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Frequently Asked Questions
What is MvLaser?
MvLaser is a set of extensions to your MultiValue environment (Pick and its’ multiple flavors) which offer the programmer
complete control over the output of any HP Compatible laser printer (PCL5 or PCL6). MvLaser will enable a programmer to not only print
a custom form using multiple fonts and sizes, lines, boxes and shading, but will also provide precise control over the positioning and printing
of the data to be printed on the form.
Does MvLaser support graphic images?
Graphic image support is now available for D3 and UniVerse.
What platforms are supported for MvLaser?
MvLaser is currently available on Pick Systems AP/PRO, AP/DOS, and D3.
It is available for all General Automation platforms such as Mentor PRO, Mentor OE, R91, mvBASE,
mvEnterprise and Sequoia PRO. MvLaser is also available for UniVerse, UniData, jBASE and QM professional.
Please inquire if your platform is not listed
Can we print in color using MvLaser?
Not currently, although support for color printers is under consideration.
What type of support is available?
One hour of Installation help is free. Binary Star can provide support ranging from a single contract hour,
through 7day – 24 hour support (7x24). Our professional
services divison can provide any level of custom programming you might require, including development of
custom forms. On-site training and programming is available anywhere in the world.
Can we print on both sides of the paper?
Yes, if your printer supports duplex operation
Can we support multiple paper bins?
Yes, if your printer has them and supports duplex operation
Can we position printing in standard column and row format?
Yes. In addition to standard column and row positioning, proportional fonts are provided to properly
line up columns in a number of fonts such as CG Times, Arial and Universe.
Can we position printing in fractional inch format?
Yes, of course. MvLaser allows you to position printing based on the number of inches (and fractions)
from the top and from the left margin, using fractional designations such as 1/5, 2/10, 3/16, 5/32, all the
way down to 1/1720 of an inch. Fractional designations do not have to be reduced, making it easy to position
printing in 1/6, 1/20 or 1/72 of an inch formats. Metric positioning is also supported through Metric API's.
What fonts are available?
MvLaser Font availability is determined by the list of
fonts
which are included in HP firmware, or which may be added with a font
cartridge available through HP. For example, the HP5L printer has 26+ scalable typefaces resident on the HP5L printer:
Other printers support 45 or more fonts.
NOTE:.
MvLASER supports most standard, scalable typefaces included in HP firmware.
Additional fonts may be loaded from HP cartridges. For information on specific fonts that you may require,
please contact Binary Star Development Corporation at 954/791-8575 or email info@binarystar.com.
Also, you may modify the font table found in LZR.BP,S LZR.FONT, to add MORE fonts.
Can MvLaser print any form?
Pretty much so. MvLaser can not print water marks or multiple colors. With micro-fonts and MICR fonts,
it can provide the necessary anti-counterfeiting measures to print a check form. MvLaser can NOT print through
multiple part forms (carbon paper/ncr paper). MvLaser will NOT cut, perforate or crease a form.
MvLaser will NOT fold or staple forms, although some printers are capable of folding, collating
and stapling. At present, we do not provide an API for radius corners on graphic boxes. Reverse printing
(white on black) is supported.
What enhancements are planned?
We are currently involved in the development of a fully integrated form-letter writing system that will
allow an on-the-fly mail-merge. It will allow you to create a form letter, and then select a database (file)
and select the attributes (fields) you wish to merge such as name, address, city state etc. It will also
include up to ten merge fields you might use for a particular letter campaign. The form letter system in
development now, supports bold face, italics, underline, and font selection.
We are also in the process of developing a full-featured report writer that will allow the user to develop
complex reports using column and line offsets, font style and size, graphic lines, etc. The report writer
will be driven by data dictionaries embedded in a simple script. If you are interested, please contact us and
request information on the NuForm product.
We are investigating the scanning of existing forms to reduce the time required to create the form styles.
Many new fonts are being added. Many other enhancements are being discussed.
Is there a lot of overhead in printing laser images?
Not really! MvLaser provides the ability to store background images or forms on a printer
(such as a purchase order, an invoice, a picking ticket, or a fax form) and then have your application
program issue a macro command "CALL LZR.MACRO(command,macro.id)" to print the stored image, thereby saving
processing overhead. Using this methodology, form styles can be loaded after turning on a printer and they
will stay resident until the form is purged from the printer’s on-board memory. The only overhead is
encountered when escape sequences are generated by MvLaser routines for positioning and printing.
Typically, any form generated from the MultiValue environment will process faster than a similar form
generated from a "windows" environment. The overhead is minimal. For example, to pass the initial form
design to the printer may require the transmission of 60k bytes, and issuing a macro command to print that
image is eight (8) bytes.
How quickly can a complex form be printed?
It depends mostly on the printer being used, the amount of data contained on the form, and the mix of graphic
lines and data being printed. Typically a purchase order form with a reasonable mix of data types is printed
on an HP5L printer in 2 – 3 seconds (which is the speed of that printer). A Samsung 2150 can typically print
18 - 23 pages per minute.
How easily can the utilities be integrated into our existing code?
This of course depends on your code. If your code is "clean" and easy to understand, generally integrating
the calls to an invoicing program can be done in about a day or so. If you like many have "spaghetti" code,
it might be better to re-write the program from scratch. and might take two or more days for a skilled
programmer. We offer a full range of programming services if you need programming done and do not have staff
available.
How is MvLaser supplied?
MvLaser is provided in most cases as a series of t-dumps which are loaded on an account you will name
MV.LASER. The installation programs load the programs into the appropriate data areas and catalog them for
you. To use the program set (all subroutines are prefixed with "LZR."), merely install a Q-POINTER in the
account in the format:
ID = LZR.BP
001 Q
002 MV.LASER
003 LZR.BP
Then, SELECT MD = "LZR.]" If you receive a "NO ITEMS FOUND", you can then CATALOG LZR.BP *
Then, it’s only a matter of following the examples in the MvLaser manual to
integrate the laser printing routines.
Is bar code printing supported?
Yes. We currently support the printing of POSTABAR (postal bar codes) and code 3 of 9 used in many
manufacturing environments without the use of any special font cartridges.
With the addition of an HP font cartridge you will be able to print almost any bar code format
including OCR-A and OCR-B. Visit the HP website at www.hp.com for current barcode font availability for
your printer. The barcode printing utility using HP font cartridges is due to be released in July of 1999.
How much does MvLaser cost?
MvLaser is priced at $1,795 and includes full documentation, free installation help, and over 50 programs
and 15 examples. In addition, source code to LZR.FONT is provided which will allow you to add additional
fonts based on any soft font cartridges you may wish to load.
There are NO additional charges for multiple printers on a network or host. There are NO additional charges
for the number of users on a system. Even if you are running a 2,000 user SUN system, there is only a
one-time charge.
What printers are supported by MvLaser?
Any PCL5 / PCL6 or HP compatible Laserjet printer.
There are HP compatible printers on the market which normally support up to 45 different fonts and will print at speeds up to and exceeding 24 pages per minute. (That’s 1,440 lines per minute)
Do you have a facility that will generate the code to print a form?
Yes! We have two different utilities to generate a callable subroutine to print the graphic portion of a form.
The first is called MvFormGen, and the other utility is NuForm. MvFormGen is a table driven utility where you
enter the characteristics of your required form in a number of tables - row, column, font, size, text, etc.
NuForm will take a 'script' which utilizes standard Nucleus 'tokens' and automatically generates a subroutine
AND will also print the data from a file on the form.
Do you have a facility to scan forms and create the software to print the form?
Not yet. We have started engineering discussions to determine the feasibility of this project.
Please contact us for more information. This promises to be an exciting project.
Can you take our existing forms or drawings and create the code segments in a subroutine for us?
Yes.
