[thirdparty/cups.git] / doc / help / spec-postscript.html

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	<title>Generating PostScript for CUPS</title>
	<meta name='keywords' content='Programming, PostScript, Document Structuring Conventions'>
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  "$Id$"

  CUPS PostScript file specification for the Common UNIX Printing System (CUPS).

  Copyright 2006 by Easy Software Products.

  These coded instructions, statements, and computer programs are the
  property of Easy Software Products and are protected by Federal
  copyright law.  Distribution and use rights are outlined in the file
  "LICENSE.txt" which should have been included with this file.  If this
  file is missing or damaged please contact Easy Software Products
  at:

      Attn: CUPS Licensing Information
      Easy Software Products
      44141 Airport View Drive, Suite 204
      Hollywood, Maryland 20636 USA

      Voice: (301) 373-9600
      EMail: cups-info@cups.org
        WWW: http://www.cups.org
-->

<h2 class='title'><a name='INTRODUCTION'>Introduction</a></h2>

<p>This document describes how to generate PostScript output for
CUPS and is largely based on the <a
href="http://partners.adobe.com/public/developer/en/ps/5001.DSC_Spec.pdf">
Adobe TechNote #5001: PostScript Language Document Structuring
Conventions Specification Version 3.0</a>. While CUPS can
generally print any PostScript file, following the rules in the
Adobe TechNote and this document will ensure that your PostScript
output will work reliably.</p>

<blockquote><b>Note:</b> While PostScript is currently the
defacto-standard print job file format/language for UNIX-based
applications, it is slowly being phased out in favor of Adobe's
Portable Document Format ("PDF") which offers many advantages
over PostScript. MacOS X uses PDF as the primary print job file
format, and we expect Linux to soon follow. Both PostScript and
PDF are complex formats, and we highly recommend using high-level
toolkits whenever possible.</blockquote>

<h3>Anatomy of a PostScript File</h3>

<p>PostScript files are ASCII text files starting with a header
line (<tt>%!PS-Adobe-3.0</tt>) followed by a combination of
comment lines starting with two percent signs (<tt>%%</tt>) and
PostScript code lines. The lines themselves should not exceed 255
characters to conform to the DSC. The following short PostScript
file produces a box with a smiley face in it:</p>

<pre class="command">
%!PS-Adobe-3.0
%%BoundingBox: 36 36 576 756
%%Pages: 1
%%LanguageLevel: 2
%%EndComments
%%Page: (1) 1
% Draw a black box around the page
0 setgray
1 setlinewidth
36 36 540 720 rectstroke

% Draw a two inch blue circle in the middle of the page
0 0 1 setrgbcolor
306 396 144 0 360 arc closepath fill

% Draw two half inch yellow circles for eyes
1 1 0 setrgbcolor
252 432 36 0 360 arc closepath fill
360 432 36 0 360 arc closepath fill

% Draw the smile
1 setlinecap
18 setlinewidth
306 396 99 200 340 arc stroke

% Print it!
showpage
%%EOF
</pre>

<div class="figure"><table summary="Sample PostScript File Output">
<caption>Figure 1: <a name="FIGURE_1">Sample PostScript File Output</a></caption>
<tr><td align="center"><img src="../images/smiley.jpg"
width="445" height="570" alt="Sample PostScript File Output"></td></tr>
</table></div>


<h2>Embedding Printer Options</h2>


<h2>Embedding Fonts and Text</h2>


<h2>Embedding Images</h2>


<blockquote><b>Note:</b> While some printers support arbitrary
binary data in PostScript files, we do not recommend this
practice because it does not work with all printers or
interfaces. In most cases, the Base-85 encoding and compression
filters can be used to embed images with very little, if any,
increase in data size.</blockquote>


</body>
</html>
Commit	Line	Data
f7deaa1a	1	<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-html40/loose.dtd">
	2	<html>
	3	<!-- SECTION: Specifications -->
	4	<head>
	5	<title>Generating PostScript for CUPS</title>
	6	<meta name='keywords' content='Programming, PostScript, Document Structuring Conventions'>
	7	<link rel='stylesheet' type='text/css' href='../cups.css'>
	8	</head>
	9	<body>
	10	<!--
	11	"$Id$"
	12
	13	CUPS PostScript file specification for the Common UNIX Printing System (CUPS).
	14
	15	Copyright 2006 by Easy Software Products.
	16
	17	These coded instructions, statements, and computer programs are the
	18	property of Easy Software Products and are protected by Federal
	19	copyright law. Distribution and use rights are outlined in the file
	20	"LICENSE.txt" which should have been included with this file. If this
	21	file is missing or damaged please contact Easy Software Products
	22	at:
	23
	24	Attn: CUPS Licensing Information
	25	Easy Software Products
	26	44141 Airport View Drive, Suite 204
	27	Hollywood, Maryland 20636 USA
	28
	29	Voice: (301) 373-9600
	30	EMail: cups-info@cups.org
	31	WWW: http://www.cups.org
	32	-->
	33
	34	<h2 class='title'><a name='INTRODUCTION'>Introduction</a></h2>
	35
	36	<p>This document describes how to generate PostScript output for
	37	CUPS and is largely based on the <a
	38	href="http://partners.adobe.com/public/developer/en/ps/5001.DSC_Spec.pdf">
	39	Adobe TechNote #5001: PostScript Language Document Structuring
	40	Conventions Specification Version 3.0</a>. While CUPS can
	41	generally print any PostScript file, following the rules in the
	42	Adobe TechNote and this document will ensure that your PostScript
	43	output will work reliably.</p>
	44
	45	<blockquote><b>Note:</b> While PostScript is currently the
	46	defacto-standard print job file format/language for UNIX-based
	47	applications, it is slowly being phased out in favor of Adobe's
	48	Portable Document Format ("PDF") which offers many advantages
	49	over PostScript. MacOS X uses PDF as the primary print job file
	50	format, and we expect Linux to soon follow. Both PostScript and
	51	PDF are complex formats, and we highly recommend using high-level
	52	toolkits whenever possible.</blockquote>
	53
	54	<h3>Anatomy of a PostScript File</h3>
	55
	56	<p>PostScript files are ASCII text files starting with a header
	57	line (<tt>%!PS-Adobe-3.0</tt>) followed by a combination of
	58	comment lines starting with two percent signs (<tt>%%</tt>) and
	59	PostScript code lines. The lines themselves should not exceed 255
	60	characters to conform to the DSC. The following short PostScript
	61	file produces a box with a smiley face in it:</p>
	62
	63	<pre class="command">
	64	%!PS-Adobe-3.0
65	%%BoundingBox: 36 36 576 756
66	%%Pages: 1
67	%%LanguageLevel: 2
68	%%EndComments
69	%%Page: (1) 1
70	% Draw a black box around the page
71	0 setgray
72	1 setlinewidth
73	36 36 540 720 rectstroke
74
75	% Draw a two inch blue circle in the middle of the page
76	0 0 1 setrgbcolor
77	306 396 144 0 360 arc closepath fill
78
79	% Draw two half inch yellow circles for eyes
80	1 1 0 setrgbcolor
81	252 432 36 0 360 arc closepath fill
82	360 432 36 0 360 arc closepath fill
83
84	% Draw the smile
85	1 setlinecap
86	18 setlinewidth
87	306 396 99 200 340 arc stroke
88
89	% Print it!
90	showpage
91	%%EOF
92	</pre>
93
94	<div class="figure"><table summary="Sample PostScript File Output">
95	<caption>Figure 1: <a name="FIGURE_1">Sample PostScript File Output</a></caption>
96	<tr><td align="center"><img src="../images/smiley.jpg"
97	width="445" height="570" alt="Sample PostScript File Output"></td></tr>
98	</table></div>
99
100
101	<h2>Embedding Printer Options</h2>
102
103
104	<h2>Embedding Fonts and Text</h2>
105
106
107	<h2>Embedding Images</h2>
108
109
110	<blockquote><b>Note:</b> While some printers support arbitrary
111	binary data in PostScript files, we do not recommend this
112	practice because it does not work with all printers or
113	interfaces. In most cases, the Base-85 encoding and compression
114	filters can be used to embed images with very little, if any,
115	increase in data size.</blockquote>
116
117
118
119	</body>
120	</html>