Here is version 6 of a proposal of what features the communication
to a printer driver should support.
I propose to call this communication PDC for Printer Driver Communication.
If you want to start coding testcases, the omni driver supports this
proposal. The source code is freely available and is located at
http://www.sourceforge.net/projects/omniprint/ under the following files:
OmniServer.[hc]pp, OmniPDCProxy.[hc]pp, DeviceTester8.cpp,
PrinterCommand.[hc]pp
What license should this code be under? We can rerelease it under any
license that the group decides.
Revision History
----------------
5 - added End Of Print Job section
added two more form examples.
clarified the required/optional form name definition.
added what channels are needed in communication method.
added Return codes section
added PDCCMD_LIST_JOB_PROPERTY_KEY_VALUES
6 - removed PDCCMD_HANDLE_DEVICE_JOB_PROPERTY
PDCCMD_QUERY_DEVICE_JOB_PROPERTIES
documented PDCCMD_PUSH_CURRENT_*
PDCCMD_QUERY_CURRENT_*
PDCCMD_GET_VERSION
Todo
----
define input formats (text, bitblt, ...) and raster formats.
add more informational stuff to form name (selectable)
bidirectional asynchronous notification.
band whitespace skipping
bitmap compression
0.1 IJS Incompatibilities
-------------------------
- binary protocol
+ add type field
+ Pascal vs C strings
- job properties (JP)
+ set everything at once.
For example, on an Epson Stylus C60, if, first, a JP comes in as
quality=fine and, second, another JP comes in as resolution=360,
then the print job will fail because the quality key fine is not
supported in resolution 720 dpi (which is the default). Both need
to be set at once.
+ common job properties.
Standardize on common key=values for current printer drivers.
+ a set invalidates past queries.
If an application queries the printable size and then another JP
comes in then the application will have to requery.
+ method for querying presentation information instead of examining
key=value
* can work with no job properties
- communications channel / mux
+ one channel & different job id vs. each stream is a device context
and use a global daemon for printer properties get/set
- bitmap info header needed with bitmap data
- different job properties on a per page basis
1.0 Communication method
------------------------
Currently:
PDC is based on inter-process communication (IPC) through a named pipe.
All commands are read and written through this pipe except for commands
which contain a lot of data. One example is PDCCMD_RASTERIZE. This
command uses shared memory buffers to transfer the bitmap bits. The
printer driver will send the printer control language through standard
output. This is a client/server approach. The client will spawn the
printer driver server program and set two environment variables. These
variables are the names of the two named pipes. The first,
PDC_SRV_TO_CLIENT, is the server to client channel and the second,
PDC_CLIENT_TO_SRV, is the client to server channel.
Future:
Obviously, this needs to change. The client needs to call an API set.
This has been called a service provider interface (SPI). This API will
talk to multiple printer drivers. They need to be able to run as a daemon
and handle multiple PDC sessions.
The group needs to agree on a communications method. Some possibilities
are: TCP/IP and CORBA.
What channels are needed?
client = application
server = printer driver
spooler = print spooling subsystem
- client to server [commands]
- server to client [responses to commands]
- server to spooler [printer control language]
- spooler to server [printer responses]
- server to client [asynchronous event notification (ink low, etc)]
- spooler to server [printer installed/removed printer driver installed/
/removed/upgraded]
One thing to keep in mind, though, is that the printer driver may use
PDC for internal communications between components. For example, omni
has a pluggable blitter that uses a stripped down version of PDC to talk
to a blitter (app -> PDC -> omni -> pdc -> blitter).
In this case, OMNI_BLITTER_S2C, is the PDC to pdc channel and the second,
OMNI_BLITTER_C2S, is the pdc to PDC channel.
1.1 Structure of Message Block
------------------------------
Packets are variably-lengthed. They will always contain the command, size
of the packet, and the type of the variable data.
typedef enum _PrinterDriverCommunicationCommand {
PDCCMD_ACK = 1,
...
} PDC_CMD, *PPDC_CMD;
typedef enum _PrinterDriverCommunicationFormat {
PDCFMT_NULL = 1,
PDCFMT_STRING,
PDCFMT_BINARY,
PDCFMT_INTEGER,
PDCFMT_LONG,
PDCFMT_STRING_ARRAY,
PDCFMT_XML_DATA
} PDC_FMT, *PPDC_FMT;
typedef struct _PrinterDriverCommunicationPacket {
PDC_CMD eCommand; // Printer Driver Command
size_t cbLength; // Length of this packet
PDC_FMT eFormat; // Type of the following data
char achCommandLine[1]; // Start of data
} __attribute__ ((aligned (1))) __attribute__ ((packed))
PDC_PACKET, *PPDC_PACKET;
2.0 Return codes
----------------
PDCCMD_ACK [reply]
This is returned for a successful command. There may be an optional reply.
PDCCMD_NACK [reply]
This is returned for a unsuccessful command. There may be an optional reply.
PDCCMD_UNSUPPORTED [reply]
This is returned for a unsupported command. There may be an optional reply.
PDCCMD_WARNING [reply]
Do we need a warning response? Ex: setting form=a3 returns
"warning: non-unique selection. Using iso_a3"
2.1 Session management
----------------------
PDCCMD_INITIALIZE_SESSION "ClientVersion"
The first command should be a hand-shaking of the versions.
Sent:
PDCCMD_INITIALIZE_SESSION "ClientVersion"
Received:
PDCCMD_ACK "ServerVersion"
PDCCMD_CLOSE_SESSION
Close the session.
Sent:
PDCCMD_CLOSE_SESSION
Received:
There is no response.
PDCCMD_IS_CMD_SUPPORTED cmd
This command exists so that a client can query if a server supports a
command. This provides more information/granularity than the version
string.
Sent:
PDCCMD_IS_CMD_SUPPORTED PDCMD_SET_TRANSLATABLE_LANGUAGE
Received:
PDCCMD_ACK
PDCMD_SET_TRANSLATABLE_LANGUAGE "abbreviation"
This command tells the printer driver to return all translatable strings in
the language from these choices:
aa - Afar
ab - Abkhazian
af - Afrikaans
am - Amharic
ar - Arabic
as - Assamese
ay - Aymara
az - Azerbaijani
ba - Bashkir
be - Byelorussian
bg - Bulgarian
bh - Bihari
bi - Bislama
bn - Bengali Bangla
bo - Tibetan
br - Breton
ca - Catalan
co - Corsican
cs - Czech
cy - Welsh
da - Danish
de - German
dz - Bhutani
el - Greek
en - English
eo - Esperanto
es - Spanish
et - Estonian
eu - Basque
fa - Farsi
fi - Finnish
fj - Fiji
fo - Faeroese
fr - French
fy - Frisian
ga - Irish
gd - Scots Gaelic
gl - Galician
gn - Guarani
gu - Gujarati
gv - Manx Gaelic
ha - Hausa
he - Hebrew
hi - Hindi
hr - Croatian
hu - Hungarian
hy - Armenian
ia - Interlingua
id - Indonesian
ie - Interlingue
ik - Inupiak
in - Indonesian
is - Icelandic
it - Italian
iu - Inuktitut
iw - Hebrew
ja - Japanese
ji - Yiddish
jw - Javanese
ka - Georgian
kk - Kazakh
kl - Greenlandic
km - Cambodian
kn - Kannada
ko - Korean
ks - Kashmiri
ku - Kurdish
ky - Kirghiz
la - Latin
lo - Laothian
ln - Lingala
lt - Lithuanian
lv - Latvian Lettish
mg - Malagasy
mi - Maori
mk - Macedonian
ml - Malayalam
mn - Mongolian
mo - Moldavian
mr - Marathi
ms - Malay
mt - Maltese
my - Burmese
na - Nauru
ne - Nepali
nl - Dutch
no - Norwegian
oc - Occitan
om - Oromo Afan
or - Oriya
pa - Punjabi
pl - Polish
ps - Pashto Pushto
pt - Portuguese
qu - Quechua
rm - Rhaeto Romance
rn - Kirundi
ro - Romanian
ru - Russian
rw - Kinyarwanda
sa - Sanskrit
sg - Sangro
sh - Serbo Croatian
sd - Sindhi
si - Singhalese
sk - Slovak
sl - Slovenian
sm - Samoan
sn - Shona
so - Somali
sq - Albanian
sr - Serbian
ss - Siswati
st - Sesotho
su - Sundanese
sv - Swedish
sw - Swahili
ta - Tamil
te - Telugu
tg - Tajik
th - Thai
ti - Tigrinya
tk - Turkmen
tl - Tagalog
tn - Setswana
to - Tonga
tr - Turkish
ts - Tsonga
tt - Tatar
tw - Twi
ug - Uighur
uk - Ukrainian
ur - Urdu
uz - Uzbek
vi - Vietnamese
vo - Volapk
wo - Wolof
xh - Xhosa
yi - Yiddish
yo - Yoruba
zh - Chinese
zu - Zulu
The default is en (English).
Sent:
PDCMD_SET_TRANSLATABLE_LANGUAGE "en"
Received:
PDCCMD_ACK
PDCMD_GET_TRANSLATABLE_LANGUAGE
This command returns the current translatable language.
Sent:
PDCMD_GET_TRANSLATABLE_LANGUAGE
Received:
PDCCMD_ACK "en"
PDCMD_QUERY_TRANSLATABLE_LANGUAGES
This command asks the printer driver what translatable languages that it
supports. See PDCMD_SET_TRANSLATABLE_LANGUAGE for a list of valid language
codes. The response is a space separated list of language codes.
Sent:
PDCMD_QUERY_TRANSLATABLE_LANGUAGES
Received:
PDCCMD_ACK "en fr de ja"
2.2 Device management
---------------------
PDCCMD_ENUM_SHORT_DEVICES [PDLLevel PDLSubLevel PDLMajorRevisionLevel PDLMinorRevisionLevel]
Enumerate all supported devices that a printer driver supports.
You can optionally pass in a set of PDL information to match against.
You receive a nul-terminated separated list of device names.
NOTE: This can either the entire list or what subset is installed.
Sent:
PDCCMD_ENUM_SHORT_DEVICES PDL::PDL_Epson PDL::LEVEL_ESC 1 0
NOTE: The values are integers but are shown with the C++ defines.
Received:
PDCCMD_ACK "libBrother_HJ_100i.so\0...libStar_ZA_250_Multi_Font.so\0\0"
PDCCMD_ENUM_LONG_DEVICES [PDLLevel PDLSubLevel PDLMajorRevisionLevel PDLMinorRevisionLevel]
Enumerate all supported devices that a printer driver supports.
You can optionally pass in a set of PDL information to match against.
You receive a nul-terminated separated list of device names.
NOTE: This can either the entire list or what subset is installed.
Sent:
PDCCMD_ENUM_LONG_DEVICES PDL::PDL_Epson PDL::LEVEL_ESC 1 0
NOTE: The values are integers but are shown with the C++ defines.
Received:
PDCCMD_ACK "Brother.Brother HJ-100i\0...Star.Star ZA-250 Multi-Font\0\0"
PDCCMD_SET_DEVICE_NAME "DeviceName"
Associate a device name to the communications. This is a required command
for the rest of the following commands in this document. This must be
the name of a supported device. For the omni driver, this name is taken
from the library name with out the lib and .so parts.
Sent:
PDCCMD_SET_DEVICE_NAME "Brother_HJ_100i"
Received:
PDCCMD_ACK
PDCCMD_IS_VALID_DEVICE_NAME "DeviceName"
Query the driver to see if the driver supports a device name. See
PDCCMD_SET_DEVICE_NAME for a description of the name.
Sent:
PDCCMD_IS_VALID_DEVICE_NAME "Star_ZA_250_Multi_Font"
Received:
PDCCMD_ACK
PDCCMD_GET_PDL_INFO
Query a device's programmatic language description. (PCL, ESC/P2, PS, HG/GL).
It returns 4 space separated integers in a string as follows: PDL level,
PDL sublevel, PDL major revision level, and PDL minor revision level.
This of course is a proposal of a simple way to determine a printer driver's
language.
NOTE: This can allow spoolers to move jobs between similar print queues.
Sent:
PDCCMD_GET_PDL_INFO
Received:
PDCCMD_ACK PDL::PDL_Epson PDL::LEVEL_ESC 1 0
NOTE: The values are integers but are shown with the C++ defines.
Configuration Storage
---------------------
Drivers should standardize on where to store configuration entries on the
local system.
2.3 Job Properties
------------------
Drivers should support a set of core properties. For example, at a minimum,
a driver should support (note: this is only a sample):
form
media
tray
resolution
orientation
color/monochrome
copies
For the core properties, a driver should support a set of standardized
selections. This will help in moving jobs between different printer
drivers that support a printer. For example:
form
Some examples are:
na_letter_8.5x11x0.1x0.1x0.1x0.1in
na_legal_8.5x14x0x0x0x0in
iso_a3_297x420x0.12x0.08x0x0mm
jis_b4_257x364x1x2x1x1mm
jpn_hagaki_100x148x0x0x1x1mm
prc_16k_146x215x0x0x0x0mm
roc_16k_7.75x10.25x0x0x0x0in
om_juuro-ku-kai_198x275x0x0x0x0mm
The first part is the only part that is required to set the form.
It consists of a prefix (na - north america, iso - international
standards organization, jis - japan industrial standard, jpn -
japan, prc - people's republic of china) followed by an
underscore followed by the form name.
The rest is optional and is of an informational nature. It
consists of an underscore followed by 6 numbers as follows:
width, height, left, top, right, and bottom unprintable margins.
Following this is the suffix of the units of measure (in - inches,
mm - millimeters).
A printer driver may allow a short-cut of not requiring the prefix
to select the form. A good example would be "form=letter".
However, it does not guarantee an exact match and the result is
undefined. Some conflicting names are jis_b4 vs iso_b4,
iso_a2 vs na_a2, iso_c5 vs na_c5, and prc_16k vs roc_16k.
Finite decimal inches have finite decimal mm equivalents, but the
converse is not true. 8.5x11 inches is 215.9x279.4 mm exactly, but
210x297 mm is 8.2677165x11.692913 inches (approximately).
media
Some examples are:
stationery
stationery-coated
stationery-inkjet
stationery-preprinted
stationery-letterhead
stationery-prepunched
stationery-fine
stationery-heavyweight
stationery-lightweight
transparency
envelope
envelope-plain
envelope-window
continuous
continuous-long
continuous-short
tab-stock
pre-cut-tabs
full-cut-tabs
multi-part-form
labels
multi-layer
screen
screen-paged
photographic
photographic-glossy
photographic-high-gloss
photographic-semi-gloss
photographic-satin
photographic-matte
photographic-film
back-print-film
cardstock
roll
tray
resolution
Resolution is either given as two integers separated by an 'x' or one
integer. In the second case, the resolution is considered square or
equal. Some examples are 1440x720, 300x300, or 600.
There can be a word that will associate to a resolution to make life
simpler to users. For example: draft, fine, group-3, group-4, high,
low, medium, normal, photo-quality, and presentation. These are
considered non-standard and driver dependent.
orientation
The choices are:
portrait
landscape
reverse-portrait
reverse-landscape
color
This is used to select between monochrome or color. The choices are:
monochrome
color
copies
This is used to determine how many copies of a job are printed.
The driver should also have a set of driver specific job properties.
PDCCMD_SET_JOB_PROPERTIES "JobProperties"
Set the job properties for a session. The job properties is a space
separated list of key=value entries.
NOTE: I think that all the properties should be set in one command. I
can envision scenarios where individual sets could paint the
driver into a corner.
There should be default job properties if some or none of the
job properties are set.
Sent:
PDCCMD_SET_JOB_PROPERTIES "orientation=portrait dither=DITHER_STUCKI_DIFFUSION form=na_letter_8.50x11.00in tray=TRAY_REAR_CONTINUOUS media=MEDIA_PLAIN resolution=360x720 printmode=PRINT_MODE_24_CMYK bidirectional=true"
Received:
PDCCMD_ACK
PDCCMD_QUERY_CURRENT_JOB_PROPERTIES
Query the current job properties. This returns a list of common and
driver specific job properties.
NOTE: This can happen both before and after the job properties are set.
Sent:
PDCCMD_QUERY_CURRENT_JOB_PROPERTIES
Received:
PDCCMD_ACK "orientation=portrait dither=DITHER_STUCKI_DIFFUSION form=na_letter_8.50x11.00in tray=TRAY_REAR_CONTINUOUS media=MEDIA_PLAIN resolution=360x720 printmode=PRINT_MODE_24_CMYK bidirectional=true"
PDCCMD_LIST_JOB_PROPERTY_KEYS
Enumerate the set of common job properties. This returns a space
separated list of key entries.
Sent:
PDCCMD_LIST_JOB_PROPERTY_KEYS
Received:
PDCCMD_ACK "orientation form tray media resolution printmode"
PDCCMD_LIST_DEVICE_JOB_PROPERTY_KEYS
Enumerate the device specific job properties. This returns a space
separated list of key entries.
Sent:
PDCCMD_LIST_DEVICE_JOB_PROPERTY_KEYS
Received:
PDCCMD_ACK "bidirectional"
PDCCMD_LIST_JOB_PROPERTY_KEY_VALUES "key"
Enumerate the options for a job property. This returns a space
separated list of value entries.
Sent:
PDCCMD_LIST_JOB_PROPERTY_KEY_VALUES "resolution"
Received:
PDCCMD_ACK "180x360 360x360 360x720"
PDCCMD_GET_JOB_PROPERTY "key"
Returns the value for the job property key.
Sent:
PDCCMD_GET_JOB_PROPERTY "orientation"
Received:
PDCCMD_ACK "portrait"
PDCCMD_GET_JOB_PROPERTY_TYPE "key"
Enumerate the type of a job property. This returns the type followed
by the default optionally followed by the minimum range and the maximum
range. The type can be the following: integer, string, float, or
boolean. This is only a proposal. Comments are welcome.
Sent:
PDCCMD_GET_JOB_PROPERTY_TYPE "orientation"
Received:
PDCCMD_ACK "string portrait"
PDCMD_XLATE_JOB_PROPERTY_KEY_VALUE "key=value"
Ask for the translatable string for the key=value pair.
Sent:
PDCMD_XLATE_JOB_PROPERTY_KEY_VALUE "form=na_letter_8.50x11.00in"
Received:
PDCCMD_ACK "Form=Letter"
2.4 Printer Properties
----------------------
Drivers need to know about what optional features are installed for
a printer.
Perhaps there can be a core set of printer properties. For example,
a duplexer is installed
extra memory is installed
an extra tray is installed or is configured to hold certain paper
PDCCMD_SET_PRINTER_PROPERTIES "PrinterProperties"
Set the printer properties.
NOTE: I think that all the properties should be set in one command. I
can envision scenarios where individual sets could paint the
driver into a corner.
There should be default printer properties if some or none of the
printer properties are set.
Sent:
Received:
PDCCMD_ACK
PDCCMD_QUERY_CURRENT_PRINTER_PROPERTIES
Query the printer properties. This returns a list of common and
driver specific printer properties.
NOTE: This can happen both before and after the printer properties are
set.
Sent:
Received:
PDCCMD_ACK "duplexer=... memory=... ..."
PDCCMD_LIST_PRINTER_PROPERTY_KEYS
Enumerate the common printer properties. This returns a space
separated list of key entries.
Sent:
Received:
PDCCMD_ACK "duplexer memory ..."
PDCCMD_LIST_DEVICE_PRINTER_PROPERTY_KEYS
Enumerate the device specific printer properties. This returns a space
separated list of key entries.
Sent:
PDCCMD_LIST_DEVICE_PRINTER_PROPERTY_KEYS
Received:
PDCCMD_ACK "stapler ..."
PDCCMD_LIST_PRINTER_PROPERTY_KEY_VALUES "key"
Enumerate the options for a printer property. This returns a space
separated list of value entries.
Sent:
PDCCMD_LIST_PRINTER_PROPERTY_KEY_VALUES "stapler"
Received:
PDCCMD_ACK "on off"
PDCCMD_GET_PRINTER_PROPERTY "key"
Enumerate the options for a printer property. This returns a space
separated list of value entries.
Sent:
PDCCMD_GET_PRINTER_PROPERTY "stapler"
Received:
PDCCMD_ACK "on"
PDCCMD_GET_PRINTER_PROPERTY_TYPE "key"
Enumerate the type of a printer property. This returns the type followed
by the default optionally followed by the minimum range and the maximum
range. The type can be the following: integer, string, float, or
boolean. This is only a proposal. Comments are welcome.
Sent:
PDCCMD_GET_PRINTER_PROPERTY_TYPE "stapler"
Received:
PDCCMD_ACK "string on"
2.5 Job Control
---------------
PDCCMD_NEW_DEVICE
This command tells the sever to create a new device instance. This command
is required for the rest of the following commands.
Sent:
PDCCMD_NEW_DEVICE
Received:
PDCCMD_ACK
PDCCMD_SET_OUTPUT_STREAM fileHandle
This command tells the server to switch the output stream to the given file
handle.
Sent:
PDCCMD_SET_OUTPUT_STREAM fileHandle
Received:
PDCCMD_ACK
PDCCMD_SET_ERROR_STREAM fileHandle
This command tells the server to switch the output stream to the given file
handle.
Sent:
PDCCMD_SET_ERROR_STREAM fileHandle
Received:
PDCCMD_ACK
PDCCMD_BEGIN_JOB
Start a job.
Sent:
PDCCMD_BEGIN_JOB
Received:
PDCCMD_ACK
PDCCMD_START_PAGE
Start a page.
NOTE: You can optionally change the properties for the page by calling
PDCCMD_SET_JOB_PROPERTIES "JobProperties" before this command.
Sent:
PDCCMD_START_PAGE
Received:
PDCCMD_ACK
PDCCMD_END_PAGE
End a page.
Sent:
PDCCMD_END_PAGE
Received:
PDCCMD_ACK
PDCCMD_END_JOB
End a job.
Sent:
PDCCMD_END_JOB
Received:
PDCCMD_ACK
PDCCMD_ABORT_PAGE
Abort a page.
NOTE: This is optional. If this fails then one must abort the
entire job.
Sent:
PDCCMD_ABORT_PAGE
Received:
PDCCMD_ACK
PDCCMD_ABORT_JOB
Abort a job.
NOTE: This is required.
Sent:
PDCCMD_ABORT_JOB
Received:
PDCCMD_ACK
2.6 Job Data
------------
Here is where you have to ask yourself: Are you a graphics engine
that is talking to a printer driver or are you an application that
is talking to a printer driver.
If you are a graphics engine, then you will want to allow the
device to accelerate high level commands (Ex: drawing a box with rounded
corners). Every command that is not supported at a high level will be
rasterized into a series of banded bitmaps and then sent down to the
device. It should be drawn into the bitmap format that the device
wants (Ex: RGB, CMYK, CcMmYK; 1, 8, 24 bits per pel; 8 or 32 bit scan
line aligned; top or bottom orientation; etc).
If you are an application, you want to print simply. Some examples are:
a series (1 or more) of bitmaps of any color depth at any position
on the page.
postscript commands
printer specific data - do not modify this data stream at all!
plain text
PDCCMD_MODE_IS_RENDERER boolean
This command identifies to the printer driver that a renderer is
talking to it. This command is optional. The default is false
(an application is talking to it).
Sent:
PDCCMD_MODE_IS_RENDERER 1
Received:
PDCCMD_ACK
PDCCMD_ATTACH_BUFFER1 id
PDCCMD_ATTACH_BUFFER2 id
PDCCMD_DETACH_BUFFER1 id
PDCCMD_DETACH_BUFFER2 id
PDCCMD_RASTERIZE
These commands are shared for printing a series (1 or more) of bitmaps
of any color depth and for a series of banded bitmaps of the page.
The first is a structure that describes the bitmap data. It contains:
cx - the width of the bitmap data
cy - the height of the bitmap data
cPlanes - the number of planes in the bitmap
cBitCount - the color depth of the bitmap
ulCompresstion - the compression of the bitmap data
cclrUsed - the number of colors used in the bitmap
cclrImportant - the number of colors that are important
argbColor - the color table if there is one
We should add a bitmap type field that contains the alignment
and direction.
The second contains the bits of the bitmap.
First the client attaches both buffers, then it will call
PDCCMD_RASTERIZE.
PDCMD_QUERY_INPUT_FORMATS
This command returns a space separated list of valid input formats for the
current device. They are as follows:
bitmap - Data is a series of bitblts.
text - Data is plain text file.
text-unicode - Data is plain text file in unicode format.
postscript - Data is a postscript file.
rawdata - Data is a printer control language.
Sent:
PDCMD_QUERY_INPUT_FORMATS
Received:
PDCCMD_ACK
PDCMD_SET_INPUT_FORMAT "format"
Sent:
PDCMD_SET_INPUT_FORMAT ""
Received:
PDCCMD_ACK
2.7 Job Information (Capabilities)
----------------------------------
This section is for applications to query information about the
windows equivalent presentation space.
PDCMD_IS_COLOR_PRINTER
This command returns 1 if the printer can print in color and 0 if it
cannot.
Sent:
PDCMD_IS_COLOR_PRINTER
Received:
PDCCMD_ACK 1
PDCMD_HAS_HARDWARE_COPY
This command returns 1 if the printer supports the number of copies as
a hardware command. If it is 1 then the job will only be sent once.
Sent:
PDCMD_HAS_HARDWARE_COPY
Received:
PDCCMD_ACK 0
PDCCMD_ TBD
Query printable area.
PDCCMD_ TBD
Font metric information.
PDCCMD_ TBD
Resolution of the page.
2.8 Private PDC to pdc support
------------------------------
PDCCMD_PUSH_CURRENT_ORIENTATION
This command tells the pdc-blitter what the current orientation object is.
Sent:
PDCCMD_PUSH_CURRENT_ORIENTATION "id"
Received:
PDCCMD_ACK
PDCCMD_PUSH_CURRENT_DITHER_ID
This command tells the pdc-blitter what the current dither value is.
Sent:
PDCCMD_PUSH_CURRENT_DITHER_ID "value"
Received:
PDCCMD_ACK
PDCCMD_PUSH_CURRENT_FORM
This command tells the pdc-blitter what the current form object is.
Sent:
PDCCMD_PUSH_CURRENT_FORM "id Capabilities LeftClip TopClip RightClip BottomClip"
Received:
PDCCMD_ACK
PDCCMD_PUSH_CURRENT_TRAY
This command tells the pdc-blitter what the current tray object is.
Sent:
PDCCMD_PUSH_CURRENT_TRAY "id Capabilities"
Received:
PDCCMD_ACK
PDCCMD_PUSH_CURRENT_MEDIA
This command tells the pdc-blitter what the current media object is.
Sent:
PDCCMD_PUSH_CURRENT_MEDIA "id ColorAdjustRequired Absorption"
Received:
PDCCMD_ACK
PDCCMD_PUSH_CURRENT_RESOLUTION
This command tells the pdc-blitter what the current resolution object is.
Sent:
PDCCMD_PUSH_CURRENT_RESOLUTION "id XRes YRes XInternalRes YInternalRes Capabilities DestinationBitsPerPel ScanlineMultiple"
Received:
PDCCMD_ACK
PDCCMD_PUSH_CURRENT_PRINT_MODE
This command tells the pdc-blitter what the current print mode object is.
Sent:
PDCCMD_PUSH_CURRENT_PRINT_MODE "id PhysicalCount LogicalCount Planes"
Received:
PDCCMD_ACK
PDCCMD_PUSH_CURRENT_GAMMA
This command tells the pdc-blitter what the current gamma object is.
Sent:
PDCCMD_PUSH_CURRENT_GAMMA "id CyanGamma MagentaGamma YellowGamma BlackGamma CyanBias MagentaBias YellowBias BlackBias"
Received:
PDCCMD_ACK
2.9 Omni Application Support (Presentation Space Capabilities)
--------------------------------------------------------------
This section is for applications or dialog code that wants to know what
the capabilities are for a device.
PDCCMD_GET_VERSION
This command asks for the current printer driver build version.
Sent:
PDCCMD_GET_VERSION
Received:
PDCCMD_ACK "0.6.1"
PDCCMD_GET_DRIVER_NAME
PDCCMD_GET_DEVICE_NAME
PDCCMD_GET_SHORT_NAME
PDCCMD_QUERY_CURRENT_ORIENTATION
This command retrieves the current orientation object from the server.
Sent:
PDCCMD_QUERY_CURRENT_ORIENTATION "id"
Received:
PDCCMD_ACK
PDCCMD_QUERY_CURRENT_DITHER_ID
This command retrieves the current dither value from the server.
Sent:
PDCCMD_QUERY_CURRENT_DITHER_ID "value"
Received:
PDCCMD_ACK
PDCCMD_QUERY_CURRENT_FORM
This command retrieves the current form object from the server.
Sent:
PDCCMD_QUERY_CURRENT_FORM "id Capabilities LeftClip TopClip RightClip BottomClip"
Received:
PDCCMD_ACK
PDCCMD_QUERY_CURRENT_TRAY
This command retrieves the current tray object from the server.
Sent:
PDCCMD_QUERY_CURRENT_TRAY "id Capabilities"
Received:
PDCCMD_ACK
PDCCMD_QUERY_CURRENT_MEDIA
This command retrieves the current media object from the server.
Sent:
PDCCMD_QUERY_CURRENT_MEDIA "id ColorAdjustRequired Absorption"
Received:
PDCCMD_ACK
PDCCMD_QUERY_CURRENT_RESOLUTION
This command retrieves the current resolution object from the server.
Sent:
PDCCMD_QUERY_CURRENT_RESOLUTION "id XRes YRes XInternalRes YInternalRes Capabilities DestinationBitsPerPel ScanlineMultiple"
Received:
PDCCMD_ACK
PDCCMD_QUERY_CURRENT_PRINT_MODE
This command retrieves the current print mode object from the server.
Sent:
PDCCMD_QUERY_CURRENT_PRINT_MODE "id PhysicalCount LogicalCount Planes"
Received:
PDCCMD_ACK
PDCCMD_QUERY_CURRENT_GAMMA
This command retrieves the current gamma object from the server.
Sent:
PDCCMD_QUERY_CURRENT_GAMMA "id CyanGamma MagentaGamma YellowGamma BlackGamma CyanBias MagentaBias YellowBias BlackBias"
Received:
PDCCMD_ACK
PDCCMD_HAS_CAPABILITY
PDCCMD_HAS_RASTER_CAPABILITY
PDCCMD_HAS_DEVICE_OPTION
PDCCMD_HAS_DEVICE_OPTION2
PDCCMD_IS_ORIENTATION_SUPPORTED id
PDCCMD_IS_FORM_SUPPORTED id
PDCCMD_IS_TRAY_SUPPORTED id
PDCCMD_IS_MEDIA_SUPPORTED id
PDCCMD_IS_RESOLUTION_SUPPORTED id
PDCCMD_IS_PRINT_MODE_SUPPORTED id
This says if an id is supported for the current printer that has been
associated to the communications.
Sent:
Received:
PDCCMD_ACK
PDCCMD_ENUM_ORIENTATIONS
PDCCMD_ENUM_DITHER_IDS
PDCCMD_ENUM_FORMS
PDCCMD_ENUM_TRAYS
PDCCMD_ENUM_MEDIAS
PDCCMD_ENUM_RESOLUTIONS
PDCCMD_ENUM_PRINT_MODES
3.0 Bidirectional information
-----------------------------
Bidirectional queries can take two forms. One is a question/response. The
other is an asynchronous notification.
PDCCMD_QUERY_BIDI_STATUS
This command returns an integer status that corresponds to the following list:
900 - 999: Developer Specific Status Codes
------------------------------------------
850 - 899: Print Device Operational Specific Status Codes
---------------------------------------------------------
850 - Printer is not available
860 - Printer is offline
861 - Printer is busy
862 - Printer has been paused by user
863 - Printer has been resumed by user
864 - A generic printer error occurred
865 - Printer top cover is open
870 - Printer communication problem
871 - Printer requesting servicing by user
800 - 849: Print Device Paper Specific Status Codes
---------------------------------------------------
800 - Printer is out-of-paper
801 - Paper is jammed in printer
750 - 799: Print Device Ink Specific Status Codes
-------------------------------------------------
750 - Black ink level is low
751 - Color ink level is low
752 - Cyan ink level is low
753 - Magenta ink level is low
754 - Yellow ink level is low
755 - Light Cyan ink level is low
756 - Light Magenta ink level is low
760 - Out of Black ink
761 - Out of Color ink
762 - Out of Cyan ink
763 - Out of Magenta ink
764 - Out of Yellow ink
765 - Out of Light Cyan ink
766 - Out of Light Magenta ink
770 - Black cartage is missing
771 - Color cartage is missing
772 - Cyan cartage is missing
773 - Magenta cartage is missing
774 - Yellow cartage is missing
775 - Light Cyan cartage is missing
776 - Light Magenta cartage is missing
780 - Printer is cleaning ink cartage
500 - 549: Job Specific Status Codes
------------------------------------
500 - Print job has started
501 - Print job has been completed
502 - Print job has been canceled
400 - 449: Page Specific Status Codes
-------------------------------------
400 - Printing the page has started
401 - Printing the page has been completed
402 - Printing the page was canceled
100 - 149: Fatal and/or internal Specific Status Codes
------------------------------------------------------
100 - A fatal error has occurred
101 - An internal error has occurred
000 - No error
Sent:
Received:
PDCCMD_ACK 0
PDCCMD_TRANSLATE_BIDI_STATUS number
This command takes a number and provides a translated text message in the
current language.
Sent:
Received:
PDCCMD_ACK "No error"
PDCCMD_QUERY_PRINTER_NAME
This command returns the IEEE 1284 manufacturer and model strings.
Sent:
Received:
3.1 End Of Print Job
--------------------
When has the print job stopped. When does the application/user receive an
end-of-job notice?
- The head has finished spraying?
- The paper is ejected?
- The ink is dry?
- The page has been collated?
- The page has been stapled?
- Bound?
- Shrink-wrapped?
3.1 Acknowledgements
--------------------
Mark Hamzy - hamzy@us.ibm.com
Till Kamppeter - till.kamppeter@gmx.net
Robert Krawitz - rlk@alum.mit.edu
Raph Levien - raph@casper.ghostscript.com
Glen Petrie - glen.petrie@eitc.epson.com
David Suffield - david_suffield@hp.com
Ben Woodard - woodard@redhat.com
Pete Zannucci - pzaan@us.ibm.com
- peter@horizon.com
