config1.pngSetting Printer Options


The Printers configuration page is used to define Visual PRO/5 printers that bypass the Windows Print Manager and print directly to a printer port. To define Visual PRO/5 printers that use the Windows Print Manager, use the Sysprinters configuration page.

  • To add a new printer device, click Add.

  • To remove an existing printer device, click anywhere in the column, then click Remove.

    • Row

    Description

    Alias name

    Enter an alias name for the printer. The alias name must begin with an L or a P in order for Visual PRO/5 to recognize the device as a printer. The minimum length of the alias name is 2 characters and the maximum length is 6.

    Device

    Enter the device name for the printer. This refers to the operating system device (for example: /dev/lpt1, or /dev/com1) to be used for this printer.

    Description

    Enter a description for the printer. This text is not used by Visual PRO/5 but may be accessed by an application program via the TSK() function.

    Client

    Checking this box causes the printer to be opened on the client, as opposed to the server.

    Backspace

    Click the Options button to display the dialog for defining the backspace character(s).

    • If the printer does not support any backspace character, click the drop down arrow and select NO BS.

    • If the printer supports the ASCII backspace character ($08$), click the drop down arrow and select ASCII BS.

    • To define a string sequence to send to the printer whenever a backspace character is sent by Visual PRO/5, click the drop down arrow and select BS=. Select ASCII, Decimal, or Hex to display the desired characters. You can either select the desired characters by clicking them in the grid, or by entering them into the BS= box.

    • When you have finished selecting all desired characters, click OK.

    Conditional expr

    Enter a conditional expression for the printer in the form T?. This allows the device to be accessible only by Visual PRO/5 processes with a FID(0)=T?.

    Number of copies

    If the printer supports a specification of the number of copies to be printed, define the default number of copies. This value may be overridden within an application by using the MODE= option on the OPEN of the printer.

    Compressed Print

    Click the Options button to display the dialog for defining the compressed print settings.

    • If the printer does not support compressed print, click the drop down arrow and select NO CP.

    • To define a string sequence to send to the printer whenever a 'CP' mnemonic is sent by Visual PRO/5, click the drop down arrow and select CP=. Select ASCII, Decimal, or Hex to display the desired characters. You can either select the desired characters by clicking them in the grid, or by entering them into the CP= box.

    When you have finished selecting all desired characters, click OK.

    CP columns

    Enter the number of columns the printer can print when in compressed print mode. The maximum is 255.

    CP lines

    Enter the number of lines that the printer can print when in compressed print mode. The maximum is 255.

    Carriage return

    Click the Options button to display the dialog for defining the carriage return settings.

    • If the printer does not support carriage return, click the drop down arrow and select NO CR.

    • If the printer supports the ASCII carriage return character ($0D$), click the drop down arrow and select ASCII CR.

    • To define a string sequence to send to the printer whenever a carriage return is sent by Visual PRO/5, click the drop down arrow and select CR=. Select ASCII, Decimal, or Hex to display the desired characters. You can either select the desired characters by clicking them in the grid, or by entering them into the CR= box.

    When you have finished selecting all desired characters, click OK.

    End of line

    Click the Options button to display the dialog for defining the end of line settings and select one of the following:

    • Default EOL Handling - An attempt to print a line that is longer than the defined width of the printer will generate an ERROR=1 at runtime. To recover from this error, you must reset the print buffer by issuing the command: PRINT (prtr)"".

    • Error - Similar to the EOL handling behavior, but there is no need to reset the print buffer to recover from this error. The next line printed after receiving the ERROR=1 will overprint the line that caused the error

    • Wrap - Causes the text to wrap to the next line.

    • Truncate - Causes the text to be truncated at the defined width of the printer.

    Expanded Print on

    Click the Options button to display the dialog for defining the expanded print settings, as follows:

    • If the printer does not support expanded print, click the drop down arrow and select NO EPON.

    • To define a string sequence to send to the printer whenever an 'EP' mnemonic is sent by Visual PRO/5, click the drop down arrow and select EPON=. Select ASCII, Decimal, or Hex to display the desired characters. You can either select the desired characters by clicking them in the grid, or by entering them into the EPON= box.

    When you have finished selecting all desired characters, click OK.

    Expanded Print off

    Click the Options button to display the dialog for defining the expanded print settings, as follows:

    • If the printer does not require special code to turn expanded print off, click the drop down arrow and select NO EPOFF.

    • To define a string sequence to send to the printer when it is in 'EP' mode and a new mnemonic ('SP', 'CP') has been sent by Visual PRO/5, click the drop down arrow and select EPOFF=. Select ASCII, Decimal, or Hex to display the desired characters. You can either select the desired characters by clicking them in the grid, or by entering them into the EPOFF= box.

    When you have finished selecting all desired characters, click OK.

    EP columns

    Enter the number of columns that an expanded print character will consume. For example, if EP columns is 2, then each character printed in expanded print will count as two characters.

    EP lines

    Enter the number of lines that an expanded print character will consume. For example, if EP lines is 2, then each line of expanded print will count as two lines.

    Execute on OPEN

    Enter a command to be executed on the first output command to the device. For example, this command might be used to execute an operating system command to load fonts on a device.

    Execute on CLOSE

    Enter a command to be executed at the close of the device. For example, this command might be used to execute an operating system command to return the device to some known state.

    Formfeed

    Click the Options button to display the dialog for defining the formfeed settings, as follows:

    • If the printer does not support formfeed, click the drop down arrow and select NO FF.

    • If the printer supports the ASCII form feed character ($0C$), click the drop down arrow and select ASCII FF.

    • To define a string sequence to send to the printer whenever a formfeed is sent by Visual PRO/5, click the drop down arrow and select FF=. Select ASCII, Decimal, or Hex to display the desired characters. You can either select the desired characters by clicking them in the grid, or by entering them into the FF= box.

    When you have finished selecting all desired characters, click OK.

    Form number

    If the printer supports a specification of the form number to be used in printing, define the default number here. This value may be overridden within an application by using the MODE= option on the OPEN of the printer.

    Linefeed

    Click the Options button to display the dialog for defining the linefeed settings.

    • If the printer does not support linefeeds, click the drop down arrow and select NO LF.

    • If the printer supports the ASCII linefeed character ($0A$), click the drop down arrow and select ASCII LF.

    • To define a string sequence to send to the printer whenever a 'LF' mnemonic is sent by Visual PRO/5, click the drop down arrow and select LF=. Select ASCII, Decimal, or Hex to display the desired characters. You can either select the desired characters by clicking them in the grid, or by entering them into the LF= box.

    When you have finished selecting all desired characters, click OK.

    Lock file

    Enter the name of the lock file you want created whenever this printer device is opened by Visual PRO/5. This prevents more than one process from opening the device.

    Print on OPEN

    Click the Options button to display the dialog for defining the string sequence sent to the printer upon its first OPEN.

    • If it is not necessary to send any initializing character string to the printer upon its first OPEN, click the drop down arrow and select NO PTON.

    • To define a string sequence to send to the printer upon its first OPEN, click the drop down arrow and select PTON=. (However, no data is actually sent to the printer until the first PRINT statement, upon which the Print on OPEN string is sent, followed by the 'SP' mnemonic.) Select ASCII, Decimal, or Hex to display the desired characters. You can either select the desired characters by clicking them in the grid, or by entering them into the PTON= box.

    When you have finished selecting all desired characters, click OK.

    Print on CLOSE

    Click the Options button to display the dialog for defining the string sequence sent to the printer upon its CLOSE.

    • If it is not necessary to send any initializing character string to the printer upon its CLOSE, click the drop down arrow and select NO PTOFF.

    • To define a string sequence to send to the printer upon its CLOSE, click the drop down arrow and select PTOFF=. Select ASCII, Decimal, or Hex to display the desired characters. You can either select the desired characters by clicking them in the grid, or by entering them into the PTOFF= box.

    When you have finished selecting all desired characters, click OK.

    Standard Print

    Click the Options button to display the dialog box for defining the string sequence to send to the printer before the first PRINT statement, and whenever a 'SP' mnemonic is detected.

    • To disable sending any string sequence to the printer before the first PRINT statement and anytime the 'SP' mnemonic is sent by Visual PRO/5, click the drop down arrow and select NO SP.

    • To define a string sequence to send to the printer at the first PRINT statement, and whenever a 'SP' mnemonic is sent by Visual PRO/5, click the drop down arrow and select SP=. Select ASCII, Decimal, or Hex to display the desired characters. You can either select the desired characters by clicking them in the grid, or by entering them into the SP= box.

    When you have finished selecting all desired characters, click OK.

    SP columns

    Enter the number of columns that the printer can print when in standard print mode. The maximum is 255.

    SP lines

    Enter the number of lines per page that the printer can print when in standard print mode. The maximum is 255.

    Wait on timeout

    Specify the number of seconds for Visual PRO/5 to wait before reporting printer timeouts. The valid range is 0 to 255. Setting the value to 0 disables printer timeouts. The default timeout is 10 seconds.