Sending commands to the printer

In the printer definition, you can specify printer commands that IP PrintWay™ sends to the printer. Printer commands are sometimes called printer setup strings. You can specify printer commands in these fields:

• Document header: IP PrintWay sends the printer commands specified in this field to the printer at the beginning of each document. For example, you could specify PCL commands to select a font or request landscape printing.
• Document trailer: IP PrintWay sends the printer commands specified in this field to the printer at the end of each document. For example, you could specify a PCL command to reset the printer to its default state.

IP PrintWay sends the document header to the printer after it sends any separator page that the Begin Data Set exit adds, and it sends the document trailer before it sends any separator page that the End Data Set exit adds. The order is:

1. Separator page (Begin Data Set exit)
2. Document header
3. Document
4. Document trailer
5. Separator page (End Data Set exit)

For example, if you specify commands for landscape printing in the Document header field, the separator page that the Begin Data Set exit adds does not print in the landscape orientation. To print the separator page in the landscape orientation, the Begin Data Set exit must add printer commands for landscape printing before the separator page data.

You can also specify a document header and document trailer in the IP PrintWay Begin Data Set exit (in the ANFUEXTP control block). The document header and document trailer the exit specifies in the ANFUEXTP control block override the document header and trailer specified in the printer definition. The Begin Data Set exit lets you specify a different document header and trailer for each document. For information about the Begin Data Set exit, see z/OS Infoprint Server Customization.

You can specify printer commands in either EBCDIC or ASCII representation, and you can request that IP PrintWay convert the printer commands to the printer's code page (either an EBCDIC or ASCII code page) before transmitting them to the printer. For example, if the printer accepts ASCII data, you can enter the printer commands in EBCDIC in the printer definition and request that IP PrintWay convert them to ASCII before transmission. For information about how IP PrintWay converts data between EBCDIC and ASCII, see Converting between EBCDIC and ASCII (extended mode).

When you enter data in EBCDIC in the printer definition, you can use these special values, which IP PrintWay converts to the indicated EBCDIC hexadecimal values. If you use these special values, use EBCDIC representation for the rest of the printer commands as well:

Tip: To print the euro on a euro-capable printer, you might need to load the 9N symbol set into the printer. You can select the 9N symbol set on the printer panel, or you can specify this PCL command in the Document header field to load the 9N symbol set: <ESC>(9N