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Hardcopy Driver Parameters

By default, all hardcopy drivers available within the program are made available to the user through the Format menu in the Print Control Panel. Drivers can be disabled, so they don't appear in the Format menu, by adding the ``off'' keyword to the ``HardCopyDevice'' line, which begins the block of lines describing the driver defaults. The driver blocks are found near the end of the technology file, and are written in their entirety when the Save Tech command is used to generate a technology file. It is not an error for a driver block te be absent; internal defaults will be used.

The driver parameters are specified as keyword-value pairs. The following are recognized:

HardCopyDevice device_name [off]
Specifies that the following parameters are for the device_name driver. The names are internally recognized strings:
hp_laser_pcl
hpgl_line_draw_color
postscript_bitmap
postscript_bitmap_encoded
postscript_bitmap_color
postscript_bitmap_color_encoded
postscript_line_draw
postscript_line_draw_color
versatec_monochrome
versatec_color
wp
wpm
windows_native
xfig_line_draw_color
imlib
If the ``off'' keyword is given (``disable'' and ``n'' are synonyms), the driver is disabled, and will not appear in the Format menu of the Print Control Panel.

See the description of the Print button in the File Menu (5.5.2) for more information on these drivers.

$\textstyle \parbox{4in}{\tt
LayerName {\it name}\\
RGB {\it colorspec}\\
Filled {\it ...}\\
Invisible}$
It is possible to define layer presentation attributes specific to individual hardcopy drivers, and to suppress the use of the ``Alt'' attributes for individual drivers. The listed keywords are allowed in the driver blocks. The format of each line is the same as would appear in the layer blocks, however the specification is only used while in hard copy mode, and the driver containing the specification is active. The RGB, Filled, and Invisible lines can only follow a LayerName line, and the LayerName line must specify a layer already named in a layer block. The name can be that of a physical or electrical layer.

When in hard copy mode with a driver containing layer specifications, and one changes the fill pattern, color, or visibility status of a layer specified in the driver block, the layer specification in the driver block will be updated, and not the ``Alt'' layer. Creating a new technology file with the Save Tech command in the Attributes Menu will reflect the changes.

In order to specialize layer presentation to drivers, the LayerName (at least) line must be added to the technology file with a text editor. Once included, the other presentation attributes can be changed from within Xic.

NoAlt
The driver blocks can contain this keyword which will cause the use of the ordinary screen presentation while that driver is active in hard copy mode. There is no text following this keyword. If there are layers referenced in the driver block with LayerName, their attributes will override the screen attributes.

HardCopyLegend n
This keyword sets the default status of the Legend button in the Print Control Panel when the driver is active. Values can be 0, 1, or 2:

0 Legend button is off
1 Legend button is on
2 Legend button is grayed and inactive

HardCopyOrient n
This keyword sets the default status of the Portrait, Landscape, and Best Fit buttons in the Print Control Panel while the driver is active. Values are 0-3:

bit 0 set Landscape on, Portrait off
bit 0 unset Landscape off, Portrait on
bit 1 set Best Fit button on
bit 1 unset Best Fit button off

HardCopyCommand command_string
Specifies the command to use to queue the plot. This will be shown in the command text box of the Print Control Panel. The characters ``%s'' will be replaced with the name of the temporary file, all other characters are passed verbatim. If ``%s'' does not appear in the string, the file name will be appended to the string, separated by a space character. This keyword is ignored under Microsoft Windows.

HardCopyPixWidth integer_width
This sets the bitmap width expected by the device, for drivers with a fixed width (Versatec only).

HardCopyResol list_of_integers
This sets the resolutions supported by the driver, in dots per inch.

HardCopyDefResol integer
This has meaning only to drivers that have selectable resolutions. The value following this keyword is a zero-based index into the list of resolutions as given with the HardCopyResol keyword, and indicates the default resolution which will be selected in the Print Control Panel for the driver.

Example:

HardCopyDevice postscript_line_draw
HardCopyResol 72 75 100 150 200 300 400
HardCopyDefResol 2

This will select 100 as the resolution for the postscript_line_draw driver when the Print Control Panel first appears. The resolution can be changed with the menu.

$\textstyle \parbox{4in}{\tt
HardCopyDefHeight {\it float\_format\_number}\\
H...
...off {\it float\_format\_number}\\
HardCopyDefYoff {\it float\_format\_number}}$
These set the default image size and location, and are in inches, unless followed by the letter `c' which denotes centimeters. The Yoff number may be interpreted as a top or bottom margin, depending upon the driver. The dimensions are in all cases relative to the portrait orientation of the page. Some drivers may ignore one or more of these values, for example the offsets are ignored by the WordPerfect driver, and the Yoff offset is ignored by the Versatec driver. If the width or height is set to zero (but not both) the driver will assume auto-width or auto-hight mode, where the width or height is set to the minimum necessary to render the object.

$\textstyle \parbox{4in}{\tt
HardCopyMinHeight {\it float\_format\_number}\\
H...
...off {\it float\_format\_number}\\
HardCopyMinYoff {\it float\_format\_number}}$
These set the minimum acceptable values for the parameters.

$\textstyle \parbox{4in}{\tt
HardCopyMaxHeight {\it float\_format\_number}\\
H...
...off {\it float\_format\_number}\\
HardCopyMaxYoff {\it float\_format\_number}}$
These set the maximum acceptable values for the parameters.


next up previous contents index
Next: Example Technology File Up: Technology File Previous: Technology File Attributes   Contents   Index
Stephen R. Whiteley 2006-10-23