HP Pcl 5 Manual

							ENText Area 5-11
Text Area 
Text printing may be restricted to a specific area within the logical 
page using the Left Margin, Right Margin, Top Margin, Text Length, 
and Perforation Skip Mode commands. This area is known as the 
text area.
The left margin defines the distance between the left edge of the 
logical page and the left edge of the text area. The right margin 
defines the distance between the left edge of the logical page and the 
right edge of the text area. The width of the text area is the distance 
between the left and right margins. The top margin defines the 
distance between the top of the logical page and the top of the text 
area. The text length defines the length of the text area which in effect 
defines the bottom margin. The perforation region is the distance from 
the bottom of the text area to the top of the text area (top margin) on 
the next page. The text area is shown in Figure 5-4.
In general, characters are printed when they fall within the text area. 
However, characters can be printed between the bottom of the text 
area and the top of the text area on the next page only if perforation 
skip is disabled. Characters are printed outside the text area if a 
cursor move escape sequence positions the cursor outside the text 
area (but within the printable area). Characters that fall on (or outside) 
a margin as a result of printing a character string, are clipped 
(not printed).
NotesAttempting to print characters across a margin results in the 
characters being discarded.
The default text area and the default HP-GL/2 picture frame are 
the same.  
						

							5-12   Page Control CommandsEN
Figure 5-4 Text Area Within the Page 
						

							ENLeft Margin Command 5-13
Left Margin Command 
The Left Margin command sets the left margin to the left edge of the 
specified column.
? & a # L
#  =   Column number
Default =Column 0 (Left bound of logical page)
Range =0 - Right margin
The first column within a line is column 0, which is located at the left 
edge of the logical page (the HMI setting defines the distance 
between columns, which thereby defines the maximum number of 
columns on the logical page). If the value field specifies a column 
greater than the current right margin, the command is ignored.
Margins represent a physical position and once set do not change 
with subsequent changes in HMI.
If the cursor is to the left of the new left margin, the cursor is moved to 
the new left margin.
Example 
To set the left margin to column 5, send:
?&a5L 
						

							5-14   Page Control CommandsEN
Right Margin Command 
The Right Margin command sets the right margin to the right edge of 
the specified column.
? & a # M
#  =   Column number
Default =Logical Page right bound
Range =Current left margin - Logical page right bound
The maximum right column is located at the right edge of the logical 
page (the HMI setting defines the distance between columns, which 
thereby defines the maximum number of columns on the logical 
page). If the value field specifies a column which is greater than the 
right edge of the logical page, the right margin is set to the right edge 
of the logical page. If the value field specifies a column less than the 
left margin, the command is ignored.
Margins represent a physical position and once set do not change 
with subsequent changes in HMI.
If the cursor position is to the right of the new right margin, the cursor 
is moved to the new right margin.
Example
To set the right margin to column 45, send: 
?&a45M 
						

							ENClear Horizontal Margins Command 5-15
Clear Horizontal Margins Command 
The Clear Horizontal Margins command resets the left and right 
margins. The left margin is set to the left edge of the logical page 
(column 0) and the right margin is set to the right edge of the logical 
page.
 ? 9 
						

							5-16   Page Control CommandsEN
Top Margin Command 
The Top Margin command designates the number of lines between 
the top of the logical page and the top of the text area.
? & l # E
#  =   Number of lines
Default =1/2 inch down from top of logical page1
Range =0 - Length of logical page (Other values ignored)
1 If logical page length is 
						

							ENTop Margin Command 5-17
NoteThe first line of the logical page is line 0. 
Figure 5-5 Margin Cursor Positioning 
						

							5-18   Page Control CommandsEN
Text Length Command 
The Text Length command designates the number of lines (at a given 
VMI) within the logical page available for printing text, the text area. 
This effectively defines the bottom margin. 
? & l # F
#  =   Number of lines
Default =1/2 inch less than maximum text length1
Range =Logical page length minus top margin
1 Maximum text length = INT(logical page length - top margin). However, if the max 
text length is less than ½inch, the text length is set to the maximum allowable.
The value field (#) sets the text length in lines referenced from the top 
margin. If a value greater than the logical page length minus the top 
margin is specified or if the current VMI is 0, the command is ignored. 
The user default text length is invoked whenever the orientation, page 
length, page size, or top margin is changed. The user default text 
length is computed as follows:
NoteThe user default VMI is selectable using the control panel; VMI is 
calculated from the FORM menu setting.
Example 
To select a text length of 60 lines, send: 
?&l6ØF 
						

							ENPerforation Skip Command 5-19
Perforation Skip Command 
The perforation region is the distance from the bottom of the text area 
of one page to the top of the text area (top margin) of the next page. 
When perforation skip is enabled, a Line Feed or Half-Line Feed, 
which would move the cursor beyond the bottom of the text area, 
causes the cursor to move to the top of the text area on the next page. 
When perforation skip is disabled, a Line Feed or Half-Line Feed 
allows the cursor to move to the next line or half-line in the perforation 
region, allowing printing to continue there.
? & l # L 
#  =  0 - Disable
   1 - Enable
Default =1
Range =0-1 (Other values ignored)
Whenever the perforation skip mode is changed, the top margin and 
page length are returned to their default values.
NoteWhen perforation skip is disabled, some print lines can fall outside the 
printable area and be lost. If lines of data could fall into the 
unprintable area, perforation skip should be enabled. 
						

							5-20   Page Control CommandsEN
Horizontal Motion Index (HMI) Command 
The Horizontal Motion Index (HMI) command designates the width of 
the columns.
? & k # H
#  =   Number of 1/120 inch increments.
Default =Determined by the pitch value in the default font header.
Range =0 - 32767 (valid to four decimal places)
The value field is valid to 4 decimal places. A value of zero (0) 
indicates no horizontal motion.
When fixed pitch fonts are selected, all printable characters including 
the Space and Backspace characters are affected by HMI. When 
proportional fonts are selected, the HMI affects only the Space control 
code character.
HMI is reset to match the new font when any of the font 
characteristics are changed and when switching between primary 
and secondary fonts with Shift In and Shift Out.
HMI is equal to the pitch value in the font header. The factory default 
font’s HMI is 12 (12/120 = 1/10 inch per character, or 10 characters 
per inch). 
NoteWhen HMI is not specifically set using the HMI command, PCL cursor 
moves are rounded to the nearest full increment determined by the 
current unit of measure setting. For example, if the unit of measure is 
set to 96 (one PCL Unit = 1/96 inch), then the HMI is rounded to the 
nearest 1/96 inch. If the unit of measure is set to 300 (one PCL Unit = 
1/300 inch), the HMI is rounded to the nearest 1/300 inch.