Guardian Programmer's Guide

Table Of Contents
Communicating With Printers
Guardian Programmer’s Guide 421922-014
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Controlling the Printer
This subsection describes some of the more common features of PCL. The following
functions are among those supported by PCL:
Job-control commands let you select the number of copies you want printed and
whether you want duplexing.
Page-control commands let you establish the page length and margins and provide
forms control.
Font-management commands allow you to select fonts, establish style and stroke
weight, and so on.
For complete details of what PCL commands are available for the 5577 and 5574 laser
printers, see the PCL 5 Printer Language Technical Reference Manual. For the 5573
and 5573D printers, refer to the Tandem 5573 Laser LX Printer Reference Manual.
For details about Tandem matrix line printers, refer to the Tandem 5515/5516/5518
Printers Technical Reference Manual.
Controlling the Printer
You control any HP supported printer using escape sequences supported by PCL. For
ease of use, some of these escape sequences have equivalent CONTROL operations
or SETMODE functions. You therefore have three ways of sending control information
to the printer: by issuing CONTROL procedure calls, by issuing SETMODE procedure
calls, or by sending the escape sequence itself to the printer using the WRITE[X]
procedure.
Controlling the Printer Using the CONTROL Procedure
The CONTROL procedure controls vertical positioning. For example, you use
CONTROL operation 1 to position the paper at the top of the form. Vertical positioning
is described later in this section.
Controlling the Printer Using the SETMODE Procedure
The SETMODE procedure performs functions such as resetting the printer and
overstriking. These functions are described later in this section.
Controlling the Printer Using Escape Sequences
The WRITE[X] procedure sends escape sequences to the printer to perform any
available printer function. Specifically, you send escape sequences to the printer for
those operations for which there is no alternative CONTROL operation or SETMODE
function. These functions include specifying print characteristics and underlining text.
An escape sequence is a series of characters that begins with the escape character
(ASCII %33). Escape sequences are not printed, but they are interpreted by the
printer.