Datamax-O'Neil Labelpoint Programmer’s Manual - Manual (Page 8)

PROGRAMMER’S REFERENCE MANUAL
Label layout definition commands
Page 4
Label layout definition commands
This chapter will explain label designing basics and commands used to create labels in
Labelpoint.
The print area
All items (fields) to be printed on a label must be defined with their position on the paper.
The coordinate system is shown below:
X
Y
paper feed direction
The X coordinate grows across the print head, from right to left, viewing the printer from the
front. The Y coordinate grows as the paper is fed out.
All fields have a print direction, which is specified by the up vector. This is the "natural" up
direction of the field. (The text on this paper has its up vector pointing to the top of the paper.)
The terminology of the compass is used to specify the up vector. "North" is defined as the
paper feed direction. Text printed with up vector =
N
(north) is printed across the paper, with
the top of the characters appearing first. Up vector
E
(east) is turned 90° clockwise, so that the
left-most character of the text is the first to appear, etc.
The position of a field on the paper is given as its baseline and position.
The baseline is the coordinate of the bottom of the field. For fields with up vector
N
or
S
,
the baseline is the Y coordinate; for fields with up vector
E
or
W
it is the X coordinate. For text
fields the baseline is at the base of non-descending characters, so that descending characters
(e.g. 'j', 'g', and 'y') will extend below the baseline. ('Above' and 'below' always refer to the up
vector of the field, and may thus be different physical directions, depending on the up vector of
the field.)
The position parameter determines the position of the field in the direction perpendicular to
the up vector, i. e. sideways. It may be given as the position of either the left end, the right
end, or the center of the field.
All coordinates are given in
1
/
10
of a millimeter. The same applies for the
length of the bars in a code, and the height and width of a black box.