PostScript
4-108
Status Messages
Your printer responds to a Ctrl-T (x'14') status query on an interface by sending a
one-line status message back to the host computer over the same interface. If the
status query is received between print jobs and the printer is idle with no error
conditions, an idle response is returned to the host computer.
Status messages are bracketed by the characters
%%[
and
]%%
, so the computer
software can extract them from other data generated by the current print job. They
follow a standard syntax, consisting of one or more key-value pairs, separated by
semicolons. For example:
%%[
job: Project Report; status: busy; source: Parallel
]%%
The following table lists the possible keys and value descriptions.
To determine which status message keys your printer supports, see Table C-7 on
page C-21.
Table 4-18: Status Message Keys and Value Descriptions
Key
Value Description
job
The name of the print job, as stored in the JobName entry in statusdict. This
field is omitted if the current print job has no defined JobName.
status
Printer activity at the time the message is sent:
Idle
No job in progress
Busy
Executing a PostScript emulation program and/or printing
pages
Waiting
I/O wait in mid-job
Initializing
During startup
Not ready
Printer menus display or
Not Ready
displays.
source
Source of the job the server is executing:
Serial
Parallel
Network
USB
LocalTalk
Infrared
Internal
This field is omitted if the server is idle.
