Brother HL-Series Technical Reference Manual page 289

Revision C 16/01/96
PE - Polyline Encoded
PE [ [ flag ] [ value ] | X
flag ; a command or mode that applies to the data that follows
value; parameter data for the preceding flag
X ; X-coordinate of a cursor movement destination
Y ; Y-coordinate of a cursor movement destination
• This command allows you to combine a sequence of PA, PR, PU, PD and SP commands into a coded
format. This reduces file size and transmission time.
• Do not use commas within the PE command. Parameters either have their own terminators or do not
require them.
• The PE command must be terminated with a semi-colon.
• The command draws lines using the current line type and current units.
• The command draws lines to all coordinate points specified unless you precede the coordinate pair with a
pen up flag.
• On completion of the command, the pen is down unless the final move was made with the pen up.
• All coordinate points are interpreted as relative unless preceded by the absolute flag (=).
• On completion of the command, the previous plotting mode is restored.
• Flags are not encoded. They are sent as ASCII characters. The MSB of the code is ignored, thus 60 and
188 can both represent <, the flag for pen up.
• The following flags are used:
':' - Select pen. The number which follows is the required pen number. A PE command that does not
include a select pen command uses the currently selected pen.
'<' - Pen up. The pen is raised and moved to the specified coordinate pair. All coordinate pair values not
preceded by this flag are automatically interpreted as pen down plotting commands.
'>' - Fractional data. The value following the flag specifies the number of fractional binary bits in the
coordinate data.
'=' - Absolute plotting mode. The pair of coordinates which follow this flag are absolute coordinates.
'7' - 7 bit mode. All subsequent coordinate values within this PE command are to be interpreted as 7-bit
values, that is, encoded in base 32.
• If you use the ':' flag in polygon mode it is ignored as the SP command has no effect in this mode.
• Values and coordinates are encoded in base 64 or base 32. Values determine the setting of the immediately
preceding flag. Legal values and coordinates are as follows:
Pen number -
Number of fractional binary bits -
x- and y-coordinates -
• Flag and coordinate values are encoded as either base 64 or base 32 numbers and then transmitted as ASCII
character codes. Base 64 is the default. Use Base 64 if your computer can send data without a parity bit.
Use base 32 if your system requires a parity bit.
• To encode an integer proceed as follows. If the number is negative, take the absolute value, multiply by 2
and add 1. Hence -x : = 2x+1. If the number is positive simply multiply by 2. Hence x :=2x. Convert the
Y ... [ flag ] [ value ] | X
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0 (white) or 1(black)
-26 to 26. The default is 0.
(-2 30 ) to 2 30 - 1 current units. If the pen position is moved
outside this range, subsequent plotting commands are ignored
until an absolute coordinate pair within the allowable range is
specified.
Chapter 8 "HP-GL2" 23
Y ] ];
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