Microsoft KB Archive/44290

Multiplan: Sending Printer Control Codes to the HP LaserJet PSS ID Number: Q44290 Article last modified on 06-04-1990 PSS database name: D_MPlan

1.x 2.x 3.00 3.01 3.02 3.04

MS-DOS

Summary:

To send printer control codes to the HP LaserJet from Multiplan versions 1.x, 2.x, and 3.x, use the following guidelines. Multiplan versions 4.00, 4.01, and 4.20 use a printer driver to send control codes to the printer.

More Information:

Control codes can be entered in sequence in the Print Options “setup:” field to produce a combination of different print formats, such as bold, underlined, and italic. If the escape code sequence is longer than 32 characters (as is often the case when combining codes for the LaserJet), the sequence will be too long for the “setup:” field. If there is more than one code, the first can be entered into the “setup:” field, and the others into cells of the spreadsheet.

The escape codes for print format must be sent in a certain order of priority to the printer. (Refer to your HP LaserJet manual for the priority levels expected by the printer.) Since the code in the Print Options “setup:” field is sent to the printer before codes embedded in cells of the spreadsheet, this is where you should enter the code with the highest priority.

The following example prints a spreadsheet using the Lineprinter font in landscape orientation:

In the Print Options “setup:” field, enter the code for landscape (because it is the highest-priority code). If the control string contains an ampersand (&), an extra ampersand must be added only when entering the code in the Print Options “setup:” field:

^[&&l1O (The last three characters are a lowercase letter “l”, a number 1, and a capital letter “O”.)

In the spreadsheet, do not add an extra ampersand if there is an ampersand in the code.

Enter the other codes in the spreadsheet with the Alpha command. The sequences should be entered in cells that are in the upper-left corner of the print range specified in the Print Options “area:” field. Each sequence that begins with the escape character (^[) must be entered into a separate cell. In the spreadsheet, the caret (^) must be entered by pressing CTRL+B (or CTRL+SHIFT+B for Multiplan versions 2.01 or earlier):

^[(0U ^[(s16.66h8.5v0s0b0T (The 0’s are all zeros.)

Copyright Microsoft Corporation 1990.