Chapter 6 Printer Definition Files

Host Print Service lets you specify the capabilities of a printer to override the defaults provided by the Windows NT printer driver.

By default, jobs submitted by Host Print Service to a Windows NT print queue rely on the printer's Windows NT driver to send to the physical printer the data required to perform such formatting tasks as breaking lines and starting a new page.

Applications that bypass the formatting function of the Windows NT printer driver can use codes specified in a printer definition file to control the physical printer for a particular printer session under Host Print Service. To use the file, open the properties page of the printer session, click the Printing tab, select PDT, and then type the fully qualified path of the file in the box. For more information about using the PDT file, click Help on the printer session properties dialog box.

Creating a printer definition file consists of two steps: First, you create a source text file that defines the codes that can be used to control the printer. Second, you run a program to compile the information in the text file into a binary file that can be used by Host Print Service.