Printers and Fonts Kit(3.1) (pfk31qh.hlp) (
Topic list)
Printer Font Installer
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────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
The Printer Font Installer, an important part of the driver for the
Hewlett-Packard LaserJet printers that use Printer Control Language (PCL),
installs screen fonts, downloadable fonts, PFM files, and PCM files from
floppy disk. Font vendors who distribute fonts on floppy disk can use the
installer to install their fonts. This topic describes the steps required to
prepare distribution disks for use with the Printer Font Installer.
The Printer Font Installer is in a separate dynamic-link library (DLL)
called FINSTALL.DLL.
Printer-Font Installation
The HP LaserJet printer driver that uses PCL starts the Printer Font
Installer whenever the user chooses the Fonts button in the driver's Setup
dialog box. If the user then chooses the Add Font button to add fonts, the
installer prompts for a disk containing the fonts to install as well as
additional files.
The installer then searches the specified disk for the printer-font
directory file (FINSTALL.DIR). If the file exists, it reads the file and
installs the fonts specified in it. If there is no printer-font directory
file, the installer performs the following actions:
♦ If a file on the disk exists with the .LBL extension, the installer
assumes the FINSTALL.DIR file is on another disk. It prompts the user to
switch disks, while allowing the user the option to read the disk without
the directory file.
♦ If there is no .LBL file or the user chooses the first option, the
installer assumes the directory file does not exist. It then scans the
disk looking for downloadable font files.
When the installer has to scan the disk for soft fonts, it opens each file
on the disk and looks for the header of a downloadable font file. If it
finds the header, it derives the font name and point size, and displays this
to the user in the list box of soft fonts available for installation. When
the font is installed, the installer will generate a PFM file from the
downloadable font file. Without the FINSTALL.DIR file, it will ignore any
PFM files already on the disk.
Printer-Font Directory File
The font-installation directory file, FINSTALL.DIR, describes the contents
of the distribution disks for a font package. The Printer Font Installer
uses this information to locate and install the files associated with screen
and downloadable fonts.
The FINSTALL.DIR file typically consists of one or more entries that define
logical disk names, font families, and cartridges. The file can also contain
comments.
The DRIVE statement defines the logical disk names used in other entries in
the file. DRIVE statements must appear before any entries that use the
associated disk names. It is highly recommended that a logical drive be
defined for each floppy disk in the distribution package, and that all files
referenced be preceded by a logical drive ID.
The FAMILY statement defines the screen fonts that correspond to
downloadable fonts, and the CARTRIDGE statement defines the screen fonts
that correspond to a given cartridge. Any number of these statements can be
given in the file, and each statement can specify any number of screen
fonts, downloadable fonts, and cartridges.
The FINSTALL.DIR file should be placed on the first disk in the distribution
set, or on a disk that is clearly marked. If the installer does not find the
file on the first disk it searches, it will assume that no such file exists
use a default procedure for installing fonts.
The following example illustrates the format of a FINSTALL.DIR file:
/* Acme Corporation's font package.
*
* This package consists of two floppy disks: One
* containing the Acme Ace soft font set and the other
* containing the Acme Sparrow soft font set.
*/
/* Logical drives
*/
DRIVE ACE1: = ACESET1.LBL, "Ace set (disk 1 of 2)"
DRIVE SPARROW1: = SPRWSET1.LBL, "Sparrow set (disk 2 of 2)"
/* Ace set */
FAMILY "Ace" {
/* Screen fonts */
1:1 = "Acme Ace 1:1", ACE1:ACE11.FON
4:3 = "Acme Ace 4:3", ACE1:ACE43.FON
/* Printer fonts */
"Ace 36pt" = P,ACE1:ACE36RPN.USP,ACE1:ACE36RPP.PFM
"Ace 36pt bold" = P,ACE1:ACE36BPN.USP,ACE1:ACE36RPP.PFM
}
/* Sparrow set */
FAMILY "Sparrow" {
/* Screen fonts */
1:1 = "Acme Sparrow 1:1", SPARROW1:SPAROW11.FON
4:3 = "Acme Sparrow 4:3", SPARROW1:SPAROW43.FON
/* Printer fonts */
"Sparrow 36pt" = P,SPARROW1:SPR36RPN.USP,SPARROW1:SPR36RPP.PFM
"Sparrow 36pt bold" = P,SPARROW1:SPR36BPN.USP,SPARROW1:SPR36RPP.PFM
}
For more information about the DRIVE, FAMILY, and CARTRIDGE statements, see
the Section 5.7, "Directory File Reference," later in this topic.
Setting Up Fonts for Downloading
The Printer Font Installer allows the user to specify whether a font should
be set up for permanent or temporary downloading. The Permanent and
Temporary options in the dialog box specify which action to take.
When a user changes a font from temporary to permanent status, the installer
displays a warning message. This message reminds the user that permanent
fonts take up printer memory, and therefore only the most frequently used
fonts should be permanently downloaded to the printer.
When the user exits the installer, the installer prompts the user for the
download style. If the user selects the Download Now option, the installer
will send a print job consisting of the permanent fonts to the printer. If
the user selects the Download at Startup option, the installer will build a
batch file that downloads the fonts to the printer and edits the
AUTOEXEC.BAT file to call the batch file. The user may select both, one, or
none of these options. As long as the user has permanent soft fonts, the
installer displays this message every time the user exits the installer.
As part of downloading permanent fonts, the installer sends a "delete all
fonts" escape to the printer. This forces the printer to delete all
permanently downloaded fonts. After downloading the new fonts, a banner page
(in portrait format) is printed that shows the fonts that have been
downloaded. Portrait fonts are shown in the typeface that was downloaded.
Downloading
If you choose Download Now (that is, upon exiting the installer) it is not a
difficult task for the driver. The installer simply opens a Windows print
job and sends down the fonts. Downloading fonts at startup (that is, when
the user turns on the machine) is more complex.
To set up the downloading of permanent fonts at startup, the installer
performs the following tasks:
1 Writes an executable program that prompts the user to download fonts.
2 Creates a batch that downloads the fonts and writes out the banner page.
3 Edits the AUTOEXEC.BAT file to call the download batch file.
The executable program presents the user with a prompt to choose whether or
not to download permanent soft fonts. The program is stored in the driver's
resources and written to its own file when the installer is setting up fonts
for permanent downloading. The downloading batch file calls this executable
program.
The program displays the following prompt:
Download PCL fonts to port name? [y/n]
If the user responds "no," the program returns 1 and the batch file tests
the ERRORLEVEL. The program then exits without downloading fonts.
If the user responds "yes," the program returns an ERRORLEVEL of zero, and
the batch file proceeds to download fonts. The batch file is called from the
user's AUTOEXEC.BAT file. The installer edits the AUTOEXEC.BAT file and
appends the following strings to the file:
command /c C:\PCLFONTS\SFLPT1.BAT
The string that calls the download batch file uses the MS-DOS "command /c"
option. This enables MS-DOS to suspend execution of the AUTOEXEC.BAT file to
carry out the downloading of file, then return to the execution of the
AUTOEXEC.BAT file. Without "command /c," MS-DOS would not return to
executing the AUTOEXEC.BAT file (that is, any commands after the line in the
AUTOEXEC.BAT file would not be executed).
If a user sets up fonts for permanent downloading, but they are not being
downloaded to the printer, the commands in the AUTOEXEC.BAT file are
probably not being executed. The problem may be solved by moving the
commands in the AUTOEXEC.BAT file.
Although the entry the installer creates in the AUTOEXEC.BAT file may be
moved in the file, it should never be modified. This is because the
installer looks for the entry and modifies it if the user changes the fonts
from permanent download to temporary. In this case, the installer inserts a
rem command at the beginning of the entry. This has the effect of disabling
the download entry without deleting it. If the user once again enters the
installer and makes some fonts permanent, the installer will locate the
entry in the AUTOEXEC.BAT file and remove the rem command.
PFM File Generator
The Printer Font Metrics (PFM) file generator creates PFM files whenever the
installer locates downloadable font files, but fails to locate a
FINSTALL.DIR file. The installer assumes it will have to build PFM files
from the downloadable font files. It reads the header from the font file
plus the widths of each individual character and uses that information to
build the PFM file.
Please notice that when the installer scans a disk for fonts and there is no
FINSTALL.DIR file, it will ignore any PFM files already on the disk and will
attempt to generate PFM files from the font files. It will also recognize
cartridge PCM files.
It is highly recommended that font manufacturers provide their own PFM files
because vendor-supplied PFM files will more accurately represent the font
than PFM files generated by the PFM file generator.
Generated PFM File Names
The PFM file generator builds the following PFM filename.
Value Meaning
────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
1, 2 First two characters from the font filename.
3 P, L, or X for portrait, landscape, or both orientations.
4 B, R, I, or E for bold, roman, italic, or bold/italic (enhanced).
5, 6, 7 Point size in points.
8 Magic number.
The "magic number" is used by the installer to ensure that the filename is
unique. It starts out at zero. If a file already exists by that name, it is
incremented to 1. The installer continues to increment the number to 9, then
A through Z. If it fails to find a unique filename out of the 36
possibilities, then it will not build the PFM file and reports a "Cannot
build PFM file" error message.
PFM Data from Font Data
The installer's PFM generator derives the PFM file from the data in the
downloadable font file. The following sections list where the data comes
from for each member in the PFM file structures.
PFMHEADER Structure
The installer derives the PFM header from the downloaded file as follows.
Member Description
────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
dfVersion 256.
dfSize Size of file.
dfType 128.
dfPoints Height of the font in points (height from header *
72/1200).
dfVertRes 300.
dfHorizRes 300.
dfAscent Baseline position from font header.
dfInternalLeading (Cell height - height + 2)/4 from font header.
dfExternalLeading (height/4) - baseline from font header.
dfItalic Set if the style byte in the header = 1.
dfUnderline 0.
dfStrikeOut 0.
dfWeight Derived from stroke weight.
dfCharSet Based upon HP symbol set.
dfPixWidth If variable width.
dfPixHeight Cell height from the font header.
dfPitchAndFamily Pitch bit is set if fixed pitch.
dfAvgWidth Average of all the character widths (cursor move).
dfMaxWidth Maximum of all the character widths (cursor move).
dfFirstChar First character in the font file.
dfLastChar Last character in the font file.
dfDefaultChar 127 - first character.
dfBreakChar 32 - first character.
dfWidthBytes 0.
dfDevice Offset from beginning of file to device string "PCL/HP
LaserJet".
dfFace Offset from beginning of file to font name.
dfBitsPointer 0.
dfBitsOffset 0.
dfCharOffset If variable pitch.
dfSizeFields Size of this part of the PFM structure.
dfExtMetricsOffset Offset from beginning of file to EXTTEXTMETRIC
structure.
dfExtentTable 0.
dfOriginTable 0.
dfPairKernTable 0.
dfTrackKernTable 0.
dfDriverInfo Offset from beginning of file to DRIVERINFO
(driver-specific) structure.
dfReserved 0.
The installer derives the Windows weight value from the weight value in the
font file header as follows.
Hewlett-Packard weight Windows weight
────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
-7 100 (Thin)
-6 100 (Thin)
-5 200 (Extra light)
-4 200 (Extra light)
-3 300 (Light)
-2 300 (Light)
-1 400 (Normal
0 400 (Normal)
1 500 (Medium)
2 600 (Semi-bold)
3 700 (Bold)
4 700 (Bold)
5 800 (Extra bold)
6 800 (Extra bold)
7 900 (Heavy)
The installer determines the Windows character set (dfCharSet) and the type
of translation (in the driver-specific structure, the symbolSet member of
the xtbl member) from the symbol set field in the font file.
Hewlett-Packard symbol Windows character Translation
set set
───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
8U (Roman-8) 0 (ANSI) Roman-8
0U (USASCII) 0 (ANSI) USASCII
11Q 0N (ECMA-94) 0 (ANSI)
8M (Math-8) 180 (Math-8) 8-bit pass through
15U (PI Font) 181 (PI Font) 8-bit pass through
0B (LineDraw) 182 (LineDraw) 7-bit pass through
4Q (PC Line) 183 (PC Line) 7-bit pass through
0B (TaxLnDrw) 184 (Tax Line) 7-bit pass through
1U (US Legal) 185 (US Legal) 7-bit pass through
All others 0 (ANSI) 7- or 8-bit pass through
For the generic case, the installer checks the font type byte in the font
header. If it is nonzero, the font uses an 8-bit pass through; if the type
is zero, the font uses a 7-bit pass through.
EXTTEXTMETRIC Structure
The installer derives extended text metrics from the download header file as
follows.
Member Meaning
────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
etmCapHeight Baseline from header - dfInternalLeading.
etmDoubleLowerUnderlineOffset The etmUnderlineOffset member.
etmDoubleLowerUnderlineWidth The etmDoubleUpperUnderlineWidth member.
etmDoubleUpperUnderlineOffset etmUnderlineOffset + etmUnderlineWidth * 2.
etmDoubleUpperUnderlineWidth The etmUnderlineWidth member.
etmKernPairs 0.
etmKernTracks 0.
etmLowerCaseAscent Top offset from character record for 'd';
left offset if landscape font.
etmLowerCaseDescent Character width - left offset from character
record for 'p'; height - top if landscape
font.
etmMasterHeight Cell height from font file header.
etmMasterUnits The etmMasterHeight member.
etmMaxScale The etmMasterHeight member.
etmMinScale The etmMasterHeight member.
etmOrientation 2 if orientation byte set in header; 1 if
not.
etmPointSize Cell height *1440 / 300 from font file
header.
etmSize Size of the EXTTEXTMETRIC structure.
etmSlant 0.
etmStrikeOutOffset Left offset - etmStrikeOutWidth from
character record for '-'; top offset -
etmStrikeOutWidth if landscape font.
etmStrikeOutWidth Character width from record for '-';
character height if landscape font.
etmSubScript Cell height from header.
etmSubScriptSize Cell height from header.
etmSuperScript etmCapHeight - etmXHeight.
etmSuperScriptSize Cell height from header.
etmUnderlineOffset Top offset from character record for '_';
left offset if landscape font.
etmUnderlineWidth Character width from character record for
'_'; character height if landscape font.
etmXHeight Top offset from character record for 'x';
left offset if landscape font.
DRIVERINFO Structure
The generator derives driver-specific information from the download width
tables and symbol set as follows.
Member Meaning
────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
epEscape 0.
epMemUsage ((sum of all character widths + 7) >> 3) * height + 63.
epSize Size of the DRIVERINFO structure.
epVersion 1.
firstchar of xtbl 0.
lastchar of xtbl 0.
len of xtbl 0.
offset of xtbl 0.
symbolSet of xtbl Based upon font symbol set.
Regenerating PFM Files
In some situations, such as when the user reinstalls existing fonts without
the aid of the FINSTALL.DIR file, the installer automatically protects
against generating duplicate PFM files. There are two potential situations:
♦ The user reinstalls fonts with PFM files that were initially generated by
the installer.
♦ The user reinstalls fonts that were initially provided by the font vendor
(that is, either on the distribution disks, or built by a utility
provided by the font vendor).
To reinstall fonts, the user starts the Printer Font Installer, chooses the
Add Fonts button, and directs the installer to read font information from
the directory containing already installed fonts. Then the user installs
fonts into the same directory. The installer prompts the user if fonts
should be replaced. If the user responds yes, the installer proceeds to
replace every font.
The installer provides a unique name for each PFM file. In this situation,
the installer would give a unique name to a PFM file that was a duplicate of
an existing PFM file. For example, suppose the first time a user installed a
font, the installer generated a PFM filename XYZ0.PFM. When the user
reinstalled the font, the installer would generate a second, identical PFM
file named XYZ1.PFM.
To prevent duplicate PFM files on the disk, the installer contains a
protection mechanism. If the "magic number" in the PFM filename is not zero,
then the installer compares the contents of the PFM file to the other PFM
files sharing the same name. If it finds a duplicate, it erases the PFM file
it just built and uses the already existing PFM file.
This mechanism prevents the installer from placing duplicate PFM files on
the disk. However, it does not address duplicate names when PFM files were
originally supplied by the font vendor.
Note: If the user originally installs fonts provided by a font vendor and
then reinstalls without use of an FINSTALL.DIR file, the installer
will replace the vendor-supplied PFM files with its own generated PFM
files. It does not remove the PFM files from disk; rather it adds its
own PFM files and uses them. Because the installer's PFM generator is
not as accurate as the font vendor's PFM files, the installer may
actually end up renaming the fonts, which causes confusion for the
user.
The user should never reinstall soft fonts from and to the same directory
without the aid of an FINSTALL.DIR file. Because the installer contains the
ability to automatically generate an FINSTALL.DIR file of the already loaded
fonts, there really is no reason for reinstalling fonts without the use of
an FINSTALL.DIR file.
Developing the FINSTALL.DIR File
The Printer Font Installer provides features to help you build, test, and
debug the FINSTALL.DIR file. The following sections describes these features
in detail.
Building an FINSTALL.DIR File
The installer will build an FINSTALL.DIR file for the fonts listed in the
Installed list box of the installer dialog box. The developer should hold
down the CTRL and SHIFT keys while choosing the Exit button. The installer
prompts the user for the name and path of the FINSTALL.DIR file. If a file
by the same name already exists, the installer will prompt to replace the
file.
This feature has several uses:
♦ To preserve the soft font and cartridge entries when the user wants to
reinstall Windows.
♦ To expedite moving fonts to another computer.
♦ To use as a starter file for developers or power users who want to set up
a distribution disk of fonts.
This feature is primarily intended to be used by technical support
specialists who are directing users to perform certain operations. A user
may be advised to erase part or all of the contents of his or her machine
and start over. This feature is very useful in preventing the loss of
soft-font information.
Adding Fonts
Developers can gain access to an advanced Add Fonts dialog box by holding
down the CTRL and SHIFT keys when choosing the Add Fonts button. This dialog
box gives developers the following options:
♦ The ability to specify the path from which the installer should read
fonts.
♦ The ability to rename the FINSTALL.DIR file.
♦ The ability to indicate if an error file should be written and specify
its name.
The first option is available to users through the normal Add fonts dialog
box. The other two options are intended to be used by font vendors or
advanced users setting up FINSTALL.DIR files for distribution.
Before parsing the FINSTALL.DIR file, the installer will report the screen
aspect ratio. The installer will classify the screen type as either EGA(4:3)
or VGA(1:1). It uses the same algorithm to classify the screen fonts listed
in the FINSTALL.DIR file. The fonts that match the category in which the
screen was classified would be loaded by the installer.
The formula the installer uses to classify screens is as follows:
♦ Compute the screen width in lines-per-inch (horizontal resolution divided
by horizontal size converted from millimeters to inches):
width = (GetDeviceCaps(HORZ_RES) * 25) / (GetDeviceCaps(HORZSIZE))
♦ Compute the screen height in lines-per-inch (vertical resolution divided
by vertical size converted from millimeters to inches):
height = (GetDeviceCaps(VERT_RES) * 25) / (GetDeviceCaps(VERTSIZE))
♦ Take the inverse ratio of width to height:
ratio = (height * 10000) / width
♦ Categorize the screen type based upon the ratio:
6250 to 9374 EGA (4:3)
9375 and above VGA (1:1)
It is highly recommended that font vendors use the advanced Add Fonts dialog
box to verify that there are no syntax errors in the FINSTALL.DIR file. If
the installer finds errors in the FINSTALL.DIR file, it will write error
messages in the FINSTALL.ERR file. The messages will be of the form:
line line-number, near character character position : error message
The installer also displays a message indicating that errors were found and
written to the file.
Printer Font Installer Scenarios
This section presents some sample uses of the Printer Font Installer. It
starts with recommendations for selecting printer and screen fonts, then
presents some "cookbook" approaches to performing certain tasks with the
Printer Font Installer.
Selecting Printer Fonts
Fonts take up disk space and printer memory. Planning which fonts are needed
and installing only those fonts can save disk space. Selecting fonts is a
subjective process. It requires making tradeoffs between document design and
computer memory, disk space, printer memory, and printing speed.
The recommendations presented in this section are based upon experience
gained from working with Windows and soft fonts. The intent of these
recommendations is to help you optimize the amount of disk space and printer
memory used by soft fonts. Some of the recommendations indicate that you
should not load certain variations of fonts; you may want to experiment to
determine if the additional expense in print time and disk space is worth
including these fonts.
It is recommended that you load the typographic range of point sizes and
limiting documents to using these sizes. The typographic range is as
follows:
6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 14, 18, 24, 30, 48, 60, 72
Better yet, if you know exactly which sizes you normally use in a document,
load only those sizes. For example, a document may use only the following
point sizes of MS Sans Serif:
11 point for body text
9 point for running headers, running footers, and footnotes
14, 24, and 30 point bold for subheads and headlines
By loading only these sizes, you reduce the number of fonts taking up disk
space.
It is recommended that you generate normal and italic for all point sizes,
and bold for point sizes equal to and above 14 points. The driver for
Hewlett-Packard printers that use PCL has the capability to simulate bold
text. It will not look the same as the true bold face, so you may want to
experiment first (for example, print a document with bold type but with no
bold loaded, and then load the bold and reprint the document). Normally,
however, the driver-simulated bold is adequate for the small point sizes.
To save on even more space, we recommend that you load bold only for the
larger sizes (that is, 24 points and above). The assumption is that you will
only use bold sizes for headlines.
Avoid loading bold italic for a font. Bold italic consumes disk space and
printer memory and, because bold italic is rarely used, it does not warrant
the space it requires. As an alternative, the driver will simulate bold
italic by synthetically bolding the italic face.
Character sets can make a big difference in the amount of disk space and
printer memory used by a font. If the document never uses accented
characters or special symbols like the bullet and copyright, it is
recommended that you use the USASCII character set. If the document requires
these characters, use the Windows ANSI, ECMA-94, or Roman-8 character sets
(listed in order of preference, depending upon which sets you have access
to).
Fonts in the USASCII character set contain a little more than half the
number of characters contained in the Windows ANSI, ECMA-94, and Roman-8
character sets. By selecting USASCII, you effectively half the amount of
disk space and printer memory used by the font. We recommend using, in order
of preference, Windows ANSI, ECMA-94, or Roman-8 for point sizes below 14
points and USASCII for point sizes 14 points and above.
Selecting Screen Fonts
Selecting screen fonts is considerably different from selecting printer
fonts. The selection of screen font sizes should not be based upon the
selected printer font sizes. It does not make sense to build one
corresponding screen font for every printer font for the following reasons:
♦ Screen fonts in Windows are sized and modified by the screen driver. The
screen driver can derive normal, bold, italic, and bold italic variations
from one screen font.
♦ Screen fonts are selected by way of a generic selection process
controlled by the application and the screen driver. One cannot assume
that a screen font specifically intended for a printer font will be used
to display that font.
♦ Some applications allow the user to see the font at different views (for
example, "fit in window," 100 percent, and 200 percent). A screen font
should be provided for each view.
♦ Most important, screen fonts take dynamic memory away from applications,
thus slowing the overall performance of Windows.
Poorly selected screen fonts can both slow the performance of the system and
produce a confusing screen display.
Regardless of the printer font sizes and variations selected, it is
recommended that you load a shortened typographic range of screen fonts:
8, 9, 10, 12, 14, 18, 24
Load these fonts in normal face only; the screen driver can simulate bold,
italic, and bold italic. There is no need to double, triple, or quadruple
the memory used by screen fonts to get these special fonts.
Do not load screen fonts for printer fonts that are like Courier. Windows
already provides those screen fonts. Additional screen fonts would use up
memory without additional visual benefits.
If you generate one printer font, you should generate the entire recommended
range. Applications typically offer more than one view of the page, so the
screen driver will need the different sizes to display the font in each
view.
If you feel you want the typographic quality of prebuilt bold and italic
screen fonts, then you should experiment to see if these fonts look better
than fonts synthesized by the screen driver. Display a page of text with
only the normal face loaded, then display it with the normal, bold, and
italic faces loaded.
Never load a bold or italic screen font without a corresponding normal face
font. Without the normal face, the screen driver will always use the bold or
italic face, producing a confusing screen display.
For example, suppose you decide to create a document that uses a 24-point
italic font. You then load one printer and one screen font as 24-point
italic. Thereafter, every time the screen driver determines it needs a
24-point screen font that is similar to the font that you installed, it will
use the 24-point italic face. Regardless of the variation you want (that is,
normal, bold, or italic), the font will display in italic.
As you add more fonts to your computer, the situation will become more
confusing. To continue the example, suppose you decide to add the same
printer and screen font as 48-point normal.
When the application displays the 48-point font at 100 percent view on the
screen, the font will display as 48-point normal (that is, the correct
behavior). At 50 percent view, the font will display as 24-point italic
(because that is the only font available). When switching views, therefore,
the font changes from normal to italic.
You can avoid this problem simply by not loading anything other than the
normal face of the screen font. Normally, the difference between the
synthesized font and the "true" font is barely noticeable, if noticeable at
all. If you must load the italic or bold variations, then you must also load
the normal variation in the same size.
Recovering Soft Fonts from a WIN.INI Change
Sometimes you need to remove the contents of your WINDOWS directory and
reinstall Windows. In the process of doing this, you could lose all the soft
font information. To prevent losing data:
1 Build an FINSTALL.DIR file.
Using Windows, select the Printers icon from Control Panel, select the HP
LaserJet printer that uses PCL, and choose the Setup command.
Once inside the driver-specific dialog box, choose the Fonts button to
call the Printer Font Installer. The fonts you plan to save should be
listed in the left list box. Hold down the CTRL and SHIFT keys while
choosing the Exit button. The installer prompts for a filename and path.
Choose the OK button to accept the name of the FINSTALL.DIR file. Then,
exit Windows.
2 Reinstall Windows.
Perform whatever steps are necessary to reinstall Windows (that is,
remove everything in the WINDOWS directory and run the Windows Setup
program).
3 Install from the directory to itself to get the soft fonts listed.
Run the Printer Font Installer on the new computer through the Control
Panel's Printers icon. Select the HP LaserJet printer that uses PCL, and
then choose the Setup command.
From the driver-specific dialog box, choose the Fonts button to call the
installer. If the Fonts button is not highlighted, then you need to
select a printer that supports soft fonts (lower-left list box in the
driver-specific dialog box). Choose Add fonts and specify \PCLFONTS as
the source for copying fonts. If your fonts are stored in another
directory (such as FONTS or PCLPFM), then specify that directory.
Hold down the CTRL and SHIFT keys while selecting all the fonts in the
right list box. Choose the Add button between the two list boxes. The
installer prompts for a target directory. This must be equivalent to the
directory from which you are installing the fonts. If you are installing
from \PCLFONTS, then choose the OK button to accept \PCLFONTS as the
target directory. Otherwise, change the name to that of the directory
that contains the soft fonts (such as FONTS or PCLPFM).
The installer then shuffles the fonts very quickly from the right list
box to the left list box. It does not copy any fonts; it simply updates
the WIN.INI file. If this does not happen quickly, then you probably did
not build an FINSTALL.DIR file as described in Step 1, or did not install
fonts from and to the same directory.
A Quick Method for Moving Fonts to Another Computer
The purpose of this section is to describe how to move fonts from one
computer to another. It is not intended for distributing fonts to several
users. This description is not intended to encourage illegal copying of
fonts. We assume that you are removing fonts from one computer and adding
them to another.
The steps are as follows:
1 Build an FINSTALL.DIR file.
Using Windows, select the Printers icon from Control Panel, select the
PCL/HP LaserJet printer, and choose the Setup command.
Once inside the driver-specific dialog box, choose the Fonts button to
call the Printer Font Installer. The fonts you plan to save should be
listed in the left list box. Hold down the CTRL and SHIFT keys while
choosing the Exit button. The installer prompts for a filename and path.
Choose OK to accept the name of the FINSTALL.DIR file. Then, quit
Windows.
2 Use the MS-DOS xcopy command to copy files to a floppy disk, by following
these instructions:
To change to the directory containing the soft fonts, type:
cd \PCLFONTS
To make sure that all the files in the directory are not marked for
archive, type:
attrib -a *.*
To copy files to the first disk, type:
xcopy *.* a: /m
If MS-DOS reports an "insufficient disk space" error, repeat the xcopy
command. The /m option on the xcopy command instructs MS-DOS to mark the
files it has copied to disk, so when you repeat the command it does not
recopy the files that are already on disk.
Repeat the xcopy command until all the files are on the disks.
3 Copy the files from the floppy disks to the new machine, by following
these instructions:
On the new machine, to make a directory for the fonts, type:
cd \
mkdir \PCLFONTS
cd \PCLFONTS
To copy the fonts from the floppy disk into the new directory, type:
copy a:*.*
Repeat this step for every floppy disk.
4 Install from the directory to itself to get the soft fonts listed.
Run the Printer Font Installer on the new machine through Control Panel's
Printers icon. Select the HP LaserJet printer that uses PCL, and then
choose the Setup command.
From the driver-specific dialog box, choose the Fonts button to start the
installer. Choose Add fonts and specify \PCLFONTS as the source for
copying fonts. The installer should list all the fonts you just copied
into the \PCLFONTS directory.
Hold down the CTRL and SHIFT keys while selecting all the fonts in the
right list box. Choose the Add button between the two list boxes. The
installer will prompt for a target directory. This must be the same
directory from which you are installing the fonts. If you are installing
from \PCLFONTS, as these instructions indicate, then choose OK to accept
\PCLFONTS as the target directory.
The installer then shuffles the fonts very quickly from the right list
box to the left list box. It does not copy any fonts; it simply updates
the WIN.INI file. If this does not happen quickly, then you probably did
not build an FINSTALL.DIR file as described in Step 1, or did not install
fonts from and to the same directory.
The fonts will be moved to the new computer. This procedure is probably the
fastest and simplest way to move fonts from one computer to the other.
However, we do not recommend it as a general method of distributing fonts.
The installer has a more elegant and less error-prone way of loading fonts
from floppy disks as described in the next section.
Building a Floppy Disk Set of Fonts
This section describes how to set up a floppy disk set of fonts for
distribution. This procedure is useful, for example, if a company chooses to
use a range of fonts available from a font-generation utility. One person
could generate the fonts and create a disk set of fonts for internal
distribution. Then, all the other users could quickly and easily install the
pregenerated fonts without having to learn how to use the font-generation
utility.
To carry out the following procedure, you must know how to use MS-DOS and a
text editor.
The steps are as follows:
1 Install or generate the soft fonts.
Load the fonts onto your computer. You should build a set of screen fonts
for each type of display that may be used. Generally, this would be an
EGA or a VGA.
When you make changes to the FINSTALL.DIR file (see Step 4), you can
instruct the installer to load different screen fonts depending upon the
aspect ratio of the computer receiving the fonts.
2 Build an FINSTALL.DIR file.
Using Windows, select the Printers icon from Control Panel, select the HP
LaserJet printer that uses PCL, and then choose the Setup command.
Once inside the driver-specific dialog box, choose the Fonts button to
start the Printer Font Installer. The fonts you plan to save should be
listed in the left list box. Hold down the CTRL and SHIFT keys while
choosing the Exit button. The installer prompts for a filename and path.
Choose OK to accept the name of the FINSTALL.DIR file. Then, quit
Windows.
3 Arrange the font files, PFM files, PCM files, screen-font files, and
FINSTALL.DIR file onto disks.
If all the files fit on one disk, this is an easy task. If they do not
and the number of fonts is great, this may be a major task. For more
information about arranging the files, see the section at the end of this
procedure list.
4 Edit the FINSTALL.DIR file to add logical drives.
If the files require more than one disk, edit the FINSTALL.DIR file and
add logical drives so the installer will know where all the files are.
With logical drives properly set up, the installer will prompt the user
to switch disks when necessary.
If you loaded screen fonts, add entries in the FINSTALL.DIR file for
screen fonts as well. Place the screen fonts in the appropriate FAMILY
block for which the screen fonts were made.
5 Test the font-installation process thoroughly.
Make sure that all the fonts are correctly loaded. If you have screen
fonts for different aspect ratios, test loading fonts on machines with
different screen displays.
Use the advanced Add fonts button to check the syntax of your
FINSTALL.DIR file, and verify your screen display type.
Arranging font files onto disks can be an extremely tedious task, especially
if you have to set up disks for 360K, 720K (3.5 inch), and 1.2M builds and
need to conserve disk space.
Here are some recommendations:
♦ Keep the screen font files for one FAMILY together on the same disk, and
make sure the lowest point size font is also on that disk.
♦ Keep each PFM file on the same disk as its corresponding printer-font
file.
♦ Conserve disk space by putting the largest fonts on the disk with the
smallest fonts.
♦ If you are building the set for different disk densities, build the 360K
set first, then put the files from two disks onto each 720K disk, and the
files from three disks onto each 1.2M disk.
The easiest way to build the disk set is to place files on the disks in the
exact order in which they appear in the FINSTALL.DIR file. That is, the
FINSTALL.DIR file goes on first, followed by the screen fonts for the first
family listed, followed by the .PFM and font files for that family. Make
sure that all the screen-font files for one family go on the same disk, and
that at least one printer font (the first one listed in the FAMILY
statement) with its PFM file also goes on that disk.
Once the disk set is built and working, reorganize the files to optimize for
disk space usage.
Setting Up Fonts on a Network
This section describes how a network administrator can set up fonts to use
on a network. To carry out this procedure, you must know how to use MS-DOS
and a text editor.
To set up fonts for use on a network, follow these steps:
1 Install or generate the soft fonts.
Load the fonts onto your computer. You should build a set of screen fonts
for each type of display that may be used. Generally, this would be an
EGA or a VGA.
When you make changes to the FINSTALL.DIR file (see Step 5), you can
instruct the installer to load different screen fonts depending upon the
aspect ratio of the machine receiving the fonts.
2 Select permanent fonts.
To use permanently downloaded soft fonts, start the Printer Font
Installer (described in the next step) and select the fonts you want
permanently downloaded to the printer. When you exit the installer, it
will prompt you for the download options. Make sure "Download at startup"
is checked.
3 Build an FINSTALL.DIR file.
Using Windows, select the Printers icon from Control Panel, select the HP
LaserJet printer that uses PCL, and choose the Setup command.
Once inside the driver-specific dialog box, choose the Fonts button to
start the Printer Font Installer. The fonts you plan to save should be
listed in the left list box. Hold down the CTRL and SHIFT keys while
choosing the Exit button. The installer prompts for a filename and path.
Choose OK to accept the name of the FINSTALL.DIR file. Then, quit
Windows.
4 If you are not working from the file server, copy the fonts to the file
server.
If you created and installed fonts from the network server, you can skip
this step.
Set up a directory on the file server for the fonts and copy all the
files to it. Use MS-DOS commands to do this. If you set up permanent
fonts, move the files created by the installer from your computer to the
network computer, and edit the AUTOEXEC.BAT file on the network to
transfer the command line starting the download batch file.
5 Edit the FINSTALL.DIR file to add screen fonts.
If you generated screen fonts, edit the FINSTALL.DIR file to add
references to the fonts.
You do not need to add logical drives to the FINSTALL.DIR file if all the
font files and PFM files reside in one directory.
6 Test the font installation process thoroughly.
Make sure that all the fonts are correctly loaded. If you have screen
fonts for different aspect ratios, test loading fonts on computers with
different screen displays.
Use the advanced Add fonts button to check the syntax of your
FINSTALL.DIR file, and verify your screen display type.
7 Announce the availability of soft fonts to network users.
Instruct your users that the fonts are available. They can load the fonts
by running the Printer Font Installer and choosing the Add fonts button.
They should indicate the network drive and path to the directory
containing the soft fonts. Installing the fonts this way will be much
faster than loading from floppy disks.
If you set up permanent soft fonts, then your instructions must list
those fonts and their ID numbers for the users. Instruct the users to
choose the Edit button and edit each of the permanent fonts, verifying
the ID numbers. They must change the ID numbers on any fonts that do not
match your list.
Make sure that all the users have assigned the correct IDs to their
permanent fonts. This is not as difficult as it seems. There usually are
only a few permanent fonts, and the installer resolves ID conflicts. If the
user attempts to assign an ID to a font that is used by another font, the
installer will ask the user if the other font should be assigned a new ID.
The installer will select the first available ID number when assigning a new
ID.
Setting Up PFM Files for Resident and Cartridge Fonts
It is possible to build special PFM files for printer-resident and cartridge
fonts. These fonts should be set up as permanently downloaded fonts in the
WIN.INI file or collected into a cartridge PCM file. The special PFM files
contain the escape sequences that the driver will send to the printer to use
the fonts. Font or printer vendors will most likely build the PFM and PCM
files.
In short, to set up cartridge and printer-resident fonts, the developer
should do the following:
1 Build special PFM files.
2 If appropriate, combine PFMs into a PCM using the PFM Editor.
3 Make a special FINSTALL.DIR file for loading PFM-only fonts or PCM
files.
In addition to the structures described for the PFM files, the driver has a
driver-specific data structure that must be added to the file. The
PFMEXTENSION structure contains a dfDriverInfo member. This member is a file
offset to the driver-specific structure. For the PCL driver, the
driver-specific structure is the DRIVERINFO structure.
The value of the members in the DRIVERINFO structure should be filled in as
follows.
Member Value
────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
epEscape An offset from the top of the file to the escape string
that the driver should send to the printer to call the
font.
epMemUsage An approximation of the printer memory used by the font.
epSize Size of (DRIVERINFO).
epVersion 1.
firstchar of xtbl (BYTE)0.
lastchar of xtbl (BYTE)0.
len of xtbl 0.
offset of xtbl (long)0.
symbolSet of xtbl epsymGENERIC7 for 7-bit fonts and epsymGENERIC8 for 8-bit
fonts.
In addition, the escape string for calling the fonts must be written to the
PFM file. The driver will use the escape string pointed to by epEscape to
select the font. Once the PFM and PCM files are built, you must make an
FINSTALL.DIR file.
In PFM files, the absence of the downloadable font file is indicated by two
commas in the font string, as in the following example:
"Acme Ace 12pt"=PL, , CPY_ACE.PFM
The installer loads these fonts as permanently downloadable soft fonts. This
has one side effect. When the user quits the installer, it will prompt for
download options. Because the installer thinks the fonts are permanent soft
fonts, it will try to download them to the printer. However, it will not
find the permanent font files because they do not exist. Therefore, the
installer will simply ignore the files and not make a download batch file or
open a print job. However, if these fonts are mixed in with other "real"
permanent soft fonts, then the installer will correctly download those
fonts.
If the intended printer is a standard HP LaserJet, the driver will not load
soft font PFM files. The driver will not load the PFM files when the
intended printer cannot handle soft fonts. However, the user may instruct
the driver to load cartridge font (PCM) information to gain access to the
cartridge font information. To override the soft font restrictions, you can
place the following setting in the driver-specific section of the WIN.INI
file:
options=7
This setting instructs the driver to load soft font information regardless
of the printer's abilities. However, this is not recommended.
♦