print £ signs from HPUX 11.00

[it_3]

Hi All,
I need to print the £ sign to an HP4000 and have set up the printer in Jet Direct on the network. We run Informix which feeds the print job through a script which formats layout to Landscape or Portrait. The script does no filtering.
I have tried the # which appears ok and $ is ok. What do i need to do , either put a code in the print job[ mainly rent statement letters] or can I run a filter that will accept the £ sign?

Hope you can help.

Bob Br

[Mister_Z]

Hi,

you can check the file
/var/spool/lp/interface/

to ensure it's using 8 bits. The pound sign correspond to an extended ASCII code.

Also ensure the the terminal accepts this sign by typing:
#stty -istrip -parenb cs8

HTH,

[Antoniov.]

Assumed I don't understand what symbol you need to print, I try to explain using '£' (pound symbol).
The real difficult is what code has pound?
If you are using old (very old standard) you have to configure the printer as UK country charset and send it 0x23 (or Dec 35) but if you use this way, you never print sharp (because local pound in UK substitute sharp)
Also your terminal could be set as UK country and if you copy file to windows you will see sharp :-O
If you use CP850 pound symbol is 0x87 (dec 134), and so on.
Look here (the most common codeset):
Code set____Hex___Dec
UK ANSI......23....35
CP850........87...134
CP437........9C...156
ISO_LATIN1...93...147
I prefer ISO_LATIN1 but you could read printer documentation and see terminal type.
For more detailed infor you could see
http://www.iso.ch
http://www.ansi.org
http://www.ecma.ch

Bye
Antoniov

[it_3]

Hi Juan,

Thanks for the reply. i had a look at the file but could not see any reference to 8bit. I am technical in that i come from an engineering/network background but have had little experience with HP porinter scripts.

Is there a particular entry I need to look at or should I run the HP Jet Direct software and try to set it up here?

Thanks again

Bob

[it_3]

Hi Antoniov,

Thanks for the reply.

I can see what you mean and understand the code differences but cannot see how I can force the print job to print correct. i can add any code to the 4gl program that produces the letter but currently the HP box appears to ignore most. I have checked in Hp Jet direct and can see it uses net_ljx000 script [shows is valid up to hp8000].

The informix program does send the print job through a script which enables landscape and portrait by forcing column width and page length but there is no filtering for characters.

Thanks again,

bob

[Jean-Luc Oudart]

Hi Bob,

we use to have this pb for *one* report that runs once a month. we used a post-batch script that tr $ to # and obtain right £ on the printer.

Since then we changed over to euro.
We just had the dev guys to remove the currency to the report as that did not bring any added value, only technical headaches ...

Rgds,

[Jean-Luc Oudart]

Hi Bob,

we use to have this pb for *one* report that runs once a month. we used a post-batch script that tr $ to # and obtain right £ on the printer.

Since then we changed over to euro.
We just had the dev guys to remove the currency to the report as that did not bring any added value, only technical headaches ...

Rgds,

[it_3]

Jean-Luc,
Thanks for the reply.

We have set up the letter to print just the amounts without the sign. Another one has the text 'pound' so it can be overcome. But I would like to be able to other characters [wingdings or special codes] and if I can find a solution I can apply it to all our lasers[majority HP or emulated].

Tahnsk again,

Bob Briggs

[Antoniov.]

Hi Bob,
I'm not expert in unix so I can tell you details.
If you can add code before printing and you are using HP printer (PCL4 or PCL5) add this codes:
ESC ( 0 N
escape left-paren zero N
that means setup ISO_LATIN1
Using standard VT100 you could use and print pound.
Alternativly you can send
ESC ( 1 E
escape left-parn one E
to setup code 23 (sharp) as pound.
I can help you with various esc sequence for printer, terminal, etc. but you have known how load theese information on system.

Bye
Antoniov

[it_3]

Hi Antoniov,

Thanks for the reply.


Tried a few experiments with some test documents. Will accept the escape code now and that is useful but still cannot get the pound sign.
I suspect the script the housing management company uses must stop HP UX filtering.

I'll have to try this next as well as some raw prints to the print queue.

Thanks again

Bob

[john korterman · Accepted solution]

Hi Bob,
you can try printing directly from unix like this:

1) cd to a directory where you can create a file.

2) execute these commands, one by one on the command line:
# echo "decimal 156 " "\0234" >> poundschar
# echo "decimal 163 " "\0243" >> poundschar
# echo "decimal 175 " "\0257" >> poundschar
# echo "decimal 187 " "\0273" >> poundschar

which will create the file poundschar in your current directory, holding four possible codes for the pound sign.

3) Print the file poundschar to the printer in question:
lp -d ./poundschar

4) I hope that something comes out of the printer. If one of the chars is a pound sign, it is a mapping/filtering problem. If not, hope for more postings....

the file example is taken from this document:
http://www4.itrc.hp.com/service/cki/docDisplay.do?docLocale=en_US&docId=200000062910781
which might be an inspiration.


regards,
John K.

[it_3]

Hi John,

Thanks for the details.

Had some fun testing this in raw print from Unix and found the decimal 156 0234 produced a symbol oe. This printed out as £ sign ok.

Fed the job through the script in the housing management software and this too printed ok.

I can add the code to any document using the append you suggested [as "\0234"] but would like to be able to key this in direct. Have tried a numnber of sites to find the correct key sequence in VI [I can get into verbose using i and ctrl v] but cannot get any of the suggested character codes to work. I entered i ctrl v ESC œ but nothing appears. Tried same but without the ESC [using ctrl v shows ^ and ESC shows [ as previouisly suggested] but nothing appears either. I realise i am not keying corrcetly and it is frustration to be nearly there. Suffice to say i can at least get the blessed thing into a document so thank you for this.

Regards,

Bo

[john korterman]

Hi again.
it is difficult to type something like that into a vi editor. I do not know the authorized way of doing it, if any. But I suggest something even worse: the xvi editor. Try experimenting with a new file, mypound:

# xvi mypound

you should then see a screen that is undescribable, but something like this:
page 1

0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 a b c d e f 0123456789abcdef
0: ""

Now go into insert mode by pressing i
And type the letters 9c
Press esc
Press :
enter wq

You should now have saved a file containing the hex value 9c, equivalent of octal 234.
Try to print it. If successful, then try to enter some more text into the file, but use the normal vi editor for this lesson no. 2. I am afraid you have to get used to the look of that for editing your file.
In the xvi editor you have to move the cursor by the hjkl keys and use ctrl F for producing the next page and ctrl B for going to the prvious page. Good luck.

regards,
John K.

[Antoniov.]

Hi it
code 156 means your printer use PC437, the most common used codeset in Western Windows environment.
But you can't see same using vi because VT and emulators, usually, use ISO_LATIN1. When you insert code 156 on VT you could see anything because in ISO_LATIN1 code 156 is a control code (not displayable) called ST; in ISO/ANSI means String Termination and it's a end string of identification device; OS could inquire a terminal VT and this answer with variuos code ende with ST (code 156).
If you use Epson or IBM printer you can't solve.
If you use HP PCL and/or ISO/ANSI (dec,genicom) printer you can solve.

Bye
Antoniov

[it_3]

Hi Antoniov,

Thanks for the information.

I believe most of our printers are HP or at least emulate them and this is backed up by the print out once the code has been added.

John,
I do not have xvi on the HPUX 11.00 version and cannot add as this system is supported and can only be added to via the support company. I am happy that I can at least get the code into a document but my own feeling are I would like to be able to add it in VI.

Thanks again to all those who contributed.

regards,

Bob

[john korterman]

Hi again Bob,
in order to write this pound sign in the vi editor there are other hacks:
First create the file mysign with the character in it:

# echo "x" | tr "x" "\234" >./mysign

Now edit the file mysign with vi and store the char in the so-called a buffer:
vi ./mysign
(the cursor is in the correct positition and you are in command mode)
press these keys in the mentioned order:
"
a
s
1
ESC

This should have deleted the character and saved it in the named buffer called a
The bad thing is that the a buffer disappears when you quit vi. Therefore you must enter another file from colon mode of mysign:
Press :
Press e
Now position the curser where you want to insert the character an in command mode press:
"
a
p

and the character should be there.

regards,
John K.

[it_3]

Hi John,

Thanks for the reply.

That sounds like it could work. I will try it when I return from leave on Monday.

Thanks for your efforts.

Regards,

Bob