Datamax Ex2, Programmer'S Manual

Page: 148 / 302

Generating Label Formats
132 Class Series Programmer’s Manual
The first line in the sample format (Table 8-1) is the System-Level Command directing the printer to begin
label formatting. (Other System-Level Commands may precede the
<STX>L
for printer setup.) Lines 2, 14,
and 15 are Label Formatting Commands. Line 15 is the exit and print command. The remaining lines (3-
13) are print format records, explained in this chapter.
A record is a data string that contains the information to be printed on the label(s). Records are the building
blocks of label formats. Every record must end with a termination character (usually a carriage return,
<CR>
). Omitting termination characters will result in the concatenation of records. Omitting the carriage
return that precedes the termination character
E
, which is necessary to complete the label formatting and
begin printing, will cause the printer to continue interpreting all subsequent data as label print format
records.
Generating Records
Every record is made of three parts: (1) a header that is 15 bytes in length, (2) the data to be printed,
and (3) a termination character (e.g.,
<CR>
) marking the end of the field. The header is used to select
the appearance of the data when printed by choosing rotation, font type, size, and position options.
Every header contains similar information, but different types of records may use this information in
different ways. The six record types are:
1. Internal Bit-Mapped Font
2. Smooth Font (Simulated)
3. Scalable Font
4. Bar code
5. Images
6. Graphics
The Structure of a Record
The basic structure of the record is described below. For details regarding the various interpretations of
the six types see Record Structure Types.
The third line of the label format example in Table 8-1 consists of the following:
121100000050005HOME POSITION<CR>
This string comprises a complete record, shown below, divided into its three basic component parts.
Header Data String Termination Character
121100000050005 HOME POSITION <CR>
Table 8-2: Record Structure Components
The record conforms to the following fixed field format (spaces added for readability). Identifying
lower case letters have been placed below field values for reference in the following sections:
1 2 1 1 000 0005 0005 HOME POSITION <CR>
a b c d eee ffff gggg [hhhh iiii] jj…j Termination character