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2001/10/02
CHAPTER 2 "PCL" - 25
4.2.8. Coordinates
The printer control language coordinate system has its origin at the intersection of the left edge of the logical
page and the top margin. The x-coordinate value of the current cursor position increases as the cursor moves
from left to right, the y-coordinate value increases as the cursor moves down the page. The cursor can be
explicitly positioned anywhere on the current logical page using the PCL coordinate system. In addition, the
cursor’s coordinate position will change as text and graphics are printed.
4.2.9. Units
You can specify cursor movement within the PCL coordinate system using one of three different unit systems.
Decipoints
A decipoint is one-tenth of a typographic point measurement = 1/720".
Rows and columns
Using the horizontal motion index (HMI) (Esc&k#H) and vertical motion index (VMI)(Esc&l#C) commands you
can set the width of a column and the height of a row. You can then use the column width and row height as the
units of the coordinate system. The line-spacing command is an alternative to the VMI command.
Units
The unit of measurement used must be defined by the unit of measure command as described in 4.2.10.
4.2.10. Unit of measure
Esc&u#D (27)(38)(117)#(68) <1Bh><26h><75h>#<44h>
• # value can be 96, 100, 120, 144, 150, 160, 180, 200, 225, 240, 288, 300, 360, 400, 450, 480, 600, 720, 800, 900, 1200,
1440, 1800, 2400, 3600, 7200.
• # stands for the unit of measurement in dots per inch.
• The value set by this command is used as the unit setting for use by other setting commands such as
ESC*p#X.
• The default value of # is 300.
Example)
Esc&u300D Esc*p+100x+200Y
move cursor 100/300 inch right and 200/300 inch down.
Esc&u600D Esc*p+100x+200Y
move cursor 100/600 inch right and 200/600 inch down.
4.2.11. Setting the left and right margins
Esc&a#L (27)(38)(97)#(76) <1Bh><26h><61h>#<4Ch>
# stands for the distance between the left edge of the logical page and the left margin in columns.
Esc&a#M (27)(38)(97)#(77) <1Bh><26h><61h>#<4Dh>
# stands for the distance between the left edge of the logical page and the right margin in columns.
• The column width is as defined by the HMI. If you subsequently change the HMI, the margin positions that
you have set do not change - that is, when you specify margin positions they remain fixed physically until
you specify new ones or reset them to default values.
• You cannot specify a value for the left margin that is greater than the value of the current right margin.
• If the current cursor position is to the left of your new left margin setting, the cursor will be moved to the new
left margin.
• You cannot set the right margin further right than the right edge of the logical page.