Review the hex dump for missing codes or codes that have been changed or added to. Typical things to look for include: an <LF> (ASCII 0AH) added after the <CR> (ASCII 0DH) code, <HT> (ASCII 09H) changed into a series of spaces (ASCII 20H), or <FF> (ASCII 0CH) changed into a series of <LF> (ASCII 0AH) codes.
The program illustrated above could, of course, be written in any language that you wish to investigate.
Beyond finding problem codes, the hex dump feature also provides a way to check which codes are actually being sent to the printer by a program. Just turn on the hex dump feature and run the program. Then interpret the codes that are printed out.
If you are investigating a program that uses the graphics op- tions, be prepared for a lot of printing since each byte of graphics data is printed in hex. This can be several pages of hex dump numbers. You can usually stop the printer after a couple of print lines of graphic data have been printed.
Figure
1B | 2A | 0 0 | 0E | 0 0 | 0 3 | 0 7 | 1F | 3F | 7E | 7C | 7 0 | 6 0 | 5C | 42 |
21 | 19 | 05 | 0 3 | 0D | 0A |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Figure
88