how to send Esc code to Epson LQ-590II for draft, courier, etc. 1

[Steve Yu]

Hello colleagues,

Sending Printer Command from VFP - Microsoft: FoxPro

Hi, I am using EPSON LX-300 (dot matrix printer) to print out invoice report. Using ??? command to send everything out to the printer. Everything work fine unless the font and font size. I put already commands such as SET PRINT FONT TO 'Courier', 8 ??? CHR(15) but they does not affect the...

www.tek-tips.com

Above is an old thread that deals with exactly the same issue as I'm having now.
My code:

mpname = GETPRINTER()
SET PRINTER TO NAME &mpname
SET DEVICE TO print
SET PRINTER on
??? chr(27) + "x" + "0" && draft mode
??? chr(27) + "k" + "2" && courier
? "Hello World"
set printer to

The front panel display of Epson does not change, showing 'script' instead of USD or HSD.
Any output after that seems to resemble letter quality, not the draft mode I expected.
And the courier font does not seem to work either.

Help appreciated.

 

[ggreen61]

What is your Windows printer driver -- I think you have to use a Raw printer driver.

 

[Tore Bleken]

Hello colleagues,

Sending Printer Command from VFP - Microsoft: FoxPro

Hi, I am using EPSON LX-300 (dot matrix printer) to print out invoice report. Using ??? command to send everything out to the printer. Everything work fine unless the font and font size. I put already commands such as SET PRINT FONT TO 'Courier', 8 ??? CHR(15) but they does not affect the...

www.tek-tips.com

Above is an old thread that deals with exactly the same issue as I'm having now.
My code:

mpname = GETPRINTER()
SET PRINTER TO NAME &mpname
SET DEVICE TO print
SET PRINTER on
??? chr(27) + "x" + "0" && draft mode
??? chr(27) + "k" + "2" && courier
? "Hello World"
set printer to

The front panel display of Epson does not change, showing 'script' instead of USD or HSD.
Any output after that seems to resemble letter quality, not the draft mode I expected.
And the courier font does not seem to work either.

Help appreciated.

Make sure that you use a printer driver that passes the data directly to the printer. It's called Generic, text only, or something like that.

 

[Joe Crescenzi]

Ditto. You need to use Generic Text Only printer drivers. Any device specific printer driver will not pass through ESC codes.

 

[Steve Yu]

That did it.
Changed the driver from Epson to Generic/Text and the Esc code went through and reconfigured the fonts.
Thanks everyone.
One note: even I set Widows printer property to no spool (print direct), the print job still went to the print queue and won't go away until multiple 'set printer to', 'set printer off' commands. What is the exact command to end the print job ?

 

[Chriss Miller]

This might help.

3 Ways to Stop Printer Spooling on a Windows Computer - wikiHow

Printers can be tedious machines to use. This article will cover one of the most common printer problems: spooling. Printer Spooling, an acronym for Simultaneous Peripheral Operations On-line, is the term given to the system on your...

www.wikihow.com

As it talks of starting the print spooler service, finally, I wonder what you mean with a no spool printer property.

And what ends a print job you do with ??? after you SET PRINTER ON? I'd guess SET PRINTER OFF.

Or, if not, it would be one of the specific escape sequences you would send to your printer, wouldn't it?