Adding OCR Support (SAP Library - BC

Adding OCR Support

If you want to enable OCR printing:

On a new type of printer
For a printer which SAP did not predefine with OCR support

You must add OCR support to the printer definition in the SAP spool system and SAPscript. Do the following:

Check whether the character set specified for the printer contains the correct hexadecimal codes for OCR special characters. This step is only required for OCR-A printing as only the OCR-A character set contains special characters.
Define the print controls that switch OCR printing on and off at the printer.

To add OCR printing support, do the following:

Copy the device type definition of the printer with which you are working. You can skip this step if you are adding a new type of printer to the SAP System.

Use the new device type in all the printer definitions you set up for OCR printing.

Copy the R/3 character set used by the printer. You can skip this step if you are defining a new character set for the printer.

To determine which character set a printer uses, check the device type definition. Choose Tools ® Spool ® Spool administration and then Full administration and then Device types. Double-click a device type. The first character set in the definition is the standard character set.

To copy the character set, start by selecting Tools ® CCMS ® Spool ® Spool administration, Full administration and then Character sets on the Char. sets tab page.

Find the R/3 character set identified in the device type definition with which you are working. Mark the character set with the cursor, choose Change and then Create with reference.

On the following screen, enter a new ID number for the new character set. The number must begin with the number 9. This naming convention protects your character set from conflicting with the standard R/3 character set. You can leave the other specifications on the screen unchanged.

Check whether your new character set uses the correct hexadecimal values for OCR-A printing on your printer. In particular, check the hexadecimal values for the following OCR-A separation characters (for information about how to do this, see Defining Character Sets)

Hook	R/3 character ID 7.
Fork	R/3 character ID 8.
Chair	R/3 character ID 9.

To maintain these special characters, choose Edit character set on the character set maintenance screen. Using the information in your printer manual, enter the correct hexadecimal codes. SAPscript requires these characters for OCR-A printing.

Note: The character set must be suitable for all printing that you want to do with printers of this type:

It must contain the required OCR-A special characters.

The hexadecimal codes for other characters must be compatible with both the standard and OCR printer fonts.

In general, printer OCR character sets are identical to normal character sets except for the special OCR characters.

Maintain the SAPscript Printer font specification for the SAPscript OCR–A or OCR–B font family, as appropriate. The printer font identifies the print control SAPscript is to use to switch the printer to the OCR character set.

On the Spool Administration: Initial Screen, choose Environment ® Font administration and then Printer fonts. Find the device type for your printer and then define entries for Family OCRA and, if required, for OCRB.

For both OCRA and OCRB, specify a Size of 120 and a CPI of 10.

In PrtCtl.1. and PrtCtl.2. enter the print control names you want to use to activate OCR printing in portrait and landscape mode, respectively. The print control name must be of the form SF<nnn>. <nnn> can be any ID number you choose. Each print control name must be unique among those defined for the device type.

Specify values for the OCR print controls you have just selected. The print controls activate the OCR character set. Choose Tools ® Spool ® Spool administration and then Full administration and then Device types. Select a device type, choose Display and then Print controls.

In the SF<nnn> print control, enter the printer command required to switch to the OCR character set or activate OCR printing. You can find these commands in your printer's OCR guide.

You must also maintain:

Any other SF<nnn> print controls defined for the device type. These print controls are issued when OCR printing comes to an end and additional text is to be printed. Check each print control to ensure that it contains the correct printer command to reset the character set and font at the printer. Use the SAPscript printer font maintenance functions to determine which font is associated with which "SF" print control. The character set specification in the "SF" print controls must match the default character set in the device-type definition.

Print controls S4001 , S4004 , and S0000 . Save each of these print controls with an empty Replacement text field. (These print controls provide an alternate way to switch OCR printing on and off.)

First Page of SAP Printing Guide