Printing to *SCS printer with multiple CPI or fonts

[Guest.Visitor]

I need to be able to use either multiple CPI or multiple fonts in a report so that I can print very small characters (that are readable) along with the usual CPI(10). It also needs to work consistently. Any suggestions? Thank you.

[David Abramowitz]

Printing to *SCS printer with multiple CPI or fonts

Define a PRTF through DDS, rather than use program described output. This will allow you to use as many fonts as your printer will support within the same document. Dave

[Guest.Visitor]

Printing to *SCS printer with multiple CPI or fonts

A PRTF will let you use multiple fonts but only allows CPI of either 10 or 15. CPI of 15 doesn't get the information small enough on the page.

[D.Handy]

Printing to *SCS printer with multiple CPI or fonts

Nora, "A PRTF will let you use multiple fonts but only allows CPI of either 10 or 15." What model printer are you trying to print on? AFAIK, all IBM printers which are SCS support 10 cpi only or both 10 cpi and 15 cpi but no other cpi sizes even at the hardware level. You would need an IPDS printer to get better font support, in which case the DDS keyword FONT can be used in a PRTF. OTOH, if the printer itself is capable of other fonts but is emulating an IBM SCS printer, then you can send commands directly to the printer to invoke the fonts you want. However when you do this the output becomes less "portable" as it is tied to the printer's command language. Also, you may need to lie about the printer line width to be able to print enough characters. If you have an ASCII printer emulating a SCS printer, you can use the SCS command for "ASCII transparency" to allow a printer command string to pass through to the printer. This is coded as the value x03 followed by a one-byte binary count of the bytes to not convert, followed by the data itself. For example, to pass an ASCII escape character (x1B) through to the printer, you would send x03011B. You would also need to code RPLUNPRT(*NO) on the PRTF either using OVRPRTF or CRTPRTF/CHGPRTF. If you are printing on a real SCS printer, I think you are SOL. Doug

[David Abramowitz]

Printing to *SCS printer with multiple CPI or fonts

You could use FONT to specify IDs that are 17.n CPI. Dave

[D.Handy]

Printing to *SCS printer with multiple CPI or fonts

David, "You could use FONT to specify IDs that are 17.n CPI." The FONT keyword is ignored for a SNA Character Stream (SCS) printer, which uses the CPI keyword instead. But CPI() only supports 10 and 15cpi because that is all most (real) SCS printers support. Doug

[David Abramowitz]

Printing to *SCS printer with multiple CPI or fonts

I tried this on a HP Laserjet defined as 3812-2 *SCS. I was able to get a variety of fonts, at a variety of pitches. Even some proportional fonts. Check out the appendices of the CL manual for a complete list of font IDs and what they translate to on various printers. Dave

[D.Handy]

Printing to *SCS printer with multiple CPI or fonts

David, "I tried this on a HP Laserjet defined as 3812-2 *SCS." I thought the 3812 was IPDS - guess I was wrong. Thanks for the correction. Are you using Host Print Transform to convert the SCS to PCL5 on the 400 or 3812 emulation on the PC side? "I was able to get a variety of fonts, at a variety of pitches. Even some proportional fonts." Then I wonder why the DDS Reference manual, V4R5, has this sentence under the FONT keyword: "For SCS printer files, the FONT keyword is ignored when the record or field is printed." ??? Doug

[David Abramowitz]

Printing to *SCS printer with multiple CPI or fonts

The shop is using Host Print Transform, and the release is V4R3. Dave