Printers and Plotters

The PC ARC/INFO Windows extensions will allow you to print the contents of the graphic display through any printer or plotter with an appropriate Windows driver. It is especially advantageous to use Windows drivers to send plots to inkjet plotters, for the following reasons:

It is not necessary to generate plot files prior to plotting
Windows colors, raster fills, and TrueType fonts are supported
Most, if not all, Windows drivers for inkjet plotters can rasterize data prior to sending to the plotter, eliminating the often hefty memory requirements to plot via HPGL2.

When ARCW is launched, the default Windows printer/plotter is assigned. The Print Setup may be changed through the OPTIONS | PRINTER SETUP... menu entry of the graphic display:

The Graphic Display
Options Menu

or by issuing the WIN EXEC 16 command at any Windows extension command prompt:

   WIN EXEC 16

When DISPLAY 4 5 or DISPLAY 4 6 is issued, the graphic display will be proportioned and internal page dimensions set according to the current printer page.

[WARNING: If the Print Setup is changed through the Options Menu of the graphic display, DISPLAY 4 5 or DISPLAY 4 6 should be reissued to reset the display.]

Two SML utilities, DISP and DISP5, invoke DISPLAY 4 1 24 and DISPLAY 4 5 24, respectively, repositioning the graphic and text windows so that they do not overlap:

   &r DISP5

To quit the module and restore the windows to their original positions, execute Q:

   &r Q

(Q.CML may also be executed from the ARCW prompt to restore window positions if you quit the module by issuing the regular QUIT command.)

To download the install pack, click HERE. Unzip in a temporary directory and execute DISP.BAT, supplying the width of your monitor as an argument:

Usage:  DISP [1024/800/640]

To print, chose the OPTIONS | PRINT menu entry of the graphic display or issue the WIN EXEC 10 command at the command prompt. The Printer dialog box will appear:

The Printer Dialog
Box

[TIP: To print without invoking the Printer dialog box, issue the WIN EXEC 10 OK command at the command prompt; this command is especially useful in SML programs for unattended printing.]

If you click the ADVANCED... button in the Printer dialog box, the following dialog will appear:

Advanced Print
Options

If thick lines print out "stringy" on a high resolution printer/plotter, you can increase the hardware line width (unfortunately, hairlines will also appear fatter). (In version 3.5.1, the PENSIZE command in ARCPLOTW allows you to adjust line stroke density to achieve solid lines.)

Similarly, if raster fill patterns are too small to see and turn out as "mud," increasing the dot size will make them more legible. Use the dot size option with care: lower settings, such as 2-4, may be very CPU and disk intensive (depending on your driver and hardware). Experiment with larger settings before you try lower settings.

The REVERSE TEXT ANGLE option is used to fix text positioning problems on some Postscript devices.

The Windows Color Definition File

If your inkjet plotter is laying down too much ink, you can redefine the colors to lighten them up.

SCRWIN.COL, in the %ARC%\SYMBOLS directory, defines by default the colors used by the PC ARC/INFO Windows extensions. You may specify a different color definition file using the WIN COLOR command (SCRWIN.COL should be left unchanged, so that your ARCEDITW sessions are not affected):

   &value 1 ARC
   WIN COLOR R %1\SYMBOLS\INKJET.COL

To download INKJET.COL, click HERE and copy to your %ARC%\SYMBOLS directory.

If you compare INKJET.COL with SCRWIN.COL, you will note that the "0" entries for colors greater than 15 have been changed to 64. This will lighten the color, and consequently reduce the amount of ink that will be used.

[NOTE: Colors 2-15, which are system colors, should not be changed; color 1 cannot be changed at all.]

Included with PC ARC/INFO 3.5 is an SML utility COLORS which allows you to modify any color definition file and dynamically view the results. To run the program, execute the following in ARCPLOTW:

   DISPLAY 4
   &r COLORS

Note that a value of 255 corresponds to 100% of a particular RGB component.

CGI Drivers and Non-Windows Plotters

CGI drivers are used by the PC ARC/INFO DOS modules to drive the graphic display, printers, and plotters. In addition, metafile drivers are available to generate CGM and DXF files. These drivers are not available to the Windows extensions.

To install or uninstall a CGI driver, execute the CON-CGI command at the ARCW prompt:

   CON-CGI

[NOTE: On some systems you may have to go to full screen mode before this will work properly. Make sure you are there before you execute the command.]

The following menu will appear:

The CON-CGI Menu

To bring up, for example, the list of graphic display drivers, click the DISPLAY line. If a driver is currently selected, it will appear at the top of the list. The list may be navigated via the <Page Down> or <Home> key, or by clicking PGDN or HOME. To exit without selecting a driver, go to the bottom of the list and select EXIT.

Once a driver is installed, it may be invoked in a DOS module using the DISPLAY command (for example, in ARCPLOT):

Usage: DISPLAY [4] {option} {dialog_lines}
       DISPLAY [0 / 1 / 2 / 3]
       DISPLAY [1039] {option}

The DOS DISPLAY options are as follows:

0 = Disable graphics
1 = Send graphics immediately to CGI plotter
2 = Send graphics to CGI printer
3 = Send graphics to CGI metafile
4 = Start CGI graphic display
1039 = Send graphics to ESRI plot file

DISPLAY option 4 invokes the graphic display, and is the normal mode for interactive work. The other DISPLAY options are generally, though not necessarily, used in conjunction with an SML script. Option 2 will generally not form feed until the DISPLAY command is reissued (or QUIT); similarly, option 3 will not write out the metafile until the next DISPLAY or QUIT statement.

When using option 3, the name of file created will depend on the driver. The CGM driver will write graphics to a file in the current workspace named METAFILE.DAT, whereas the DXF driver will write by default to CGI.DXF. Option 1039 requests a filename from the user; if a 1039 file is generated, it may be viewed using DRAW or DRAWW, or sent to a non-Windows plotter via the PLOT, HPGL2, or CAL5800 (see the online help under "Starter Kit" for detailed discussion of these commands).

[WARNING: The CGM driver literally assigns a white color to graphics that would draw "white" on a "black" screen.]

When using the DXF driver, keep the following points in mind:

The driver writes DXF records to the CGI.DXF (default) or the file specified by the DXFTEXT environmental variable in the %ARC%\CGI\CGI.CFG file. Using the default case, if a file named CGI.DXF already exists, then the driver sequences to the next logical file name without destroying the contents of CGI.DXF. The name of the sequenced file will be CGI00001.DXF. If this exists, then it will use CGI00002.DXF, and so forth.
When you issue a DISPLAY command, all graphics are placed in layer 0. Any CLEAR commands will cause subsequent graphics to be placed on the next numeric layer (1,2,3...). The graphics from the previous layer are kept on the file.
Layers will be turned off -- this can lead to unusual results if imported into certain graphics packages.
Solid shades will be drawn as closely spaced lines.

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