Printer Commands & Controls

Cognitive’s C Series printers are smart in they way they transfer data.  C Series printers send a description of the printed page and its appearance, which results in a significantly smaller volume of information to exchange between the host computer and the barcode printer.  To transfer this data, Cognitive offers various Page (or Print) Description Languages (PDL).  The PDLs available with our C Series printers provide users with the ability to describe textual and graphic elements in a higher level representation other than ‘dots’ or a bitmap.  However most of these same PDLs allow the processing of ‘graphic file formats’ typically stored as files on modern host machines (examples: .bmp, .pcx, .pdf, …, etc.)

• CPL (Cognitive Programming Language): is printable-ASCII Word based and line-oriented PDL, command and control language for all Cognitive Printers.  A typical print image definition formatted in CPL is composed of;  1) A Header line – defining the size and number of copies to print,  2) Various Text and Graphic Element commands lines – specifying fonts, sizes and placement of these printable image components, and  3) An End statement – instructing the Print Engine to run and create the image on printable media. 

To learn more about Cognitive Solutions Command Programming Language (CPL) contact Cognitive Solutions at: 800.525.2785 ext. 497.

Other Cognitive Programming Features

• Data Direct is a Cognitive’s software that allows you pre-store input-data sorting features.  In essence, it acts like a filter for other printing languages. Simply design the label using CPL or the included label design software. Save this label format in the printer memory using CPL.  This feature is advantageous where applications are required to pull-replace legacy printers.

View the Data Direct Whitepaper

• Host Feedback is one of many Cognitive CPL features.  This bi-directional status query capability provides print job completion verifications and the ability for a host computer system to query the printer’s state of operation at any point when the printer is powered on.

Emulations
Cognitive C Series printers offer the ability to process other barcode manufacturers PDLs.  The standard name given to this mixed processing of other command printing languages is called Emulations. Depending on the printer’s software architecture, the native Printer Language interpreter may be temporarily replaced with another printer company’s interpreter function or ‘emulation’.
 
TPCL™ - (Laser Programming Language): PCL was developed by Hewlett-Packard to control printer features across many different printing devices. It is the most commonly used industry standard printer command language. Almost any computer system is able to communicate with a PCL printer, making it the ideal command language to be adopted into the thermal printing industry. 
To learn more about using TPCL as a command language contact Cognitive Solutions at: 800.525.2785 ext. 497.

EcPL (Eltron Printer Language Emulation): is primarily a Printable-ASCII based and line-oriented PDL, command and control language for some of Zebra’s (previously Eltron) Printer models.  Each line of EPL typical begins with a Single character or Double character pair followed by command associated parameters to represent a particular print imaging operation.