Re: PRTF and hex codes

Doug,

When you "add hex characters" (i.e. 5250 color attribute codes) into your text for a display file, you are making a bet... the bet is that this application will always use a 5250 type terminal for it's display.  If it ever gets run on a different display device (and there isn't some software that translates the 5250 codes to the other technology) then it won't work anymore.

That may be a safe bet?

Now consider the same one with a PRTF.  You are betting that you will always use the same printer.  Or at least a compatible one. Is that a safe bet?

Personally, I'd say no.  Printers change often, and they wear out and are replaced with different types.  Hard-coding a printer escape sequence will likely mean your program need to be rewritten as soon as the printer is changed.  I wouldn't make that bet, myself.

If you want to make it, however...  there is a feature called "transparency" that can be used.  With this feature, you can insert a sequence of bytes that says "the next X number of characters are to be treated as transparent, and not converted" and then you can use that to insert the printer's escape code to enable/disable bold.

I won't take the time to look up the details, because I think it'd be a bad idea to do it, so I don't want to invest the time.


On 12/19/23 1:47 PM, DEnglander--- via RPG400-L wrote:

I know there is a way for RPG to add hex characters to a field to allow
certain words within a field to be in color, when displaying on a 5250
session.

Does anyone know if there is a similar way to perform that function with a
PRTF that is defined as *SCS? I am specifically looking to have one "word"
[really a balance due] be bolded on the printout. Currently, the HIGHLIGHT
keyword is used, but because of the size of the field, there is a lot of
white space surrounding the number in its accompanying sentence. I was
thinking of composing a string in the program, not use HIGHLIGHT, and then
have RPG insert the Hex character for HIGHLIGHT [on] + HIGHLIGHT [off]. Is
that possible?

Thank you,

Doug



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