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Today the PDF file format is widely used to generate portable documents.

By converting the PCL - Printer Command Language  data stream (5 and 6, color and mono)  into the PDF format, ELP is able to archive and/or PreView any document in PDF format, as well to send it by e-mail or Fax.

The Rule assistant offers therefore easy to use menus or just check button to activate it.

The supplied PDF converter adds in unlicensed mode a watermark on every PDF page. The converter must be licensed per server in order to get rid of the watermark. W-ELP usually needs the SND module license in order to be able to bypass the spool file to the PDF converter.

There are some parameters which do control the PDF conversion and those are controlled in the config file PDFConf.ini which resided in the Workpath (e.g. C:\ProgramData\Welp) by the key PDFPara=. The default settings (not PDF/A) are:

-p1.3 --pdftitle "Automatic created by ELP www.stethos.com" --pdfauthor "www.stethos.com"

The PDFConf.ini file can be edited and the conversion process is controlled per process in the corresponding sections which must not be renamed. As mentioned in the file the section [Default] will be used once the corresponding section is not found in the file:

These parameters can be edited in the above file:

-p Output PDF type (1.3 | 1.4 | 1.5 | 1.6 | 1.7 | PDF/A-1b | PDF/A-2b | PDF/A-3b | PDF/A-2u | PDF/UA | PDF/X-1a | PDF/X-4) [case sensitive]
--pdftitle (Default: Automatic created by ELP www.stethos.com) Output PDF title
--pdfauthor  (Default: www.stethos.com) Output PDF author
--offsetx  Page offset X (+/-)
--offsety  Page offset Y (+/-)
--offsetunit  (Default: point) Page offset Unit (mm, inch, point)
--suppressblankpages  (Default: false) Blank page suppression

 

It is not possible to call the PDF converter using the Call key. If you need to convert a (maybe previously archived) spool file to PDF, then you should call a second instance of convert.exe with the spool file as input and another ini file that archives the input using OutArchiveDir key. The following example shows how the convert.ini and the second ini file (in this example called ArchiveAsPDF.ini) may look like. Assumed the spool file is already stored to C:\ProgramData\WELP\Archive and it should be archived as PDF file at C:\ProgramData\WELP\pdf with the name #USERNAME#_#PRINTDOCNAME#_#DATESERIALLONG#

[GLOBAL]

...any other keys or variable definitions needed

; for details refer to ELP Command Line Arguments

; If you need to set the key Log_Mode to get a log file, then you should add the argument -P1 with a dummy printer like -P1MyPrinter

; Using the arguments -P3 and -P4 the user name and the print job name can be passed to the second ini file to set at the name of the PDF file

Call="C:\Program Files\WELP\convert.exe" C:\ProgramData\WELP\Archive\Spool_file_to_Archive.prn null -d"C:\ProgramData\WELP" -c"#ELP_FORMS_PATH#ArchiveAsPDF.ini" -p3support -p4PDFfile -p6<YourFeatureKey> -L<YourLicenseKey>;OFF

 

[GLOBAL]

; make primary trigger below always true

SetTrigger=1:ON

[PDF archive]

; Primary trigger is always true

Trigger_Binary=1

; Only in PDF format

PDF_MODE=20

; Store the job into the specific directory

OutArchiveDir=#ELP_FORMS_PATH#pdf;#USERNAME#_#PRINTDOCNAME#_#DATESERIALLONG#

 

If PJL command @PJL SET USERNAME=... exists in the spool file, then the user name will not be passed by using the -P3 argument. The PDF file will be saved with the user name that set in the PJL header of the spool file. In this case to be able to change the user name you should pass the user name with the argument -P2 as if it were the PC name. The call command of the convert.ini above should then changed to:
Call="C:\Program Files\WELP\convert.exe" C:\ProgramData\WELP\Archive\Spool_file_to_Archive.prn null -d"C:\ProgramData\WELP" -c"#ELP_FORMS_PATH#ArchiveAsPDF.ini" -p3support -p4PDFfile -p6<YourFeatureKey> -L<YourLicenseKey>;OFF
Also the OutArchiveDir key of the ArchiveAsPDF.ini should be:
OutArchiveDir=#ELP_FORMS_PATH#pdf;#PCNAME#_#PRINTDOCNAME#_#DATESERIALLONG#

 


Fonts available to PCL input jobs (Standard Fonts)

These are the names of the actual fonts, along with the name of the compatible family in parentheses, if applicable.

  • Algiers-ExtraBold (Albertus family)
  • Algiers-Medium (Albertus family)
  • AntiqueOlive-Bold
  • AntiqueOlive-Italic
  • AntiqueOlive-Regular
  • Dingbats (ITC Zapf Dingbats family)
  • Garamond-Antiqua
  • Garamond-Halbfett
  • Garamond-Kursiv
  • Garamond-KursivHalbfett
  • LetterGothic-Bold
  • LetterGothic-Italic
  • LetterGothic-Regular
  • Mauritius-Regular (Marigold family)
  • NimbusMono-Bold (Courier family)
  • NimbusMono-BoldItalic (Courier family)
  • NimbusMono-Italic (Courier family)
  • NimbusMono-Regular (Courier family)
  • NimbusMonoPS-Italic (Courier family)
  • NimbusRoman-Bold (Times family)
  • NimbusRoman-BoldItalic (Times family)
  • NimbusRoman-Italic (Times family)
  • NimbusRoman-Regular (Times family)
  • NimbusRomanNo4-Bold (CG Times family)
  • NimbusRomanNo4-BoldItalic (CG Times family)
  • NimbusRomanNo4-Italic (CG Times family)
  • NimbusRomanNo4-Regular (CG Times family)
  • NimbusRomanNo9-Bold (Times New Roman family)
  • NimbusRomanNo9-BoldItalic (Times New Roman family)
  • NimbusRomanNo9-Italic (Times New Roman family)
  • NimbusRomanNo9-Regular (Times New Roman family)
  • NimbusSans-Bold (Helvetica family)
  • NimbusSans-BoldOblique (Helvetica family)
  • NimbusSans-Oblique (Helvetica family)
  • NimbusSans-Regular (Helvetica family)
  • NimbusSansNarrow-BdOblique (Helvetica Narrow family)
  • NimbusSansNarrow-Bold (Helvetica Narrow family)
  • NimbusSansNarrow-Oblique (Helvetica Narrow family)
  • NimbusSansNarrow-Regular (Helvetica Narrow family)
  • NimbusSansNo2-Bold (Arial family)
  • NimbusSansNo2-BoldItalic (Arial family)
  • NimbusSansNo2-Italic (Arial family)
  • NimbusSansNo2-Regular (Arial family)
  • StandardSymbolsPS
  • Symbols (Symbol family)
  • URWBookman-Demi (ITC Bookman family)
  • URWBookman-DemiItalic (ITC Bookman family)
  • URWBookman-Light (ITC Bookman family)
  • URWBookman-LightItalic (ITC Bookman family)
  • URWCentury-BdIta (New Century Schoolbook family)
  • URWCentury-Bold (New Century Schoolbook family)
  • URWCentury-Italic (New Century Schoolbook family)
  • URWCentury-Roman (New Century Schoolbook family)
  • URWChancery-MediumItalic (ITC Zapf Chancery family)
  • URWClarendonCondensed-Bold (Clarendon family)
  • URWClassicSans-Bold (Univers family)
  • URWClassicSans-BoldItalic (Univers family)
  • URWClassicSans-Regular (Univers family)
  • URWClassicSans-RegularIt (Univers family)
  • URWClassicSansCond-BdItalic (Univers family)
  • URWClassicSansCond-Bold (Univers family)
  • URWClassicSansCond-Italic (Univers family)
  • URWClassicSansCond-Regular (Univers family)
  • URWClassico-Bold (CG Omega family)
  • URWClassico-BoldItalic (CG Omega family)
  • URWClassico-Italic (CG Omega family)
  • URWClassico-Regular (CG Omega family)
  • URWCorsica-Regular (Coronet family)
  • URWDings (Wingdings family)
  • URWGothic-Book (ITC Avant Garde family)
  • URWGothic-BookOblique (ITC Avant Garde family)
  • URWGothic-Demi (ITC Avant Garde family)
  • URWGothic-DemiOblique (ITC Avant Garde family)
  • URWPalladio-Bold (Palatino family)
  • URWPalladio-BoldItalic (Palatino family)
  • URWPalladio-Italic (Palatino family)
  • URWPalladio-Roman (Palatino family)
  • LinePrinter

 

The following table shows the supported PCL5 Symbol Sets

Symbol Set Name Symbol Set ID
DeskTop 7J
ISO 4: United Kingdom 1E
ISO 6: ASCII 0U
ISO 11: Swedish 0S
ISO 15: Italian 0I
ISO 17: Spanish 2S
ISO 21: German 1G
ISO 60: Danish/Norwegian 0D
ISO 69: French 1F
ISO 8859/1 Latin 1 0N
ISO 8859/2 Latin 2 2N
ISO 8859/9 Latin 5 5N
Legal 1U
Math-8 8M
MC Text 12J
Microsoft Publishing 6J
PC-1004 9J
PC-8 Code Page 437 10U
PC-8 D/N - Danish/Norwegian 11U
PC-8 T Turkish 9T
PC-850 - Multilingual 12U
PC-852 Latin 2 17U
Pi Font 15U
PS Math 5M
PS Text 10J
Roman-8 8U
Symbol 19M
Windows 3.0 Latin 1 9U
Windows 3.1 Latin 1 19U
Windows 3.1 Latin 2 9E
Windows 3.1 Latin 5 5T
Wingdings 579L

 

Hints:

  • If the PDF converter arguments given by the PDFConf.ini are not suitable for all conversion processes it's possible to use the Key PDF_Arguments which allows a workflow specific conversion process. Please note that the supplied arguments are additive to the default arguments supplied in the PDFConf.ini.
  • We also supply the file PDFConf.ori in the Workpath which is just a static backup copy or the original conversion settings from the W-ELP installer.
  • Customers who purchased the PDF Converter prior to 2024 are able to switch to the legacy version of the PDF Converter upon request.

 

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