User manual

9
COMMAND SEQUENCES
The Ghostwriter accepts a wide variety of commands to control the printing of characters. A command
sequence performs a unique function and many different sequences can be sent for each string to be printed. A
command is distinguished from text by the < > characters. A < is used as a front marker for a command
sequence and the > is used for an end marker. Any data sent between these markers is interpreted as
command data. The data to be printed on the ticket is sent with no markers.
Every command sequence must be bracketed with the < > characters. If more than one command is sent in a
line, the front marker of the second command is sent immediately after the end marker of the first sequence.
Note that there is no delimiter between commands (ex. <HW2,2><RC10,30>). Usually, commands can be sent
in any order. The text to be printed then comes right after the end of the last command end marker. The printer
expects all the data it receives to be sent as ASCII characters. Below is a list of all the command sequences, a
code example and how they are used. It is important to use the command character letters as indicated below.
Lower case and upper case letters are not equivalent and cannot be interchanged. The following is a complete
list of FGL46 commands. Please note that not all of these commands will be available in all firmware versions.
Most lowercase commands are permanently stored in Flash memory. Commands accessing flash should be
used sparingly. These commands are intended to set the initial defaults and occasionally (monthly, annually)
clear out memory. Important: Flash (most lowercase) commands should never be used on every ticket.
Excessive use of flash commands slows down ticket throughput and reduces the life of the flash.
ROW/COLUMN COMMAND - <RC10,330>
This command positions the character at the row (R) and column (C) sent. There must be a comma sent
between the row and column values. In the above example, the row is 10 and the column 330. The character
will start there and build according to its rotation. NOTE: The values are ASCII characters. This means that the
10 is sent as an ASCII 1 followed by an ASCII 0 not as a byte with a value of 10.
ROTATION COMMAND
This command sets the rotation mode for all the following text until a new direction is sent. Facing in the
direction of rotation, all characters build down and to the right of their starting points.
<NR> No rotation
<RR> Rotate right (+90)
<RU> Rotate upside down (+180)
<RL> Rotate left (+270 or - 90)
HEIGHT/WIDTH COMMAND - <HW2,3>
This command sets up the height and width of the character. In the above example, the height will be 2 and the
width 3. This means that for a 7x8 dot size character it will be 21 dots wide and 16 dots high. Characters are
limited in their expansion only by the size of the ticket. Be careful not to build characters into the ones below
them. Once the height and width have been changed from normal, you must send a <HW1,1> to return to
normal size. NOTE: HW is capped at a maximum of 16 when using soft fonts.
FONT SIZE COMMAND
<F1> Font1 characters (5x7)
<F2> Font2 characters (8x16)
<F3> OCRB (17x31)
<F4> OCRA (5x9)
<F6> large OCRB (30x52)
<F7> OCRA (15x29)
<F8> Courier (20x40)(20x33)
<F9> small OCRB (13x20)
<F10> Prestige (25x41)
<F11> Script (25x49)
<F12> Orator (46x91)
<F13> Courier (20x40)(20x42)
This command sets the font size of the characters to be printed. The printer defaults to the font3 size on 200 dpi
printers. Alternate font sizes will be available on certain models. See the font size supplement for actual font
size samples and further information.