Section 7: IBM Host Programming Features and Examples

Escape Character Translation

In many IBM host environments, the programmer cannot send an ESC character (ASCII hex 1B) to the printer from within the application. Your Secure MICR Printer allows you to define the ESC character as a printable character or a combination of two printable characters. You can select combinations of 1 or 2 characters which are translated to a Hex 1B when they are sent to the printer.

The command &%STYxxyy$ is used to select the character or character combination. The pair xx represents the first characters’ ASCII hex value, yy represents the second characters hex value.

Example: The symbols @@ should be translated into the escape character:

&%STY4040$

After this is sent to the printer, anytime an @ @ is received in exact sequence, the pair is translated into the ESC character (Hex 1B). A single @ would print normally.

If yy is equal to 00, only the first character is used for the escape character.

Example: The symbol @ should translate into the escape character:

&%STY4000$

After this is sent to the printer, anytime an @ is received it is translated into the ESC character. This means that the printer will never print the @ character. The only invalid single characters are the & (HEX 26) and a null (00).

Example: &%STY2300$

#&l8D

The printer would translate the number sign (Hex 23) to the ESC character and it would act on the sequence Esc&l8D which will set line spacing to 8 lines per inch.

If you want to reset the ESC character translation from the previous settings then you can send the &%STY Command to deactivate the translation.

Example: &%STY0000$

Secure MICR Printer User’s Guide July 2003

Page 33

© Source Technologies

All rights reserved

Page 37
Image 37
Source Technologies 1352 MICR 40 Escape Character Translation, STY4040$, STY4000$, Example &%STY2300$, Example &%STY0000$