Document Print and Output Formats Supported by
Choose your output format...PCL, PostScript, AFP, EPL, ZPL, TEC, GDI, MATRIX, IGP,
METACODE, PDF, PDF/A, QMF, RTF, HTML,..
Apart from providing multiple choices of standard data input formats such as Plain
Text, SAP-RDI, Tag Mode, FCFC and XML,
also allows you to choose among a wide range of the most commonly used document
print and output formats. Following you will find the output formats grouped and
briefly explained by "output print formats" and "output generation
formats".
See also the
Contoller Module...
Document output PRINT formats
A document output print format is represented by a data stream
that is sent directly to the printer so that it can be interpreted by the output
device without any previous conversion process. It is already written in the "language"
the printer understands.
These formats are usually used when there is no need to generate an intermediate
document in electronic format that is stored or viewed by the user, but the document
will be printed directly, as speed is an important factor too.
PCL, PostScript, AFP, EPL, ZPL, TEC, GDI, MATRIX, XEROX Metacode, and IGP are supported
by
. Following
is a brief description of each of the document output print formats:
AFP: Advanced Function Presentation/Printing (IBM Transactional Data Format)
Advanced Function Presentation (AFP) is a document and information presentation
architecture that was originally designed and developed by IBM . Its main features
are: data integrity, resource management and high speed printing.
The AFP architecture consists of a number of sub-architectures that define the properties
of texts (PTOCA), fonts (FOCA), graphics (GOCA), images (IOCA), colors (CMOCA) and
barcodes (BCOCA).
AFP is primarily used in large enterprises and is considered to be a cornerstone
for the high volume printing industry. The architecture is mainly employed in financial
and insurance sectors and governmental financial and banking institutions.
provides professional users with the required tools for the design and generation
of AFPDS and OGL/PPFA format documents.
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EPL2: Eltron Programming Language II
Eltron Programming Language 2 (EPL2), a page description language, is designed to
assemble all the elements of the label prior to printing. This increases the speed
of the printing process and makes EPL2 an ideal language for labelling and bar code
requirements.
allows users to generate labels for printers that use Eltron Programming Language
II (EPLII). More recent printers also support the Zebra Programming Language(ZPL).
EPL can be used for Zebra printers too and is used frequently by Zebra's desktop
bar code printers.
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GDI: Graphics Device Interface
The Microsoft® Windows® Graphics Device Interface
(GDI) enables applications to use graphics and formatted text on both the video
display and the printer. Windows-based applications do not access the graphics hardware
directly. Instead, GDI interacts with device drivers on behalf of applications.
One important capability of GDI over more direct methods of accessing the hardware
is its scaling capabilities, and abstraction of target devices. Using GDI, it is
very easy to draw on multiple printer devices, and expect proper output for each
of them.
Using the
GDI option generates graphic device independent outputs. It indicates that the output
will be submitted to the printer using the printer driver installed in the Operating
System.
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IGP/PGL; Intelligent Graphics Printing software for the Printronix Graphics Language
Intelligent Graphics Printing (IGP) is a special printer language which is used
by Printronix printing systems. IGP allows you to create and store forms, generate
logos, bar codes, expanded characters, and create other graphics.
The
components for label printers allow users to generate labels for those printers
that use the Intelligent Graphics Printing software for the Printronix Graphics
Language (IGP/PGL).
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Matrix: (Line) Printer
A line matrix printer is a computer printer that is a compromise between a line
printer and a dot matrix printer. It prints a page-wide line of dots and builds
the line of text by printing lines of dots. Letters are produced out of a dot matrix,
and therefore, varied fonts and arbitrary graphics can be produced. Because the
printing involves mechanical pressure, these printers can create carbon and carbonless
copies.
Line printers are often used for printing box labels as well as invoices and reports.
When implemented as impact printers, they can be the least expensive to operate,
per page.
allows users to generate output for high speed printers, capable of printing an
entire line at one time.
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PCL: Printing Control/Command Language
Also sometimes called "Printing Control Language, PCL is better described as a Page
Description Language (PDL). The Printer Control Language (PCL) was created in the
1980s by Hewlett-Packard as a simpler, faster and less expensive alternative to
PostScript-based laser printers.
Although PCL has fewer features than PostScript, its simplicity and speed makes
it the first choice for most business documents and network printing environments.
As Hewlett-Packard decided to create PCL as an open and non proprietary page description
language, it very soon became an industry standard used world wide.
The PCL files contain the printer commands and the HP printers decode those commands
directly. No other intermediate conversion is required. You can store the PCL file
and send it directly to any PCL compliant printer for printing. Today PCL print
outputs are supported by a wide variety of printer manufacturers.
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POSTSCRIPT
Like PCL, PostScript it is a Page Description Language (PDL). The concepts of PostScript
(PS) language were already set in 1976, but it was not until 1982 that the language
evolved into the PostScript language as such (as a trademark of Adobe systems),
which went on the market in 1984.
PostScript (PS) language files provide excellent facilities for managing texts and
graphics. The ease, speed and quality, together with the widespread adoption, made
PostScript the language of choice and de facto standard for graphical output for
printing applications. Although today it is being more frequently substituted by
one of its descendants, the Portable Document Format (PDF), PostScript laser printer
can significantly reduce the CPU workload involved in printing documents by transferring
the work of rendering PostScript images from the computer to the printer.
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TEC Printer Command Language (TPCL)
Using TEC bar code printers you can issue various labels for various applications
such as shipping labels, Item labels, Container labels, Bar code labels, Ticket,
and Industry standard labels (UCC/EAN-128, UCC/EAN-13, etc.).
The
components for label printers allow users to generate labels for those printers
that use the Printer Command Language (TPCL).
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ZPL2: Zebra Programming Language II
ZPL is one of three programming languages used by Zebra’s high performance, industrial
& commercial, RFID, print engines, desktop and mobile printers.
generates labels for printers that use Zebra Programming Language II (ZPLII).
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XEROX Metacode
XEROX metacode is the native format of Xerox LPS (Laser Printing System) printer
and represents a defined number of reserved character codes that are formatting
instructions directly understood by the printer. As a data stream containing embedded
metacodes is sent to the printer, no intermediate conversion needs to takes place
and, printing forms is much faster when output is generated for Xerox LPS printers.
transforms the document/form design into FDL commands (Forms Description Language).
The resulting file will be an FSL (Forms Source Library) containing the FDL commands
required for definition of page size and non-variable form design elements. In addition,
an IMG file will be generated for each image on the page.
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Document output GENERATION formats
In contrast, when talking about document output generation formats,
we refer to commonly used document formats which are not directly printed, but stored
as human readable documents in a specific digital format.
This format is displayed on the screen and the document can also be edited by the
user if the correct, corresponding application is used, but can not be interpreted
by the printer as-is. It is the underlying printer driver software, part of the
application that converts the document to the basic print output format. A known
example is the Portable Document Format (PDF), originally created by Adobe Systems,
but today there are numerous software programs available that are capable of generating
and reading this format.
PDF, QMF, RTF and HTML are the formats for documents generation supported by
. Following,
a brief description of each of the document output generation formats:
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HTML: HyperText Markup Language
HTML is a well known tagged markup language used world wide for creation of internet
and intranet pages. HTML is the standard programming language for presenting and
formatting text based documents in an Internet environment. It also allows for embedding
images, videos and scripting languages, such as Java Script. Navigation between
pages within a site or to other websites is achieved through hyperlinks. Internet
browser programs like Microsoft Internet Explorer or Mozilla Firefox render the
code and present the final result to the end-user when downloading the web pages
from the web servers to the users desktop.
generates files with HTML format. No HTML programming skills are required and HTML
pages can be generated from existing
forms and documents. The Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) templates provided are completely
customizable and adaptable to the user's needs.
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PDF: Portable Document Format
As the name, "Portable Document Format" suggests, the PDF format was created by
Adobe Systems in 1993 to ease portability and exchange of documents independently
of the underlying hardware, operating systems or application software. PDF was officially
published as an open standard (ISO 32000-1:2008) on July 1, 2008.
is able to generate Adobe Portable Document Format (PDF), while preserving document
integrity and giving users flexibility when sharing their documents in this standard
output format. PDF is the most used document format for distribution and exchange
of human readable documents.
During document generation, diverse options can be set. Examples are: creating a
compressed/uncompressed PDF, encryption and embedding a user password or the possibility
of limiting document operations to printing, modification, copying and adding text
notes. Additionally, PKCS#12 compliant certificates for digital signatures and the
corresponding password can be added to the PDF at generation time.
Additionally,
allows the generation of output files which are compliant with the PDF/A (PDF/Archive)
format. PDF/A is a standard which describes how to generate PDF files with an electronic
document file format that is used for long-term preservation and archiving of documents.
This output format will ensure that the documents can be retrieved and rendered
with a consistent and predictable result in the future. PDF/A is a restricted subset
of PDF, and was originally designed for the Archive needs of governments, newspapers,
corporations, libraries, etc. In order to achieve the desired appearance reliability
some of the restrictions that were considered are:
- Prohibition of External files, non-embedded fonts, etc.
- Restricted programming. E.g. No Java Script.
- Some restrictions on annotations.
- etc.
PDF/A-1 is part one of this standard and is described in ISO 19005-1:2005(E). PDF/A-2
is still "work in progress".
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QMF
This
proprietary data output format generates highly compressed electronic documents
that maintain all the characteristics of any document (much like a PDF) generated
by the
DocProcessor and can be viewed and/or printed by using the
DocViewer.
This format facilitates document distribution via Internet/Intranet environments
as well as document storage in data bases with the
Archiver.
During document generation various options like creating a compressed/uncompressed
document, embedding the user password, copying, etc. can be set.
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RTF: Rich Text Format
The Rich Text Format (RTF) output format is intended as a universal standard for
exchanging documents between different programs and word processors. It was first
defined by Microsoft in 1987 to allow interchange documents across different computer
platforms. Although still owned by Microsoft, RTF is a free document file format
that simplifies the exchange of document files between different processors, computer
operating systems or program versions.
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