GoPlot

Most recent release: May 2003

The archive goplot.zip contains the utility (just one executable file!) that can be used to send plot/printfiles to a plotter/printer.

Status:

Alpha, beta, ....., omega (work in progress, never ready just like all the other software on the market :-) )

Commercial: no it is not; I made this for my own use - and it works fine for me. You may use it at your own risk. You are not allowed to make money by selling this program. Nobody but me has distribution rights. The only places where you should be able to find it is where I placed it for download (currently: http://www.noliturbare.com).

Special features:

Smart "Copies by plotter" option for HPGL/2 devices like the HP DesignJets, (new) for Oce 9xxx machines and for PostScript devices - the wanted number of copies is "told" to the device, meaning the file is sent once, rather than n times and the device produces the wanted number of copies from it's memory.

Quality Level removal for HPGL/2 compatible devices - the "QL" command is removed from the plotfile. This means that that you can set the desired quality on the plotter, it is not overridden by the setting that was made in the driver. This is very useful if you get files for simple linedrawings that were produced with a "Best" quality setting in the driver, that would take an unneccesary long time to plot (you want to set Fast on the plotter). Or on the other hand files with large filled areas (solids) that were produced in "Fast" mode and would show banding in the plots (you want to set Best on the plotter).

Note that the HPGL/2 functions are for DesignJets that work in HPGL/2 mode only, not the bare DesignJet 500 (using the PCL3GUI language) or DesignJets that work in PostScript mode.

Note that the PostScript functions are meant for files that are conform the PostScript standard and may not work in the case of PostScript printfiles created by a driver that inserts PJL or other device specific control codes in the PostScript files.

Be careful with the use of the functions described above. When you use them, a modified file is sent to the device. In the case of HPGL/2 the program does a simple search-and-replace for QL in the first x bytes of the plotfile (x can be set between 1 - 700) and PG in the last y bytes of the plotfile (y can be set between 1 - 50). In the case of the PostScript functions, a couple of lines are prepended to the file.

A few queue management functions are accessible in the menu: view the queue, pause/resume printing and clear the queue; actually the same functions as you get when you double click the printer icon (in the system tray or Start - Settings - Printers).

Note that you can run multiple instances of GoPlot. This is a wanted feature (for us) and I have no plans to change it (though it can be done pretty easily) as we sometimes have to send files simultaneously to different plotters / printers from the same machine.

Option to show either the printerport (e,g, "LPT1:", "\\MyServer\ItsPrinterport") or the type of driver (e.g. "HPGL/2", "PCL", "PostScript") in the statusbar. The latter is read from the driverproperties, but note that not all drivers publish this information. In Windows NT or 2000 this information will only be displayed when logged in as Administrator (or with admin rights) (the previous version gave an error message). Also note again that GoPlot does not convert plot- or printfiles, so the information on the type of driver is only relevant for you to confirm that the format of the files you want to send is compatible with the type of printer that you selected. If you use GoPlot with Oce machines, you should know that Oce drivers are only recognized in GoPlot by the name, which should start with "Oce 9". I added this feature to support Oce machines, but for the time being only for the "Copies by plotter" option ("send once plot many").

New features (February/May 2003)

• Added the possibility to order the list alphabetically (up or down), by clicking and shift-clicking on the grey top row of the list
• Added the possibility to manually order the list by dragging filenames up or down (with the little grey cells left of each row)
• Added the option to insert a pause after spooling each file, upon request of a user (Configure Menu)
• (Bug fix, May 2003): right align the file list now works correctly after the number of copies has been entered in the list

Installation:

Simply place the executable in a new program folder (the program could even be run from a diskette - but you probably don't want to do that ...) and make a shortcut. Double click on its icon to start it. You can also drag files to its icon and drop them to start the program. Drag and drop on the program's form is also supported.

The program uses the port of the selected printerdriver; not the driver itself, meaning that the data is not going through the driver again, so the driversettings, other than the port, have no effect. As a matter of fact, to use the program, you need to have a driver installed, but it does not matter which driver, as long as you have set it to the correct port. This may be an LPT port when your printer is connected directly to your PC, or a network path when the printer or plotter is connected to a (print-) server. You should note however that the special HPGL/2 functions and PostScript functions only work when a printerdriver is installed and selected that is recognized as one of these types of drivers. The program reads the type of driver from the driverproperties (if the developer of the driver decided to publish the type of driver). So to use these functions, I recommend that you install and use the proper driver for the device you are using.

Note: set the temp path with menu-item "Configure". It defaults to the program's installation directory. Also make sure that you have plenty of disk space, especially on the disk that is normally used for SPOOLing (by default Windows uses the disk on which Windows is installed).

Note:

This program does NOT write in the Windows registry, nor does it place hidden or other sneaky files anywhere on your system. The only files it writes during operation are 1. an .ini file in the program's directory to store the settings 2. the SPOOL-files (using the Windows SPOOL mechanism, obviously, this is the function of this program), 3. temporary files at the location that you have chosen with "Configure" when you have checked any of the "HPGL/2 devices only" or "PS devices only" options and 4. job files, also at the temp location that you have chosen with "Configure", when you decided to save printjobs. The temp files are simply the modified print/plotfiles that are SPOOLed instead of your original plotfiles.

When you associate the plotfile extension (.plt, .prn, .000, .spl, or whatever) to this program, you can start the program and open the file by double click on a plotfile. I could have arranged this for you in a setup, or in my program, but I don't want to mess around in your system's Registry (I hate that myself with most other programs).

Support:

None, but comments are always welcome (use Contact in my FAQ section). If you want something special, let me know and I'll think about it.

Govert J. Knopper