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The default coordinate system used by PAL is a traditional Cartesian coordinate system with the origin at the
lower left-hand corner of the drawing surface:
(
0,0) x
PAL Coordinate System
An internal “cursor” is maintained by PAL that keeps track of where to put the next print object, i.e. text or
lines, etc. At power up this internal cursor is set to the origin or (0,0).
The default unit used for measuring distance in this coordinate system is the point. A point is a common
typographical unit equivalent to 1/72”. There are 72 points to an inch. The example sets the “cursor” to 72,72
to place text at a point 1 inch to right of the origin and 1 inch above.
Some printing commands such as show will change the location of the cursor. This happens for example after a
text string is put on the label. After the text has been written to the label, the cursor is updated to point to the
end of the text in preparation for the next string.
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