Software Companions - PDF, DWG, DWG, PLT, and TIFF Viewing and Conversion Software

ViewCompanion Printer Configuration File

Overview

A printer initfile can be use to override the default settings used when ViewCompanion prints a document.
The file format is simple and uses a set of recognized keywords, as described below.
This file is used in combination with the command line parameter /pi.
You may also use a printer init file with the hot folder printing feature in ViewCompanion Premium.

The file must start with the following header:
[ViewCompanion Plot Configuration]

Settings

One or more statements using the keywords described below can then be included.
Lines beginning with a semicolon (;) are treated as comments and ignored.
For reference, you can find a complete sample printer configuration file at the bottom of this page.

PENTABLE=pentablefilename
Print the file using the given pentable.

SCALEPENTABLE=ON/OFF
If set to ON the pentable will be scaled with the drawing.

SCALE=100/FIT
Sets the scale to use for printing. Accepted values are an integer (percentage), or FIT to scale the plot to fit the page.

CENTER=ON/OFF
If set to ON the plot will be centred on the page.

MONOCHROME=ON/OFF
If set to ON the plot will be drawn only in black and white.

POSTER=ON/OFF
Enables or disables the Poster feature.

HEADER=string
A text string to be used as header for the printed document.
The text can include predefined macros that can be replaced with information like file name, date and more.

FOOTER=string
A text string to be used as footer for the printed document.
The text can include predefined macros that can be replaced with information like file name, date and more.

FONT=ARIAL,12,BOLD
Set the font to use when date/time/filename is printed. The first parameter is a font name, eg. Arial, the next parameter is the font height in points, and the last parameter is one of the following : Regular, Bold, Italic or Bold Italic.

HEADERPOS=UL
Sets the position for the header string. One of the following options is valid:
UL (Upper Left), UM (Upper Middle) or UR (Upper Right)

FOOTERPOS=UL
Sets the position for the footer string. One of the following options is valid:
LL (Lower Left), LM (Lower Middle) or LR (Lower Right).

COPIES=1
Sets the number of copies to print.

HORZOFFSET=0.25
Sets horizontal print offset to use. The offset must be given in inches.

VERTOFFSET=0.25
Sets vertical print offset to use. The offset must be given in inches.

ORIENTATION=1/2
Set orientation to 1 to print using portrait mode , and 2 to print in landscape mode.

PAPERBIN=Upper Tray
Select paper source to use.

PAPERSIZE=A0
Set the paper size to use. The following values are valid:
A0841 x 1189 mm
A1594 x 841 mm
A2420 x 594 mm
A3-Extra322 x 445 mm
A3297 x 420 mm
A4-Extra236 x 322 mm
A4-Plus210 x 330 mm
A4210 x 297 mm
A5-Extra174 x 235 mm
A5148 x 210 mm
A6105 x 148 m)
B01000 x 1414 mm
B1707 x 1000 mm
B2500 x 707 mm
B3353 x 500 mm
B4250 x 353 mm
B5-Extra201 x 276 mm
B5176 x 250 mm
B6125 x 176 mm
C6162 x 229 mm
Engineering-A8.5 x 11 inch
Engineering-B11 x 17 inch
Engineering-C17 x 22 inch
Engineering-D22 x 34 inch
Engineering-E34 x 44 inch
Architectural-A9 x 12 inch
Architectural-B12 x 18 inch
Architectural-C18 x 24 inch
Architectural-D24 x 36 inch
Architectural-E36 x 48 inch
Architectural-E2 30 x 42 inch
Letter8.5 x 11 inch
Legal8.5 x 14 inch
Tabloid11 x 17 inch
Slide11 x 7.33 inch
Ledge17 x 11 inch
Executive7.25 x 10.5 inch
Statement(5.5 x 8,5 inch)
A1F594 x 1189 mm
A3F297 x 594 mm

PRINTERNAME=string
Name of printer to use.

DRIVERNAME=string
Name of driver to use. To be used together with PRINTERNAME.

PORTNAME=string
Name of port to use. To be used together with PRINTERNAME.

ROTATION=90
Sets the rotation of the plot. Accepted values are 0, 90,180 and 270.

USEROINSTRUCTION=ON/OFF
Some HPGL-2 files contains a RO (Rotation) instruction that controls the rotation of the drawing. Select this option to use this instruction when printing the file.

WATERMARKCOLOR=#RRGGBB
Watermark text color. The color value is coded as red, green and blue intensities in hexadecimal notation (HTML standard - #RRGGBB).

WATERMARKFIXEDPOS=10.5,20.5
Place watermark text at a fixed position. Requires two parameters, distance from the left and top edge of the paper. Both distances are given in millimeters. Floating point values are accepted (using dot as decimal delimiter).
Note: Cannot be combined with WATERMARKVPOS.

WATERMARKFONT=ARIAL,26,BOLD
Define the font to use for watermark text. The first parameter is a font name, eg. Arial, the next parameter is the font height in points, and the last parameter must be one of the following:

WATERMARKORDER=0
Set watermark draw order. Accepted values are 0 (below drawing) or 1 (on top of drawing).

WATERMARKROTATION=45
Set watermark text rotation. Accepted values are 0, 45, 90, 135, 180, 225, 270 and 315 degrees.

WATERMARKTEXT=string
A text string to be used as watermark text for the printed document.

WATERMARKVPOS=0
Vertical alignment to use for the watermark text. Possible values: 0 (top), 1 (middle) and 2 (bottom).
Note: Cannot be combined with WATERMARKFIXEDPOS.

Footer and Header Macro Defintions

To include specific information in the header or footer, you may use the following macros as part of the text:

Type this To print this
&d Date in short format as specified by Regional Settings in Control Panel.
&fFile name.
&FFull file path including folder.
&nLine break. You can have a maximum of three text lines.
&PTotal number of pages in document.
&pPrinted page number.
&sScaling used for printing.
&tTime in the format specified by Regional Settings in Control Panel.
&uCurrent user name

Sample printer configuration file

The following example shows a simple configuration file for command-line printing.
It specifies a pen table, scales the drawing to fit the page, centers the drawing, and prints two copies. Monochrome printing is disabled.

The example also adds a header containing the current user name and date, and a footer showing the current page number and total number of pages. The header and footer use Arial, 24-point bold text. The page orientation (landscape) is also explicitly specified. 

[ViewCompanion Plot Configuration]
PENTABLE=c:\vc\default.vpt
SCALE=FIT
CENTER=ON
COPIES=2
MONOCHROME=OFF
HEADER=Printed by &u on &d
HEADERPOS=UR
FOOTER=Page &p of &P
FOOTERPOS=LM
FONT=ARIAL,24,BOLD
ORIENTATION=2
PAPERSIZE=A3

Save the configuration as a plain text file and specify its filename when running the command-line printing.
You only need to include settings that you want to control or override.

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