---
title: "Deskjet Print Filter"
type: "article"
slug: "deskjet-print-filter"
url: "http://localhost/article/deskjet-print-filter/"
markdown_url: "http://localhost/article/deskjet-print-filter.md"
published_at: "2025-12-18T18:35:52+00:00"
modified_at: "2026-06-21T23:21:28+00:00"
featured_image:
  url: "http://localhost/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/20230809-041332.jpg"
excerpt: "Once I got my DeskJet printer, I wanted to be able to produce nice looking text output. Quill and other word processors support only monospace fonts. The word processors that do support proportional spaced fonts are not real cheap. Being one to write my own print filters, I set myself out to write a print…"
category:
  - name: "QL Hacker's Journal"
    slug: "ql-hackers-journal"
    taxonomy: "category"
    url: "http://localhost/category/periodicals/ql-hackers-journal/"
post_tag:
  - name: "Full Text"
    slug: "fulltext"
    taxonomy: "post_tag"
    url: "http://localhost/tag/fulltext/"
  - name: "QL"
    slug: "ql"
    taxonomy: "post_tag"
    url: "http://localhost/tag/ql/"
  - name: "Superbasic (programming language)"
    slug: "superbasic-programming-language"
    taxonomy: "post_tag"
    url: "http://localhost/tag/superbasic-programming-language/"
model:
  - name: "Sinclair QL"
    slug: "sinclair-ql"
    taxonomy: "model"
    url: "http://localhost/model/sinclair-ql/"
indiv:
  - name: "Tim Swenson"
    slug: "tim-swenson"
    taxonomy: "indiv"
    url: "http://localhost/indiv/tim-swenson/"
publication_r:
  id: 33686
  title: "QL Hacker’s Journal"
  type: "periodical"
  url: "http://localhost/periodical/ql-hackers-journal/"
authors_r:
  - name: "Tim Swenson"
    slug: "tim-swenson"
    taxonomy: "indiv"
    url: "http://localhost/indiv/tim-swenson/"
issue: "23"
issues_articles:
  - id: 61559
    title: "QL Hacker’s Journal 23"
    type: "issue"
    url: "http://localhost/issue/ql-hackers-journal-23/"
pubdate: "January 1996"
archive_link: true
---

# Deskjet Print Filter

Once I got my DeskJet printer, I wanted to be able to produce nice looking text output. Quill and other word processors support only monospace fonts. The word processors that do support proportional spaced fonts are not real cheap. Being one to write my own print filters, I set myself out to write a print filter that will support word wrap and proportional spaced fonts. dj_print is such a printer filter.

I could not find any documentation giving me the physical size of the various characters, so I had to do some testing and a bit of guessing. These numbers are used in an array to add up how big a line is before word wrapping it. I have only done these calculations for 12 pitch, so the program will not work well for other pitches.

Centering of text still needs to be worked on, esp. with different pitch sizes. So this all turns out that the program only supports regular text at 12 pitch and centered text at 14 pitch (for nice headers).

As for the commands that dj_print supports, they are listed in the procedure command. Like my other print filters, dj_print uses dot commands, like .BD. They should be on a line by themselves.

Remember, this code is a project in the works. In other words, it still needs some work, but will pretty much do the job.

```
** DJ Print ssb 2.0
** This version supports proportional fonts


OPEN #5,con_250x150A75x75_32
PAPER #5,4 : INK #5,0 : BORDER #5,7
CLS #5

PRINT #5,"Enter Name of File to Print :"
INPUT #5,"  ";infile$

** Default print size is 12 Point
** Default type is CG Times
**   CG Times       ESC (s1p12v0s0b4101T
**   Univers        ESC (s1p12v0s0b52T
**   Times Roman    ESC (s1p12v0s0b5T
**   Helvetica      ESC (s1p12v0s0b4T

DIM word_array$(30,40)
DIM letter_width(126)

RESTORE
FOR x = 32 TO 126
   READ temp
   letter_width(x) = temp
NEXT x

** Letter Size Data for 12 Point letters
DATA 3.8,5,5.5,12.5,8.3,14.2,14.2,3.8,6.2,6.2,9,14.2
DATA 3.8,5.5,3.8,8.3,8.3,8.3,8.3,8.3,8.3,8.3,8.3,8.3
DATA 8.3,8.3,4.5,4.5,14.2,14.2,14.2,8.3,16.6,12.5,11.1,11.1
DATA 12.5,11.1,10,14.2,14.2,5.5,7.1,12.5,11.1,16.6,12.5,12.5
DATA 10,12.5,12.5,9,11.1,14.2,12.5,14.2,12.5,12.5,12.5,5,8.3
DATA 5,8.3,8.3,3.8,8.3,9,7.1,9,8.3,5.8,7.6,9,4.5,4.5,8.3,4.5

DATA 14.2,9,9,9,9,6.2,6.2,5,9,8.3,14.2,8.3,8.3,7.1,8.3,6.6
DATA 8.3,14.2

OPEN_IN #4,infile$
OPEN #3,ser1

** Set Program Defaults
YES =  1
NO = 0
type$="4101T"
cde = NO
center = NO
margin = 500
line_length = 0

PRINT #3,CHR$(27);"(s1p12v0s0b";type$
PRINT #3,CHR$(27);"&a10L";

REPeat loop

** Get the next line of text
   INPUT #4,in$
   IF EOF(#4) THEN EXIT loop

** If the line is blank then output a CR/LF to end
**   the last paragraph and another LF to create
**   a space between the two paragraphs.
   IF LEN(in$) = 0 THEN
       PRINT #3,CHR$(13)
       PRINT #3,""
       line_length = 0
       END REPeat loop
   END IF

   IF LEN(in$) >=3 AND in$(1) = "." THEN
      command
      END REPeat loop
   END IF

** If the line is to be Centered
   IF center = YES THEN
      word_size = 0
      ** Find out how wide line is
      FOR z = 1 TO LEN(in$)
         word_size=word_size+letter_width(CODE(in$(z)))
      NEXT z
      ** Determine how much to space over line
      temp = INT(((margin - word_size)/2)/3.8)
      ** Print the write number of spaces
      FOR z = 1 to temp
         PRINT #3," ";
      NEXT z
      PRINT #3,in$;CHR$(13)
      END REPeat loop
   END IF

** If the line is Program Code
   IF cde = YES THEN
      ** do no processing on text
      PRINT #3,in$;CHR$(13)
      END REPeat loop
   END IF

   char = 1
   word_count = 1

** Split out all the words in a line into an array.
** Leading spaces and extra spaces between words are
** ignored.
   REPEAT word
      IF char > LEN(in$) THEN EXIT word
      char$ = in$(char)
      ** Take out leading spaces
      IF char$ = " " AND char=1 THEN
         ## If in$ ends in a space
         IF char+1 > LEN(in$) THEN EXIT word
         in$ = in$(char+1 TO )
         char = 1
         END REPEAT word
      END IF
      ** Find end of word by finding the next space
      IF char$ = " " THEN
         word_array$(word_count) = in$(1 TO char-1)
         IF char+1 > LEN(in$) THEN
            in$ = " "
         ELSE
            in$ = in$( char+1 TO )
         END IF
         word_count = word_count + 1
         char = 1
      END IF
      ** Find end of word by the end of the string
      IF char = LEN(in$) THEN
         word_array$(word_count) = in$
         word_count = word_count + 1
         EXIT word         
      END IF
      char = char + 1
   END REPEAT word


** Now go through each word
   FOR x = 1 TO word_count - 1
      word_size = 0
      word$ = word_array$(x)
      FOR z = 1 TO LEN(word$)
         word_size = word_size + letter_width(CODE 
	    (word$(z)))
      NEXT z
      IF line_length + word_size > margin THEN
          PRINT #3,chr$(13)
          line_length = 0
      END IF
      PRINT #3,word$;" ";
     line_length = line_length + word_size + 3.8
   NEXT x


END REPeat loop

PRINT #3,CHR$(27);"&l0H"

CLOSE #3
CLOSE #4
CLOSE #5

DEFine PROCedure command

   cmd$ = in$(1 TO 3)
   ** Page Break
   IF cmd$=".pd" OR cmd$=".PB" THEN PRINT #3,CHR$(12);
   ** Bold
   IF cmd$=".bd" OR cmd$=".BD" THEN PRINT #3,CHR$(27);
      "(s3B";
   IF cmd$=".bo" OR cmd$=".BO" THEN PRINT #3,CHR$(27);
      "(s0B";
   ** Underline (fixed and floating)
   IF cmd$=".ul" OR cmd$=".UL" THEN PRINT #3,CHR$(27);
      "&d1D";
   IF cmd$=".uf" OR cmd$=".UF" THEN PRINT #3,CHR$(27);
      "&d3D";
   IF cmd$=".uo" OR cmd$=".UO" THEN PRINT #3,CHR$(27);
      "&d";CHR$(64);
   ** Italics
   IF cmd$=".it" OR cmd$=".IT" THEN PRINT #3,CHR$(27);
      "(s1S";
   IF cmd$=".io" OR cmd$=".IO" THEN PRINT #3,CHR$(27);
      "(s0S";
   ** Large Letters (14 Point)
   IF cmd$=".lg" OR cmd$=".LG" THEN PRINT #3,CHR$(27);
      "(s1p14v0s0b";type$;

   IF cmd$=".lo" OR cmd$=".LO" THEN PRINT #3,CHR$(27);
      "(s1p12v0s0b";type$;
   ** CG Times
   IF cmd$=".cg" OR cmd$=".CG" THEN
                type$="4101T"
                PRINT #3,CHR$(27);"(s1p12v0s0b";type$;
   END IF
   ** Univers
   IF cmd$=".uv" OR cmd$=".UV" THEN
                type$="52T"
                PRINT #3,CHR$(27);"(s1p12v0s0b";type$;
   END IF
   ** Times Roman
   IF cmd$=".tr" OR cmd$=".TR" THEN
                type$="5T"
                PRINT #3,CHR$(27);"(s1p12v0s0b";type$;
   END IF
   ** Helvetica
   IF cmd$=".hv" OR cmd$=".HV" THEN
                type$="4T"
                PRINT #3,CHR$(27);"(s1p12v0s0b";type$;
   END IF
   ** New Paragraph
   IF cmd$=".pp" OR cmd$=".pp" THEN
                PRINT #3,CHR$(13)
                line_length = 0
   END IF
   IF cmd$=".tb" OR cmd$=".TB" THEN
                ** We hope there is a number after .tb
                tab = in$(5 TO )
                IF tab = 1 THEN
                      PRINT #3,CHR$(9);
                ELSE
                      FOR z = 1 TO tab
                         PRINT #3,CHR$(9);
                      NEXT z
                END IF
   END IF
   ** Center Text
   IF cmd$=".ct" OR cmd$=".CT" THEN center=YES
   IF cmd$=".co" OR cmd$=".CO" THEN center=NO
   ** Program Code
   IF cmd$=".pc" OR cmd$=".PC" THEN
               PRINT #3,CHR$(27);"(s0p10h0s0b3T";
               cde=YES
   END IF
   IF cmd$=".po" OR cmd$=".PO" THEN
               PRINT #3,CHR$(27);"(s1p12v0s0b";type$;
               cde=NO
   END IF

END DEFine command
```