Microcom 400 - Manual (Page 45)

400 Operators Manual 37
CHAPTER 5: PRINTER COMMANDS
The 400 printer has a large and versatile collection of control codes to meet the special needs of
labeling applications. Most of the commands use a ^D control sequence, however the printer also
recognizes a selected number of other control sequences.
For all the commands listed in this manual, the 400 will recognize either the one-character control
character or the two-character caret and alpha character sequence. In other words, for a PC key
board, the same command can be generated either by holding down the control key and pressing
the letter or by entering two characters - the ^ (a caret, the character generated if you press the
Shift key and the 6) and an alpha character (upper or lower case).
To protect against errors, in situations where two-character caret-alpha sequences are used
exclusively as printer commands, control character recognition can be disabled. This is done
either through software dip switch #1 (^D21) or command ^D93.
Some main-frame and mini-computers cannot use the ASCII '^' character. In these cases
substitute the ASCII pipe symbol '|' or use the one character control-code representation.
The caret symbol can be used in text or bar codes by preceding it with another caret.
5.1 SPECIAL PRINTER CONTROL CODES
The following control characters perform special functions. All other control characters are
ignored. Some of these instructions are also accessible through a ^D sequence.
^A Accumulator Mode: Used to supply parameters for ^D commands.
These parameters must be positive integers and are generally decimal numbers but they
can however be binary if preceded by an ASCII B. (^AB00000001^D215 equals
^A1^D215>
^B Text entry mode: Instructs the printer to enter printable text entry mode. This command
(or the preferred ^D25) must be sent before the text information. This command is
equivalent to ^D25 but does not require a 5 after it (^Btext data string). Because control
B is shorter it is easier to use in direct terminal mode. In general it is better to use ^D2
inside a file or program.
^C Print a label: Starts the print cycle or batch. This command is equivalent to ^D35 but does
not require a 5 after it. Because control C is shorter than ^D35 it is easier to use in direct
terminal mode. In general it is better to use ^D35 inside a file or program.
^D Command Mode: Used to issue commands to the printer. This command is normally
preceded by a ^A sequence (see above). ^D commands must be terminated with a 5 or
another control sequence (^A9^D73^D35 equals ^A9^D735 and ^D35.
^E Printer enquiry: See section 5.2 for more details (equivalent to ^D55 but does not require
a 5 after it). Because control E is shorter than ^D55 it is easier to use in direct terminal
mode. In general it is better to use ^D55 inside a file or program.