Datamax-O'Neil PrintPAD AN-06 - Manual

AN-06
November 8, 2005
OVERVIEW OF EASY PRINT MODE
The Easy Print protocol is much more than just a printing protocol. In its most basic form, Easy Print allows the user to
send a command (followed by optional data) to the printer and have the printer execute that command. As part of that
execution, the printer may return data to the host. In addition to printing, commands allow paper motion, configuring, and
control of peripherals such as the magnetic and smart card readers.
All commands have the same format. They begin with an opening “left curly bracket” or ‘{‘ (ASCII 0x7C) and end with a
closing “right curly bracket” (ASCII 0x7D). Immediately following the opening ‘{‘ is the command. A colon separates the
command from any data that follows. The general form of any Easy Print command, then is: {[COMMAND]<:DATA>}
Easy print allows control of the printer down to a single dotline. At the printer’s resolution of 8 dots per mm, or
approximately 200 dots per inch, one dotline is approximately .005”. Most dimensions in Easy Print are in dotlines. For
example, a simple command that allows paper to advance or retract would be (the command AHEAD or BACK is followed
by the number of dotlines to move paper): {AHEAD:200} or {BACK:50}
There are relatively few Easy Print commands. They fall into four categories
Paper movement and Misc
Toggle Protocols
Printing
Downloading Fonts and Graphics
Configuration
COMMAND MEANING
ORIGINAL
MF2/MF3/2t/4t
RADIO READY
2t/3l/4t
PAPER MOVEMENT
AHEAD:nnn Advances paper by nnn dotlines X X
BACK:nnn Retracts paper by nnn dotlines X X
S Status (returns a fixed status string) X X
SWITCH PROTOCOLS
DP Puts printer into configured default protocol X
LP Puts printer into Line Printer mode X X
ESC Synonym for LP X
EMZn Puts printer into emulation mode EMZn (where n = 1, 2, 3 etc,) X
EMCn Puts printer into emulation mode EMCn (where n = 1, 2, 3 etc.) X
EMPn Puts printer into emulation mode EMPn (where n =1, 2, 3 etc.) X
PRINTING
TP Prints a self test printout (does not require any data) X X
PRINT:data
Prints the data received. Note that the data must be in a particular
format (see AN07 for Printing With Easy Print
X X
DOWNLOADING FONTS AND GRAPHICS
Easy print is used for downloading fonts and graphics. It is best to use the Windows Configuration Program or the
OPDI Suite for downloading, rather than attempt to write the code yourself. Other Application Notes describe this
process in detail
CONFIGURATION
Easy Print is used to set configuration values into the printer. More detailed information is given in other Application
Notes