User-defined Characters
Sending information to your printer
Once the -character is planned on the grid, you simply add the pin
values for each column together, just as you do for graphics. The
last step in defMng
,a
character is to send this information to the
printer.
The command to define characters is relatively complex:
ESC
&
0
nl
n2
al
dz
.
.
. dn
You can define more than one character with a single command.
The values
nl
and
ti
are the ASCII codes of the first and last
characters you are
defining.
If you are defining only one character,
n7
and
n2
are the same. You can use any codes between 0 and
255
decimal for
nl
and
n2
except the following codes:
7,
8,
9,
10,
11;
12,
13,
14,
15,
18,
19,
20,
24,
and
27
decimal. Also, it is best not to
define decimal
32,
which is the code for a space.
You can also use other codes by using the
ESC
6 and
ESC
I
commands. (See the Command Summary in Chapter
9.)
For example, if you wanted to redefine the characters A through Z,
n7
would be A (or ASCII code
65)
and
n2
would be
Z
(or ASCII
code
90).
So the command
ESC
,h
0
AZ (followed by the appropriate
data) would replace the characters A through
Z.
Following the specification of the range of characters to be defined
in this command is one number
(al)
that specifies the width of the
character and whether it uses the top eight pins or the bottom eight
pins.
The last part of the command
(d1..
.dn)
is the actual data that
defines the dot patterns for each column of each character. Since a
character can use up to eleven columns, you must supply eleven
data numbers for each character even if some columns are blank.
Note: Be sure to
turn off DIP switch 2-l before defining
characters. The
ESC
&
command is invalid if this switch is on.
4-24
Software and Graphics
