Microsoft KB Archive/62929

Incorrect Character Placement with Eagle Systems Soft Fonts

PSS ID Number: Q62929 Article last modified on 11-02-1994

5.00 5.50

MS-DOS

= SUMMARY =

When using either the HPDWNACP.PRD or HPDWNACL.PRD printer drivers with downloadable printer fonts from Eagle Systems, characters formatted for either superscript or subscript are printed to the left of where they were originally placed. The problem occurs only if there are one or more space characters to the left of the superscripted or subscripted character.

= MORE INFORMATION =

Eagle Systems sells downloadable printer fonts for use with the HP LaserJet family of printers. The space character in the Eagle Systems version of the Hewlett-Packard AC Soft Font Set has an actual width that is larger than the width of the space character defined in the character width tables of the HPDWNACP.PRD and HPDWNACL.PRD printer drivers.

On HP LaserJet printers, Word 5.00 uses a carriage return pass to print superscripted and subscripted characters. The location of the superscripted or subscripted character is calculated based on the width of the characters preceding it. Because the space character in the Eagle Systems soft font is wider than Word thinks it is, Word does not move far enough in before printing the superscripted or subscripted character.

For Word to be able to correctly position superscripted and subscripted characters with the Eagle Systems AC font set, the character width tables of the HPDWNACP.PRD and HPDWNACL.PRD printer drivers must be modified. The defined width of the space character must be changed so that it equals the actual width of the space character.

The Eagle Systems AC font set includes support for Helvetica and TimesRoman fonts. The table below lists the size of the space character for the different point sizes as it is defined in the HPDWNACP.PRD and HPDWNACL.PRD printer drivers. It also lists the size of the space character as it is actually printed, and gives the character width table(s) that need to be modified.

Point   Defined    Actual     Width Table(s) Font Name Size Width Width to Be Changed ——— —– —— —— ————–

Helvetica 6 7 9 W0 W1 W2 Helvetica 8 9 12 W3 W4 W5 Helvetica 10 11 15 W6 W7 W8 Helvetica 12 13 18 W9 W10 W11 Helvetica 14 15 23 W12 W13 W14 Helvetica 18 19 29 W15 Helvetica 24 25 38 W16 Helvetica 30 31 47 W17 TimesRoman 6 7 9 W18 W19 W20 TimesRoman 8 9 12 W21 W22 W23 TimesRoman 10 11 15 W24 W25 W26 TimesRoman 12 13 18 W27 W28 W29 TimesRoman 14 15 23 W30 W31 W32 TimesRoman 18 19 29 W33 TimesRoman 24 25 38 W34 TimesRoman 30 31 47 W35

The table above applies to both the HPDWNACP.PRD and HPDWNACL.PRD printer drivers.

To make the necessary changes to the printer drivers, run the MAKEPRD utility and convert the HPDWNACP.PRD and HPDWNACL.PRD printer drivers to text files. Load the text versions of these files into Word and make the changes to the character width tables as outlined by the table above.

For example, to edit the character width tables used by the TimesRoman 6-point font, follow the steps below:


 * 1) Because the TimesRoman 6-point font uses three different character width tables, they all must be modified. From the table above, width tables 18, 19, and 20 all need to be edited. The first step is to search for width table 18. Use Word’s Search function to search for the string “{w18” (without the quotation marks).
 * 2) Edit the width defined for the space character. The space character has an ASCII value of 32. It is the first character in the width table. Edit the string 32:7, to appear as 32:9.
 * 3) Search for the other two width tables (use the strings {w19 and {w20) used for this font and make the same changes.
 * 4) Repeat the steps above for each font and size listed in the table.

The space character in the Eagle Systems AC font set is the only character known to have an actual width that is different than Word’s defined width. It is possible that there are other characters in this font set, as well as other font sets, that could also be different.

Eagle Systems provides the support for its soft fonts. Eagle Systems can be reached by calling (805) 529-6692.

KBCategory: kbprint KBSubcategory: Additional reference words: ============================================================================= Copyright Microsoft Corporation 1994.