Microcom 438TM Operator's Manual page 57

Chapter 4
The printer can accept either the one-character control code ("Ctrl + E" (HEX05)) or the two-
character caret (^) plus alpha character ("^E"). In other words, for a PC keyboard, the same
command can be generated either by holding down the "Ctrl" key and pressing the alpha
character or by entering the two characters; the "^" (the character generated when you
press the "Shift" key and the "6") plus the alpha character. See Chapter 5 for additional
information regarding control codes and printer commands.
There are some special features offered by the printer that assist in label design. For
example, the auto-size command (^A2^D39 <CR>) provides most of the header format
information needed to define the different properties of the media being used. The current
state of the printer is accessed through the enquiry command (^D5 <CR>, Ctrl E, or 5 NULL
characters (HEX 00) if binary compression has been enabled). The statistical information of
the printer is made available through the use of the ^A0^D29 <CR> or more simply ^D29
<CR> command.
The following sections of this chapter are intended to provide the user an overview of the
LDS language. The overview will include information regarding the label format, header
definition, and list the different types of field information available. The combination of these
sections and Chapter 5 should provide the user with the information required for easy format
creation and printing. Once some understanding of these basis concepts has been
achieved, use the Quick Reference Guide in Appendix C for expedient label design.
4.3 Label Design: An Overview
A label format consists of a header record and field records, followed by the text data to be
printed. The records describe how the label is to be printed. The header contains
information about the label itself such as label height, width, print speed, etc. The field
records refer to the data section and contain information about positioning coordinates, and
the type of character generation such as text, graphics, bar codes, etc. The number of
fields is limited only by the amount of free memory available.
Below is a sample label format created for a 300dpi printer on a 4x3 diecut label. We will
refer to this format as we break down the steps and components to produce the format.
Refer to Figure 4-2 for a printed representation.
^D57 <CR>
5,1280,900,19,38,7,0,1,395,0,0 <CR>
1,640,650,8,1,5,0,4,2,2,,,,,0 <CR>
2,640,550,11,1,5,0,4,2,2,,,,,0 <CR>
3,640,450,26,1,5,0,4 <CR>
4,640,300,6,1,5,0,4 <CR>
4,640,150,6,16,3,,4,3,75 <CR>
^D56 <CR>
^D2 <CR>
Microcom <CR>
Corporation <CR>
Thermal Printing Solutions <CR>
012345 <CR>
^D3 <CR>
438TM Operator's Manual - 880049-0113
Designing Labels with LDS
A label format is coming.
Header Information.
Field #1 format information.
Field #2 format information.
Field #3 format information.
Field #4 format information.
Field #4 format information.
Signals the end of the label field definition.
Text data is coming.
Text data string #1.
Text data string #2.
Text data string #3.
Text data string #4.
Print format.
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