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- Printer Driver Editor
-
- If your printer is not directly supported by FormGen, you may set up a .DRV
- file for your printer using a pair of utilities included on your FormGen
- diskettes.
-
- The DRV program will load and allow you to edit the control sequences sent to
- the printer during the printing process.
-
- The DRVPRINT program will print a complete list of the .DRV file contents to
- allow you to check the sequences you've entered or as reference when you're
- working on a file.
-
- Using the DRV Editor
-
- The DRV Editor is started by typing:
-
- DRV filename
-
- where filename is the name of an existing .DRV file
-
- ie.
-
- DRV HP (to edit the driver file HP.DRV)
-
- The editor will load the .DRV file and present the printer contoll sequences
- in format similiar to the one shown below:
-
- >>> FormGen .DRV Editor <<<
- ------------------------------------------------------------------------------
- Printer description: Epson FX series Driver # 4
- ------------------------------------------------------------------------------
- Font Description Sp Start Sequence End Sequence
- Double Condensed Pica 50 ^O^[G ^R^[H
- Double Elite 50 ^[M^[G ^[P^[H
- Proportional Pica 50 ^[p1 ^[p0
- Emphasized Pica 50 ^[E ^[F
- Double Enlarged Elite 50 ^[M^[^N^[G ^[P^[T^[H
- Empasized Enlarged Pica 50 ^[E^[^N ^[F^[T
- ------------------------------------------------------------------------------
- Fillin text ^[E |end ^[F
- Line Graphics ^@ |end ^@
- Floating Text ^[S^@^[j^T |end ^[T^[3^T^J
- Printer setup ^[@ |Reset ^[@
- Landscape seq ^@ |Portrait ^@
- Form Feed ^L |Transpare ^@
- Row Prefix ^@ |suffix ^@
- Dot Col Prefix ^@ |suffix ^@
- # Copies prefix ^@ |suffix ^@
- Rel Dot Row Prefi ^@ |suffix ^@
- Foreign Translation Type 3 Line Draw Type 1
- ------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-
- Each of the shown fields has a specific purpose and may be tailored to your
- precise requirements. You simply press [Enter] after reviewing (and
- modifying, if necessary) each field to move to the next. Once each field has
- been reviewed, the editor saves the updated file and exits to DOS.
-
- When setting up ypur own printer driver, it is good idea to make a copy of
- the closest possible driver and then make the modifications to the copy.
-
- Printer Description
-
- This is the description of the printer that will be displayed on the printer
- configuration list in the FormGen Configuration Module. Make sure you
- provide enough detail here to differentiate it from other drivers for the
- user to properly select it.
-
- Driver #
-
- This selectes the basic printer type and determines which of the internal
- print driver subsystems FormGen will use to control the printer. The driver
- types are:
-
- 1-300 dpi PCL laser printers
- for 300 dpi laser which user the HP PCL command set and will be
- using internal or cartridge-based fonts
- use this option for HP LaseJet + and compatible printers (for
- the original LaserJet, see option 13)
-
- 2-300 dpi Xerox laser printers
- for Xerox 4045 or Xerox 2700 type laser printers
-
- 3-line printers with IBM extended set
- for daisywheel or dotmatrix printers which can directly print
- the IBM extended character set
- use this option for printers like the IBM Proprinter or the
- Diablo 630 ECS
-
- 4-dot graphics and n/72" line spacing
- for dot matrix printers that do not directly support the IBM
- extended character set and set spacing in 72nds of an inch
- this is for printers that recognize ESC L as the beginning of a
- 8 bit dot graphics command and on which ESC A directly sets
- n/72" line spacing (ESC 2 is NOT required)
- use this option for Epson MX/RX/FX compatibles
-
- 5-dot graphics and n/180" line spacing
- for dot matrix printers that do not directly support the IBM
- extended character set and set spacing in 180ths of an inch
- this is for printers that recognize ESC L as the beginning of a
- 8 bit dot graphics command and on which ESC 3 sets n/180" line
- spacing
- use this option for Epson LQ/SQ compatibles
-
- 6-dot graphics and n/216" line spacing
- for dot matrix printers that do not directly support the IBM
- extended character set and set spacing in 216ths of an inch
- this is for printers that recognize ESC L as the beginning of a
- 8 bit dot graphics command and on which ESC 3 sets n/216" line
- spacing
-
- 7-Tandy dot printers (native mode text)
- this driver uses the IBM code ESC L to print lines and graphics
- and the Tandy native mode for printing text, giving access to
- such items as color printing
- can be used only with Tandy printers that can switch between
- Tandy and IBM modes using ESC !
-
- 8-Tandy dot printers (IBM emulation mode)
- this driver is used with Tandy printers that are set to IBM mode
-
- 9-HP DeskJet
- for the Hewlett-Packard DeskJet which doesn't accept the PCL
- command for mutiple copies, but is compatible in other respects
-
- 11-Dot Matrix (6 lpi)
- for dot matrix printers which directly support the use of the
- IBM character set and will print the characters at their full
- height allowing the printer to use standard 6 lpi spacing
-
- 13-Original HP LaserJet
- for the original HP laser which has a limited command set and
- MUST have a cartridge installed with a line draw character set
-
- Font Description
-
- The description of the fonts which will be displayed at the time a text
- window is opened.
-
- Sp (line spacing)
-
- The distance between lines that should be used when printing window text (in
- 300th of an inch measured form baseline to baseline). This is usually the
- same as the height of the font.
-
- Start Sequence
-
- The control sequence which will activate the font. (see section Control Codes
- for more info)
-
- End Sequence
-
- The control sequence which will deactivate any special attributes turned on
- in the start sequence. (not necessary for laser printers where complete
- fonts are selected for each operation)
-
- Fillin text
-
- Selects the font to use when printing data entered in FormFill. This should
- be set to a 10cpi font.
-
- Line Graphics
-
- Selects the font to use when printing line characters. This should be set to
- a 10cpi font.
-
- Floating Text
-
- These sequences are sent just before and just after floating text is printed.
- Ith sequence should raise the text in superscript or reverse the page a
- fraction of a line and then restore it.
-
- Printer Setup
-
- This sequence is sent to the printer at the beginning of a print job and
- should set it for 6lpi, 10cpi printing.
-
- Reset
-
- This sequence is sent to the printer at the end of a print job and allows you
- to leave the printer in a known state.
-
- Landscape
-
- This sequence sets the printer to landscape mode. (laser printers only)
-
- Portrait
-
- This sequence sets the printer to portrait mode. (laser printers only)
-
- Form Feed
-
- Sequence to eject a page from the printer.
-
- Transparent
-
- Sequence to inform the printer that the next character is a control-type
- character, but its ASCII representation is to be printed.
-
- Row Prefix/Suffix
-
- Start and end of sequence for direct row addressing. FormGen inserts an
- ASCII numeric value between these. (laser printers only)
-
- Dot Col Prefix
-
- Start and end of sequence for direct dot column addressing. FormGen inserts
- an ASCII numeric value between these. (laser printers only)
-
- # Copies prefix
-
- Start and end of sequence to set number of copies to print. FormGen inserts
- an ASCII numeric value between these. (laser printers only)
-
- Rel Dot Row Prefi
-
- Start and end of sequence for relative dot row addressing. FormGen inserts
- an ASCII numeric value between these. (laser printers only)
-
- Foreign Translation Type
-
- This parameter allows you to determine how foreign characters will be
- produced on the printer.
-
- 0-no foreign character support
- for printers that do not support foreign characters
-
- 1-no translation required
- for printers that directly support foreign characters using the
- IBM extended character set
-
- 2-HP Roman 8 Extention
- for printers using the HP Roman 8 symbol set mapping for foreign
- characters
-
- 3-Epson Foreign Sets
- for Epson type printers that allow selective remapping of groups
- of foreign characters into the regualar ASCII set
-
- 4-Xerox ISO
- for printers that allow the addition of accents to characters
- using the Xerox ISO set
-
- 5-use table in driver
- activates the character remapping facility in FormGen
-
- 6-overprint build
- FormGen assembles representatyions of foreign characters by
- adding accents to regular ASCII characters
- ie.
- (é) e accent acute is printed by printing e, backing up one
- space and then printing '
- for fixed fonts only - not likely to produce desirable results
- with proportional fonts
-
- 7-use transparent sequence for 128 - 159
- for printers that have foriegn characters mapped into ASCII
- locations 128 to 159 but usually interpret them as control codes
-
- Line Draw Type
-
- 0-directly supported
- for printers that directly support the line drawing cahracters
- in the IBM extended character set
-
- 1-dot graphics
- for printers that must use dot graphics to print lines
-
- 2-HP Line Draw set
- for older laser printers that do not support the line drawing
- characters in the IBM extended character set and have no facilty
- for FormGen to downloaded a line drawing font
- this setting will allow the use of a font cartridge with the HP
- line draw set
-
- 3-daisy wheel
- uses the | and - characters to draw lines on a daisywheel
- printer
-
- 4-Xerox forms font set
- uses the line characters in the Xerox forms font
-
- 5-direct addressing
- sends specific row and column addresses ahead of each line
- character in order to prevent line alignment problems on certain
- printers
-
-
- Table Maintenance
-
- A number of data tables are contained in the .DRV file. These may be
- modified to suit the particular printer as required.
-
- Foreign Character Translation Table
-
- The foreign character translation table allows you to remap the character set
- in the PC to suit the character set in your printer. Each entry from 128 to
- 175 is displayed on the screen. You may enter the appropriate ASCII value
- for the matching character in your printer. This table must be activated by
- setting the Foreign Translation Option to #5.
-
- Font Width Tables
-
- There are a set of six font tables in each .DRV file - one for each font
- supported. These tables contain the width (in 300ths of an inch) for each
- character in each font.
-
- If the corresponding font is not proportional, a single value (in 300ths of
- an inch) may be entered here and it will be automatically replicated through
- the entire table. If the font is proportional, enter a zero. The editor
- will then prompt for the desired unit of measure. If your manual describes
- the character widths in 180ths of an inch enter 180 here and it will be used
- as a factor to convert all your entries to 300ths.
-
- Control Codes
-
- Control sequences are entered by typing them into the various field areas.
- Control codes and the escape character are represented using a common
- shorthand method.
-
- null char (or ASCII 000) is entered as ^@
- control A (or ASCII 001) is entered as ^A
- control B (or ASCII 002) is entered as ^B
- .
- .
- .
- control Z (or ASCII 026) is entered as ^Z
- escape (or ASCII 027) is entered as ^[
-
- ie.
-
- You want to set up font 6 for double wide, emphasized printing on your dot
- matrix printer. Your printer manual tells you that double width printing is
- turned on using ESC W 1 and off with ESC W 0. It also tells you that then
- emphasized print mode is activated using ESC E and deactivated with ESC F.
-
- First, you type the description under the heading "Font Description":
-
- Empasized Double Width
-
- Second, you set the line spacing:
-
- 50 (has no effect on a dot matrix printer)
-
- Third, you enter the codes to turn on the double width and the emphasized
- print:
-
- ^[W1^[E (escape, W, 1, escape, E)
-
- Finally, you enter the codes to turn off the emphasized and double print
-
- ^[F^[W0 (escape, F, escape, W, 0)
-
- The line in the editor will look like:
-
- Font Description Sp Start Sequence End Sequence
- .
- .
- Empasized Double Width 50 ^[W1^[E ^[F^[W0
-
-
- Editing
-
- You may edit you entries using the [Ins], [Del], and [Ctrl][End] keys
-
- [Ins] - inserts a blank at the cursor position
-
- [Del] - deletes the character at the cursor position
-
- [Ctrl][End] - clears the current entry
-
- [Enter] - saves the definition and moves to the next field
-
- [Esc] - abandons any changes and move to the next field