructions for producing Internet drafts and RFCs
1) The "auto-formatting" Microsoft Word does can result in some
problems when creating the standardized format. E.g. It will insert
special characters for quotation marks, add special formatting when
creating lists, etc. To avoid this, turn off "auto formatting"
Tools
Autocorrect
On the property pages 'AutoFormat' and 'AutoFormat As You Type',
turn off all of the auto formatting options.
2) Two special styles need to be defined: RFC Heading and RFC Text.
If you choose automatic reference numbering (defined below), the
style for Endnote Reference and Endnote Text need to be modified.
The entire draft must be written using these styles for the spacing
to come out correctly. Do not use bold, underlining, italics, etc.,
or you will loose the WYSIWYG editing feature since these settings
affect the number of characters that can occur on a line. (Plus
Internet drafts are supposed to be in plain text.)
4) Print the document to the Generic Text Printer, and save the
output to file. If you do not have the Generic Text Printer driver
installed, install it from the Control Panel. (Printers, Add
Printer, local/my computer, any LPT port (you will be printing to a
file), select Generic, Generic/Text Only from the combo box). When
you print to a file a pop-up will ask for the file name.
5) Run the CRLF program to automatically add carriage returns.
Usage is CRLF <source> <destination>
Using Microsoft Word to create Internet Drafts and RFC's February 1999
Where <source> is the name of the file produced by printing to the
generic text printer, and <destination> is the name of the text
draft you are producing. Example: crlf draft-00.prn draft-00.txt
Defining Microsoft Word Page Layout and Styles
These are settings used to define the RFC Text and RFC Heading
styles. Note: the menu options to set these are enclosed in
parenthesis and are listed for Microsoft Word 97. They will differ
slightly for other versions of Microsoft Word.
1) Set measurement units to points.
Tools
Options
General
Measurement units = points
2) Set margins as follows: (File, Page Setup, Margins)
Top: 24 pts
Bottom: 0 pts
Left: 0 pts
Right: 93.6 pts
Gutter: 0 pts
Header: 0 pts
Footer: 0 pts
The right margin is what determines 72 characters per line. Using 12
pt font, 10 chars/inch, 72 chars = 7.2". Using paper that is 8.5"
wide. 8.5" - 7.2" = 1.3" = 93.6 pts If you get "one or more
margins are outside the printable area" message, select Ignore.
This seems to depend on the printer you currently have selected.
3) Set paper size as follows:
File
Page Setup
Paper Size
Width: 612 pt (8.5")
Height: 696 pt (12pt * 58 lines per page)
The height of the paper is what determines 58 lines per page.
4) Set headers/footers to be different for the first page.
File
Page Setup
Layout
5) Define a RFC Heading Style.
Format
Style
New
RFC Heading: Normal+Font: Courier New, 12pt, Line Spacing Exactly
12pt.
Using Microsoft Word to create Internet Drafts and RFC's February 1999
NOTE: Line Spacing Exactly 12pt is very important. Set this through
Format: Paragraph
6) Define a RFC Text Style.
Format
Style
New
RFC Text: Normal+Font: Courier New, 12pt, Indent: Left 21.6pt, Line
Spacing Exactly 12 pt.
Line Spacing and indent are set through Format, Paragraph. This
leaves a 3 character left indent for the RFC text
7) Fix the Header Style.
Format
Style
Header
Header: Normal+Font: Courier New, 12pt, Line Spacing Exactly 12 pt,
Clear the tabs previously defined, and clear the tabs previously
defined and add Tabs 252 pt Centered, 504 pt Right Flush
8) Fix the Footer Style.
Format
Style
Footer
Footer: Normal+Font: Courier New, 12pt, Line Spacing Exactly 12 pt,
Tabs 252 pt Centered, 504 pt Right Flush
9) Define your headers and footers for the first page.
View
Headers
(on first page)
Header: No Header
Footer: Carriage Return
AuthorName <tab> <tab> <page number field>
10) Define subsequent headers and footers.
View
Headers
(on second page)
Header: <tab> Title <tab> Month, Year
Footer: Carriage Return
AuthorName <tab> Category & Expiration <tab> <page number field>
Positioning the document identifiers on the first page
The 'Table' tool can be used to assist with justification of the
document identifiers on the first page. Each cell in the table
maintains its own justification characteristics, so getting left and
right justification on the same line is simplified. On the Toolbar
select the icon that looks like a grid with a dark bar across the
top. This will pop-up a table array. Drag the mouse across to select
the number of rows and columns (for the opening header 4 rows x 2
Using Microsoft Word to create Internet Drafts and RFC's February 1999
columns, unless there are several authors). Select the table that
was just inserted and clear the boarders.
Format
Borders and Shading
None
Select the cells on the right (position the cursor just above the
top cell, when the cursor becomes an arrow pointing down, click) and
set justification right. (The default is to take justification from
the line it is being positioned on, so the left column shouldn't
need changing.)
Format
Paragraph
Right
Move the center divider to the right if necessary for the document
title. Select the left column of cells, then position the cursor
over the dividing line. When it changes to parallel bars with
right/left arrows, click-and-hold, then drag the line as necessary.
Automatic reference numbering
To support automatic updates of reference numbers, make the
following changes. (Requires the document to be a single section
prior to the Reference heading.)
1) Insert a section break on the line after Reference heading.
Insert
Break
Section Break
Continuous
2) Format the style of the Endnote References and Text.
Format
Style
Endnote reference
Modify
Based on 'underlying paragraph'
Format Font
clear the check box for 'superscript'
Endnote text
Modify
Based on 'RFC text'
Format Paragraph
Indentation
Left .3
Special
Hanging .3
3) Set up the location of the references, and number style.
Insert
Footnote
Endnote
Autonumber
Using Microsoft Word to create Internet Drafts and RFC's February 1999
Options
Place at 'End of section'
Numeric style '1,2,3'
4) Select the location for the first reference. Between the user
typed [ ] characters insert an endnote.
Insert
Footnote (endnote will already be selected, as will auto 1,2,3)
OK
When the endnote is inserted the lower pane will appear. Type in the
text for the reference. The first time a reference is inserted the
Endnote Separator should be cleared (the continuation separator may
need it as well). Find the pull down just above the reference text,
and change it to each of the options to make sure all but the 'All
Endnotes' are cleared.
Endnote Separator
Select and delete any text
The reference number in the text and the endnote table will
automatically track as changes are made. If the endnote window is
closed and changes need to be made, select
View
Footnotes
Final fixup: the CRLF program
Each line to be terminated by a CRLF, but when printing your
document to the Generic Text Printer driver, some blank lines will
be terminated only with a line feed. Consider a traditional text
line printer, printing a line of text, followed by 3 blank lines.
The output would look as follows:
Line of Text<CR><LF><LF><LF>.
This is because there is no need to move the print carriage head for
the blank lines, only line feeds are necessary.
CRLF.EXE is a Win16/32 program to fix up the output from the Generic
Text Printer driver so that each line is terminated by a CRLF. An
extra line that makes the first page be 59 lines, instead of the
required 58 is also removed.
Following is the source of the CRLF program.
Using Microsoft Word to create Internet Drafts and RFC's February 1999
/***************************************************************
* CRLF.C - Sample source code to format documents produced by
* the MS Word IETF template so that they comply to IETF draft
* and rfc guidelines
****************************************************************/
#include <stdio.h>
#include <io.h>
#include <fcntl.h>
#include <sys/types.h>
#include <sys/stat.h>
#include <memory.h>
#define CR 13
#define LF 10
#define FF 12
#define TRUE 1
#define FALSE 0
typedef int BOOL;
int main(int argc, char *argv[])
{
int fSrc, fDest;
int iNumBytesRead;
char cr = CR;
char lf = LF;
unsigned char buff[3];
BOOL bPreceedingCR = FALSE;
if(argc != 3)
{
printf("Usage:\n\n");
printf(" crlf <srcfile> <dstfile>\n\n");
return 0;
}
fSrc = _open(argv[1], _O_RDONLY | _O_BINARY);
fDest = _open(argv[2], _O_CREAT | _O_RDWR | _O_BINARY |
_O_TRUNC, _S_IREAD | _S_IWRITE);
if(fSrc == -1)
{
printf("Could not open file (%s) for reading.\n",
argv[1]);
return 0;
}
if(fDest == -1)
{
printf("Count not open file (%s) for writing.\n",
argv[2]);
return 0;
}
Using Microsoft Word to create Internet Drafts and RFC's February 1999
// Using the MS Word IETF template, an extra CR LF
// starts the file. Skip over these first 2 bytes,
// otherwise the first page will have 59 lines instead of 58
iNumBytesRead = _read(fSrc, buff, 2);
// Prepare to parse through the file
iNumBytesRead = _read(fSrc, buff, 1);
while(iNumBytesRead > 0)
{
// Found a LF without a preceding CR
// Inject a CR to preceed the LF
if (buff[0] == LF && bPreceedingCR == FALSE)
{
_ write(fDest, &cr, 1);
_write(fDest, &(buff[0]), 1);
}
else
{
// Using the MS Word IETF template, FF are
// preceeded only by a CR. Inject a LF to
// follow the CR.
if (buff[0] == FF)
{
_write(fDest, &lf, 1);
_write(fDest, &(buff[0]), 1);
}
else
{
// Write byte out
_write(fDest, &(buff[0]), 1);
// Track whether we will have a
// preceeding CR for the next byte we
// read
if (buff[0] == CR)
bPreceedingCR = TRUE;
else
bPreceedingCR = FALSE;
}
}
// Read next byte
iNumBytesRead = _read(fSrc, &buff[0], 1);
}
_close(fSrc);
_close(fDest);
return 0;
}
Using Microsoft Word to create Internet Drafts and RFC's February 1999
Known problems
Printing
If you try to print the draft you are working on from within
Microsoft Word to an actual printer (not to a file using the Generic
Text printer driver), you will receive an error message indicating
the margins are outside of the printable area of the printer. If
you continue printing, the first 2 characters of each heading will
be truncated. It is recommended you produce a printed copy of the
draft you are working on by using the CRLF program to produce a text
file, and then redirect it to a printer (so that you do not need to
deal with other programs like NOTEPAD, etc. adding their own
margins.) Example:
- Print to a file using the generic text printer
- CRLF draft.prn draft.txt
- NET USE lpt1 <\\printername\sharename>
- TYPE draft.txt > LPT1
As an alternative, if the final draft.txt file is opened with Word,
setting all 4 margins to .65" will position it on the page.
File
Page Setup
Top .65
Bottom .65
Left .65
Right .65
The Underscore character
If you use the underscore character "_" within the RFC Text and RFC
Heading style, it will not be displayed on most screens. (It
appears as a blank space.) It will print correctly and will appear
as an underscore character in the final draft output.
Formal Syntax
The formal definition of RFC format is defined in RFC-2223 [3] and
Internet Draft instructions are available at [4].
Security Considerations
Caution is advised when opening any document that may contain a
macro virus. The template files originally provided to the Internet-
drafts & RFC editors did not contain any macros, and unless tampered
with should not now. If there are concerns about using the template
doc file, the instructions provided here will allow creation of one
from scratch. Further details about Microsoft Word macro virus
concerns are available at:
http://www.microsoft.com/magazine/apr1998/vfree/vfree.htm
Using Microsoft Word to create Internet Drafts and RFC's February 1999
References
1 Bradner, S., "The Internet Standards Process -- Revision 3", BCP
9, RFC 2026, October 1996.
2 Bradner, S., "Key words for use in RFCs to Indicate Requirement
Levels", BCP 14, RFC 2119, March 1997
3 J. Postel, J. Reynolds, " Instructions to RFC Authors", RFC 2223,
October 1997
4 http://www.ietf.org/ietf/1id-guidelines.txt
Author's Addresses
Mike Gahrns
Microsoft
One Microsoft Way Phone: 1-425-936-9833
Redmond, Wa. USA Email: mikega@microsoft.com
Tony Hain
Microsoft
One Microsoft Way Phone: 1-425-703-6619
Redmond, Wa. USA Email: tonyhain@microsoft.com
Copyright Notice
"Copyright (C) The Internet Society 1999. All Rights Reserved.
This document and translations of it may be copied and furnished to
others, and derivative works that comment on or otherwise explain it
or assist in its implmentation may be prepared, copied, published
and distributed, in whole or in part, without restriction of any
kind, provided that the above copyright notice and this paragraph
are included on all such copies and derivative works. However, this
document itself may not be modified in any way, such as by removing
the copyright notice or references to the Internet Society or other
Internet organizations, except as needed for the purpose of
developing Internet standards in which case the procedures for
copyrights defined in the Internet Standards process must be
followed, or as required to translate it into
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