JADE Printing Section [JadePrinting]

The [JadePrinting] section of the JADE initialization file contains parameters that provide portable printing by controlling the meta file and print data formats.

Graphics commands and objects are standard Windows GUI objects. Graphical Device Interface (GDI) commands are saved in the database as Windows Enhanced Meta Files (EMF) for later reuse, replayed to the screen for print preview, or replayed to a printer for print output. These meta files can be played directly back into a GUI control (for print preview) or to a printer (for output).

The commands used for drawing are captured and converted into a format for saving in the database, in the Scalable Vector Graphics (SVG) format. (Only a small fraction of the SVG specification is used.) An application can also save printing commands in SVG format.

SVG files can be previewed. The SVG commands are converted to GDI commands. For a caveat on the use of SVG files, see "Portable Printing" under "Printer Class", in Chapter 1 of the JADE Encyclopaedia of Classes (Volume 2).

As printing is also done by GDI, SVG commands are converted to GDI and passed to the printer.

The combinations of GDI, PS, and SVG formats that are permitted depend on the operating system and executable in which the JADE system is running. You can choose SVG or EMF to save print commands in the database.

Not all options are available under all operating systems and executables. Valid jade.exe executable combinations are listed in the following table.

Print File Format	PS Data Format	GDI Data Format
SVG	Yes	Yes
EMF	No	Yes

The format of the data sent to the printer depends on the format in which the command data has been saved and the operating system and executable that is used.

If the commands are saved as:

EMF output can be GDI format only
SVG printer output can be GDI or PS.

All parameters in this section are read when the presentation client is started or when user logic creates a new instance of the Printer class.

To use Postscript printing, your printer must support Postscript level 2 or greater.

The [JadePrinting] section can contain the following parameters.