JPH08142438A - Slip printing method - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE: To print a slip on the basis of the same slip defining data regardless of the attribute of a printer by defining a fixed data part for printing the slip as slip defining data and separating the slip defining data and a business program. CONSTITUTION: A slip data defining part 12 uses slip defining words 11 to define a fixed data part for printing a slip as slip defining data 14 to store the data 14 in a file 13. A printing data forming processing part 16 overlays the variable data of a business program 15 and the slip defining data 14 to form the slip. At the time of overlay, the position data in the slip defining data 14 is converted to the dot position of a printer 18 to be used.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a form printing method for printing a form based on form definition information that does not depend on printer attributes when the form is printed by a business program.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, when a form is printed by a business program, fixed information depending on printer attributes is defined as form definition information for each printer device type, and the defined form information and print data from the business program are stored. The form was printed by overlaying.

An example of such a case is Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2-293.
There is a form generation method described in Japanese Patent No. 921. This method registers printer information with different printer attributes in an external storage device, expands the entered printer information in a table, and creates a form object based on the form information and the expanded printer information. Is registered in the external storage device so that it is not held in the program, and the program need not be modified. As another example, there is a printer terminal control method having a definition unit that defines attributes of a form to be printed and a control code of a printer terminal, and a merge unit that merges the attributes of the form, the control code, and the form data (special feature). (See Kaihei 3-251488).

[0004]

However, in the above-mentioned conventional method, the form definition information, which is printer-specific information depending on the printer attribute, or the control code of the printer terminal exists in the form definition information. Therefore, it is necessary to change the form definition information every time the printer model is changed or added, which reduces the program development efficiency and the form definition information maintenance work efficiency. there were.

An object of the present invention is to define a fixed information portion for printing a form as form definition information and to separate the form definition information and the business program.
It is to provide a form printing method that prints a form based on the same form definition information regardless of the printer attribute.

[0006]

In order to achieve the above object, according to the present invention, in a form printing method in which a form is printed by a printer according to an instruction of a business program, a line, an item position, and a size forming the form are formed. Is generated in a predetermined unit to generate the form definition information, and at the time of printing the form, the line, item position, and size expressed in the predetermined unit are set to dot positions in accordance with the dot density of the printer used. It is characterized in that the form is printed by converting and overlaying the variable data of the business program and the form definition information.

[0007]

When the form is printed by the business program, common fixed information among the information necessary for creating the form is defined in advance as the form definition information. The business program has character data to be printed as variable data,
Request the output of forms. When overlaying the form definition information and the variable data of the business program at the time of printing, in the form definition information, lines expressed in predetermined units, print start position of characters, line, item length, size, etc. Are converted to dots and expanded in memory. As a result, the business program can print the form without being aware of the information unique to the printer. Further, when changing the format of the form to be printed, redefining the form definition information eliminates the need to modify the business program.

[0008]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS One embodiment of the present invention will be specifically described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 shows the system configuration of an embodiment of the present invention. The system of the present invention comprises a computer 10, a form definition storage file 13 storing form definition information, and a printer 18. The computer 10 uses a form definition language storage unit 11 that stores a language for defining a form such as a line start position, end position, character size, character start position, and end position, and the language. A form information definition processing unit 12 for defining form information, a business program 15,
The print data creation processing unit 16 creates print data based on the form definition information 14 and print character data from the business program 15, and a printer controller 17 that controls the printer.

FIG. 2 shows the format of the form definition information 14 stored in the form definition storage file 13. Form definition information 1
Reference numeral 4 includes line definition information 141 and item definition information 142 for creating print data. The line definition information 141 includes
For example, information such as the position of the line to be displayed and its length is set, and information such as the position of the character to be displayed and its size is set in the item definition information 142. Further, as described later, the line definition information 141 and the item definition information 142
Is represented by position information obtained by converting the line, the position at which the item is printed, the length and size thereof into predetermined values.

FIG. 3 is a diagram for explaining an example of converting the form definition information into a position represented by the dot density of the printer. FIG. 3A shows line definition information 1 forming the form definition information 14.
41 shows an example of position information of lines and items at the time of design, which are included in 41 and item definition information 142. That is, the form in this example is x
The direction is 12 columns / inch, the y direction is 6 rows / inch, and the character position 30 (x, y) of “item” is (1/1
2 inch, 1/6 inch).

In FIG. 3B, the character position 30 is
Character position 31 (x1, y when expressed in a predetermined unit
1) is shown. Here, the predetermined unit is a value smaller than the dot density implemented by various printers, for example, 1
/ 1440 inches. Then, the character position 30 (x,
Character position 31 (x1, y1) is obtained by dividing y) by a predetermined unit (1/1440 inch). The character position 31 (x1, y1) becomes (120, 240).

The conversion from (a) to (b) described above is performed by the form information definition processing unit 12, and the converted position information is stored in the form definition information storage file 13 as the form definition information 14.

FIG. 3 (c) shows the above-mentioned character position 31 as
Character position 32 (x
2, y2). In this example, it is assumed that printing is performed by a 240 DPI (dot / inch) printer. Then, when printing the form, the print data creation processing unit 16 divides the dot density value (1/240) mounted by the printer itself by a predetermined unit (1/1440) to determine the position of the dot to be printed. Divisor to calculate (1/240/1
/ 1440 = 6) is calculated.

Therefore, the character position 32 (x2, y2) when expressed by the dot density to be printed is (120 ÷ 6, 24)
0 ÷ 6) = (20 dots, 40 dots). In addition,
In the present embodiment, the reason for dividing by a predetermined unit in FIG. 3B is that the character position 30 is set to a large value, and FIG.
This is to reduce the error due to the division in. Although the item definition information has been described in the above example, the same applies to the line definition information.

FIG. 4 shows a flow chart of the process of creating the form definition information. The definition information created using the form definition language is input to the form information definition processing unit 12 (step 40). When there is input data (step 41), the form information definition processing unit 12 analyzes the input definition information (step 42). That is, the position, length, size, etc. of lines, items are analyzed. Among the analyzed contents, the position information is converted into a predetermined unit (step 43).
The form definition information 14 is created based on the converted position information (step 44).

When the process of creating the form definition information of one definition sentence is completed, the analysis process of the next definition sentence is performed, and if there is input data (yes in step 41), the analysis process is performed (step 42) to define. If there is no sentence (step 4
No in 1), the created form definition information 14 is stored in the form definition information storage file 13 (step 45).

FIG. 5 shows a flowchart of the print data creation process. The print data creation processing unit 16 inputs the form definition information 14 from the form definition information storage file 13 (step 50). If there is definition information (step 5)
1) Analyze the input definition information 14 (step 5)
2). The analyzed position information is converted into position information represented by the dot density of the printer 18 (step 53). Then, the variable data provided from the business program 15 and the form definition information 14 are overlaid to create print data (step 54). That is, when overlaying, lines expressed in predetermined units in the form definition information, print start position of characters, line length, item size, etc. are converted into dots and expanded in the memory. It

When the process of creating the print data for one definition information is completed, if there is the next definition information (Yes in step 51), the analysis process is performed (step 52), and if there is no definition information (step 51). No), the created print data is transmitted to the printer controller 17 (step 55), and the form is printed by the printer 18 (step 5).
6).

As described above, the business program of the present invention is
Since the complicated process related to the form definition is not performed, even if the format is changed, the influence on the business program can be minimized and the form can be printed out. In addition, when changing the display positions of lines and items, the form information definition processing unit 12 redefines the form definition information 14. As a result, it is possible to change the display positions of lines and items without changing the business program.

[0020]

As described above, according to the present invention, the fixed information portion for printing a form is defined as form definition information, and the business program does not manage the form definition information. It is possible to change the form format according to the attributes of the printer without changing the. Further, the efficiency of developing the business program is improved and the maintenance work of the form definition information can be efficiently performed.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 shows a system configuration of an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 shows a format of form definition information stored in a form definition storage file.

3A, 3B, and 3C are diagrams illustrating an example of converting form definition information into a position represented by a dot density of a printer.

FIG. 4 shows a flowchart of a process of creating form definition information.

FIG. 5 shows a flowchart of print data creation processing.

[Explanation of symbols]

 10 computer 11 form definition language storage unit 12 form information definition processing unit 13 form definition information storage file 14 form definition information 15 business program 16 print data creation processing unit 17 printer controller 18 printer

 ─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuation of the front page (72) Inventor Atsushi Saito 5030 Totsuka-cho, Totsuka-ku, Yokohama-shi, Kanagawa Prefecture Hitachi Ltd. Software Development Division

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A form printing method for printing a form with a printer according to an instruction from a business program, wherein form definition information is generated by expressing lines, item positions, and sizes that compose the form in predetermined units. At the time of printing a form, the line, item position, and size represented by the predetermined unit are converted into dot positions according to the dot density of the printer used, and the variable data held by the business program and the form definition information are converted. A form printing method characterized by printing a form by overlaying on.