Printing 322 characters on HP LJ 9000

[Ken Feese]

Hi,

I'm not a printer guru and i've tried to discern the documentation to no avail. My delima is that I have a request from Accounting to produce a report with some fields 'Bold/Underlined' and in following they're specs, it turns out that the longest line is 322 characters. I need to figure out what the escape sequence to print this report on legal paper and the escape sequence is to turn on/off bold/underline. The program is written in COBOL on OpenVMS V5.5-2H4 and the target printer is HPLJ 9000.

Thanks in Advance for any assistance.

-Ken F

[Steven Schweda]

> [...] i've tried to discern the
> documentation [...]

Does that mean that you can't find the docs,
or that you can't find what you want in the
docs?

What are you sending to the printer now,
plain text, PCL, PostScript, ...? (How many
layers of software are involved now?)

[Ken Feese]

Currently referencing LaserJet III Technical Reference Manual.

It's a plain text file generated from COBOL with escape sequences to print on Legal paper. "&l1o5.45C&k2S&l3A"
(this was copied from another program)

[Steven Schweda]

Looks like PCL (about which I know nothing).
A Google search for
hp pcl reference
found (among other things):

http://h20000.www2.hp.com/bc/docs/support/SupportManual/bpl13210/bpl13210.pdf
http://h20000.www2.hp.com/bc/docs/support/SupportManual/bpl13205/bpl13205.pdf

from which, I gather:

&l1o : Page Orientation = Landscape

5.45C : Vertical Motion Index = 5.45"/48
(How many lines do you get on a page?)

&k2S : [No idea, unless "k" was actually "l".]

&l3A : Page Size = Legal (8.5" x 11")

Knowing nothing, I'd assume that somewhere
in the PCL there's a way to add underlining
and/or change to a bold font (and back).

[Kelly Stewart_1]

Ken

The escape sequences you need are in Chapter 8, "PCL Font Selection", of the manual Steven referenced. The Bold sequence is called "stroke weight command" and is "(s#B" where "#" is a number from -7 to 7 that sets the stroke weight -- "0" is normal and "3" is standard bold. The Underline on command is "&d0D" or "&d3D" (apparently these give slightly different effects), and underline off is &d@".

[Bob Blunt]

Ken, how is the printer connected to your system? If to a RS232 port, what does $ SHOW TERM for that port show? Is it cnx to a terminal server? Port configuration? Does it have a JetDirect card and if so how does VMS talk to that?

Does the printer have PostScript capability?

Granted the LaserJet should probably be using a superset of the LJ-III command set for PCL, but there have been many changes between the versions used in -III and the 9000. I'd be focusing on the manuals for the 9000 and referencing back to the -III to be sure you'd getting what you expect...

Lastly, when you try to print this file/data/info to your LJ9000, what happens? Anything at all? Does the printer display an error message and/or reset? Do you get any errors on the VMS side?

bob

[Doug Phillips]

The LJ9000 uses PCL-5 and that manual is on-line: From HP.COM, choose Support & Troubleshooting, enter your model number and follow the links until you get to the manuals page.

One observation: You say "longest line is 322 characters." If you mean the report must be 322 character-columns wide, and you're planning to print in landscape on legal-sized paper, then if you allow 1/2" margins you have 13" of print width. I hope your accountants have very good eye-sight: 322 / 13 = 24.78 cpi.

However your printer is attached, make sure your device/form/queue settings are NOTRUNCATE and NOWRAP.

[Ken Feese]

Thanks all for you insights, Steven your correct and Kelly ur right on target, i finally found the bold escape sequences by googling it, an Doug, i've already told them to get a magnigying glass.

thanks again guys for all your thoughts..

Peace, i'm out :O

[Ken Feese]

:p

[Jan van den Ende]

Ken,

about saying thank to those that helped, please review.

http://forums1.itrc.hp.com/service/forums/helptips.do?#33

Proost.

Have one on me.

jpe