Specifications

Chapter 1— Introduction to IPL Commands
IPL Programmer’s Reference Manual 3
The printer does not execute a command that does not match the current
operating mode. For example, if you send a Program command while the
printer is in Print mode, the printer ignores the Program command. See
“Switching Between Print Mode and Program Mode” later in this chapter,
or refer to your printer user’s manual for help changing the mode of your
printer.
Programming for Intermec Printers
When you program in IPL, you must understand the approach that
Intermec uses to print bar code labels. It is a two-step process:
1 Design the format (or template) for the bar code label, and then send
the format to the printer, where it is stored in memory.
2 Send another command to the printer that specifies the data for the
fields of the format and prints the label.
Note: It is not always necessary to send the format and the data to the
printer separately. You can send fixed data formats or even variable data
formats that include the data in the same file.
If you skip Step 1 and do not specify a format, the printer assumes you
want to use the default format, which is stored permanently in the printer.
The printer will print the label using that format. The default format is
called format 0.
You can store multiple formats on your printer. Many Intermec printers
can store up to 19 formats, but some printers (such as the 3240 and 3440)
can store up to 99. To learn how many formats your printer can store, see
the “Format, Create or Edit” command in Chapter 7.
Learning the Structure of IPL Commands
This section describes general principles to follow when creating or
downloading IPL commands.
Note: The syntax of each IPL command is described in detail in Chapter
7, “IPL Command Reference.”
• IPL commands are case sensitive. Type them as they appear in this
manual. For example, if the command is an uppercase “A,” do not enter
it as a lowercase “a.”
• Each command string that you download to a printer must begin with
the start of text character <STX> and end with the end of text character
<ETX>.