Use your preferred Windows applications to create Hewlett-Packard (PCL) forms overlay macros, complete with TrueType fonts and graphics.
Forms Electric is a Windows PC based product comprising of two command line utilities. These let you create LaserJet PCL forms overlay macros on your PC from documents created in Windows based applications, such as Word, and wrap up the macros as spool files for transfer to host systems, perhaps using binary FTP or terminal emulation. The macros can be downloaded to host attached printers as regular binary PCL print files.
To get your printers to merge these forms with your report data you need to insert or include simple PCL commands near the start of your documents. For example the PCL command <esc>&f1y4X will tell a LaserJet compatible printer to merge form id 1 with the rest of the document. Here <esc> is ASCII 27, the escape character. This command should be inserted on the first page that needs to use the form and after any printer reset, page orientation or size commands. There's more information on these commands in the Forms Electric User Guide.
Creating PCL Forms Overlay at the "DOS" Command Prompt
You can use the Forms Electric command line utilities on Windows XP or (32-bit) Windows 7, 8 to create the OVL and FNT files. With these command line utilities you would need to print your form document to FILE from Word using the HP LaserJet PCL5 printer driver. A standard LaserJet III or 4 driver should do. Let's say you've printed to test.prn. Then at a "DOS" command prompt you would then run the Pcl2mac utility to generate the form contents:
C> Pcl2mac test.prn
This example creates the macro file test.ovl (and possibly also a soft font file test.fnt). You then run the Forms Electric Download utility to assign a PCL macro id (identifying number, eg. 1):
C> Download test.ovl /i:1 /o:test.mac
(Note that Pcl2mac and Download are 16 bit DOS applications so you must use "short" 8.3 style filenames. Test.prn, the input PCL print file to Pcl2mac must be less than 500KB in size.) Test.mac should then contain all you need and you can download it to your printer using:
C> copy /b test.mac LPT1
or
C> copy /b test.mac \\yourservername\yourprintershare
32 / 64-bit Compatibility
Download.exe and Pcl2mac.exe will both run on 32-bit Windows systems (including Windows 7, 8) but not 64-bit. You can use PCL output from 64-bit HP LaserJet PCL5 drivers, perhaps from a different PC or server. If you are using 64-bit Windows 7 Professional or Ultimate you can install Windows XP Mode. This installs an XP compatible sub-system within which many programs can be run. Please note this can be a complicated and time consuming process to set up and get running.
Colour Forms Overlay Macros
You can only use colour HP LaserJet PCL5C commands in overlay macros provided that you do not use HP-GL/2 vector graphics also. This is due to firmware limitations in the HP Color LaserJet printers, not due to Forms Electric. PCL5C has problems using colour commands and HP-GL/2 graphics in overlay macros at the same time. Unfortunately most Windows Color LaserJet printer drivers output HP-GL/2 so it is not possible to use these drivers with Forms Electric to create colour macros.
Forms Electric is a Windows PC based product comprising of two command line utilities. These let you create LaserJet PCL forms overlay macros on your PC from documents created in Windows based applications, such as Word, and wrap up the macros as spool files for transfer to host systems, perhaps using binary FTP or terminal emulation. The macros can be downloaded to host attached printers as regular binary PCL print files.
To get your printers to merge these forms with your report data you need to insert or include simple PCL commands near the start of your documents. For example the PCL command <esc>&f1y4X will tell a LaserJet compatible printer to merge form id 1 with the rest of the document. Here <esc> is ASCII 27, the escape character. This command should be inserted on the first page that needs to use the form and after any printer reset, page orientation or size commands. There's more information on these commands in the Forms Electric User Guide.
Creating PCL Forms Overlay at the "DOS" Command Prompt
You can use the Forms Electric command line utilities on Windows XP or (32-bit) Windows 7, 8 to create the OVL and FNT files. With these command line utilities you would need to print your form document to FILE from Word using the HP LaserJet PCL5 printer driver. A standard LaserJet III or 4 driver should do. Let's say you've printed to test.prn. Then at a "DOS" command prompt you would then run the Pcl2mac utility to generate the form contents:
C> Pcl2mac test.prn
This example creates the macro file test.ovl (and possibly also a soft font file test.fnt). You then run the Forms Electric Download utility to assign a PCL macro id (identifying number, eg. 1):
C> Download test.ovl /i:1 /o:test.mac
(Note that Pcl2mac and Download are 16 bit DOS applications so you must use "short" 8.3 style filenames. Test.prn, the input PCL print file to Pcl2mac must be less than 500KB in size.) Test.mac should then contain all you need and you can download it to your printer using:
C> copy /b test.mac LPT1
or
C> copy /b test.mac \\yourservername\yourprintershare
32 / 64-bit Compatibility
Download.exe and Pcl2mac.exe will both run on 32-bit Windows systems (including Windows 7, 8) but not 64-bit. You can use PCL output from 64-bit HP LaserJet PCL5 drivers, perhaps from a different PC or server. If you are using 64-bit Windows 7 Professional or Ultimate you can install Windows XP Mode. This installs an XP compatible sub-system within which many programs can be run. Please note this can be a complicated and time consuming process to set up and get running.
Colour Forms Overlay Macros
You can only use colour HP LaserJet PCL5C commands in overlay macros provided that you do not use HP-GL/2 vector graphics also. This is due to firmware limitations in the HP Color LaserJet printers, not due to Forms Electric. PCL5C has problems using colour commands and HP-GL/2 graphics in overlay macros at the same time. Unfortunately most Windows Color LaserJet printer drivers output HP-GL/2 so it is not possible to use these drivers with Forms Electric to create colour macros.
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