Comments and ignored blocks

Important

The modern print platform is Windows' preferred means of communicating with printers. We recommend that you use Microsoft's IPP inbox class driver, along with Print Support Apps (PSA), to customize the print experience in Windows 10 and 11 for printer device development.

For more information, see Modern print platform and the Print support app design guide.

GPD files can contain comments. The format for a comment is as follows:

*% CommentString

where CommentString is any string of characters ending with a line terminator. Each line of a multiline comment must begin with the *% character sequence. The *% sequence must be preceded by white space or a line break.

The following are examples of valid comments:

*% This section of the GPD file
*% contains macro definitions.
*Macros: HP4L
{
    *% These macros define command prefixes for the paper size feature.
    LetterCmdPrefix: "<1B>&l2a8c1E<1B>*p0x0Y"  *% Prefix for letter option.
    A4CmdPrefix: "<1B>&l26a8c1E<1B>*p0x0Y"     *% Prefix for A4 option.
    Env10CmdPrefix: "<1B>&l81a8c1E<1B>*p0x0Y"  *% Prefix for Env10 option.
}

To request the GPD parser to ignore a group of GPD entries, you can create an ignored block that contains the entries to be ignored. The format for an ignored block is as follows:

*IgnoreBlock { IgnoredEntries }

where IgnoredEntries is a set of GPD file entries, containing an equal number of left and right braces.

In the following example, the GPD parser ignores the GPD entries describing the LANDSCAPE_CC90 option.

*Feature: Orientation
{
    *Name: "Orientation"
    *DefaultOption: Portrait
    *Option: Portrait
    {
        *Name: "Portrait"
        *Command: CmdSelect
        {
            *Order: DOC_SETUP.7
            *Cmd: "<1B>&l0O"
        }
    }
*IgnoreBlock
{
    *Option: LANDSCAPE_CC90
    {
        *Name: "Landscape"
        *Command: CmdSelect
        {
            *Order: DOC_SETUP.7
            *Cmd: "<1B>&l1O"
        }
    }
}
}