The config file is a text file with sections marked in square brackets and items and values separated by an equal sign. A hash sign (#) or semicolon (;) denotes a comment. Values can be enclosed in single or double quotes. In this case leading and trailing spaces are preserved. Section names and items are case insensitive.

Unless specified on the command line, the config file is searched in the following locations:

• The file eqpcl.cfg in the current directory
• The file .eqpcl in the home directory of the user (HP-UX and Linux)
• The config directory of the installed Eloquence release

The following configuration sections are recognized:

• config
• default
• tfN
• barcode
• trayN

Section [config]

ps.include = 

barcode = 1

overlay = 1

gs = /usr/bin/gs

On Windows, the default executable is gswin32c.exe, but the Ghostscript installation directory is usually not located in the PATH. Therefore, the gs option should be explicitly configured, for example: gs = C:\Program Files\gs\gs9.00\bin\gswin32c.exe

gs.paper.size =

gs.opt = 

gs.pdf.opt = -dCompatibilityLevel=1.4 -dPDFSETTINGS=/printer

gs.pdfa.opt = -sColorConversionStrategy=/RGB -sOutputICCProfile=srgb.icc \
              -sProcessColorModel=DeviceRGB -dPDFACompatibilityPolicy=1

gs.print.opt = 

gs.fontpath = 

include = 

ps.pdfa_def = 

Section [default]

paper.source = 1

paper.size = a4

  1 = EXECUTIVE
  2 = LETTER
  3 = LEGAL
  6 = LEDGER
 26 = A4
 27 = A3

symset = 4U

  8U = HP Roman-8 Symbol Set
  4U = HP Roman-9 Symbol Set
 10U = IBM Layout (PC-8) (code page 437) Default Symbol Set
 12U = IBM Layout for Europe (PC-850) (code page 850)
 18N = Unicode
  8M = Math-8
 19U = Windows 3.1 Latin 1
  9E = Windows 3.1 Latin 2 (commonly used in Eastern Europe)
  5T = Windows 3.1 Latin 5 (commonly used in Turkey)
579L = Wingdings Font

eolterm = 0

 0 - CR = CR, LF = LF, FF = FF
 1 - CR = CR+LF, LF = LF, FF = FF
 2 - CR = CR, LF = CR+LF, FF = CR+FF
 3 - CR = CR+LF, LF = CR+LF, FF = CR+FF

Section [tfN]

[tfN]
width = font height/width ratio (percent)
#b#s = font name

• The section name [tfN] identfies the PCL typeface. It consists of the literal "tf" and a numeric value N that specifies the PCL typeface id. For example, [tf4102] specifies the PCL typeface 4102 (LetterGothic).

• width specifies the font width/hight ratio (in percent). This is used to scale monotype fonts. The default is 60, indicating the width is 60% of the height.

• The other entries are used to map stroke and style values to a specific Postscript font name.
  #b#s = font name
  Where # specifies the stroke and style value and font name specifies the name of the PostScript font.

The example below maps the PCL 4102 typeface id to the LetterGothic PostScript font.

[tf4102]
width = 54
0b0s = LetterGothic
1b0s = LetterGothic
3b0s = LetterGothic-Bold
0b1s = LetterGothic-Italic

Section [barcode]

The eqpcl utility provides support for the Postscript barcode writer created by Terry Burton. When the barcode functionality is enabled in the configuration, the barcode code is included in the PS output and eqpcl creates calls from the PCL data.

Please refer to bwipp.terryburton.co.uk for more information on supported barcode types ("Symbologies") and their options.

When enabled, the barcode is identified by a font id (type face) and mapped to a barcode encoding and option. The barcode height is automatically scaled according to the font height. The barcode encoding and any number of options may be specified, separated by a space. Any number of barcode definitions may be present.

To enable barcode support the following setting in the configuration is required:

[config]
barcode = 1

[barcode]
9900 = code39 includetext
9901 = qrcode
9910 = code39 width=0.75

The width option may be used to specify a scaling factor to adapt the barcode width to the available space. Please keep in mind that this could affect readability.

The supported options depend on the barcode type. The includetext option is typically supported and results in printing the clear text beneath the barcode. The includecheck option is supported with some barcode types and causes an extra check digit to be generated.

The barcodes and options may be tried interactively on the web site www.terryburton.co.uk/barcodewriter/generator/

Section [trayN]

A tray configuration may specify eps include files along with position and scaling options.

This is intended to ease the creation of custom forms. Instead of converting a custom form or logo into PCL format you may specify one or more EPS files (single page PS files _may_ work) to be used as overlay when the tray is used as a media source. An EPS file is a special postscript format that can only hold a single page.

[trayN]
# eps.file = path to include file (absolute path)
# xofs = move object x position (in decipoints, from left)
# yofs = move object y position (in decipoints, from bottom)
# scale = scale factor (in percent)
# align = align to paper edge (0=tl, 1=tr, 2=bl, 3=br, 4=orig)
# onpage = apply eps overlay on page (#|>#|!#|even|odd)
# multiple objects are allowed, each starting with eps.file

• The section name [trayN] identfies the tray. It consists of the word "tray" and a numeric value N that specifies the tray number in the PCL command. For example, [tray1] specifies the tray number one.

• eps.file designates the absolute path to an EPS file that is used to overlay the page. Multiple overlays are supported, each starting with eps.file. On the Windows platform a slash is used instead of a backslash.

• scale may be used to specify a percentage by which the EPS file is scaled. If not present, the original size is used. A value of 50 scales the EPS file to 50%.

• align may be used to specifiy the alignment of the EPS content, relative to the paper edges. The following values are supported:
  • 0 = top/left
  • 1 = top/right
  • 2 = bottom/left
  • 3 = bottom/right
  • 4 = Use the position as specified in the EPS bounding box (relative to the Postscript reference point, the bottom left).
  The default is 0 which positions a EPS file releative to the top/left paper edge. This has no effect if the EPS file does not specify a bounding box.

• xofs and yofs may be used to specify an offset of the placement of the EPS file content. The EPS file content is positioned to a paper edge, based on the information in the EPS bounding box. Any position specified in the bounding box is ignored. The xofs and yofs allow to move the object accordingly, relative to the original position. The value is denoted in decipoints, that is 1/720 inch (or 1/10 point, ~0.0353 mm). An offset of 1000 would indicate 1.38 inch and 35.28 mm.

• onpage may be used to apply the eps overlay on specific pages. The following values are supported:
  • page number (onpage = 1)
  • not on page number (onpage = !1)
  • page number larger than (onpage > 1)
  • even or odd page number (onpage = even)

To create an EPS file, save or export your image or document as EPS file. A single page Postscript file may work as well (but is not supported as there could be side effects). On Linux or HP-UX the ImageMagick conversion utility or the netpbm utilities may be used to convert a variety of image formats to an eps file. For example:

giftopnm sample.gif | pnmtoeps > sample.eps
jpegtopnm sample.jpeg | pnmtoeps > sample.eps
convert sample.png sample.eps

Changes

eqpcl.cfg template file

# @(#) eqpcl.cfg - B.08.40 ($Revision: 29.2 $)

### eqpcl config

[config]

# include path for eqpcl ps resources
#ps.include =

# enable barcode (0=off, 1=on), default is off
barcode = 0

# enable overlay processing
# 0=off, 1=page started, 2=page complete, default is 1
overlay = 1

# gs path
#gs = /usr/bin/gs

# gs page size
gs.paper.size = a4

# gs custom options
#gs.print.opt =
#gs.pds.opt =
#gs.opt =

# gs custom font path
#gs.fontpath =

# custom postscript files to include
#include =

### PCL defaults

[default]

# default printer symbol set
#  8U = Roman8
#  4U = Roman9 (Roman8 with EUR sign)
#  9U = CP1252
#  0N = ISO latin1 (subset of cp1252)
# default is 4U
symset = 4U

# default paper size (id or name)
#  1 = EXECUTIVE
#  2 = LETTER
#  3 = LEGAL
#  6 = LEDGER
# 26 = A4 (default)
# 27 = A3
#paper.size = A4

# default paper source (tray)
#paper.source = 0

# line termination (ESC&k#G)
# 0 - CR = CR, LF = LF, FF = FF (default)
# 1 - CR = CR+LF, LF = LF, FF = FF
# 2 - CR = CR, LF = CR+LF, FF = CR+FF
# 3 - CR = CR+LF, LF = CR+LF, FF = CR+FF
#eolterm = 0

# default font pitch (10 CPI)
#pitch = 10

# default page orientation (ESC&l#O)
# "portrait", "landscape" or orientation value
#orientation = portrait

# form length
# text is scaled to given number of lines
# default depends on paper size and orientation
#lines = 64

### font mapping

# To map PCL typefaces to Postscript fonts. A separate section
# is defined for each typeface. The section name starts with
# the literal "tf" and adds the PCL typeface id.
#
# [TfN]
# width = width/height ratio
# <stroke>b<style>s = font name

### barcode mapping

#[barcode]
#9900 = code39 includetext
#9901 = code93 includetext includecheck

### tray definition

# eps.file = path to include file (absolute path)
# xofs = x position (from left)
# yofs = y position (from bottom)
# scale = scale factor (in percent)
# align = align to paper edge (0=tl, 1=tr, 2=bl, 3=br, 4=orig)
# onpage = apply eps overlay on page (#|>#|!#|even|odd)
# multiple objects are allowed, each starting with eps.file

#[tray1]
#EPS.file = /pcl/demo/eqlogo.eps
#align = 1

See also