Troubleshooting
Problem
This document discusses various options when 85-column spooled files are truncated at column 80 when printing in portrait on an PCL-capable laser printer.
Resolving The Problem
This document discusses various options when 85-column spooled files are truncated at column 80 when printing in portrait on an PCL-capable laser printer.
This document was last updated on 19 March 2013.
The HP Printer Control Language (PCL) has a limitation of an 8.0 inch print line when printing in portrait on Letter sized (8.5 x 11 inch) paper. This makes it impossible to print 85 characters at 10 characters per inch (CPI) in portrait, unless the printer manufacturer has added support to use a larger print line by activating a whole page or edge-to-edge printing mode.
Select printer models from IBM, InfoPrint Solutions Company, Lexmark, Ricoh, Savin, Nashuatec, Rex-Rotary, Gestetner, Lanier and Infotec support "whole page" printing that allows printing more than 8.0 inches on a line when in HP PCL5e/PCL6 mode. Whole page printing can be activated through the printer hardware settings; however, it should also be able to be activated through HP PJL commands.
Select models of HP LaserJet printers support edge-to-edge printing that can be activated with different HP PJL commands; however, this is not supported on all HP printers. According to documentation from HP.com, edge-to-edge printing is supported with the HP LaserJet 5100, 8150, 9000 and 9000mfp series printers. Edge-to-edge printing is not supported on the HP LaserJet 1150, 1200, 1300, 2200, 2300, 4100, 4100mfp, 4200, nor 4300 series printers.
Most narrow-carriage dot matrix or line printers will allow you to print a full 85 columns at 10 Characters Per Inch (CPI), which will use the entire 8.5 inch page width instead of restricting you to an 8.0 inch print line. However, some narrow-carriage dot matrix or line printers will also truncate at column 80 when printing 85-column spooled files at 10 CPI.
Options to handle this situation include the following:
| o | Change your in-house or third-party application to print your reports or forms to fit within 80 columns, instead of 85 columns. |
| o | If your printer hardware provides an option for whole page or edge-to-edge printing, activate this option either in the printer hardware, or by creating a user-modified Workstation Customizing Object (WSCST) to send PJL commands to activate whole page or edge-to-edge printing. For more information on creating a user-modified WSCST object to send the PJL command to activate the whole page or edge-to-edge printing option in your printer hardware, you should refer to the following document: N1018916: Sending PJL Commands to Activate Whole Page or Edge-to-Edge Printing for Printing UB-04 Forms |
| o | Create a user-modified Workstation Customizing Object (WSCST) to request a 10.7 CPI font when either printing 10-CPI spooled files with a particular font ID, or for all 10 CPI spooled files. For more information on creating a user-modified WSCST object to request a 10.7 CPI font when either printing 10-CPI spooled files with a particular font ID, proceed to the section titled Printing 10 CPI spooled files in a Courier 10.7 CPI font using the INDFNTE tag below. For more information on creating a user-modified WSCST object to request a 10.7 CPI font for all 10 CPI spooled files, proceed to the section titled Printing 10 CPI spooled files in a Courier 10.7 CPI font using the FNTGRPE tag below. |
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Printing 10 CPI spooled files in a Courier 10.7 CPI font using the INDFNTE tag
If your in-house or third-party application cannot be changed to print your reports or forms to fit within 80 columns, instead of 85 columns, and if your printer hardware does not have an option for either whole page or edge-to-edge printing, then the next best option would be to create a user-modified Workstation Customizing Object (WSCST) to request a 10.7 CPI font when either printing 10-CPI spooled files with a particular font ID.
This option has the advantage that you can generate some spooled files with CPI(10) and FONT(*CPI) that will continue to print at 10 CPI, and can use the Override with Printer File (OVRPRTF) command to generate other spooled files with CPI(10) and a particular font ID, for instance FONT(12), that will print at 10.7 CPI. For example:
OVRPRTF FILE(*PRTF) PAGESIZE(66 85 *ROWCOL) LPI(6) CPI(10) FONT(12)
PAGRTT(0) OVRSCOPE(*JOB)
In this case, you will need to create a modified Workstation Customizing Object (WSCST) that adds a Individual Font Entry (INDFNTE) tag for that specific Font ID (FID), for instance font 14, that sends a PCL5 font string to request a 10.7 CPI font. For example:
:INDFNT.
:INDFNTE
FID = 14 /* Individual Font Entry for FONT(14) */
POINTSIZE = 0 /* FNTSTR for Courier 10.7 CPI font */
FNTSTR='1B2873307031302E3768307330623430393954'X
FNTEND = ''X
FNTWTH = ''X.
...
:EINDFNT.
The default Font ID (FID) or Font Global Identifier (FGID) for 10 CPI is font 11, which is a Courier 10 font. In this example, we have used font 14, which is an unassigned 10 CPI font, according to Appendix D Working with Fonts, Font Character Sets, Code Pages, CHRIDs, and Coded Fonts in the Printer Device Programming manual, SC41-5713-04.
For more information, please refer to the iSeries Printer Device Programming V5R4 (SC41-5713-06), which is available at:
http://publib.boulder.ibm.com/infocenter/iseries/v5r4/topic/books/sc415713.pdf
or refer to the following document:
N1010119: List of Default Font IDs Based on Font Range
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Printing 10 CPI spooled files in a Courier 10.7 CPI font using the FNTGRPE tag
Another option would be to create a user-modified Workstation Customizing Object (WSCST) to request a 10.7 CPI font for all 10 CPI spooled files, regardless of the value specified in the Font identifier (FONT) parameter in the spooled file attributes.
In this case, you will need to create a modified Workstation Customizing Object (WSCST) that adds a Font Group Entry (FNTGRPE) tag for the font range for 10 CPI, which has a range of Font IDs 1 - 65, inclusive,
Yet another option would be to create a modified Workstation Customizing Object (WSCST) to print our 10 CPI spooled files at about 10.7 CPI, which would be small enough to print all 85 columns within an 8.0 inch line. One way to do this would be to add a Font Group Entry (FNTGRPE) tag to send a "Courier 10.7 CPI" font for all 10 CPI spooled files, immediately after the ":FNTGRP." tag. For example:
:FNTGRP.
:FNTGRPE /* Font Group Entry for 10 CPI */
MINFID = 1 /* Font Range is 1 - 65 */
MAXFID = 65 /* FNTSTR for Courier 10.7 CPI font */
FNTSTR = '1B2873307031302E3768307330623430393954'X
FNTEND = ''X
FNTWTH = ''X.
...
:EFNTGRP.
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For More Information (References)
For more information, please refer to the following documents:
N1010124: Creating a Specific Font (INDFNTE Tag)
N1010146: Creating a Font Group Definition
N1010141: Changing the Font in the :CPI Tag
N1010138: Breakdown of HP PCL5 Font Strings
N1010119: List of Default Font IDs Based on Font Range
N1018916: Sending PJL Commands to Activate Whole Page or Edge-to-Edge Printing for Printing UB-04 Forms
Historical Number
664267407
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Modified date:
18 December 2019
UID
nas8N1010458