hpgl

hpgl HPGLUsing HPGL as a drawing interchange media (Don't! Unfortunately many DOS/Windows insist on doing so) Written by Paul Bourke September 1992 This document is also available in Russian, thanks to Sergey Paramonov. (You will need the Russian font set!) Introduction HPGL is the HP graphics language designed for specifying 2D graphical information for the HP range of plotters. It was not intended as an interchange format but some software suppliers use it as such. At least it is efficient and easy to write and read. This short note describes those aspects of the format which may be used to describe geometry. The language itself has a large number of instructions, most of the ones not touched on here relate directly to plotter devices, for a full description of the language the HPGL description is normally provided with an HPGL compatable plotter. Basics HPGL commands are basically two uppercase character instructions followed by any arguments, and finally ending in the separator character which is a semicolon by default. The arguments are normally separated by commas. String arguments are normally terminated by carriage return. In what follows, all the standard HPGL commands are listed, those which are likely to be useful for data interchange will be discussed at the end of this document. Optional arguments for any command are shown in brackets. Commands Instruction Arguments AA Arc Absolute x,y,angle(,tolerance) AF Advance page AH Advance page AP Automatic Pen Operations n AR Arc Relative x,y,angle(,tolerance) AS Acceleration Select acceleration(,pennumber) BF Buffer Plot BL Buffer label string CA Select Alternative Charset set CC Character chord angle angle CI Circle radius(,tolerance) CM Character Selection Mode switchmode(,fallbackmode) CP Character Plot spaces,lines CS Select Standard Charset set CT Chord Tolerance n CV Curved line generator n(,inputdelay) CD Digitize Clear DF Default DI Absolute Direction run,rise DL Define Download character charnumber(,pencontrol),x,y(...) DP Digitze Point DR Relative Direction run.rise DS Designate Charset slot,set DT Define Label Terminator terminator EA Edge Rectangle Absolute x,y EP Edge Polygon ER Edge Rectangle Relative x,y ES Extra Space spaces(,lines) EW Edge Wedge radius,startangle,sweepangle(,tolerance) FP Fill Polygon FS Force Select force(.pennumber) FT Fill Type type(,spacing(,angle)) GC Group Count countnumber GM Graphics Memory (polygonbuff)(,downloadbuff)(,replotbuff)(,vectorbuff) GP Group Pen (groupnumber(,pennumber(,numberofpens,(length)))) IM Input Mask emaskvalue(,smaskvalue(,pmaskvalue)) IN Initialize IP Input p1 and p2 x,y(,x,y) IV Invoke Character Slot slot,(left) IW Input Window x,y,x,y KY Define Key key(,function) LB Label string LO Label Origin positionnumber LT Line Type patternnumber(,patternlength) NR Not Ready PA Plot Absolute x,y(,...) PB Print Buffered Label PD Pen Down x,y(,...) PG Page Feed n PM Polygon Mode n PR Plot Relative x,y(,...) PT Pen Thickness thickness PU Pen Up x,y(,...) RA Fill Rectangle Absolute x,y RO Rotate Coordinate System n RP Replot n RR Fill Rectangle Relative x,y SA Select Alternative Charset SC Scale x,y,x,y(,type(,left,bottom)) SG Select Pen Group groupnumber SI Absolute Character Size width,height SL Character Slant tantheta SM Symbol Mode character SP Select Pen pennumber SR Relative Character Size width,height SS Select Standard Charset TL Tick Length tp(,tn) UC User Defined Character (pencontrol,)x,y UF User Defined Fill gap1(,gap2,...gap20) VS Velocity Select speed(,pennumber) WD Write to Display string WG Fill Wedge radius,startangle,sweepangle(,tolerance) XT X Tick YT Y Tick Output Instructions The following instructions don't have any arguments but rather generate output from the plotting device. They are of no use for interchanging geometric data and therefore the form of the output is not discussed. See an HPGL reference book. OA Output Actual Position OC Output Position OD Output Digitised Point OE Output Error OF Output Factors OG Output Group Count OH Output HardClip Limits OI Output Identification OK Output Key OL Output Label Length OO Output Options OP Output p1 and p2 OS Output Status OT Output Carousel Type OW Output Window Escape sequnces The following escape sequences are generally only applicable when connected through a serial interface to a physical plotter, they have nothing to do with data interchange and so their arguments will not be listed nor will the form of the output most of them create . esc@ Set Plotter Configuration escA Output Identification escB Output Buffer Space escE Output Extended error escH Set Handshake Mode 1 escI Set Handshake Mode 2 escJ Abort Device Control escK Abort Graphics escL Output Buffer Size When Empty escM Set Output Mode escN Set Extended Output and Handshake Mode escO Output Extended Status escP Set Handshake Mode escQ Set Monitor Mode escR Reset escS Output Configurable Memory escT Allocate Configurable Memory escU End Flush Mode escY Plotter On esc( Plotter On escZ Plotter Off esc) Plotter Off Useful Commands with examples Since plotters are very basic line drawing hardware devices it is not surprising that the most commonly used commands are those that draw lines from one point to another. This operation is controlled by 4 commands, PA - plot absolute PR - plot relative PU - pen up PD - pen down Pen up and down dictate when a line is actually being created, the plot commands do the movement between points. For example to draw a line from (1,0) to (2,0) might be specified as follows PU;PA1,0;PD;Pr1,0;PU; There are two basic attributes that can be assigned to a line, as expected they are actually applied to the pens of the plotting device. They are: SP - pen number PT - pen thickness The pen number normally acts as an indexed colour system, most commonly there are only 8 pens (colour) available. The other geometry that can be specified is AR - arc relative CI - circle EA - edge rectangle absolute ER - edge rectangle relative EP - edge polygon EW - edge wedge LB - label There are a large number of settings for controlling text, these and further details of the above instructions will be left to the reader to experiment with or read in the full HPGL manuals.