Printers use "font selection sequences" to set up their fonts. In EscapeE 'eE' iconEscapeE, Users select appropriate fonts from font tables and dialogs – the sequences are constructed automatically.

Technical notes

In the PCL language, a font is selected either by its characteristics or, if it is a downloaded font, by a numeric ID that was assigned when it was downloaded. Many documents, however, specify their fonts by name. RedTitan products (e.g. DDF, DSC) manage 'named' fonts using the alphanumeric ID command:

Escape &n#WFontstring

where string is the name and # is the byte count of Fontstring. For example

Esc &n9WFontArial

This is particularly useful when a document uses library fonts only, see PCL export options. Using this mechanism, EscapeE can uniquely identify matching fonts in its library, independent of the printer (printers ignore the command).

Where standard character names occur in AFP input, Unicode values are assigned automatically.

Click to expand/collapse this hidden textSelection by ID

The command is
Escape (<id>X
where <id> is a number in the range 0 to 32767.

Click to expand/collapse this hidden textSelection by characteristics

The command is of the form
Escape (s<prop>p<pointsize>v<pitch>h<style>s<weight>b<typeface>T
where:

<prop> is 1 if proportional, 0 if fixed pitch;

<pointsize> can have up to two decimal places and specifies the height in points;

<pitch> can have up to two decimal places and specifies the pitch in characters per inch (CPI);

<style> integers, e.g. is 1 for italic, where 0 is a regular upright style: see list;

<weight> is in the range -7 to +7, where 0 = normal: see list;

<typeface> is the name of any RFF or TrueType font currently installed or your system or
a 12-bit value with a manufacturer code in the higher bits. For example, Courier would be '3'; when the code for Compugraphic (the supplier of the resident fonts on an HP printer) is added, the resulting code would be 4099. See list.

It is not compulsory to specify all the above characteristics, in which case the sequence should be terminated on an UPPER CASE letter. The sequence is shown in the font list, with any unmatched characteristics shown in red. For example:

(s0p0s0b3T

The sequences above are described in terms of the primary font, and the secondary font uses similar syntax – but with right bracket instead of left bracket e.g.

Escape )10U

The 'shift out' (hex 0E) character then selects the secondary font, and 'shift in' (hex 0F) the primary.

Links

Fonts used by EscapeE

Using font attributes as data tags