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PJL Printing Question 1
- Thread starter pclfool
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So is it possible to print using PJL somewhat like it was with PCL, where a macro could be defined then called by a print job? If the printer is "setup" using PJL, can that setup be used by a print job? Can I ember the data into the actual PJL code? Thanks for the reply...
I don't think there are macros in PCL6.
Further, the last PJL command selects the printer language being used. PJL does nothing for you for getting data to the printer. My guess is that you are out of luck.
You're going to have to get intimate with PCL6 as I don't believe your printer has PCL5.
Maybe DansDad has some thoughts.
Jim Asman
Further, the last PJL command selects the printer language being used. PJL does nothing for you for getting data to the printer. My guess is that you are out of luck.
You're going to have to get intimate with PCL6 as I don't believe your printer has PCL5.
Maybe DansDad has some thoughts.
Jim Asman
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- #5
HP has done nothing inappropriate. The 2550 is simply a PCL6 only printer. You need to be working with a PCL5 printer if you want to use macros. PCL6 is not backwards compatible with PCL5 and that is really all there is to it.
Jim Asman
Jim Asman
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1
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PCL6 (aka PCL XL) provides the equivalent of PCL5 macros via 'User-Defined Streams'.
But manipulation of PCL6 is much more difficult than the equivalent tasks with PCL5, because:
(a) PCL XL is a highly structured language - so you can't just insert sequences as you can with PCL5.
(b) It is binary, rather than text, based.
But manipulation of PCL6 is much more difficult than the equivalent tasks with PCL5, because:
(a) PCL XL is a highly structured language - so you can't just insert sequences as you can with PCL5.
(b) It is binary, rather than text, based.
Have a look at the PCL6 documentation and you'll see what I mean.
You should be able to get to this by navigating to:
Then select the:
"Public Software Development Kits" option.
From here, select the:
"LaserJet and Digital Sender" kit area.
Then select the:
"Printer Languages | PCL6 | PCL documents" folder, which gives access to various PCL6 documents.
You should be able to get to this by navigating to:
Then select the:
"Public Software Development Kits" option.
From here, select the:
"LaserJet and Digital Sender" kit area.
Then select the:
"Printer Languages | PCL6 | PCL documents" folder, which gives access to various PCL6 documents.
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- #9
DansDadUK - THANKS FOR THE INFO on the HP Site.
I have been thru some of it already from other sites, but was not aware of the site you referenced.
I get the idea of the "user streams", and actually have a PCL6 strream that generates a form to my HP2550 PCL6 printer. Comes out in color and looks great.
But I am having some difficulty with inserting data to be placed on the pages. So far no luck. I know that the solution is in the PCL docs, but am having no luck so far in deciphering the solution.
Do you know of a site / source with an example(s) of PCL6 streams that have forms and data on the forms?
THANKS AGAIN FOR THE GREAT REPSPONSE.
I have been thru some of it already from other sites, but was not aware of the site you referenced.
I get the idea of the "user streams", and actually have a PCL6 strream that generates a form to my HP2550 PCL6 printer. Comes out in color and looks great.
But I am having some difficulty with inserting data to be placed on the pages. So far no luck. I know that the solution is in the PCL docs, but am having no luck so far in deciphering the solution.
Do you know of a site / source with an example(s) of PCL6 streams that have forms and data on the forms?
THANKS AGAIN FOR THE GREAT REPSPONSE.
I'm not sure just what you mean by 'inserting data to be placed on the pages'.
If you (or your application) is totally in control of writing the PCL6 parent print stream (encapsulating whatever dependent user-defined streams the parent needs), then you should have no difficulty in inserting the appropriate PCL XL operators (preceded by their attribute lists) at the appopriate points in the (highly-structured) print stream.
If, however, you are just using another application (e.g. Word) and attempting to inject occasional PCL XL operators into the output print stream (in the way that you can insert escape sequences for the relatively unstructured PCL5 language) then I don't think that you will get this to work at all.
I don't think that it is possible to set up user-defined streams outside of a parent stream, and then retain (persist) the user-defined streams so that they are available to another parent (job) stream - although I might be wrong here.
If you (or your application) is totally in control of writing the PCL6 parent print stream (encapsulating whatever dependent user-defined streams the parent needs), then you should have no difficulty in inserting the appropriate PCL XL operators (preceded by their attribute lists) at the appopriate points in the (highly-structured) print stream.
If, however, you are just using another application (e.g. Word) and attempting to inject occasional PCL XL operators into the output print stream (in the way that you can insert escape sequences for the relatively unstructured PCL5 language) then I don't think that you will get this to work at all.
I don't think that it is possible to set up user-defined streams outside of a parent stream, and then retain (persist) the user-defined streams so that they are available to another parent (job) stream - although I might be wrong here.
You have not told us what type programming language you are using to print. There are lots of products in the market that deals with PCL printing. In our case we use SQR to do high graphic printing(forms processing) etc. Once in a while we also use msaccess to do simple jobs.
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- #12
To jmanj,
Thanks for the response - currently I use Formflow Formdesigner. I generate the PCL code by printing the form design to a file. I then edit the file slightly, making it into the macro that I need. I then place some PCL code at the start of my documents to call the required macro when printing. As near as I can tell from many resources, this is not possible under PCL6. I would be more than willing to go to a different tool that would give the same type activity.
Thanks for the response - currently I use Formflow Formdesigner. I generate the PCL code by printing the form design to a file. I then edit the file slightly, making it into the macro that I need. I then place some PCL code at the start of my documents to call the required macro when printing. As near as I can tell from many resources, this is not possible under PCL6. I would be more than willing to go to a different tool that would give the same type activity.
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