Note : ; About PJL ; Printer language switching - Page 208

2001/10/02 

CHAPTER 5 PJL - 4 

1. 

INTRODUCTION 

1.1. 

About PJL 

Printer Job Language(PJL) provides job status control by sending the printer status information to the 
application.  PJL can be a valuable tool for the single-user environment, but is a much more useful tool for the 
networking / sharing environment. 

PJL allows job-level control that cannot be accomplished with PCL, Postscript or other emulations.  PJL 
includes five major features. 

(1)  

Printer language switching 

With PJL, it is possible to switch positively between the printer languages such as PCL, Postscript, Epson, 
IBM and Diablo directly from applications. 

(2)  

Printer status readback 

PJL can provide information such as printer model, configuration, printer feature setting, error information and 
other status information to the application. 

(3)  

Front panel control 

PJL can remotely control the printer's control panel settings and messages. 

(4)  

Easy of utilization 

All PJL commands except the 

UEL

 command have a user-friendly construction using printable characters and 

English words.   

(5)  

Spooler control 

PJL provides an improved spooler which can manage the printer better,  particularly in a network environment. 

Note : 

The commands for Printer status readback or Front panel control can be invoked in modes other than PCL 
or BR-Script.  However,  the commands for printer status readback get the information from PCL or BR-
Script  and the commands for front panel control perform the settings for PCL or BR-Script. 

Printer

PJL

Emulations ( BR-Script, 

PCL, IBM, EPSON etc... )