Visual Software

Visual PCL/2 ™ - Windows LaserJet PCL File Viewer

Now you can quickly and easily view your LaserJet PCL print files on-screen in Windows! Using the power of 32 bit software Visual PCL/2 will read and display multi-page PCL4, 5 and 5e print files on-screen often faster than they can be printed. Zoom in and out, pan up and down, flip from page to page. Then fax all or selected pages using standard Windows fax printer driver software.

This new release supersedes the existing V1.1 Standard and Professional versions of Visual PCL. Neither colour nor PCL6 (PCL-XL) print files are supported. (Visual PCL/2 is not to be confused with Pcl2pdf, Visual Software’s LaserJet PCL to PDF (Portable Document Format) converter.)

New or enhanced features include:-

• Significantly enhanced on-screen document display

• Choice of low (200 dpi) or high (300 dpi) rendering

• Choice of document, thumbnail or combined display

• Faster and improved LaserJet PCL5/5e rendering including HP-GL/2

• Drag and drop support (Windows Explorer…)

• Windows 98, ME, NT 4.0, 2000 and XP support

• Windows compliant uninstall

• New on-screen help documentation

Your print files can use standard PCL forms overlay macros, called, executed or by automatic overlay, so you can see how your production print job will be before you tie up a printer. Save yourself time and money by viewing on-screen before you commit to paper.

Imagine that you printed and mailed a 100 page invoice run to your customers. Then one comes back to you and requests a single copy invoice. Before you would either have had to reprint that single page or go to the filing cabinet and find the paper copy invoice. Now you can load up the original print file, find the 33rd page (for example) and directly print or fax a copy to the customer. Quick, easy and accurate!

When used with Forms Electric Visual PCL/2 is the ideal solution for creating and testing Hewlett-Packard (PCL) forms overlay macros.

Visual PCL/2:-

• 32 bit PCL5e rendering software, use with Windows 98, ME, NT 4.0, 2000 and XP

• Save time and money by viewing prints on-screen before committing to paper

• Create PCL macros with Forms Electric, test with Visual PCL/2

• Uses the same Intellifont font scaling technology built into LaserJet printers

• Includes true LaserJet 4/5 font outlines

• Reads 300 and 600 dpi multi-page print files

• Renders at low 200 dpi and high 300 dpi resolutions

• Includes HP-GL/2 vector graphics support

• Includes support for downloadable scalable TrueType fonts

Visual PCL/2 uses PCL Imaging technology licensed from Tech Know Systems Ltd., Whitefish, MT, U.S.A.

v2.1 update available providing Windows XP support, copy page to Windows Clipboard option and command line viewing and printing facilities (for command line conversion see Pcl2pdf and JetPCL instead)

Single PC licence price reduced to just US $55.00 dollars for a limited time only! Ask about volume discounts

Download your Visual PCL/2 v2.1 evaluation here!

This download provides you with an evaluation version of Visual PCL/2. This evaluation is the same as the full product except for:-

• Print Image… is disabled

• Save As BMP… is disabled

• Only displays the first 5 or so pages of any PCL document

• Evaluation messages are displayed

To install the Visual PCL/2 v2.1 Evaluation you can now download the installation program VisualPCL21EvalSetup.exe (4877Kb) Right click on this link and choose Save Target As... or Copy To Folder...

We recommend that you save this file in a temporary directory on your PC and then run it using Windows Explorer to start the installation process. This will set up the evaluation software and documentation on your computer.

You can read the Visual PCL/2 on-line help here. This uses the Microsoft HTML help system which is normally installed by default on recent Windows systems. If you find you need additional system DLLs or components please contact us.

Visual PCL/2 uses the same Intellifont font scaling technology built into the LaserJet printers themselves to render fonts precisely. Included with Visual PCL/2 are 45 genuine LaserJet scalable typefaces. No font substitution is required and your pages will view as they print. Full support for 300 and 600 dpi print jobs, mixed portrait and landscape orientations, paper sizes up to Legal 8.5x14".

How do I save multiple pages to disk as raster images using Visual PCL/2?

Visual PCL/2 will only let you save the currently viewed page to disk as a raster image file in Windows BMP format. If you want to convert a whole multi-page PCL print to a multi-page TIF image (or multiple single page TIF images) then use the JetPCL product instead.

Command line invoking of Visual PCL/2

Visual PCL/2 is intended to be an easy to use, low cost, end-user Windows GUI interactive application. You can invoke Visual PCL/2 with a print filename from the "DOS" command prompt and get as far as the Print dialog. Please see the on-line program help for further, detailed information on this section Printing a PCL print file sub-section To print a LaserJet PCL print file without displaying it.

The Visual PCL/2 Print dialog will always be displayed however and you cannot suppress it. This is by design and required due to 3rd party licensing terms. Do remember that Visual PCL/2 is intended to be an easy to use end-user print file viewer.

Warning message "An outgoing call cannot be made since the application is dispatching an input-synchronous call"

This warning message may appear occasionally. If you see this try configuring Visual PCL/2 to open documents without the thumbnail view initially displayed. All should then proceed correctly. Failing this try installing and running Visual PCL/2 on another PC to see if the message also appears.

A search on the Microsoft site for input-synchronous locates a few results including PRB: Automation Error (-2147417843) When You Use the Taskbar Notification Area though this doesn't seem obviously related. Check if you are running any speech or MS Agent-enabled applications.