Font mapping
PSF sometimes needs to equate a font specified in a print job to another font. The process of equating fonts is called font mapping. The mapping process should not be confused with font substitution (which is done by use of Exit 7). The mapping process is used to verify that the specified font can be used in the current environment, or to find an equivalent font that can be used.
- The technology of the font is incompatible with the technology
that the printer supports. For example, PSF maps fonts when an outline
font is specified
in a print job but the printer supports only raster fonts. This process
is called a technology-compatibility map. Note: Double-byte fonts can be technology-mapped only at the coded font prefix level. They are not mapped through the user mapping tables.
- A GRID, rather than member names, is specified in the print data. PSF uses the mapping tables to find the corresponding code page and character set member names compatible with the technology of the attached printer and the setting of the Map to outline fonts parameter in the Printer Inventory, the MAP2OLN parameter on the PRINTDEV statement, or XTP7MTOF in Exit 7 (see the next bullet). This process is called a GRID map.
- The Printer Inventory, the PRINTDEV statement, or Exit 7 requests that PSF map fonts to outline fonts and the attached printer supports outline fonts. This process is called an outline map. See Mapping to outline fonts for more information.
The user does not select technology-compatibility mapping or GRID mapping; PSF performs these maps automatically.
The different mapping functions are performed at different times during the processing of the font. The choice of mapping functions to be performed depends on how the font was specified in the print job. For example, a coded font is mapped by one process and a pair of code page and character set names by another process.