100-14444 Rev B August 2018 Page 59
Resetting the Printer
Each print job should begin with a printer reset command. This ensures that the printer
always begins in a known state.
The command characters used to reset the Epic Edge™ are ESC (decimal value 27)
and * (decimal value 42).
Command Parameters
When sending a command, all of the command characters and parameters that make up
a command must be sent. This is especially important when using the bar code and
graphics commands. Sending too few characters to fill the required parameters for a
command will either cause the command to fail or result in subsequent data being lost.
Character Evaluation
Most of the parameters that are sent to the Epic Edge™ Printer are evaluated based on
their decimal value.
Some commands accept parameters by either their decimal value or the representative
character. For example, the set print orientation command (GS V) interprets both a
NULL (ASCII decimal value of 0) and the ‘0’ character as meaning the same thing.
16-bit Character Parameters
The maximum value a single 8-bit character can represent is 255. Some commands,
though, can take values that are greater than 255. The set horizontal starting position
command (ESC X), for example, specifies a distance (in dots) that the next text object
will print from the left margin. Because a dot is only 1/11.4 of a millimeter, a value of 255
would place the object only a little over 22 mm from the left margin. To allow for longer
distances to be specified, two 8-bit characters are used to specify the value, by
combining them into one 16-bit character. Though the calculations are all done within the
Epic Edge™ Printer, it is important to understand how the characters are handled.
For two specified 8-bit parameter values n1 and n2, the resulting 16-bit value is
computed as follows:
Value = (n1 * 256) + n2
In other words, the decimal value of the first character that is sent (n1) is multiplied by
256, and then the decimal value of the second character sent (n2) is then added to this.
To send a value under 256 to a command that takes the n1 and n2 parameters, simply
send the first character with a 0 value. For values greater than 255 but less than 512, the
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