IntelliTech International, Inc. Programmer’s Guide | 1
35 Thermal Printer Programmer’s Guide
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The I/O configuration should be set with an integer representing a bitwise value where
the first bit is pin 1, the second bit is pin 2, etc. One is an input pin and zero is an output
pin. Bits 8 – 15 are fixed at 1. For example, if pins 1-4 are input and pins 5-8 are output
the resulting value is 65295 (1111111100001111).
6
When changing media setup, it is highly recommended that all of the PJL variables are
used. These correspond to all the parameters stored in a media configuration file. Some
of these may actually be ignored if using valid combinations from the paper/ribbon list
and will then use auto settings. As a minimum, PAPERID, RIBBONID,
PAPERSENSORTYPE, PAPERSENSORSIDE and RIBBON should always be set when
configuring media.
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These parameters can be sent with each job using the SET command.
8
Refer to Appendix 1 for more specific details on the Printer Model Printable Print
Widths.
9
Refer to Appendix 2 for more specific details on the Printer Model Print Speeds.
PJL Internal Variables
The following PCL commands provide access to internal variables:
Table 14: PJL Internal Variables
As mentioned above, the escape sequence <ESC> $b#W is used to process data within
the data stream. This escape sequence requires a byte count ‘#’ which represents the
number of bytes to encode following the character “W”. The second form of the Print
Barcode Data escape sequence is the <ESC>$b#Y command. This command takes an
ID number of the internal print data as the argument ‘#’ and that represents an increment
ID number or a Date/Time ID number.
Defining Internal Variables
Many thermal printers have the ability to generate an internal counting field (increment
field) and a time-date stamp. HP PCL has no internal means of producing or maintaining
these types of fields. In order to provide these features to users familiar with this
capability, Source Technologies has extended PCL and PJL to accommodate the
definition and utilization of these internal variable fields in a two-step process. The first
step is to allocate a variable field through PJL. Then the field is accessed and utilized
within the PCL body of the label.
Command Name ST CMD Purpose
DATE/TIME OF PRINT,
INCREMENT FIELD
<ESC>$i<#>I To embed an internal variable in the
specified format into the data stream.
BARCODE VARIABLE DATA <ESC>$b<#>Y See <> below for values of <var type>.