PCL Codes are Ignored After You Install Host Integration Server By Using SNACFG Utility

Ignored Printer Control Language (PCL) codes are printed at the top of the first page after you install Host Integration Server Print Sessions by using the SNACFG utility.

The PCL codes are ignored because the print sessions were not created through the SNA Manager interface.

By creating the print sessions using the SNACFG command line tool, the underlying devmode structure of the print server session becomes corrupted. As a result, embedded PCL codes under 0x40 are converted to spaces, which is the default behavior if a character is unrecognized by Host Integration Server 2000.

To work around this problem so that host print jobs that contain PCL codes are processed and the data prints correctly, follow these steps:

1.	Right-click SNA Print Service, and then click Properties.
2.	Click to select the Ignore Characters 3F and Under check box, and then click Apply.
3.	Click to clear the Ignore Characters 3F and Under check box, click Apply, and then click OK.
4.	Save the configuration.
5.	Resend the print job. It prints correctly.

Microsoft has confirmed that this is a problem in Host Integration Server 2000.

PCL commands are escape codes that can be embedded by the Mainframe Host into the 3270 printer data stream. These PCL commands give instructions to the printer on how to format the print job.

When this problem occurs, SNA Print Internal traces (SPRTINTx.ATF) shows that the EBCDIC 0x27 Escape Character is converted to an ASCII 0x20 Space instead of an ASCII 1B Escape Character:

DUMPD (session: 0604  ISPR49-MOD-C-SUITE-290, job #1)  
DUMPD (session: 0604  ISPR49-MOD-C-SUITE-290, job #1)
				

DUMPD (session: 0604  ISPR49-MOD-C-SUITE-290, job #1) | 4BF383F8 85F8F8D7 | 
DUMPD (session: 0604  ISPR49-MOD-C-SUITE-290, job #1)
				

DUMPD (session: 0604  ISPR49-MOD-C-SUITE-290, job #1) | F1F64BF6 F7C8     | 
DUMPD (session: 0604  ISPR49-MOD-C-SUITE-290, job #1)
INTRN SNAP-3270   S3PPPDAT  CODE CONVERT PBUF 
INTRN SNAP-3270   S3PPPDAT  SINGLE BYTE SESSION 
INTRN SNAP-3270   S3PPPDAT  CONVERT CHARACTERS < 
PPDAT Converting 39 
PPDAT Converting 39 
PPDAT Converting 39 
PPDAT Converting 39 
PPDAT (session: 0604  ISPR49-MOD-C-SUITE-290, job #1) DATA TO FLUSH (AFTER ASCII CONVERSION) 
DUMPD Enter 
VLJOB Enter, id=0x23A0D4 
VLJOB Found Job 
VLJOB Leave 
DUMPD (session: 0604  ISPR49-MOD-C-SUITE-290, job #1)  
DUMPD (session: 0604  ISPR49-MOD-C-SUITE-290, job #1)
				

DUMPD (session: 0604  ISPR49-MOD-C-SUITE-290, job #1) | 2E336338 65383850 | 
DUMPD (session: 0604  ISPR49-MOD-C-SUITE-290, job #1)
				

DUMPD (session: 0604  ISPR49-MOD-C-SUITE-290, job #1) | 31362E36 3748     | 
DUMPD (session: 0604  ISPR49-MOD-C-SUITE-290, job #1) 
INTRN SNAP-3270   S3PPPDAT  GDI WRITE
				

REFERENCES

For additional information, click the article number below to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base: For additional information about Host Integration Server 2000 printing, download the following white paper: For additional information about PCL commands, see the following resources:

�	PCL 5 Printer Language Technical Reference Manual, Hewlett Packard, HP Part No. 5961-0509, October 1992.
�	PCL 5 Comparison Guide, Hewlett Packard, HP Part No. 5961-0634, May 1994.