Intermec EasyCoder E4 Programmer's Reference Manual

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Programmer’s Reference Manual

EasyCoder E4 Direct Protocol v2.10

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Information in this manual is subject to change without prior notice and does not represent a commitment on the part of Intermec Printer AB.

EasyCoder is a registered trademark of Intermec Technologies Corp. The word Intermec and the Intermec logoare trademarks of Intermec Technologies Corp. Centronics is a registered trademark of Genicom Corporation.

Microsoft is a registered trademark of Microsoft Corporation. Speedo is a trademark of Bitstream, Inc. Torx is a registered trademark of Camcar Division of Textron Inc. TrueDoc is a registered trademark of Bitstream, Inc. TrueType is a trademark of Apple Computer Inc. Unicode is a trademark of Unicode Inc. Windows is a trademark of Microsoft Corporation.

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EasyCoder E4 Direct Protocol v2.10 – Programmer’s Reference Manual

Contents

1. Introduction

1. Introduction...........................................................................4

2. Getting Started

1. Computer Connection..........................................................5

2. Check Media Supply.............................................................6

3. Switch On the Printer............................................................6

4. Serial Communications Test..................................................6

3. Principles of Operation

1. Intermec Direct Protocol Special Features.............................8

2. Sending Commands..............................................................8

3. Fields....................................................................................11

4. General Formatting Commands.........................................11

5. Field-Related Formatting Commands.................................11

6. Layout Commands..............................................................12

7. Printable Data Commands..................................................12

8. Feeding and Printing Commands .......................................13

9. Setting Up the Printer..........................................................13

10. Reading Printer’s Status........................................................13

11. File-Handling Commands ..................................................14

12. Syntax Descriptions .............................................................14

13. File Storage Devices and File Names...................................15

4. Label Design

1. Field Types ...........................................................................17

2. General Formatting Commands.........................................18

3. Text Field .............................................................................21

4. Bar Code Field.....................................................................25

5. Image Field...........................................................................21

6. Box Field..............................................................................33

7. Line Field.............................................................................34

8. Layout Commands..............................................................35

9. Printable Data Commands..................................................36

5. Feeding and Printing Commands

1. Media Feed ..........................................................................42

2. Label Printing ......................................................................44

3. Batch Printing......................................................................45

6. Setting Up the Printer

1. Layout Mode/Immediate Mode..........................................47

2. In/Out Channel...................................................................47

3. Date and Time.....................................................................48

4. Date and Time Format........................................................49

5. Separators.............................................................................51

6. Counters ..............................................................................52

Contents

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Contents

6. Setting Up the Printer, cont.

7. Label Taken Sensor ..............................................................53

8. Feed Button .........................................................................50

9. Memory Formatting............................................................54

10. Input Data Preprocess..........................................................54

11. Character Set Selection ........................................................55

12. Printer Reboot .....................................................................57

13. Verbosity Level.....................................................................57

14. Error Message Types ............................................................57

15. Error Handling ....................................................................58

16. Break in Batch Printing .......................................................60

17. Printer Setup ........................................................................61

18. Setting the LSS Threshold...................................................63

19. Enabling/Disabling Automatic Cutting..............................63

7. Reading the Printer’s Status

1. Introduction.........................................................................64

2. Date and Time.....................................................................64

3. Memory ...............................................................................64

4. Printhead..............................................................................65

5. System Counters..................................................................65

6. Sensors .................................................................................66

7. Printer’s Status......................................................................66

8. Firmware and Hardware Versions........................................66

9. Label Length ........................................................................67

10. Gap Length..........................................................................67

11. Media Light Transmission....................................................67

8. File Handling

1. Reading the Printer Memory...............................................68

2. Removing Images, Files, and Fonts .....................................69

3. Copying Files.......................................................................70

4. Downloading Binary Files ...................................................70

5. Downloading Image Files....................................................71

9. Advanced Features

1. Specifying Complex Bar Codes...........................................72

2. Using International Character Sets......................................73

3. Font Scaling .........................................................................77

10. Firmware Upgrade

1. Firmware and Fonts.............................................................78

11. Character Sets, Fonts,

1. Character Sets ......................................................................79

and Bar Codes

2. Resident Fonts .................................................................. 106

3. Resident Bar Codes........................................................... 107

Contents, cont.

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Contents

12. Error Messages

1. Error Messages in Numerical Order................................. 108

13. Commands and Functions

1. Commands ....................................................................... 110

2. Command Syntax............................................................. 115

3. Function Syntax................................................................ 118

Contents, cont.

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EasyCoder E4 Direct Protocol v2.10 – Programmer’s Reference Manual4

Chapter 1

Introduction

Intermec Direct Protocol is an easy-to-use printer programming language that has been developed for use with the computercontrolled direct thermal and thermal transfer printers manufactured by Intermec. The version (v2.10) described in this manual is only applicable to EasyCoder E4 printers, but is in most respects compatible to other versions of the Intermec Direct Protocol, so applications created for other types of EasyCoder printers can be used on an EasyCoder E4 with few or no modiﬁ cations.

Intermec Direct Protocol can be used in two ways:

• To create label layouts consisting of ﬁ elds with ﬁ xed or variable information. A layout can then be selected and provided with variable input from the host computer in the form of a simple string of data.

• To send input data and formatting commands as a continuous string of data directly from the host computer.

In both cases, Intermec Direct Protocol provides a ﬂ exible error handler, which allows you to compose your own error messages in any language.

Intermec Direct Protocol has been created with two main types of application in mind:

• Applications where the end-user requires a simple printer control program, but needs a versatile error handler.

• Applications which have a comprehensive printer control program in the host computer.

Refer to chapter 13 in this manual for lists of the various commands in Intermec Direct Protocol.

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Chapter 2

Intermec Direct Protocol is stored in two Flash EPROM packages ﬁ tted as standard on the printer’s CPU board. No ﬂ oppy disks or operating system, such as MS-DOS, are required. The printer only needs to be connected to an AC supply and to a device capable of transmitting characters in ASCII format, which can be anything from a non-intelligent terminal to a mainframe computer system.

For running the printer, we recommend a computer with a screen, an alphanumeric keyboard, and a communication program which provides two-way communication via an RS 232C serial port. A Centronics parallel port can also be used, but it will provide one-way communication only: no data or messages can be returned to the screen of the host.

Connect the printer and host as described in the EasyCoder E4 User's Guide.

It is possible to set up the printer’s communication protocol to ﬁ t the host computer, as described in the EasyCoder E4 User's Guide. However, until you have become familiar with Intermec Direct Protocol, it may be easier to adapt the host to the printer’s default setup parameters. There is no communication setup for the Centronics parallel interface.

Default serial communication setup on ”uart1:”

• Baud rate: 9600

• Parity: None

• Character length: 8

• No. of stop bits: 1

• Flow control: Disabled

• New line: CR/LF (Carriage Return + Line Feed)

Getting Started

1. Computer Connection

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Chapter 2 Getting Started

Check that the printer has an ample supply of media and, where applicable, of thermal transfer ribbon. Refer to the EasyCoder E4 User’s Guide for loading commands.

Check that the printhead is lowered. Turn on the mains switch, which is ﬁ tted on the printer’s rear plate, and check that the Power LED comes on.

Check that you have a working two-way serial communication by sending a simple command from the host to the printer. On the host, type:

? VERSION$ ↵

Provided you have serial two-way communication, the printer should respond by immediately returning the version of the installed Intermec Direct Protocol ﬁ rmware to the screen of the host, for example:

V2.10 Ok

This indicates that the communication is working both ways. If the communication does not work, switch off the printer and

check the connection cable. Also check if the communication setup in the host corresponds to the printer’s setup, check the verbosity level, and check if the connection is made between the correct ports. Then try the communication test again using the Dump Mode.

Once you know that the communication is working, you may go on and send a line of text to make sure that characters transmitted from the terminal are interpreted as expected by the printer’s ﬁ rmware:

PP 10, 10 ↵ FT "Swiss 721 BT" ↵ PT "ABCDEFGHIJKLM" ↵ PF ↵

2. Check Media Supply

3. Switch On the Printer

4. Serial Communications Test

↵ = Carriage Return

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Chapter 2 Getting Started

Each line will be acknowledged by Ok on the screen, provided it has been entered correctly. When you press ↵ (Carriage Return) the third time, the printer will feed out a label, ticket, tag, or a piece of strip with the text printed in the lower left corner of the printable area.

ABCDEFGHIJKLM

You can try using other characters between the quotation marks in the third line, especially typical national characters like ÅÄÖÜ¿¢¥ç, etc. If any unexpected characters are printed, you may need to select another character set (see Chapter 6.11), or change the communication setup from 7-bit to 8-bit character length.

4. Serial Communications Test, cont.

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Chapter 3

There is a built-in error handler, that can indicate selected error conditions and produce error-messages of your own creation in any language you like.

Variable input data (in a special format) can be inserted into ﬁ elds in a predeﬁ ned layout.

You can create counters without extensive programming. You can easily enable the Feed key to produce printouts. By default, verbosity is On in Intermec Direct Protocol

Intermec Direct Protocol allows you to send commands to the printer in two ways:

• Immediate Mode

• Layout Mode

•

Immediate Mode

You send commands that the printer will act upon immedi-

ately. This method is used for setting up the printer, for returning information from the printer back to the host and for managing ﬁ les, fonts and images.

Examples: PRINT KEY ON ↵ (enable Feed key) ? DATE$ ↵ (read printer’s calendar) KILL "LAYOUT1" ↵ (delete a layout or ﬁ le)

Immediate Mode can also be used for creating label layouts

including all the printable data as illustrated below.

•

Layout Mode

Layout Mode is only intended for creating labels. Firstly, create

a layout containing formatting commands for a number of ﬁ elds and such printable data that you do not need to change. Secondly, send a string of printable data to the empty ﬁ elds plus a print command. You can create a number of different layouts, select the one you need, add the variable data, and print out the labels.

Principles of Operation

1. Intermec Direct Protocol Special Features

2. Sending Commands

/. While you are experimenting with Intermec Direct Protocol, we recommend that you retain the default verbosity setting (ON). Later you should change it to OFF, since this will produce optimum printer performance.

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Chapter 3 Principles of Operation

Therre are two methods for creating the label shown to the left:

Immediate Mode

You can send the string as a single line:

BF ON:BF "Swiss 721 BT",9,0:PP 10,20: PX 400,300,10:PP 25,25:PM "ROM:GLOBE.1": PP 75,250:BT "CODE39":PB "ABC":PP 75,200: FT "Swiss 721 BT",9,0:PT "My FIRST label!":PF ↵

You can also send the same string line by line:

BF ON ↵ (enable bar code interpretation) BF "Swiss 721 BT",9,0 ↵ (select bar code interpr. font) PP 10, 20 ↵ (insertion point for box ﬁ eld) PX 400,300,10 ↵ (create a box) PP 25,25 ↵ (insertion point for image ﬁ eld) PM "ROM:GLOBE.1" ↵ (select image) PP 75,250 ↵ (insertion point for bar code ﬁ eld) BT "CODE39" ↵ (select bar code type) PB "ABC" ↵ (input data to bar code ﬁ eld) PP 75,200 ↵ (insertion point for text ﬁ eld) FT "Swiss 721 BT",9,0 ↵ (select font for text ﬁ eld) PT "My FIRST label!" ↵ (input data to text ﬁ eld) PF ↵ (print one label)

Layout Mode

First, create a layout:

LAYOUT INPUT "LABEL1" ↵ (start layout recorder) BF ON ↵ (enable bar code interpretation) BF "Swiss 721 BT",9,0 ↵ (select bar code interpr. font) PP 10,20 ↵ (insertion point for box ﬁ eld) PX 400,300,10 ↵ (create a box) PP 25,25 ↵ (insertion point for image ﬁ eld) PM "ROM:GLOBE.1" ↵ (select image) PP 75,250 ↵ (insertion point for bar code ﬁ eld) BT "CODE39" ↵ (select bar code type) PB VAR1$ ↵ (variable input data to bar code ﬁ eld) PP 75,200 ↵ (insertion point for text ﬁ eld) FT "Swiss 721 BT",9,0 ↵ (select font for text ﬁ eld) PT VAR2$ ↵ (variable input data to text ﬁ eld) LAYOUT END ↵ (save layout)

2. Sending Commands, cont.

ABC

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Chapter 3 Principles of Operation

2. Sending Commands, cont.

ABC

Layout Mode

First, create a layout:

Then add the variable input data and a print command:

LAYOUT RUN "LABEL1" ↵ (select layout) INPUT ON ↵ (enables layouts and var. data ﬁ elds) <STX> (start of input data, ASCII 02 dec) ABC ↵ (variable input data to VAR1$) My FIRST label! ↵ (variable input data to VAR2$) <EOT> (end of input data, ASCII 04 dec) PF ↵ (print one label) INPUT OFF ↵ (disables layouts and var. data ﬁ elds)

Note: If a label has been printed using a predeﬁ ned layout and you want to return to Immediate Mode, the predeﬁ ned layout must ﬁ rst be cleared from the printer’s working memory using the following command:

LAYOUT RUN ""

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Chapter 3 Principles of Operation

3. Fields

The printable information on a label, ticket, tag or piece of strip consists of various types of ﬁ eld. A ﬁ eld can consist of:

• A single line of text

• A bar code with or without human readable interpretation

• An image, that is, a black&white picture, logo, or sign in

.PCX format

• A box, that is, a hollow square or rectangle

• A line

Any type of ﬁ eld should be speciﬁ ed with regard to:

• Position

• Alignment

• Direction

Depending on the type of ﬁ eld, additional formatting commands can be used:

• Text Field:

- Font (typeface)

- Font Size

- Font Slant

- Magniﬁ cation

- Normal Image/Inverse Image

• Bar Code Field

- Bar Code Type

- Height (height of bar pattern)

- Ratio (wide bars/narrow bars)

- Magniﬁ cation (bar pattern)

- Bar Code Interpretation On/Off

- Bar Code Interpretation Font

- Bar Code Interpretation Font Size

- Bar Code Interpretation Font Slant

• Image Field:

- Magniﬁ cation

- Normal image/Inverse image

• Box Field:

- Size (height, width, line thickness)

• Line Field:

- Size (length, line thickness)

4. General Formatting Commands

5. Field-Related Formatting Commands

/. This refers to one-dimensional bar codes only. Complex two-dimensional bar or dot codes may have other formatting parameters.

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Chapter 3 Principles of Operation

5. Field-Related Formatting Commands, cont.

Text, bar code and image ﬁ elds also require some input data:

• Text Field: Alphanumeric text

• Bar Code Field: Alphanumeric or numeric value

(depending on type of code)

• Image Field: Name of the image The input data to text and bar code ﬁ elds may either be provided

by the host or read from the printer’s ﬁ rmware, for example coun- ter values or various data related to the printer’s clock/calendar.

In Intermec Direct Protocol, you can either specify the ﬁ elds both with regard to formatting parameters and input data in the same string, or you can create a layout to which you can send variable data later.

The layout should contain formatting parameters for all ﬁ elds and input data to such ﬁ elds that will always contain the same information. When the variable input data are added, they will be inserted into their respective ﬁ elds (like ﬁ lling in a pre-printed form).

When creating predeﬁ ned layouts, special commands must be used for:

• Starting the layout recorder

• Saving the layout

Depending on the type of ﬁ eld and the type of bar code, print- able data to text and bar code ﬁ elds may consist of:

• Alphanumeric data (text)

• Numeric data

• Counter values

• Current date

• Current time

• Current date +/- nn days

• Current time +/- nn seconds

• Current week number

• Current weekday

6. Layout Commands

7. Printable Data Commands

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Chapter 3 Principles of Operation

8. Feeding and Printing Commands

9. Setting Up the Printer

10. Reading the Printer’s Status

Some commands control printing and media feed, for example:

• Changing media feed speed

• Rotating the platen roller during cleaning

• Feeding out an empty label, ticket, tag, or piece of strip

• Adjusting the label stop/black mark sensor.

• Printing one label or a batch of labels (or similar).

You can control how the printer will work, for example:

• Select standard IN and OUT channels

• Set the printer’s clock/calendar

• Set formats for the printing of date and time

• Set separators for input data strings to predeﬁ ned layouts

• Create label counters

• Enable/disable the optional label taken sensor

• Enable/disable Feed key

• Format the printer’s RAM memory or a memory card

• Remap certain incoming characters

• Select character set(s)

• Restart the printer

• Select verbosity level

• Select type of error message

• Enable error handling and create customized error messages

• Select method for breaking the printing of a batch of labels

• Change the printer’s setup

Provided you have two-way serial communication between printer and host, you can return the printer’s status with regard to a number of functions to the host, for example:

• Current date and time

• Memory status

• Printhead status and characteristics

• Value of various system counters

• Status of various sensors

• Firmware and hardware version

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Chapter 3 Principles of Operation

11. File-Handling Commands

12. Syntax Descriptions

A number of commands are used to control the printer’s memory, for example:

• Read the names of ﬁ les, fonts, or images stored in the printer’s memory

• Download binary ﬁ les

• Download .PCX ﬁ les

• Remove ﬁ les

• Remove downloaded images

• Copy ﬁ les

Many commonly used commands have a shorthand version to minimise the transfer of data. In the explanations of the various command that follow, both the full name and the shorthand version will be shown, separated by a thin vertical line, for example:

PRPOS | PP

Upper- and lower-case characters can be used at will in commands. Parameters for commands are shown like this:

<parameter> numeric value "<parameter>" alphanumeric text (enclosed by double quota tion marks)

• Compulsory space characters are indicated by a double-headed arrow (↔).

• Square brackets [ ] indicate optional parameters.

• Thin vertical bars ( | ) indicate alternatives.

• Always enter parentheses, commas, colons, semicolons, minus

signs, quotation marks and period characters exactly as shown.

• Negative values are indicated by leading minus signs (-)

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Chapter 3 Principles of Operation

13. File Storage Devices and File Names

Files can be stored in the EasyCoder E4 on one of ﬁ ve devices:

• "ROM:"

Contains the built-in ﬁ les necessary for using the printer. This

is a read-only device that resides in the ﬂ ash memory.

• "RAM:"

Contains ﬁ les created by the user. This is a read/write device

that resides in the ﬂ ash memory.

• "CACHE:"

Can only contain images. This device is volatile, that is, its

contents will be lost at power off or reboot.

• "CARD1:"

A PCMCIA card in the slot nearest the ON/OFF switch,

which can be a DOS-formatted card or a specially formatted font cartridge.

• "CARD2:"

A PCMCIA card in the slot farthest from the ON/OFF

switch, which can be a DOS-formatted card or a specially formatted font cartridge.

The ﬁ les in each device can be listed using the FILES command, for example FILES "RAM:".

In general, "ROM:" and font cartridges in "CARD1:" or "CARD2:" are read-only devices; you cannot create, copy, or delete ﬁ les on these devices. For example. the following com- mands would cause errors:

FILE&LOAD "ROM:NEWFILE",123 COPY "RAM:OLDFILE","CARD1:NEWFILE"

(if CARD1: contains a font cartridge)

KILL "CARD2:OLDFILE"

(if CARD2: contains a font cartridge)

In contrast, "RAM:", "CACHE:", and DOS-formatted cards in "CARD1:" or "CARD2:" are read/write devices which support all ﬁ le operations.

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Chapter 3 Principles of Operation

When using a Direct Protocol command which has the name of an existing ﬁ le as a parameter, you can:

• specify the device name before the ﬁ lename, for example

KILL "RAM:MYFILE.TXT"

• omit the device name, for example

KILL "MYFILE.TXT" in which case, the printer will search each device in turn until

it ﬁ nds a ﬁ le with this name.

If you use a Direct Protocol command which creates a ﬁ le, you can either

• specify the device on which the ﬁ le is to be stored, for example

FILE&LOAD "CARD1:MYFILE.TXT", 123

• or omit the device name, for example

FILE&LOAD "MYFILE.TXT", 123 in which case the ﬁ le will be stored on "RAM:".

The EasyCoder E4 Direct Protocol supports wildcards, that is, devices, ﬁ lenames, or ﬁ lename extensions can be substituted by asterisks (*; ASCII 42 dec.).

For example, the command KILL "RAM:*.PRG" will erase all ﬁ les with the extension .PRG in the device "RAM:”.

A ﬁ le downloaded under the name “Autoexec.bat” will automati- cally start running when the printer is started, see Chapter 8.4

13. File Storage Devices and File Names, cont.

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Chapter 4

A label layout is made up of a number of ﬁ elds. There are ﬁ ve different types of ﬁ eld:

• Text Field A text ﬁ eld consists of a single line of text.

• Bar Code Field A bar code ﬁ eld consists of a single bar

code, with or without a bar code interpretation in human readable characters.

• Image Field An image ﬁ eld is a picture, drawing, logo,

or other type of illustration in bitmap format.

• Box Field A box ﬁ eld is a square or rectangular non-

colored area surrounded by a black border line. If the border is sufﬁ ciently thick, the whole area may appear black.

• Line Field A line ﬁ eld is a black line that goes either

along or across the media path. A short but thick line can look like a black box.

There are no restrictions, other than the size of the memory, on the number of ﬁ elds on a single label.

Label Design

1. Field Types

ABC

Box Field

Bar Code Field

(with interpretation)

Text Field

Line Field

Image Field

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Chapter 4 Label Design

Origin

The positioning of all printable objects on the label uses a common system. The starting point (called the origin) is the point on the media that corresponds to the innermost active dot on the printhead at the moment when printing is started. The location of the origin is affected by the following factors:

• Position across the media path (X-axis):

The position of the origin in the X-axis is determined by the

Xstart value in Setup Mode.

• Position along the media path (Y-axis):

The position of the origin in the Y-axis is determined by the Startadj and Stopadj values in Setup Mode and by any

FORMFEED command executed before the current PRINTFEED command or after the preceding PRINTFEED.

Coordinates

Starting from the origin, the X-axis runs across the media path from the center section and outwards and the Y-axis runs along the media path from the printhead and back towards the media supply.

Units of Measurement

The unit of measurement is always “dots”, that is, all measures depend on the density of the printhead. The EasyCoder E4 has an 8 dots/mm printhead where a dot is 0.125 mm = 0.00492 in.

Insertion Point

The insertion point of any printable object is speciﬁ ed within the coordinate system using PRPOS|PP. The coordinates must be selected so the ﬁ eld ﬁ ts entirely inside the printable area.

PRPOS | PP <x-coordinate>,<y-coordinate>

<x-coordinate> the distance in dots along the x-axis from the

origin to the insertion point

<y-coordinate> the distance in dots along the y-axis from the

origin to the insertion point Default value: PRPOS 0,0 Reset to default by: PRINTFEED|PF

Example:

PP 100, 200 ↵

2. General Formatting Commands

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Chapter 4 Label Design

2. General Formatting Commands, cont.

Alignment

Once the insertion point is speciﬁ ed, you must also decide which part of the object should match the insertion point. For example, a text ﬁ eld forms a rectangle. There are 8 anchor points along the borders and one in the center, numbered 1–9 as shown in this illustration. The desired anchor point is speciﬁ ed using the ALIGN command.

ALIGN | AN <anchor point>

<anchor point> is a number from 1 – 9 Default value: 1 Reset to default by: PRINTFEED|PF

Example:

AN 1 ↵

ALIGN|AN will place the lower left corner of the text ﬁ eld at

the insertion point speciﬁ ed by PRPOS. Refer to the illustration below for detailed information on the anchor points for various types of printable objects.

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Chapter 4 Label Design

2. General Formatting Commands, cont.

Direction

Intermec Direct Protocol allows printing in four directions. You can rotate the printable object clockwise around the anchor point/insertion point with a 90° increment (0°, 90°, 180°, or 270°) by means of a DIR command:

DIR <direction>

<direction> is a number from 1 – 4 (DIR 1 = 0°; DIR

2 = 90°; DIR 3 = 180°; DIR 4 = 270°) Default: 1 Reset to default by: PRINTFEED|PF

Example:

DIR 3 ↵ DIR rotates all following printable ﬁ elds so that they are printed

across the media path and upside down with respect to the way the media is fed out of the printer. This illustration summarizes the three general formatting commands PRPOS|PP, ALIGN|AN, and DIR:

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Chapter 4 Label Design

A text ﬁ eld consists of one or more alphanumeric characters on the same line (max 1,800 characters). Intermec Direct Protocol cannot wrap text to a new line, but each line must be speciﬁ ed as a separate text ﬁ eld.

Intermec Direct Protocol has been extended to allow characters from any national character set, such as Chinese, Cyrillic, and Hebrew, to be included in a text ﬁ eld. In this section we will discuss the commands required to control the format of text ﬁ elds containing characters from the default Roman 8 character set (see Chapter 11.1). The Direct Protocol commands related to printing characters from other character sets are discussed in Chapters 6.11 and 9.2.

In addition to the general formatting commands, PRPOS, ALIGN, and DIR (see Chapter 4.2), a text ﬁ eld can contain the following commands:

• Font (typeface)

• Font Size (in points)

• Font Slant (in degrees)

• Magniﬁ cation

• Normal Image/Inverse Image

Select a Font

The FONT command speciﬁ es the ﬁ le name of the scaleable font to use and the height and the italic angle with which the characters will be printed.

FONT | FT "<font ﬁ le name>" [,<font size>,<font slant>]

<font ﬁ le name> the name of a Speedo or TrueType font ﬁ le,

and must be enclosed by double quotation

marks. <font size> the height of the characters in points (a point

is 1/72 inches/0.352 mm). <font slant> the italic angle of the characters in degrees; a

positive value slants the characters clockwise

away from the vertical. Default: ”Swiss 721 BT”, size 12p, slant 0° Reset to default by: PRINTFEED|PF

Before using any of the standard fonts OCR-A BT, OCR-B 10 Pitch BT, or Zapf Dingbats BT, you must select a special character set for that font using a NASC command (see Chapters 6.11, 9,2, and 11.1). Before switching back to any other font than those mentioned above, you must specify the original character set again by means of a new NASC command.

3. Text Field

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3. Text Field, cont.

The three font parameters can be speciﬁ ed separately using the following commands:

FONT | FT "<font ﬁ le name>"

FONTSIZE | FS <font size>

FONTSLANT | FL <font slant>

For each parameter, the value speciﬁ ed by these commands will be used in all text ﬁ elds on the current label, until a new value is speciﬁ ed.

The EasyCoder E4 v2.10 ﬁ rmware contains 15 font ﬁ les:

• Century Schoolbook BT

• Dutch 801 Roman BT

• Dutch 801 Bold BT

• Futura Light BT

• Letter Gothic 12 Pitch BT

• Monospace 821 BT

• Monospace 821 Bold BT

• OCR-A BT (use NASC ”OCR-A.NSC)

• OCR-B 10 Pitch BT (use NASC ”OCR-B.NSC)

• Prestige 12 Pitch Bold BT

• Swiss 721 BT (default font)

• Swiss 721 Bold BT

• Swiss 721 Bold Condensed BT

• Zapf Dingbats BT (use NASC ”ZAPF.NSC)

• Zurich Extra Condensed BT

For examples of the above fonts, see Chapter 11.2. Early EasyCoder printers contained bitmapped fonts, that is,

fonts scaled with a ﬁ xed size and slant

. To provide backward compatibility, the EasyCoder E4 provides FONT commands to select the equivalent combinations of font ﬁ le name, size, and slant:

“Old” EasyCoders EasyCoder E4

"SW020BSN" "Swiss 721 Bold BT",6,0 "SW030RSN" "Swiss 721 BT",9,0 "SW050RSN" "Swiss 721 BT",14,0 "SW060BSN" "Swiss 721 Bold BT",17,0 "SW080BSN" "Swiss 721 Bold BT",23,0 "SW120BSN" "Swiss 721 Bold BT",34,0 "MS030RMN" "Monospace 821 BT",9,0 "MS050RMN" "Monospace 821 BT",14,0 "MS060BMN" "Monospace 821 Bold BT",17,0 "OB035RM1" "OCR-A BT",8,0

/. Since the height of these fonts were speciﬁ ed in dots, not points, the point sizes in the table indicate the nearest value expressed as a whole number (integer) of points and is thus not 100% correct.

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Set Font Magniﬁ cation

Fonts can be magniﬁ ed 1 - 4 times independently with regard to height and width using a MAG command.

MAG <height mag>,<width mag>

<height mag> the magniﬁ cation factor 1, 2, 3, or 4 times

with regard to height.

<width mag> the magniﬁ cation factor 1, 2, 3, or 4 times

with regard to width. Default: 1,1 Reset to default by: PRINTFEED|PF

Specifying both a font height and two magniﬁ cation parameters allows the user to control both the height and the aspect ratio of printed characters. For example, to specify Swiss 721 Roman at 12 points with double width, use:

FONT "Swiss 721 BT",12,0 MAG 1,2

To specify Swiss 721 Roman at 12 points with a height:width ratio of 2:3, use:

FONT "Swiss 721 BT",6,0 MAG 2,3

Select Normal/Inverse Printing

Normally, text is printed in black without any printed background (NORIMAGE). Using INVIMAGE, the printing can be inversed so that the media gives the color of the characters, whereas the background will be black. The size of the background is decided by the font size and slant. A NORIMAGE statement is only needed when changing back from INVIMAGE printing.

NORIMAGE | NI

INVIMAGE | II

Default: NORIMAGE Reset to default by: PRINTFEED|PF

3. Text Field, cont.

NORIMAGE

INVIMAGE

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3. Text Field, cont.

Summary

To create a text ﬁ eld, the following formatting commands must be given (in most cases default values may substitute missing parameters). Input data to the ﬁ eld is explained Chapter 4.9, printing commands are explained in Chapter 5.2, and the use of national character sets is explained in Chapters 6.11 and 9.2.

Purpose Command Default Remarks

X/Y Position PRPOS | PP 0,0 Number of dots Alignment ALIGN | AN 1 Select AN 1–9 Direction DIR 1 Select DIR 1–4 Font FONT | FT "Swiss 721 BT", 12, 0 Font Size FONTSIZE | FS 12 Can be added to FONT command Font Slant FONTSLANT | FL 0 Can be added to FONT command Magniﬁ cation MAG 1,1 Height 1–4, Width 1–4 Appearance INVIMAGE | II off White-on-black print NORIMAGE | NI on Black-on-white print

Examples:

PP 200,500:AN 7:DIR 2: FT "Futura Light BT",15,10:MAG 2,2:II ↵

PP 50,300:NASC "OCR-A.NSC": FT "OCR-A BT":PT "This is OCR-A": PP 50,50:NASC 1: FT "Futura Light BT",15,10: PT "This is Futura Light" ↵

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4. Bar Code Field

The Intermec Direct Protocol v. 2.10 supports 38 of the most common bar code symbologies. Each bar code (optionally including its human readable interpretation) makes up a bar code ﬁ eld.

In addition to the general formatting commands, PRPOS, ALIGN, and DIR (see Chapter 4.2), a bar code ﬁ eld can specify the following properties:

• Bar Code Type

• Height (height of bar pattern)

• Ratio (wide bars/narrow bars)

• Magniﬁ cation (bar pattern)

• Bar Code Interpretation On/Off

• Bar Code Interpretation Font

• Bar Code Interpretation Font Size

• Bar Code Interpretation Font Slant

Select a Bar Code Type

The type of bar code is speciﬁ ed by a BARTYPE command containing an abbreviation of the bar code name. The abbreviation must be entered exactly as listed below.

BARTYPE | BT "<bar code name abbreviation>"

<bar code name...> the designation of the bar code type accord-

ing to the list below; it must be enclosed by

double quotation marks. Default: ”INT2OF5” Reset to default by: PRINTFEED|PF

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Bar Code Abbreviation

Codabar "CODABAR" Code 11 "CODE11" Code 16K "CODE16K" Code 39 "CODE39" Code 39 full ASCII "CODE39A" Code 39 w. checksum "CODE39C" Code 49 "CODE49" Code 93 "CODE93" Code 128 "CODE128" DUN-14/16 "DUN" EAN-8 "EAN8" EAN-13 "EAN13" EAN-128 "EAN128" Five-Character Supplemental Code "ADDON5" Industrial 2 of 5 "C2OF5IND" Industrial 2 of 5 w. checksum "C2OF5INDC" nterleaved 2 of 5 "INT2OF5" Interleaved 2 of 5 w. checksum "INT2OF5C" Interleaved 2 of 5 A "I2OF5A" Matrix 2 of 5 "C2OF5MAT" Maxicode "MAXICODE" MSI (modiﬁ ed Plessey) "MSI" PDF 417 "PDF417" Plessey "PLESSEY" Postnet "POSTNET" Straight 2 of 5 "C2OF5" Two-Character Supplemental Code "ADDON2" UCC-128 Serial Shipping Container Code "UCC128" UPC-5 digits Add-On Code "SCCADDON" UPC-B "UPCB" UPC-A "UPCA" UPC-D1 "UPCD1" UPC-D2 "UPCD2" UPC-D3 "UPCD3" UPC-D4 "UPCD4" UPC-D5 "UPCD5" UPC-E "UPCE" UPC Shipping Container Code "UPCSCC"

See also Chapter 9.1.

4. Bar Code Field, cont.

Note: Complex bar codes, such as PDF 417 and MaxiCode, must be speciﬁ ed using an extended version of the BARSET command, see Chapter 9.1.

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4. Bar Code Field, cont.

Set Bar Code Height

The height of the bars that make up the bar code can be speciﬁ ed using the BARHEIGHT command.

BARHEIGHT | BH <height>

<height> the height of the bars in dots Default: 100 Reset to default by: PRINTFEED|PF

Set Bar Code Ratio

The ratio between the wide and the narrow bars can be set using a BARRATIO command.

BARRATIO | BR <wide bars>,<narrow bars>

<wide bars> width of wide bars in dots <narrow bars> width of narrow bars in dots Default: 3:1 Reset to default by: PRINTFEED|PF

Set Bar Code Magniﬁ cation

The magniﬁ cation of the bar code and the bar code ratio decides the actual thickness of the bars. For example, if BARRATIO is 3:1 and BARMAG is 2, then the wide bars will be 6 dots thick (3 ×

2) and the narrow bars will be 2 dots (1 × 2). Magniﬁ cation also affects interpretations that are integrated in the code, for example EAN and UPC codes.

BARMAG | BM <magniﬁ cation>

<magniﬁ cation> the enlargement factor of the bar code pat-

tern. Default: 2 Reset to default by: PRINTFEED|PF

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Bar Codes (combined command)

The BARSET command is primarily intended for complex 2-dimensional codes (see Chapter 9.1), but can also be used to specify more simple bar codes using a single command:

BARSET[#<start parameter>,]"<code name>",<ratio wide bars>,<ratio narrow bars>,<magniﬁ cation>,<height>

<start parameter> optionally speciﬁ es which parameter in the

syntax above should be the ﬁ rst parameter

(#1–6). Thereby you may bypass some of the

initial parameters, for example code name,

ratio, and magniﬁ cation. (default 1, that is, ﬁ rst parameter = code

name) <code name> speciﬁ es bar code name (default ”INT2OF5”) <ratio wide bars> speciﬁ es ratio wide/narrow bars (default 3) <ratio narrow bars> speciﬁ es ratio wide/narrow bars (default 1) <magniﬁ cation> speciﬁ es magniﬁ cation (default 2) <height> speciﬁ es height of bars in dots (default 100) Reset to default by: PRINTFEED|PF

4. Bar Code Field, cont.

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4. Bar Code Field, cont.

Select Bar Code Interpretation Font

Most bar codes do not automatically include any bar code interpretation in human readable characters. If you wish to include a bar code interpretation, you can specify the font to be used for the bar code interpretation (human readable).

BARFONT | BF[#<start parameter>,]"<font ﬁ lename>"[, <fontsize> [,<fontslant>[,<vert. offset>[,<height mag> [,<width mag>]]]]][ON]

<start parameter> speciﬁ es the ﬁ rst parameter of the command

(default 1) <font ﬁ lename> the ﬁ le name of the font to be used (default "Swiss 721 BT") <font size> the height of the font in points (default 12 pt) <font slant> the slant of the font in degrees clockwise (default 0°) <vert. offset> distance between bar code and interpreta-

tion in dots (default 6 dots) <height mag> the magniﬁ cation with regard to height (default 1) <width mag> the magniﬁ cation with regard to width (default 1) <ON> enables the printing of bar code interpreta-

tion (default OFF) Reset to default by: PRINTFEED|PF

The bar code font size and slant can be speciﬁ ed separately using the following commands:

BARFONTSIZE | BFS <font size>

BARFONTSLANT | BFL <font slant>

As with text ﬁ elds, human readable bar code interpretation fonts can contain characters from any national character set.

However, before using any of the standard fonts OCR-A BT, OCR-B 10 Pitch BT, or Zapf Dingbats BT, you must select a special character set for that font using a NASC command (see Chapters 6.11, 9,2 and 11.1). Before switching back to any other font than those mentioned above, you must specify the original character set again using a new NASC command.

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4. Bar Code Field, cont.

Bar code interpretation printing can be enabled or disabled using these commands:

BARFONT | BF ON

BARFONT | BF OFF

By default, bar code interpretation printing is disabled.

Summary

To create a bar code ﬁ eld, the following formatting commands must be given (in most cases default values may substitute missing parameters). Input data and printing commands are explained in Chapters 4.9 and 5.2 respectively.

Purpose Command Default Remarks

X/Y Position PRPOS | PP) 0,0 Number of dots Alignment ALIGN | AN 1 Select ALIGN 1–9 Direction DIR 1 Select DIR 1–4 Bar Code Spec BARSET see above. Can be replaced by BT, BH, BR, BM Human Readable BF ON Off Can be omitted

Examples:

PP 100,100:AN 7:DIR 4: BARSET "CODE39",2,1,3,120: BF "Swiss 721 Bold BT",20,0,5,1,1 ON ↵

PP 100,100:AN 7:DIR 4: BARSET "CODE39",2,1,3,120: NASC "OCR-A.NSC": BF "OCR-A BT",20,0,5,1,1 ON:NASC 1 ↵

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An image ﬁ eld contains a black & white picture or logo in .PCX format. The image can either be stored in the printer’s RAM or in a memory card. It can also be downloaded from the host computer.

You cannot store images in the printer’s ROM, but it does contain two standard images: "ROM:GLOBE.1", which is a sample image for DIR 1 and 3, and "ROM:GLOBE.2", which is the same sample image for DIR 2 and 4.

In addition to the general formatting commands, PRPOS, ALIGN, and DIR, an image ﬁ eld can contain the following commands:

• Name

• Magniﬁ cation

• Normal/Inverse printing

Select an Image

An image is selected by the full name under which it is stored in the printer’s memory, either as plain text or as a variable (also see Chapter 4.9).

PRIMAGE | PM "<image name>"

<image name> the full name and storage location of

the image including extension, enclosed by

double quotation marks Default: None

The Intermec image name convention includes an extension (.1 or .2), where .1 indicates that the image is intended for print directions 1 and 3, whereas .2 indicates print directions 2 and 4 (see Chapter 4.2). For example, the image ”ROM:GLOBE.1” is suited for directions 1 and 3.

Set Image Magniﬁ cation

Images can be magniﬁ ed 1-4 times independently with regard to height and width using a MAG command.

MAG <height mag>,<width mag>

<height mag> the height magniﬁ cation factor (1-4 times). <width mag> the width magniﬁ cation factor (1-4 times). Default: 1,1 Reset to default by: PRINTFEED|PF

To obtain the best printout quality, select a larger image rather than magnifying a smaller one.

5. Image Field

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Select Normal/Inverse Printing

Normally, an image is printed in black and white, just as it was created. Using INVIMAGE, the black and white can be inverted. The size of the background is decided by the actual size of the image including “invisible” background. A NORIMAGE instruc- tion is only needed when changing back from INVIMAGE printing.

NORIMAGE | NI

INVIMAGE | II

Default: NORIMAGE Reset to default by: PRINTFEED|PF

Summary

To create an image ﬁ eld, the following formatting commands must be given (in most cases default values may substitute missing parameters). Image selection by means of variable input, and printing commands are explained in Chapters 4.9 and 5.2 respectively.

Purpose Command Default Remarks

X/Y Position PRPOS | PP 0,0 Number of dots Alignment ALIGN | AN 1 Select ALIGN 1 – 9 Direction DIR 1 Select DIR 1 – 4 Magniﬁ cation MAG 1,1 Height 1 – 4, Width 1– 4 Appearance INVIMAGE | II off Black and white parts inverted NORIMAGE | NI on Normal (revokes INVIMAGE) Image name PRIMAGE | PM n.a. Full name including extension

Example:

PP 200,500:AN 3:DIR 3:MAG 2,2:II: PM "ROM:GLOBE.1"↵

5. Image Field, cont.

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A box is a hollow square or rectangle that can be rotated with an increment of 90° according to the print direction. If the line thickness is sufﬁ ciently large, the box will appear to be ﬁ lled (another method is to print an extremely thick short line). In addition to the general formatting commands, PRPOS, ALIGN, and DIR, a box ﬁ eld is speciﬁ ed by a single command.

Set Size of the Box

The size of the box is speciﬁ ed with regard to height, width, and line weight (thickness).

PRBOX | PX <height>,<width>,<line thickness>

<height> the height of the box in dots perpendicular to

the selected direction. <width> the length of the box in dots along the

selected direction. <line thickness> the line weight in dots. Default: None

Summary

To create a box ﬁ eld, the following formatting commands must be given (in most cases, default values may substitute missing parameters). Printing commands are explained in Chapter 5.2.

Purpose Command Default Remarks

X/Y Position PRPOS | PP 0,0 Number of dots Alignment ALIGN | AN 1 Select ALIGN 1-9 Direction DIR 1 Select DIR 1-4 Box size PRBOX | PX n.a. Height, width, and line thickness in dots

Example:

PP 250,250:AN 1:DIR 3:PX 200,200,10 ↵

6. Box Field

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7. Line Field

A line can be printed in right angles along or across the media path according to the print direction.

In addition to the general formatting commands, PRPOS, ALIGN, and DIR, a line ﬁ eld is speciﬁ ed by a single command.

Set Size of the Line

The size of the line is speciﬁ ed with regard to length and line weight (thickness).

PRLINE | PL <length>,<line thickness>

<length> the length of the line in dots along the

selected direction. <line thickness> the line weight in dots. Default: No

Summary

To create a line ﬁ eld, the following formatting commands must be given (in most cases default values may substitute missing parameters). Printing commands are explained in Chapter 5.2.

Purpose Command Default Remarks

X/Y Position PRPOS | PP 0,0 Number of dots Alignment ALIGN | AN 1 Select ALIGN 1- 9 Direction DIR 1 Select DIR 1-4 Line size PRLINE | PL n.a. Length and line thickness in dots

Example:

PP 100,100:AN 1:DIR 4:PL 200,10 ↵

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8. Layout Commands

Start Layout Recorder

The LAYOUT INPUT command clears the printer’s working memory, starts the layout recorder, and allows you to assign a name to the layout.

LAYOUT INPUT ”<layout name>”

<layout name> up to 30 characters enclosed by double quo-

tation marks. Example:

LAYOUT INPUT "Shipping Label" ↵

Assign Input Variables to Fields

The layout may consist of both ﬁ xed ﬁ elds and ﬁ elds for variable information. In the layout, you must give a reference to each text, bar code or image ﬁ eld intended to receive variable data, so that the input data can be inserted into the correct ﬁ eld. The variable VAR<n>$ is used to indicate variable input, where <n> speciﬁ es the number of the ﬁ eld. The ﬁ rst variable input data block will be entered into the ﬁ eld containing VAR1$, the second block with VAR2$, etc. Fixed data and variable data can be combined in the same ﬁ eld. See also Chapter 4.9.

VA R<n>$

<n> the number of the ﬁ eld. There is no practical

limit to the number of ﬁ elds.

Examples:

PT VAR1$ ↵ (text ﬁ eld with variable input) PT "Price: ";VAR2$ ↵ (text ﬁ eld with ﬁ xed and

variable input)

PB VAR3$ ↵ (bar code ﬁ eld with variable input) PM VAR4$ ↵ (image ﬁ eld with variable input)

Save the Layout

After completing the layout, save it in the printer’s RAM memory, switch off the layout recorder and clear the printer’s working memory using a LAYOUT END command. The layout can then be copied or killed like any other ﬁ le, see Chapter 3.13.

LAYOUT END

Example:

LAYOUT END ↵

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9. Printable Commands

Select a Layout

Before any variable data can be transmitted to a preprogrammed layout, the layout must be selected using a LAYOUT RUN com- mand.

LAYOUT RUN "<layout name>"

<layout name> the name given to the layout in the

LAYOUT INPUT command and must be

enclosed by double quotation marks.

Example:

LAYOUT RUN "Shipping Label" ↵

Transmit Variable Data to a Layout

After having selecting a layout using a LAYOUT RUN command, you can transmit the variable data to their respective layout ﬁ elds:

• The transmission starts with a start-of-text separator.

• Then comes a block of data to the ﬁ eld containing VAR1$.

• A ﬁ eld separator separates the blocks of data.

• Next block goes to the ﬁ eld containing VAR2$.

• A ﬁ eld separator separates the blocks of data and so on.

• The last block must also end with a ﬁ eld separator.

• The end of transmission is indicated by an End-of text separa-

tor.

By default, the following separators should be used:

• Start separator: STX (ASCII 02 dec)

• Field separator: CR (ASCII 13 dec)

• End separator: EOT (ASCII 04 dec)

All separators can be changed using the INPUT ON|OFF and FORMAT INPUT commands, see Chapter 6.5. INPUT OFF is default, so you must issue the command INPUT ON before using LAYOUT RUN.

Input data must not be enclosed by double quotation marks.

Example:

INPUT ON ↵ LAYOUT RUN "Shipping Label" ↵ <STX> Abcdefg <CR>123456789 <CR> <EOT>

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9. Printable Commands, cont.

Input Data to Text Fields

Input data is inserted into a text ﬁ eld using a PRTXT command. You can add various types of data to a text ﬁ eld:

• Plain text, by typing, for example “Abcdefgh” or “012345”

• Variable input data, using variables, for example VAR1$

• Counter values, for example CNT1$

• Current date, using DATE$ or DATE$("F")

• Current time, using TIME$ or TIME$("F")

• The weekday of the current or speciﬁ ed date, using WEEK-

DAY$

• The number of the current or speciﬁ ed date, using WEEK-

NUMBER

• An offset date, using DATEADD$ or DATEADD$("F")

• An offset time, using TIMEADD$ or TIMEADD$("F")

You can combine different types of data in a single PRTXT com- mand. The different parts are separated by semicolons (;). Note that plain text must be enclosed by double quotation marks.

PRTXT | PT "<input data>"[;"<input data>"...]

Examples:

PT "Price: $1.99" ↵ PT "Price: ”;VAR1$;" per dozen” ↵ PT "Box No. ";CNT15$;” Packed: ”;DATE$ ("F") ↵

PT WEEKDAY$(DATE$);", ";DATE$("F") ↵ PT "Week Number ";WEEKNUMBER(DATE$) ↵ PT "Expiry date: ";DATEADD$ (30,"F") ↵

Input Data to Bar Code Fields

Input data is inserted into a bar code ﬁ eld using a PRBAR com- mand. You can add the same types of data to a bar code ﬁ eld as to a text ﬁ eld, as long as the type of data (fnumeric/alphanumeric) and the number of characters, etc. comply with the bar code speciﬁ cation. You can combine different types of data in a single PRBAR command. The different parts are separated by semicolons (;). Note that alphanumeric input must be enclosed by double quotation marks.

PRBAR | PB <input data>[;<input data>...]

Examples:

PB "71543";VAR5$ ↵ PB "Intermec" ↵ PB DATE$;TIME$ ↵

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Input Data to Bar Code Fields

You can combine different types of data in a single PRBAR command. The different parts are separated by semicolons (;). Note that alphanumeric input must be enclosed by double quotation marks.

PRBAR | PB <input data>[;<input data>...]

Examples:

PB "71543";VAR5$ ↵ PB "Intermec" ↵ PB DATE$;TIME$ ↵

Input Data to Image Fields

An image can be selected either by name in plain text (for example “ROM:GLOBE.1”), or in the form of a variable (for example VAR1$), (see also Chapter 4.5). Note that plain text input must be enclosed by double quotation marks.

PRIMAGE | PM <image name>

Examples:

PM VAR5$ ↵ PM "LOGO.2" ↵

Input Data from Counters

Using a COUNT& command, various counters can be created (see Chapter 6.6). You can read the present value of a counter and use it as input data by including a reference to the counter in the PRTXT or PRBAR commands in the form of a variable.

CNT <Counter No.>$

<Counter No.> the number assigned to the counter in the

COUNT& command.

Example:

PT "Label number: ";CNT1$ ↵ PB CNT2$ ↵

9. Printable Commands, cont.

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9. Printable Commands, cont.

Input Data from the Printer’s Clock/Calendar

A real-time clock circuit (RTC) is an optional extra on the EasyCoder E4. If the optional RTC is not ﬁ tted, the date and time will be lost when the printer is switched off. Use the DATE$ and TIME$ commands to reset the clock and calendar.

The printer’s clock/calendar can be used to provide input data for text and bar code ﬁ elds by including any of the following in the PRTXT or PRBAR commands:

• DATE$

• DATE$("F")

• TIME$

• TIME$("F")

• WEEKDAY$

• WEEKNUMBER

• DATEADD$

• TIMEADD$

DATE$

Returns the current date according to the printer’s calendar in the standard format YYMMDD, where YY is the last two digits of the year, MM is the number of the month (01–12) and DD is the number of the day (01–31).

Example:

PT DATE$ ↵

DATE$ ("F")

Returns the current date according to the printer’s calendar in the format speciﬁ ed by FORMAT DATE$ (see Chapter 6.4).

Example:

PT DATE$(”F”) ↵

TIME$

Returns the current time according to the printer’s clock in the standard date format HHMMSS, where HH is the hour (00–24), MM is the minute (00–59) and SS is the second (00–59).

Example:

PT TIME$ ↵

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TIME$ ("F")

Returns the current time according to the printer’s clock in the format speciﬁ ed by FORMAT TIME$ (see Chapter 6.4).

Example:

PT TIME$("F") ↵

WEEKDAY$ ("<date>")

Returns the name of the weekday in plain text according to NAME WEEKDAY$ (see Chapter 6.4) from a given date or the current date.

<date> can be speciﬁ ed in the standard format

”YYMMDD” or by a DATE$ command.

Examples:

PT WEEKDAY$("000101") ↵ PT WEEKDAY$(DATE$) ↵

WEEKNUMBER ("<date>")

Returns the weeknumber from a given date or the current date.

<date> can be speciﬁ ed in the standard format

”YYMMDD” or by a DATE$ command.

Examples:

PT WEEKNUMBER("000101") ↵ PT WEEKNUMBER(DATE$) ↵

9. Printable Commands, cont.

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DATEADD$ (["<original date>",]<number of days>[,"F"])

Adds or subtracts a certain number of days to the current date or optionally to a speciﬁ ed date.

<original date> optional; it is entered in the standard date

format “YYMMDD”. Note that the origi-

nal date must be enclosed by double quota-

tion marks. <number of days> the number of days to be added to or sub-

tracted from the current date or, optionally,

the date speciﬁ ed by <original date>. In case

of subtraction, the <number of days> should

be preceded by a minus sign (-). <"F"> an optional ﬂ ag specifying that the result

should be returned in the format speciﬁ ed by

FORMAT DATE$ instead of the standard

format YYMMDD.

Example:

PT DATEADD$("000101",-15,"F") ↵

TIMEADD$ (["<original time>",]<number of sec’s>[,"F"])

Adds or subtracts a certain number of seconds to the current time or optionally to a speciﬁ ed moment of time.

<original time> optional; it is entered in the standard date

format ”HHMMSS”. Note that the original

time must be enclosed by double quotation

marks. <number of secs> the number of seconds to be added to or sub-

tracted from the current time or, optionally,

the moment of time speciﬁ ed by <original

time>. In case of subtraction, the <number

of secs> should be preceded by a minus sign

(-). <"F"> an optional ﬂ ag specifying that the result

should be returned in the format speciﬁ ed by

FORMAT TIME$ instead of the standard

format HHMMSS.

Example:

PT TIMEADD$("123026",100,"F") ↵

9. Printable Commands, cont.

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Chapter 5

Feeding and Printing Commands

In order to provide maximum ﬂ exibility, there is a number of commands for controlling the media feed:

• CLEANFEED

• FORMFEED

• TESTFEED

CLEANFEED <feed length in dots>

Runs the printer’s media feed mechanism in order to facilitate clean- ing of the platen roller.

FORMFEED | FF [<feed length in dots>]

Feeds out a blank label or optionally feeds out (+) or pulls back (-) a certain amount of media without printing.

TESTFEED

Feeds out a number of blank labels while adjusting the label stop/ black mark sensor and measuring the label length. Max. label length is 24 cm (9.5 in), else error 1010 “Hardware error” occurs. Does not work with var. length strip, or ﬁ x length strip.

In case of label lengths exceeding 24 cm (9.5 in), the label length can be set manually using a SETUP string, see Chapter 6.17.

CUT

Makes the optional paper cutter perform a cutting cycle.

The media is fed past the printhead by a rubber-coated platen roller driven by a stepper motor. The ﬁ rmware can control the stepper motor with an accuracy of one dot in either direction. The movement of the media is detected by the label stop sensor (LSS) or black mark sensor (BMS), except when various types of strip are used.

The printer’s setup with regard to Detection, Media Size, Length, and Media Type determines how the media feed will work. There are ﬁ ve different types of Media Type options (also see the EasyCoder E4 User’ Guide):

• Label (w gaps)

• Ticket (w mark)

• Ticket (w gaps)

• Fix length strip

• Var length strip

1. Media Feed

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When a FORMFEED, TESTFEED, or PRINTFEED command is executed, the photoelectrical label stop sensor (LSS) detects the forward edge of each new label or the forward edge of each detection gap, and the black mark sensor (BMS) detects the forward edge of each black mark, as the media is fed past the sensor.

By performing a TESTFEED operation after loading a new supply of media, the ﬁ rmware is able to measure the distance between, for example, the forward edges of two consecutive labels, thereby determining the label length, so that it can adjust the media feed accordingly. The same principle applies to tickets or tags with detection gaps and to tickets with black marks. In the case of strip, the LSS will only detect an out-of-paper condition; the amount of media feed is decided in two different ways:

• Fixed length strip The amount of paper fed for each FORMFEED and PRINT-

FEED operation is decided by the Media Size: Length setup.

• Variable length strip After executing a PRINTFEED, the printer will stop feeding

as soon as printing stops. Note that a blank space character or “white” part of an image is also regarded as a printable object. The amount of media fed by FORMFEED is decided by the Media Size: Length setup.

The Detection setup allows you to perform two global adjustments to the media feed described above:

• Start Adjust

• Stop Adjust

By default, both these parameters are set to 0, which allows for proper tear-off operation when there is no requirement of printing immediately at the forward edge of the label (equivalent).

• Start Adjust decides how much media will be fed out or

pulled back before the FORMFEED or PRINTFEED is executed. There is a small distance between the dispenser shaft or tear off edge and the printhead. Thus, if you want to start printing directly at the forward edge of the label, you must pull back the media before printing by means of a negative start adjust value.

• Stop Adjust decides how much more or less media will be fed

out after the FORMFEED or PRINTFEED is executed.

1. Media Feed, cont.

Recommended Adjustments: See the User’s Guide of the EasyCoder E4 printer model in question.

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Chapter 5 Feeding and Printing Commands

1. Media Feed, cont.

If the FORMFEED command is issued without any speciﬁ cation of the feed length, a complete blank label (or the equivalent) will be fed out. By specifying a positive or negative value in the FORMFEED command, the global Start Adjust and Stop Adjust setup can be substituted or supplemented for individual layouts or labels.

It is important whether the FORMFEED command is executed before or after the PRINTFEED command:

• FORMFEED before PRINTFEED corresponds to Start

Adjust.

• FORMFEED after PRINTFEED corresponds to Stop Adjust. The relationship between paper and printhead when printing

starts decides all positioning along the Y-axis, that is, along the media path.

Printing Commands

When a PRINTFEED command is issued, the ﬁ rmware pro- cesses all previously entered text ﬁ elds, bar code ﬁ elds, image ﬁ elds, box ﬁ elds, and line ﬁ elds into a bitmap pattern. The bitmap pattern controls the heating of the printhead dots as the media is fed past them. Each PRINTFEED command produces one single copy or, optionally, a batch of labels or similar.

PRINTFEED | PF [<batch size>]

<batch size> speciﬁ es the number of copies to be printed. Default: 1

The execution of a PRINTFEED command resets the following commands to their respective default values:

ALIGN BARFONT BARFONTSIZE BARFONTSLANT BARFONT ON/OFF BARFONTD BARFONTDSIZE BARFONTDSLANT BARHEIGHT BARMAG BARRATIO BARSET BARTYPE DIR FONT FONTSIZE FONTSLANT FONTD FONTDSIZE FONTDSLANT INVIMAGE MAG PRPOS

This reset only affects commands executed after PRINTFEED, not commands that have already been executed. This makes batch printing possible.

2. Label Printing

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3. Batch Printing

General Information

The term “Batch Printing” means the process of printing several labels. The labels may either be exact copies or different from each other.

For batch printing, the most critical factor is the time required to process the print image into a bitmap and store it in the image buffer. The image buffer compensates for differences between processing time and printing time. If the bitmap is too large to be stored in its entirety in the image buffer, it will be divided into a number of segments across the media feed direction which will be processed one after the other and downloaded to the image buffer. As the buffer is emptied by printing, a new segment can be processed and downloaded.

When printing a batch of labels from a predeﬁ ned layout, the layout is processed before each new copy is printed, in order to allow counter, date, and time values to be updated. When a layout is not used, all copies will contain exactly the same information.

When using batch printing, take the following into consideration:

• Using command abbreviations. For example, PF instead of

PRINTFEED improves the performance.

• The more processing a label requires, the slower it will be

printed.

• In case of small differences between labels, make use of CLL

and FIELDNO commands (see later in this chapter) and edit the layout so that variable data are processed last.

• If you are printing scaled TrueType fonts and the printer is

working very slowly, use the PRESCALE command to create bitmapped versions of the scaled fonts for quicker access (see Chapter 9.3).

• Switching verbosity off using SYSVAR(18) may improve

printing speed (see Chapter 6.13).

If you have any problems, for example the printer stops between labels, lower the print speed, or make the print image easier to process.

You can interrupt batch printing by issuing a BREAK command as described in Chapter 6.16.

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Chapter 5 Feeding and Printing Commands

3. Batch Printing, cont.

Clearing the Image Buffer

The image buffer stores the bitmap pattern of the label between processing and printing. The image buffer can be cleared partially or completely using a CLL command.

CLL [<ﬁ eld>%]

<ﬁ eld> the same alphanumeric designator as in the

corresponding FIELDNO command, fol-

lowed by a mandatory % sign. CLL clears the image buffer completely CLL <ﬁ eld>% clears the image buffer from the correspond-

ing FIELDNO command to the end of the

label

Complete clearing is useful to avoid printing a faulty label after certain errors have occurred.

Partial clearing is used in batch printing when only part of the label should be modiﬁ ed between the copies. In this case, the CLL statement must include a reference to a ﬁ eld, that is speciﬁ ed by a FIELDNO command. When a CLL command is issued, the image buffer will be cleared from the speciﬁ ed ﬁ eld to the end of the label.

<ﬁ eld>% = FIELDNO

<ﬁ eld> the same alphanumeric designator as in the

corresponding CLL command followed by a

mandatory % sign.

Example:

FT "Swiss 721 Bold BT" ↵ MAG 2,2 ↵ PP 100,300 ↵ PT "MONTH:" ↵ (kept in the image buffer for re-use) PP 100,200 ↵ A%=FIELDNO ↵ PT "JANUARY":PF ↵ (cleared from buffer after printing) CLL A% ↵ PP 100,200 ↵ PT "FEBRUARY":PF ↵ (cleared from buffer after printing) CLL A% ↵ PP 100,200 ↵ PT "MARCH":PF ↵ (cleared from buffer after printing) CLL A% ↵

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Chapter 6

Setting Up the Printer

1. Layout Mode/Immediate Mode

The EasyCoder E4 Printer can operate in Immediate Mode or Layout Mode. In Immediate Mode, layouts and variable data

ﬁ elds are disabled. In Layout Mode, layouts and variable data ﬁ elds are enabled (see Chapter 4.8). The printer is by default in

Immediate Mode.

INPUT ON

INPUT ON sets SYSVAR(18) to 0 and enables the use of layouts and variable data (Layout Mode).

INPUT OFF

INPUT OFF restores SYSVAR(18) to the value it had before the INPUT ON command was received and disables the use of layouts and variable data (Immediate Mode, default).

The printer will receive and transmit data on the standard serial communication channel "uart1:". If you use parallel communication, two-way communication will be lost and the printer will not be able to echo any data back to the host or return any other data. It is possible to select different channels manually as standard IN and standard OUT channels, using the SETSTDIO command.

SETSTDIO <IN channel>, <OUT channel>

<IN channel> and <OUT channel> can be individually speciﬁ ed as: 0 automatic port switching (default) 1 "uart1:" serial communication channel 4 "centronics:" parallel communication chan-

nel (IN channel only)

Example:

SETSTDIO 0,1 ↵

2. In/Out Channel

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Chapter 6 Setting Up the Printer

The printer’s CPU board is, as standard, provided with an inter- nal clock/calendar without battery backup, that is, the setting will be lost when the printer is switched off.

The CPU board may optionally be ﬁ tted with a real-time clock circuit (RTC). The RTC is battery backed-up and will keep running even when the printer is switched off.

If no RTC is installed and you try the read the date or time before the internal clock has been set, an error will occur (error 1010 “Hardware Error”). Once either time or date has been set, the internal clock will work until next power off or reboot. If only time has been set, by default the current date will be Jan 01 1980 and if only date has been set, by default the clock will start running at 00:00:00.

The following commands are used to set the clock/calendar:

DATE$ ="<YYMMDD>"

<YYMMDD> the current date in the standard format,

where: YY = Year, last two digits MM = Month, two digits DD = Day, two digits.

Note that the input data must be enclosed by double quotation marks.

Example:

DATE$ = "020131" ↵

TIME$ = "<HHMMSS>"

<HHMMSS> the current time in the standard format,

where HH = Hour (00-24) MM = Minute (00-59) SS = Second (00-59)

Note that the input data must be enclosed by double quotation marks.

Example:

TIME$ = "131548" ↵

3. Date and Time

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4. Date and Time Format

The formats for printing dates and time in connection with the commands DATE$("F"), DATEADD$("F"), TIME$("F"), and TIMEADD$("F") (see Chapter 6.5) can be speciﬁ ed by the commands FORMAT DATE$ and FORMAT TIME$. With both these commands, you should enter characters representing the various types of information. The order and number of the characters decides the format. You can also include separating characters like periods, slashes, colons, etc. Note that the input string must be enclosed by double quotation marks.

FORMAT DATE$ "<string>"

Y Year (one digit) M Month (one digit) D Day (one digit) Default: YYMMDD

Examples:

FORMAT DATE$ "YYYY.MM.DD" ↵

gives for example 2002.01.31

FORMAT DATE$ "DD/MM/YY" ↵

gives for example 31/01/02

FORMAT TIME$ "<string>"

H Hour in 24-hour cycle (one digit per H;

right-justiﬁ ed) h Hour in 12-hour cycle (one digit per h;

right-justiﬁ ed) M Minute (one digit per M; right-justiﬁ ed) S Second (one digit per S; right-justiﬁ ed) P AM/PM (uppercase) in 12-hour cycle (one

character per P; left-justiﬁ ed) p am/pm (lowercase) in 12-hour cycle (one

character per p; left-justiﬁ ed) Default: HHMMSS

Examples: FORMAT TIME$ "HH:MM:SS" ↵ gives for example14:15:37 FORMAT TIME$ "hh.MM.SS p" ↵ gives for example 2.15.37 p FORMAT TIME$ "hh.MM PP" ↵ gives for example 2.15 PM

The date and time formats are not saved in the printer’s battery backed-up memory, but must be transmitted to the printer after each power-up.

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4. Date and Time Format, cont.

In many cases, you may prefer to print the names of months and weekdays in plain text rather than as a number. There are two commands which allow you to assign names in any language to months and weekdays:

NAME DATE$<No. of month>,"<name of month>"

<No. of month> 1-12. <name of month> the desired name enclosed by double quota-

tion marks.

The name of the month will be printed according to the format speciﬁ ed by FORMAT DATE$ and will be left justiﬁ ed.

NAME WEEKDAY$<No. of weekday>,"<name of weekday>"

<No. of weekday> 1-7 (Monday-Sunday). <name of weekday> the desired name enclosed by double quota-

tion marks. Default: Full English names, for example Monday.

The names of months and weekdays are not saved in the printer’s battery backed-up memory, but must be transmitted to the printer after each power-up.

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Chapter 6 Setting Up the Printer

When transmitting variable input data to a predeﬁ ned layout, the string must contain certain separating characters. By default, you should use <STX> as start-of-text separator, <CR> as ﬁ eld separator, and <EOT> as end-of-text separator.

However, the FORMAT INPUT command allows you to select other characters as separators if the default separators for some reason cannot be produced or will interfere with the host computer system. Simply insert the desired separator characters (enclosed by double quotation marks) into the FORMAT INPUT command. Avoid using characters like XON/XOFF or ENQ/ACK, which may interfere with the communication between printer and host.

You must ﬁ rst leave Layout Mode using an INPUT OFF com- mand, change the separators using a FORMAT INPUT command, and then enter Layout Mode again using an INPUT ON command.

If you transmit a FORMAT INPUTcommand containing separators identical to any of the separators already stored in the printer’s memory, an error will occur unless you ﬁ rst enter the Immediate Mode.

The separators are saved in the printer’s ﬂ ash memory.

FORMAT INPUT "<start separator>"[,"<end separator>"[,"<ﬁ eld separator>"[,"<character ﬁ lter>"]]]

All separator strings may be up to 10 characters long. Characters, that cannot be produced by the keyboard of the host, can be substituted by CHR$(<nnn>) value commands, where nnn is the decimal ASCII value of the character.

<start separator> Default STX (ASCII 02 dec.) <end separator> Default EOT (ASCII 04 dec.) <ﬁ eld separator> Default CR (ASCII 13 dec.) <character ﬁ lter> Is a string of characters to be ﬁ ltered out.

Default: "" (empty string)

Example:

INPUT OFF ↵ FORMAT INPUT "#","&",CHR$(13),"§" ↵ INPUT ON ↵

5. Separators

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Chapter 6 Setting Up the Printer

6. Counters

You can create counters for use in text and bar code ﬁ elds (see Chapters 4.3 and 4.4). The counters are global, that is, the same counter can be used in many different labels and layouts, but will be incremented/decremented on any PRINTFEED operation, regardless of label. Thus, if you want to use a counter for a speciﬁ c layout only, you must not use it in any other layout.

Each counter is designated by a number or letter. Alpha counters are restricted to A–Z; numeric counters have no practical limit. The type of counter is decided by the type of start, stop, or reset value.

There are various commands for creating a counter and specifying its characteristics:

• Start Value

• Number of Digits

• Number of Copies Before Update

• Incrementation/Decrementation

• Stop Value

• Restart Value

Note that input data must be enclosed by double quotation marks.

Start Value

COUNT& "START", <counter number>,"<start value>"

<start value> is the ﬁ rst value to be printed (positive or

negative). Negative values are indicated by a

leading minus sign (-). Default: 1 or A

Number of Digits

COUNT& "WIDTH", <counter number>,"<number of digits>"

<number of digits> adds leading zero characters up to the speci-

ﬁ ed number of digits. Must only be used in

numeric counters. Default: 1

Number of Copies Before Update

COUNT& "COPY", <counter number>,"<number of copies>"

<number of copies> sets the quantity of copies to be printed

before the counter is incremented or decre-

mented. Default: 1

Note that counters are not saved in the printer’s ﬂ ash memory, but must be transmitted to the printer after each power-up.

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Chapter 6 Setting Up the Printer

Incrementation/Decrementation

COUNT& "INC", <counter number>,"<incr. value>|<decr. value>"

<incr. value> sets the value by which the counter should

be incremented. <decr. value> sets the value by which the counter should be

decremented. Decrementation is indicated

by a leading minus sign (-). Default: 1

Stop Value

COUNT& "STOP", <counter number>,"<stop value>"

<stop value> sets the value after which the counter should

start all over again at the RESTART value. Default: 2, 147, 483, 647 or Z

Restart Value

COUNT& "RESTART", <counter number>,"<restart value>"

<restart value> sets the value at which the counter should

start all over again after having exceeded the

STOP value. Default: 1 or A

All EasyCoder E4 printers are ﬁ tted with a label taken sensor (LTS) which detects if there is a label left in the printer’s outfeed slot and holds the printing until the label has been removed. This facility is especially useful for batch printing.

You can enable or disable this function by means of the following command. The setting is saved in the printer’s ﬂ ash memory.

LTS& ON | OFF

Default: LTS& OFF

The <Feed> button on the EasyCoder E4 front panel is used to initiate a PRINTFEED operation. You can enable or disable this function. The setting is saved in the printer’s ﬂ ash memory.

PRINT KEY ON | OFF

Default: PRINT KEY OFF

6. Counters, cont.

7. Label Taken Sensor

8. Feed Button

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Chapter 6 Setting Up the Printer

9. Memory Formatting

By formatting the printer’s memory, you will erase all ﬁ les stored in the RAM memory without affecting the current setup. You can also format a RAM-type memory card inserted in the printer’s PCMCIA slot to MS-DOS format. Be careful not to use this command unintentionally!

FORMAT "<device>"[,<No. of entries>[,<No. of bytes>]]

<device> "RAM:", "CARD1:" or "CARD2:" <No. of entries> used for "CARD1:" and "CARD2:"; it spec-

iﬁ es the number of entries in the root direc-

tory (Default 208). <No. of bytes> used for "CARD1:" and "CARD2:"; it spec-

iﬁ es the number of bytes per sector (Default

512 bps).

All input data to the printer arrives in binary form via the standard IN channel (default "uart1:"). Characters are transmitted in ASCII format, which will be preprocessed by the printer’s ﬁ rmware according to any MAP commands.

The MAP command is used to modify a character set, or to ﬁ lter out undesired characters on a speciﬁ ed communication channel by mapping them as Null (ASCII 0 dec).

If no character set meets your requirements completely (see NASC below), select the set that comes closest and modify it using MAP commands. Mapping will not be saved at power-up or reboot.

MAP [<device>],<original ASCII value>, <desired ASCII value>

<device> either 1 = Serial channel "uart1:" or 4 = Parallel channel "centronics:" <orig. ASCII value> the value of the character according to the

selected character set (see NASC below). <desired ASCII value> the new ASCII value you want to assign to

the character.

Example:

MAP 36,187 ↵

10. Input Data Preprocess

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11. Character Set Selection

The NASC command selects a character set that decides how the various characters will be printed. This command makes it possible to adapt the printer to various national standards. Most resident character sets are illustrated in Chapter 11.1. For information on how to create user-deﬁ ned character sets, refer to Chapter 9.2. Sets marked with € in the list below supports the Euro currency sign.

NASC <char. set no.> | <"ﬁ le name">

<char. set no.> Character set Remarks

1 Roman 8 (default) € 33 French € 34 Spanish € 39 Italian € 44 English € 46 Swedish € 47 Norwegian € 49 German € 81 Japanese Latin (romají) € 240 Microsoft Hebrew [not documented] 241 Microsoft Arabic [not documented] 351 Portuguese € 850 MS-DOS Latin 1 851 MS-DOS Greek 1 852 MS-DOS Latin 2 855 MS-DOS Cyrillic 857 MS-DOS Turkish 862 MS-DOS Hebrew [not documented] 1250 Windows Latin 2 (Central Europe) € 1251 Windows Cyrillic (Slavic) € 1252 Windows Latin 1 (ANSI) € 1253 Windows Greek € 1254 Windows Latin 5 (Turkish) € 1255 Windows Hebrew [not documented] 1256 Windows Arabic [not documented]

1257 Windows Baltic Rim €

-1 PCMAP

-2 ANSI € <"ﬁ le name"> Character set Remarks the name of a user-deﬁ ned character set ﬁ le or one of the following:

"OCR-A.NSC" OCR-A BT "OCR-B.NSC" OCR-B 10 Pitch BT "ZAPF.NSC" Zapf Dingbats BT

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11. Character Set Selection, cont.

Suppose you order the printer to print the character ASCII 124 dec. Depending on the selected character set, ASCII 124 dec. will generate the following:

• |, according to the Roman 8 character set,

• ù, according to the French character set

• ñ, according to the Spanish set, etc.

In general, the Western European (Latin) character sets (numbers

-2 to 81 and number 351) are the same, with the exception of the few national characters. Each of the remaining character sets are speciﬁ c to a limited number of languages, and should be used in conjunction with fonts for those languages.

A special case is the standard fonts OCR-A BT, OCR-B 10 Pitch BT, and Zapf Dingbats BT. Before using any of these fonts for the printing of text or bar code interpretations, you must switch to their respective character sets, and switch back again to the original character set before selecting another font.

Choose the character set which best matches your data equipment and printout requirements. If any of the characters in this set do not have the ASCII value that you require, the MAP command can be used to assign that character to a different ASCII value (see Chapter 6.10).

The NASC setting neither reset by PRINTFEED|PF, nor by switching the printer off. Once a NASC command has been issued, it affects the printed appearance of characters in any subsequent text ﬁ eld, but not in those text ﬁ elds which have already been processed and stored in the print buffer. The NASC setting can be changed several times in one label, which allows labels to be multilingual.

Similarly, the NASC setting determines the appearance of the human readable portion of bar codes. The pattern of the bars in a bar code is determined by the ASCII values of the input data, and so is not affected by the NASC setting.

User-deﬁ ned character sets can be created and stored in the printer, and separate commands exist to control the appearance of Asian characters. These are discussed in Chapter 9.2.

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Chapter 6 Setting Up the Printer

12. Reboot

As an alternative to switching the printer off and on with the On/Off switch, you can issue a REBOOT command. Any data or layout in the working memory that has not been saved will be deleted and the buffers will be emptied.

Note that counters and error messages will be lost and a number of commands will be reset to default.

REBOOT

The verbosity level controls the amount of information to be returned from print to host.

SYSVAR (18) = <value>

<value> = -1 All levels enabled (Default) <value> = 0 No verbosity (recommended for best perfor-

mance) <value> = 1 Echo received characters <value> = 2 ”Ok” after correct command lines <value> = 4 Echo input characters from communication

port <value> = 8 Error after failed line

Bits can be combined; for example SYSVAR(18)=3 means both “Echo received characters” and “Ok after correct command lines.”

Four types of error messages can be selected.

SYSVAR (19) = <value>

<value> = 1 <string>, for example “Invalid font”

(default) <value> = 2 Error <number> <string>, for example “Error 19 Invalid font” <value> = 3 E<number>, for example “E19” <value> = 4 Error <number>, for example “Error 19”

13. Verbosity Level

14. Error Message Types

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Chapter 6 Setting Up the Printer

By default, the Intermec Direct Protocol error handler handles four error conditions:

• Out of paper

• Head lifted

• Out of transfer ribbon

• Next label not found

All other errors are ignored unless speciﬁ ed by an ERROR com- mand.

When an error occurs, the standard IN channel is ﬂ agged as busy and the Power LED changes from green to red. The message speciﬁ ed for the error by the ERROR command is sent to the standard OUT channel. In the case of the four error conditions listed above, a standard message in English will be sent to the host computer if no other message is speciﬁ ed by an ERROR command.

When an error occurs, press the <Feed> button to acknowledge the error, then correct it, either in the setup or physically, for example by changing the transfer ribbon.

The ERROR command activates error-handling for the speciﬁ ed error type and allows you to write an error message, which will be transmitted back to the host computer (according to selected verbosity and type of error message, see Chapters 6.13 and 6.14):

ERROR <error number>, "<error message>"

<error number> error number (see Chapter 12.1) <error message> text string enclosed by double quotation

marks. Maximum 33 characters

Example:

ERROR 43,"MEMORY OVERFLOW" ↵

15. Error Handling

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Six error conditions are always handled without having to be activated by an ERROR command. The Power LED switches to red and the printer sends a message back to the computer on the serial channel:

• 1005 Out of paper The printer waits for the printhead to be lifted and lowered,

then the error is cancelled.

• 1022 Head lifted The printer waits for the printhead to be lowered, then a

formfeed is performed. If the error stopped a print operation, the operation will be restarted automatically.

• 1027 Out of transfer ribbon (thermal transfer printing only) The printer waits for a ribbon to be loaded. If the error

stopped a print operation, the operation must be restarted.

• 1058 Transfer Ribbon ﬁ tted (direct thermal printing only) The printer waits for the ribbon to be removed. To clear the

error condition and go on, press the <Feed> button.

• 1059 Cutter does not respond (paper jam in cutter) The printer waits for the paper jam to be cleared. To clear the

error condition and go on, press the <Feed> button.

• 37 Cutter device not found (cutter not connected) The printer waits for a cutter to be connected. To clear the

error condition and go on, press the <Feed> button.

15. Error Handling, cont.

Note that error handling and error messages speciﬁ ed by ERROR commands are not saved in the printer’s battery backed-up memory, but must be transmitted to the printer after each power-up.

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Chapter 6 Setting Up the Printer

16. Break in Batch Printing

When printing large batches of labels, it is useful to be able to stop printing, for example, if an error is detected. You can stop printing via any serial communication channel.

Two commands allow you to issue a BREAK command:

• BREAK speciﬁ es an individual break interrupt character for

each serial communication channel

• BREAK ON|OFF enables/disables break interrupt and deletes

the break character for the corresponding devices.

BREAK <device>,<break char.>

<device> = 1 "uart1:" serial communication channel (default) <device> = 4 "centronics:" parallel communication chan-

nel (IN channel only) <break char.> is the ASCII decimal value of the desired

break character. (default on both channels: ASCII 03 dec.)

BREAK <device> ON | OFF

<device> the same parameter as in the BREAK com-

mand. Default: Communication channels disabled

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Chapter 6 Setting Up the Printer

The parameters in Setup Mode determine how the printer works. There are three ways to change the printer’s setup:

• Setup strings

• Setup ﬁ les

• Bar Code Wand

The setup parameters are described in the EasyCoder E4 User's Guides.

Setup Strings

Setup strings allow you to change individual setup parameters directly from the host:

SETUP "<setup string>"

<setup string> a string of data according to the syntax listed

below.

In the syntax description below, characters separated by vertical bars indicate alternatives, n–nnnnn indicate variable numeric input, and underscored space characters indicate compulsory space characters. Do not enter the underscore characters but enter spaces character (ASCII 32 dec) instead!

17. Printer Setup

SETUP "CONTRAST,5" SETUP "SERCOM,UART1,BAUDRATE,300|600|1200|2400|4800|9600|19200|38400" SETUP "SER-COM,UART1,PARITY,NONE|EVEN|ODD|MARK|SPACE" SETUP "SER-COM,UART1,CHAR_LENGTH,7|8" SETUP "SER-COM,UART1,STOPBITS,1|2" SETUP "SER-COM,UART1,FLOWCONTROL,RTS/CTS,ENABLE|DISABLE" SETUP "SER-COM,UART1,FLOWCONTROL,ENQ/ACK,ENABLE|DISABLE" SETUP "SER-COM,UART1,FLOWCONTROL,XON/XOFF,DATA_TO_HOST,ENABLE|DISABLE" SETUP "SER-COM,UART1,FLOWCONTROL,XON/XOFF,DATA_FROM_HOST,ENABLE|DISABLE" SETUP "SER-COM,UART1,NEW_LINE,CR/LF|LF|CR" SETUP "DETECTION,LSS_ADJUST,n|nnn" SETUP "DETECTION,FEEDADJ,STARTADJ,nnnn" SETUP "DETECTION,FEEDADJ,STOPADJ,nnnn" SETUP "SERVICE,MEDIA_SIZE,XSTART,nnn" SETUP "SERVICE,MEDIA_SIZE,WIDTH,nnnn" SETUP "SERVICE,MEDIA_SIZE,LENGTH,nnnn" SETUP "SERVICE,MEDIA_TYPE,LABEL_(w_GAPS)|TICKET_(w_MARK)| TICKET_(w_GAPS)|FIX_LENGTH_STRIP|VAR_LENGTH_STRIP" SETUP "SERVICE,PRINT_DEFS,HEAD_RESIST,nnn" SETUP "SERVICE,PRINT_DEFS,PAPER_TYPE,<name of media or transfer ribbon>" SETUP "SERVICE,PRINT_DEFS,NEW_SUPPLIES,<encoded value>" SETUP "SERVICE,PERFORMANCE,NORMAL|HIGH" SETUP "SERVICE,TESTFEED,LENGTH,nn" SETUP "SERVICE,TESTFEED,GAP,nn"

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Chapter 6 Setting Up the Printer

17. Printer Setup, cont.

Communication buffers

There are no setup parameters for setting the size of the input and output buffers of the serial channel "uart:". There are 16 buffers, each with a size of 492 bytes. These are shared between the input and output processes.

Hence, if verbosity is disabled (SYSVAR(18)=0, see Chapter

6.13), the input capacity is maximised.

Setup ﬁ les

Two commands are used to set a printer up from a setup ﬁ le: SETUP WRITE and SETUP.

Use a setup string (as described above) to set up the printer. Then use the SETUP WRITE command to save the current printer setup to a ﬁ le.

SETUP WRITE "<ﬁ lename>"

<ﬁ lename> the full name of the setup ﬁ le, including

storage area, enclosed by double quotation

marks.

You can then select the stored setup ﬁ le, using the SETUP command.

SETUP "<ﬁ lename>"

<ﬁ lename> the full name of the setup ﬁ le, including

storage area, enclosed by double quotation

marks.

Examples:

SETUP WRITE "setup1" ↵ SETUP "setup3" ↵

Bar Code Wand

Setting up the printer with the Bar Code Wand does not involve using Intermec Direct Protocol.

See the EasyCoder E4 User's Guides for details on using the Bar Code Wand to set up the printer.

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Chapter 6 Setting Up the Printer

The sensitivity of the LSS ( Label Stop Sensor) can be manually adjusted to detect gaps or black marks properly. Another way to do this is to issue a TESTFEED command, but that involves feeding out labels, which may be undesired in some cases.

The detection range is 0-31. Increase the value to make the LSS more sensitive and vice versa. The present threshold value will be returned on the serial channel using the instruction PRINT SYSVAR(8), also see Chapter 7.6.

SYSVAR (8) = <threshold value>

<threshold value> is an integer in the range of 0-31.

The standard EasyCoder E4 printers can optionally be ﬁ tted with a paper cutter that can cut non-adhesive paper strip or the liner between labels (no cutter is presently available for the EasyCoder E4 LinerLess model).

As an alternative to issuing separate CUT instructions (see Chapter 5.1), you can enable or disable automatic cutting in connection with each PRINTFEED operation. By default, automatic cutting is disabled.

The amount of media to be fed out before automatic cutting and be pulled back afterwards can optionally be speciﬁ ed:

CUT [<feed length>] ON | OFF

<feed length> is the desired length in dots.

The CUT ON|OFF setting is saved in the non-volatile ﬂ ash memory and will therefore remain in effect even after a power off or reboot.

18. Setting the LSS Threshold

19. Enabling/Disabling Automatic Cutting

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Chapter 7

Provided that two-way communication is working between the printer and the host computer, the printer’s status with regard to various functions can be returned to the host. This implies that the serial channel "uart1:" must be selected standard OUT channel (Default, see SETSTDIO command in Chapter 6.2).

The PRINT command returns information about the printer’s status via the standard OUT channel to the host, where it will usually be printed on the screen. A complementary command speciﬁ es the type of information to be returned. The shorthand version of PRINT is a question mark (?).

PRINT | ?

The current date and time according to the printer’s clockcalen- dar can be read as follows:

? DATE$ or ? DATE$("F")

? TIME$ or ? TIME$("F")

Various parts of the printer’s memory can be tested by reading the result of a FUNCTEST$ command:

? FUNCTEST$ ("<RAM>|<CARD1>|<CARD2>")

<RAM> returns the result of the power-up RAM test. <CARD1>|<CARD2> checks an inserted memory card and returns

either "CARD NOT PRESENT", "CARD

OK", or "CARD FAIL".

Reading the Printer’s Status

1. Introduction

2. Date and Time

3. Memory

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Chapter 7 Reading the Printer’s Status

4. Printhead

5. System Counters

The thermal printhead can be tested in three different ways:

• FUNCTEST$ ("HEAD")

• ? HEAD (type of check)

• ? SYSVAR (<parameter>)

? FUNCTEST$ (”HEAD”)

The returns from the FUNCTEST$ ("HEAD") command are: HEAD OK, SIZE:nnn DOTS (nnn is the number of dots) HEAD LIFTED (lower the printhead and try again) FAULTY PRINTHEAD (an error is detected)

? HEAD(<type of check>)

<type of check> = -1 Checks printhead. Returns -1 if OK, else

0 and sets up the printer for the measured

mean printhead resistance. <type of check> = -7 Returns mean resistance of printhead in

ohms

Important! Always either run a ? HEAD (-1) instruction after replacing the printhead or print a test label to set the printer for the resistance of the new printhead!

? SYSVAR (<parameter>)

<parameter> = 21 returns printhead density in dots per mm <parameter> = 22 returns the number of dots in the printhead

There are a number of counters in the printer’s system, that can be read and returned to the host:

? SYSVAR (<parameter>)

<parameter> = 14 number of errors detected since last startup <parameter> = 15 number of errors detected since last

SYSVAR(15) <parameter> = 24 power-up status since last SYSVAR(24) (0 = No; 1=Yes)

SYSVAR(24) is important, since essential functions, like counters and error messages will be lost at power up and other functions will be reset to their default values. Save all such data in the host and retransmit them to the printer as soon as a power-up has been detected by a polling program taking advantage of SYSVAR(24).

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Chapter 7 Reading the Printer’s Status

6. Sensors

7. Printer’s Status

8. Firmware and Hardware Versions

The printer has a number of sensors and setup parameters that can be read and their status or value returned to the host:

? SYSVAR (<parameter>)

<parameter> = 8 returns LSS theshold value (see 6.18) <parameter> = 18 returns selected verbosity level (see 6.13) <parameter> = 19 returns selected type of error message (see 6.14) <parameter> = 20 returns printer’s paper type setup 0= Direct thermal printing; 1= Thermal transfer printing <parameter> = 23 returns status of the ribbon end sensor (0=No ribbon; 1=Ribbon)

The printer’s status with regard to various errors and other condi- tions can be read and returned to the host using the PRSTAT command:

? (PRSTAT AND <parameter>)

<parameter> = 1 printhead lifted <parameter> = 2 label not removed <parameter> = 4 printer out of paper <parameter> = 8 printer out of transfer ribbon

Parameters can be combined. For example, <3> checks for both “printhead lifted” and “label not removed” conditions. The printer will return 1 (= yes) or 0 (= no).

The version of EasyCoder E4 ﬁ rmware, the type of printer family, and the type of CPU board can be read using a VERSION$ command:

? VERSION$[(type of info)]

<type of info> = 0 the version of EasyCoder E4 ﬁ rmware <type of info> = 1 E4 = EasyCoder E4 <type of info> = 2 1-E4700 = CPU board 700

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Chapter 7 Reading the Printer’s Status

9. Label Length

10. Gap Length

11. Media Light Transmission

The presently set label length, as speciﬁ ed by the printer’s setup, is returned by the following instruction:

? SYSVAR (<parameter>)

<parameter> = 2 returns label length in dots

The actual label length, as measured and set by a TESTFEED command, is returned by the following instruction:

? SYSVAR (<parameter>)

<parameter> = 100 returns label length in dots

Note that the SYSVAR (2) value must be equal to or exceed the SYSVAR (100) value, or the labels will be truncated.

The presently set label gap length, as set by a TESTFEED command, is returned by the following instruction:

? SYSVAR (<parameter>)

<parameter> = 101 returns label gap length in dots

The light transmission of the media in the LSS is returned by the following instruction as a value in the range 0-31, where 0 is maximum reﬂ ection/transmission and 31 is no reﬂ ection/ transmission. It can be used to assess the translucency of labels and liner and also has the side-effect of waiting until the motor stops.

? SYSVAR (<parameter>)

<parameter> = 1 returns the light transmission value

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Chapter 8

File Handling

1. Reading the Printer Memory

There are a number of commands for reading the printer’s memory and returning the information to the host. This requires a working two-way serial communication (see SETSTDIO in Chapter 6.1):

? FRE (1)

? FRE (2)

Returns the number of free bytes in the printer’s RAM memory (1) or the printer’s Flash memory (2).

FONTS

Returns the names and size of all fonts ﬁ les stored in the printer’s memory, followed by a list of the bitmapped fonts retained for compatibility with other EasyCoder printers (see Chapter 4.3). It also returns information on the total memory used.

IMAGES

Returns the names of all image ﬁ les (in .PCX format) stored in the printer’s memory. It also returns information on the total memory used.

FILES ["<RAM:>|<ROM:>|<CARD1:>|<CARD2:>"]

Returns the names and size of all ﬁ les in the printer’s RAM memory (default) or optionally in the ROM memory ("ROM:") or in an inserted DOS-formatted memory card ("CARD1:|CARD2:"). It will also return the the total number of used bytes in the RAM memory.

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Chapter 8 File Handling

2. Removing Images, Files, and Fonts

Using IMAGE LOAD, images can either be loaded as “images” into the printer’s volatile memory or as “image ﬁ les” into the RAM memory. Images are removed using REMOVE IMAGE, whereas image ﬁ les are removed using KILL. Images down- loaded with an “S” ﬂ ag cannor be removed, see IMAGE LOAD in Chapter 8.5.

REMOVE↔IMAGE "<name>"

The name of the image must be enclosed by double quotation marks. Wildcards can be used, for example REMOVE IMAGE

"*.prg", REMOVE IMAGE "test.*", or REMOVE IMAGE "*.*".

Files, including font ﬁ les and images ﬁ les, can be removed from the RAM memory or from an inserted DOS-formatted memory card:

KILL "[<device>]<ﬁ lename>"

The name of the ﬁ le must correspond exactly to the name returned when using a FILES, IMAGES, or FONTS command and be enclosed by double quotation marks. Since ﬁ les will be removed from the RAM memory by default, it is not necessary to specify "RAM:". If the ﬁ le name is preceded by "CARD1:" or "CARD2:", the ﬁ le will be removed from the inserted memory card. Wildcards can be used, for example KILL "*.prg",

KILL "test.*", or KILL "*.*". KILL cannot be used to remove images from the printer’s

volatile memory.

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Chapter 8 File Handling

You can copy a ﬁ le to the RAM memory ("RAM:"), or to a DOS-formatted memory card ("CARD1:"|"CARD2:"). Images can be copied to the cache memory ("CACHE"). You cannot copy to or from the ROM memory ("ROM:"). You can also use the COPY command to give the copy a new name.

COPY "[<source device>]<original name>" [,"[<dest. device>]<new name>"]

The ﬁ lename can be up to 30 characters. Since ﬁ les will be copied to the RAM memory by default, it is not necessary to specify "RAM:".

Example:

COPY "CARD1:Logo.1","LOGO.1" ↵

Binary ﬁ les, for example font ﬁ les, can be downloaded to the printer’s RAM memory using the FILE& LOAD command. Before the transfer can be performed, the printer must be set up for two way communication1. If a ﬁ le is downloaded under the name "Autoexec.bat", it will be used as a startup ﬁ le.

FILE& LOAD"<ﬁ le name>",<ﬁ le size>

<ﬁ le name> the name (including the drive) you

want to assign to the ﬁ le, for example

"CARD1:MYFILE.TXT". <ﬁ le size> the size in bytes of the original ﬁ le in the

host.

Upon receiving this command, the printer waits for the speciﬁ ed number of bytes to be received with a 25 second timeout.

/. Suggested serial port setup: Baud rate: 9600 Parity: None Character bits: 8 Stop bit: 1 RTS/CTS: Enabled XON/XOFF: Data to Host disabled. Data from Host disabled.

3. Copying Files

4. Downloading Binary Files

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Chapter 8 File Handling

Image ﬁ les in .PCX format can be downloaded to "RAM:", "CARD1:" or "CARD2:" using the IMAGE LOAD command. Before the transfer can be performed, the printer must be set up for two way communication

IMAGE LOAD"<image name>",<ﬁ le size>,"<ﬂ ag>"

<ﬁ le name> the name (optionally including the drive)

you want to assign to the image, for example "LOGO.1" or "CARD2:LOGO.1".

<ﬁ le size> the size in bytes of the original .PCX ﬁ le in

the host. <ﬂ ag> either "S" or an empty string "": S = the image will be saved in the battery

backed-up part of the RAM memory; empty string ("") = the image will be saved

in the volatile memory ("CACHE:") and

will be deleted at next power-up.

Upon receiving this command, the printer waits for the speciﬁ ed number of bytes to be received with a 25 second timeout.

We recommend that you add the extension .1 or .2 to the image name, so that you can tell which directions the image is suited for before you print it out, that is:

• IMAGE.1 is suited for directions across the media path, that

is, DIR1 and DIR3.

• IMAGE.2 is suited for directions along the media path, that

is, DIR2 and DIR4.

/. Suggested serial port setup: Baud rate: 9600 Parity: None Character bits: 8 Stop bit: 1 RTS/CTS: Enabled XON/XOFF: Data to Host disabled.

Data from Host disabled.

5. Downloading Image Files

IMAGE.1

DIR 1

IMAGE.1

DIR 3

IMAGE.2

DIR 4

IMAGE.2

DIR 2

Feed

Direction

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Chapter 9

Advanced Features

1. Specifying Complex Bar Codes

Complex 2-dimensional bar or dot codes, for example PDF417, require many specifying parameters. Therefore, there is a complex command that allows all bar code parameters to be speciﬁ ed within a single command. This command can also be used for one-dimensional bar codes (see Chapter 4.4).

BARSET[#<start parameter>,]["<bar code name>"[,<ratio wide bars> [,<ratio narrow bars>[,<magniﬁ cation>[,<height> [,<security level> [,<aspect ratio height>[,<aspect ratio width>[,<no. of rows>[,<no. of columns> [,<truncate ﬂ ag>]]]]]]]]]]]

<start parameter> speciﬁ es ﬁ rst parameter in the command

(default 1) <bar code name> speciﬁ es bar code (default "INT2OF5") <ratio wide bars> speciﬁ es ratio wide/narrow bars (default 3) <ratio narrow bars> speciﬁ es ratio wide/narrow bars (default 1) <magniﬁ cation> speciﬁ es magniﬁ cation (default 2) <height> speciﬁ es height of bars in dots (default 100) <security level> only used in PDF417 and Maxicode (default 2) <aspect height ratio> only used in PDF417 and Maxicode (default 1) <aspect height width> only used in PDF417 and Maxicode (default 2) <no. of rows> only used in PDF417 and Maxicode (default 0) <no. of columns> only used in PDF417 and Maxicode (default 0) <truncate ﬂ ag> only used in PDF417 and Maxicode (default 0)

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Chapter 9 Advanced Features

The data input to text ﬁ elds and bar codes takes the form of an ASCII string. Even compound data, such as...

PRTXT "Label No.";CNT1$;" Date ";DATE$("F")

is expanded by the printer into a single ASCII string before any other processing occurs. This ASCII string is then converted to a string of international character codes according to the Unicode standard. Every character, whether it be a Latin “A”, Greek “alpha” or Chinese “ren”, has a unique code in this standard, called its “unicode”.

Unicoded fonts

The EasyCoder E4 works with Unicoded fonts in either Bitstream Speedo or TrueType format: its font scaler accesses images of characters within these fonts according to the character’s uni- code. The printer also supports a number of non-Unicoded fonts. Some care is required when using fonts not built into the printer:

• If a font is not Unicoded, the font scaler may access the wrong

characters (only some non-Unicoded fonts are supported).

• A font may not include all the characters in the current

character set, as speciﬁ ed by the NASC command. If a text ﬁ eld contains a character which is not in the current font, then a replacement character will usually be printed instead. The replacement character for Speedo fonts is a space, while for TrueType fonts it is usually an unﬁ lled rectangle.

NASC and NASCD tables

There are many national and international standards for mapping ASCII strings to strings of unicode. The EasyCoder E4 provides support for virtually all of these. There are two types of mappings:

• Single-byte mappings, which map one ASCII character to

a unicode. The EasyCoder E4 supports these using “NASC tables”. For example, for each NASC setting listed in Chapter

6.11, the EasyCoder E4 has an internally stored NASC table. User deﬁ ned NASC tables can also be stored in the printer as a

ﬁ le (see later in this chapter).

• Double-byte mappings, which map pairs of ASCII characters

to unicodes. The EasyCoder E4 supports these using “NASCD tables”. Currently, there are NASCD tables for the most common double-byte mappings used for the large Asian character sets: BIG5, GB, JIS and Shift-JIS.

2. Using International Character Sets

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Chapter 9 Advanced Features

2. Using International Character Sets, cont.

To be exact, the double-byte mapping allows an ASCII string to contain a mixture of single-byte and double-bytes codes. For example, in the BIG5 mapping, any ASCII character with value 160 or greater is the ﬁ rst byte of a double-byte code, while the remaining characters form single-byte codes. So, in BIG5, the ASCII string “<160><64><65>” splits into the double-byte code “<160><64>” and the single-byte code “<65>”. The current NASCD table speciﬁ es both how to divide an ASCII string into single-byte and double-byte codes and also how the double-byte codes are mapped to unicodes. The current NASC table speciﬁ es how the single-byte codes are mapped to unicodes.

NASC <character set no.> | <"ﬁ le name">

NASCD "<NASCD table ﬁ le>"

<character set no.> one of the values listed in Chapter 6.11 <"ﬁ le name"> one of the character set names listed in

Chapter 6.11 or the name of a user-deﬁ ned

NASC table (see later in this chapter) <NASCD table ﬁ le> the ﬁ le name of a NASCD table. Default: NASCD "" (empty string; disables double-

byte interpretation of ASCII strings)

Double-byte fonts

As discussed above, the ASCII data input to text ﬁ elds and human readable parts of bar codes can contain a mixture of single-byte and double-byte codes, which are mapped to unicodes by the NASC and NASCD settings respectively. The characters for the single-byte codes are printed using the current single-byte font, as speciﬁ ed by the FONT command (see Chapter 4.3). The characters for the double-byte codes are printed using the current double-byte font, as speciﬁ ed by the following commands:

FONTD | FD "<font ﬁ le name>" [,<font size>,<font slant>]

<font ﬁ le name> the name of a Speedo or TrueType font ﬁ le; it

must be enclosed by double quotation marks. <font size> the height of the characters in points (a point

is equal to 1/72 in). <font slant> the italic angle of the characters in degrees; a

positive value slants the characters clockwise

away from the vertical. Default: 0. Reset to default by: PRINTFEED|PF

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Chapter 9 Advanced Features

2. Using International Character Sets, cont.

The three double-byte font parameters can be speciﬁ ed separately using the following commands:

FONTD | FD "<font ﬁ le name>"

FONTDSIZE | FSD <font size>

FONTDSLANT | FLD <font slant>

For each parameter, the value speciﬁ ed by these commands will be used in all text ﬁ elds on the current label, until a new value is speciﬁ ed. These parameters need only be speciﬁ ed if a NASCD ﬁ le is speciﬁ ed, as otherwise double-byte interpretation is disabled.

Example:

NASC 1 ↵ NASCD "CARD1:BIG5.NCD" ↵ FONT "Swiss 721 BT",20,0 ↵ FONTD "CARD1:CHINESE.TTF",20,0 ↵ PP 100,100 ↵ PT "NASCD ON: ";CHR$(185);CHR$(235) ↵ NASCD "" ↵ PP 100,200 ↵ PT "NASCD OFF: ";CHR$(185);CHR$(235) ↵ PF ↵

Double-byte fonts can also be used in the human readable parts of barcodes. The corresponding commands are:

BARFONTD | BFD "<font ﬁ le name>"[,<font size>,<font slant>]

<font ﬁ le name> the ﬁ le name of the double-byte font to be

use <font size> the height of the font in points. Default 12. <font slant> the italic angle of the font in degrees clock-

wise Default: 0. Reset to default by: PRINTFEED|PF

Label produced by the program example above.

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Chapter 9 Advanced Features

The bar code font size and slant can be speciﬁ ed separately using the following commands:

BARFONTDSIZE | BFSD <font size>

BARFONTDSLANT | BLFD <font slant>

Double-byte interpretation of human readables is disabled unless a NASCD ﬁ le is speciﬁ ed. Also, note that many double-byte mappings use ASCII characters greater than 127, although these characters are not allowed as input data to many bar code types. PDF 417 is one bar code type that does allow ASCII characters greater than 127 as input.

User-deﬁ ned NASC tables

A user-deﬁ ned NASC table can be used in place of one of the built-in NASC settings. It speciﬁ es a unicode for each of the 256 ASCII characters, and determines the mapping of single-byte codes in text ﬁ elds and human readable parts of bar codes. A user-deﬁ ned NASC table is speciﬁ ed using the command:

NASC"<ﬁ le name>"

<ﬁ le name> the name of a ﬁ le containing a user-deﬁ ned

NASC table. Default: NASC 1 (the built-in Roman 8 NASC

table is used)

Such a ﬁ le can be created using some text editors, or by a user- written piece of software. It can be sent to the printer using the FILE& LOAD command (see Chapter 8.4) or copied onto a MSDOS formatted memory card which can be inserted in one of the printer’s PCMCIA slots. It is a binary ﬁ le 516 bytes long, with the following format: Byte 0: N Byte 1: S Byte 2: C Byte 3: 1 Byte 4: high byte of unicode for ASCII 0 Byte 5: low byte of unicode for ASCII 0 Byte 6: high byte of unicode for ASCII 1 Byte 7: low byte of unicode for ASCII 1 ↓ ↓ ↓ Byte 514: high byte of unicode for ASCII 255 Byte 515: low byte of unicode for ASCII 255.

2. Using International Character Sets, cont.

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Chapter 9 Advanced Features

3. Font Scaling

In general, the EasyCoder E4 scales characters “on the ﬂ y” into bitmaps ready for printing. It stores as many character bitmaps as possible in a memory cache, to avoid having to rescale characters which are used more than once. Character bitmaps are deleted from the cache automatically by the printer, and so characters which are used often usually need to be rescaled frequently.

In some instances it can take a long time for the printer to scale characters, such as when using double-byte TrueType fonts on a card. The user can force the printer to hold character bitmaps in the cache using the following command:

PRESCALE | PS "<string of characters>"

<string of char.> an ASCII string specifying all the characters

that are to be scaled from the current

single- and double-byte fonts. It is inter-

preted according to the current NASC and

NASCD settings.

Example: The 10 digits from a single-byte font and the ren character from a double-byte font are prescaled.

NASCD "CARD1:BIG5.NCD" ↵ FONT "Swiss 721 BT",50,10 ↵ FONTD "CARD1:HOMINCHO.TTF" ↵ DIR 2 ↵ MAG 2,1 ↵ PS "0123456789";CHR$(164);CHR$(56)↵

The contents of a character bitmap depend on all of the following settings:

• Single-byte character: DIR, MAG, NASC, FONT, FONTSIZE, FONTSLANT

• Double-byte character: DIR, MAG, NASCD, FONTD, FONTDSIZE, FONTDSLANT

The printer holds prescaled characters for the last 15 combinations of these settings. When a new combination is used, (for example, when the speciﬁ cation of DIR is changed), the pres- caled characters for the 15th previous combination are lost. All prescaled characters are lost when the printer is switched off.

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Chapter 10

Firmware Upgrade

1. Firmware and Fonts

Firmware and resident fonts can be upgraded using one or two PCMCIA cards, which may contain either printer ﬁ rmware updates or fonts1. In either case, use the following procedure:

Print out a test label, which will contain all your printer

settings as these will be lost during a font upgrade2.

Switch off the printer.

Insert the card in either slot with its top facing the ON/OFF

switch.

Switch on the printer. The data on the card is copied to the

printer’s ﬂ ash memory.

The Power LED should go through the following sequence,

which takes about 30 seconds..

- Flash amber

- Continuous amber

- Flash amber

- Continuous amber

- Green

Switch off the printer.

Remove the card.

Insert the next card, if necessary, and repeat steps 4-6.

Switch on the printer.

Enter the settings shown on the test label you printed earlier

(see Chapter 6.9).

Reset the printhead resistance setting using the command:

?HEAD(-1)

Upgrading of fonts resets all setup parameters, the kilometer counter, the head resistance and the instructions LTS& ON|OFF, FORMAT INPUT, and PRINTKEY

ON|OFF.

The same applies to a ﬁ rmware upgrade to a higher version number, for example v2.01 –> v2.10.

Another way to obtain a similar result is to perform a RESET, that is, holding down the <Feed> button for three seconds after printing a test label. However, in this case the kilometer counter and the head resistance are not reset.

/. This chapter refers to cards containing fonts which will be loaded into the printer’s ﬂ ash memory. Font cartridges which are permanently ﬁ tted in the printer are not covered.

/. You cannot save your settings to a text ﬁ le and use it later when you upgrade fonts, since all your ﬁ les are lost and the printer settings are reset to factory defaults during the upgrade. This does not apply to upgrading of the ﬁ rmware.

CAUTION!

Do not switch off the printer until the upgrading is completed and the Power LED shines green!

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Chapter 11

This chapter contains the various single-byte character sets, that can be selected using the NASC statement. Double-byte character sets are not included, but are available separately on special request.

The following information applies to all single-byte character sets:

• Characters between ASCII 0 decimal and ASCII 31 decimal are unprintable control characters as listed below.

• Characters between ASCII 32 decimal and ASCII 127 decimal can always be printed, regardless of 7-bit or 8-bit communication protocol, provided that the selected font contains the characters in question.

• Characters between ASCII 127 decimal and ASCII 255 decimal can only be printed if the selected font contains the characters in question and an 8-bit communication protocol is used. If you use 7-bit communication, select another national character set (see NASC statement in Chapter 6.11) or use a MAP statement to remap a character set (see Chapter 6.10).

• If a character, which does not exist in the selected font, is used, a space will be substituted in a Speedo font, and an empty rectangle in a TrueType font.

Non-printable control characters (ASCII 00-31 dec) 00 NUL 16 DLE 01 SOH 17 DC1 02 STX 18 DC2 03 ETX 19 DC3 04 EOT 20 DC4 05 ENQ 21 NAK 06 ACK 22 SYN 07 BEL 23 ETB 08 BS 24 CAN 09 HT 25 EM 10 LF 26 SUB 11 VT 27 ESC 12 FF 28 FS 13 CR 29 GS 14 SO 30 RS 15 SI 31 US

Character Set, Fonts, and Bar Codes

1. Character Sets

Note: The Euro currency sign (€) is included in most singlebyte character sets, see Chapter 6.11.

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Roman 8 (NASC 1)

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French (NASC 33)

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Spanish (NASC 34)

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Italian (NASC 39)

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English (UK) (NASC 44)

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Swedish (NASC 46)

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Norwegian (NASC 47)

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German (NASC 49)

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Japanese Latin (NASC 81)

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Portuguese (NASC 351)

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MS-DOS Latin 1 (NASC 850)

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MS-DOS Greek 1 (NASC 851)

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MS-DOS Latin 2 (NASC 852)

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MS-DOS Cyrillic (NASC 855)

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MS-DOS Turkish (NASC 857)

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Windows Latin 2 (NASC 1250)

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Windows Cyrillic (NASC 1251)

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Windows Latin 1 (NASC 1252)

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Windows Greek (NASC 1253)