Simple, versatile and reliable IDOL printer control language

In the network you can often find disagreements between professionals and "not so" about how he is properly called. That is the printer control language, the printer programming language, the document markup language. The root of this dilemma is in the abbreviations of the developers of this means of communicating printers with computers, or rather, with the appropriate software.

The page markup language, which is also the document markup language, is also PDL, which is deciphered as Page Description Language and is translated literally as the page description language. The concept of "printer control language" comes from the translation of the expression Printer Control Language or PCL for short.

Different definitions and possibly based on different principles and initial tasks, but the calling is one thing - to establish communication between the computing unit and the printer. Moreover, it should be adjusted in such a way as to obtain at the output an imprint as close as possible to the visible on the monitor in form and content (without taking into account the color transfer, which is a separate reason for the article).

Since the appearance of the first printers from different manufacturers, their own development of these languages ​​has appeared. Here are some well-known languages ​​in matrix, laser, thermal transfer and inkjet printing:

• IGP-10
• PGL (Printronix)
• ESC-P (Epson)
• ANSI (Genicom)
• already known to you PCL (HP)
• XES (Xerox)
• Prescribe (Kyocera)
• IPDS (IBM)
• Datamax (Datamax)
• TEC (TEC)
• ZPL II (Zebra)
• UBI (Intermec)

Often, the user does not even know what control language his printer uses. He only needs to install a driver for the current operating system, which will fix all communications. But there are special conditions for the printer in which the device control language plays an important role.

Consider the history of the origin and characteristics of IDOL - one of the languages ​​of printer management.

IDOL (Information, Description and Organization Language) is literally translated as informational and organizational description language. This command page description language was developed by experts of the industrial printer manufacturer MICROPLEX back in 1987 and was one of the very first description languages ​​(document markup language or printer control language). In most cases, the functions of this language are the same for all printing systems that are equipped with an MPC controller ( M icro Plex C ontroller), regardless of the mode of operation and the speed of printing the printer. The MPC controller was also developed on the basis of Microplex and is a separate subject of its pride. The use of the IDOL control language provides full compatibility between the SOLID and LOGIJET line printers, although they belong to different printing technologies (laser and thermal transfer, color and monochrome).

IDOL allows MICROPLEX printing solutions to work effectively with overloads due to its flexibility, speed and reliability. One of the important conditions for effective printing is to minimize the volume of data transfer. IDOL was developed based on this principle. Its syntactic construction of double ESC sequences, accompanied by command identifiers, significantly reduces the flow of data. With IDOL, traffic in ports, cables and the network remains low, thus allowing all other operations to run at maximum speed.

IDOL is a living language. The development department of MICRIOLEX can modify and supplement the functions and commands of the language depending on the tasks of the client. Since the language was developed according to the principles of innovation and improvement, the addition of any additional functions to the printer controller is done using simple and understandable methods.

Using IDOL so-called "transparent code" allows you to replace "ESC" with printable ASCII characters. This is convenient because it is often difficult to enter ESCAPE commands directly from the keyboard. In addition, this code can be sent from any computing device.

IDOL printer control language can be divided into several functional groups:

Print

Commands covering tasks such as selecting the desired tray or feeder, turning on duplex (duplex printing) or pagination. Unlike many printers that can duplicate only one page, MICROPLEX printers can save multi-page print tasks in RAM (for example, a regular printer for Windows: Page 1 ... Page 2 ... Page 1 ... ... 2 ...; Microplex printer: Page 1 ... Page 1 ... Page 2 ... Page 2 ... ). This allows multiple printing of a multi-page job. Thus, information is sent to the printer only once without the need for manual sorting.

Fonts

Commands that affect text rendering, such as choosing a font style (stored in an EPROM or loaded via the interface in RAM), field marking, orientation, or spacing. The list of possible changes: change the font in height and width, change the distance between characters and lines, change the text orientation (0⁰, 90⁰, 180⁰, 270⁰), bold or reversible print, underline, stretched print in width.

Basic Graphics System (GKS)

Graphic Kernel System covers commands that generate vector graphics. The IDOL controller first receives native simple graphic commands from the host, and then generates the corresponding bitmap image (polylines of various weights and shapes, segments, circles, strokes, grids, ellipses).
You can also mark up existing graphic image commands (forms) that are used constantly and stored in the printer's memory using macro functions .

Bar codes

IDOL barcode functions generate commands for all the most common barcode types in the industry (2/5, Code 128, PDF 417, Aztec, and QR Code). To print bar codes with IDOL, the user only needs to enter their parameters, and not translate it into an image. This allows you to keep a low amount of traffic and naturally speed up the printing process.

Graphic image (Bitmap)

Functions characterizing color and brightness to transfer image information with maximum efficiency and speed. Each pixel of 8.4 million (300 dpi) on a letter-sized sheet can be viewed separately using raster memory. This makes it possible to reproduce various information with an accuracy of 1 pixel.

Macros

Commands for creating and managing macros (electronic forms, multi-page printing). It is possible to create macros for electronic forms and load them through the function of loading into RAM (drawings, letterhead, logos, automatic copies and various forms). While the macro is stored in the RAM, the host sends only the transaction data, and the permanent information is added to each page automatically. At the same time, up to 99 forms can be stored in the printer’s memory.

Loading

Commands for printing personalized information, such as logos, signatures and special fonts.

Emulation Control or SEM

Simultaneous Emulation Management or parallel emulation control allows the active use of multiple printer control languages ​​in parallel with IDOL. SEM allows you to enter IDOL commands into the data stream of other languages, such as PCL5e. For example, the user can control the message buffer with IDOL while the overlay forms are prepared using the Prescribe. Since MICROPLEX printers support several emulations at the same time, the client only needs to have one MICROPLEX printer (laser or thermal transfer) and print information that is intended for a matrix, thermal or laser printer.

IDOL control language is based on the structure of "smart" functions generated using the "ESC ESC" commands. A large number of emulations are built into these functions. With the help of IDOL and MPC, MICROPLEX printers can automatically recognize the language to which the data flow commands belong and at the same time perceive PCL5e (HP), Prescribe and IPDS.