Batch Printing - Intermec EasyCoder E4 Programmer's Reference Manual

3. Batch Printing

EasyCoder E4 Direct Protocol v2.10 – Programmer's Reference Manual
Chapter 5
General Information
The term "Batch Printing" means the process of printing several
labels. The labels may either be exact copies or different from
each other.
For batch printing, the most critical factor is the time required to
process the print image into a bitmap and store it in the image
buffer. The image buffer compensates for differences between
processing time and printing time. If the bitmap is too large to
be stored in its entirety in the image buffer, it will be divided into
a number of segments across the media feed direction which will
be processed one after the other and downloaded to the image
buffer. As the buffer is emptied by printing, a new segment can
be processed and downloaded.
When printing a batch of labels from a predefi ned layout, the
layout is processed before each new copy is printed, in order
to allow counter, date, and time values to be updated. When
a layout is not used, all copies will contain exactly the same
information.
When using batch printing, take the following into consider-
ation:
• Using command abbreviations. For example, PF instead of
PRINTFEED improves the performance.
• The more processing a label requires, the slower it will be
printed.
• In case of small differences between labels, make use of CLL
and FIELDNO commands (see later in this chapter) and edit
the layout so that variable data are processed last.
• If you are printing scaled TrueType fonts and the printer is
working very slowly, use the PRESCALE command to create
bitmapped versions of the scaled fonts for quicker access (see
Chapter 9.3).
• Switching verbosity off using SYSVAR(18) may improve
printing speed (see Chapter 6.13).
If you have any problems, for example the printer stops between
labels, lower the print speed, or make the print image easier
to process.
You can interrupt batch printing by issuing a BREAK command
as described in Chapter 6.16.
Feeding and Printing Commands
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