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Conditional Statements

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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.

The GPD language provides C-like conditional statements that allow you to describe dependencies that some printer attributes can have on a printer's configuration. For example, the margins and cursor origin for a page might depend on the page's orientation. The *Switch and *Case statements allow you to express such dependencies. The format of these statements is as follows:

*Switch FeatureName { *Case Option1_Name { } *Case Option2_Name { } etc. *Case OptionN_Name { } *Default { } }

FeatureName must be the name of a feature that is specified within the GPD file with a *Feature entry. The option names used must be options that are associated with the specified feature.

To express the case in which page margins and cursor origin are dependent on the page's orientation, the following entries could be used:

*Feature: Orientation
{
    *DefaultOption: Portrait
    *Option: Portrait
    {
        *Name: "Portrait"
        *rcIconID: =RC_ICON_PORTRAIT
    }
    *Option: LANDSCAPE_CC90
    {
        *Name: "Landscape"
        *rcIconID: =RC_ICON_LANDSCAPE
    }
}
*Feature: PaperSize
{
    *DefaultOption: Letter
    *Option: Letter
    {
        *Name: "Letter 8.5 x 11 inch"
        *switch: Orientation
        {
            *case: Portrait
            {
                *PrintableArea: PAIR(4800, 6324)
                *PrintableOrigin: PAIR(150, 150)
                *CursorOrigin: PAIR(150,100)
            }
            *case: LANDSCAPE_CC90
            {
                *PrintableArea: PAIR(4860, 6360)
                *PrintableOrigin: PAIR(120, 120)
                *CursorOrigin: PAIR(100,6480)
            }
        }
    }
}

In this example, options for the printer's PaperSize feature are dependent on the selected option for the printer's Orientation feature.

If you do not list all of a feature's options as *Case statement arguments, you can include a *Default statement, just as in the C language. If you do not include all options and you do not include a *Default statement, you must evaluate relevant attributes (in the example, *PrintableArea, *PrintableOrigin, and *CursorOrigin) elsewhere in the GPD file, preceding the *Switch statement.

Specifying Multiple Dependencies

You can include *Switch statements inside *Case and *Default statements. This allows you to specify multiple dependencies, as follows:

*Feature: feature1 {*Option: optionA {...} *Option: optionB {...}}
*Feature: feature2 {*Option: optionC {...} *Option: optionD {...}}
*Feature: feature3 
    {*Option: optionE 
        {*Switch: feature1 
            {*Case: optionA
                 {*Switch: feature2
                     {*Case: optionD
                         {AttributeX: ValueX}
                      *Default
                         {AttributeX: ValueY}
                     }
                 }
             *Default
                  {AttributeX: ValueZ}
             }
         }
    *Option: optionF {...} 
    }

In this example AttributeX, belonging to optionE of feature3, is dependent on both feature1 and feature2.

If the user has selected optionA for feature1, optionD for feature2, and optionE for feature3, then attributeX is set to ValueX.

If the user has selected optionA for feature1, optionC for feature2, and optionE for feature3, then attributeX is set to ValueY.

If the user has selected optionB for feature1 and optionE for feature3, then attributeX is set to ValueZ. The setting for Feature2 is irrelevant.

The following rules apply when specifying multiple dependencies:

  • Multiple dependencies must be specified within the scope of a single *Switch entry. Using the example, for instance, you cannot use a *Switch entry to indicate that feature3 is dependent on feature1 and then, in a subsequent, non-nested *Switch statement, indicate that feature3 is dependent on feature2.

  • You cannot specify the same feature more than once within each nested *Switch entry.

Where to Place a *Switch Statement

You can place a *Switch statement in the following locations within a GPD file:

  • Inside an *Option statement

  • Inside a *Feature statement

  • Inside a *Case statement

  • Inside a *Default statement

  • At the file's top level (that is, not inside a set of braces)

What to Place Inside *Switch, *Case, and *Default Statements

Within a *Switch entry, you can place only *Case and *Default entries.

GPD file entries that can be placed inside *Case or *Default entries are referred to as relocatable entries. The following types of GPD entries are relocatable:

  • Most printer attributes, except for root-level-only attributes. (General attributes must be preceded by EXTERN_GLOBAL unless the *Switch entry is at root level - not within braces.)

  • Nested *Switch entries, which allow you to specify multiple dependencies.

  • *Command entries.

  • *TTFSEnabled?, which enables font substitution.

The following types of GPD entries are not relocatable:

  • Root-level-only attributes.

  • *TTFS entries for specifying substituted font.

  • *Constraints, *InvalidCombination, *InvalidInstallableCombination, *NotInstalledConstraints entries that define invalid combinations of options, as described in Option Constraints.

  • *Feature and *Option entries (although feature attributes and option attributes are relocatable).

One method for determining if entries have been placed correctly inside *Case statements is to remove all the *Switch and *Case statements. If the entries inside the *Case statements are correct, they are still correct after the *Switch and *Case statements are removed.

Ordering of switch statements in a V4 print driver derived from a class driver

The derived v4 printer driver's GPD file needs to follow the same order as the base class driver.

Consider the following scenario. You have a v4 printer driver which is derived from a v4 class driver by setting RequiredClass to the class driver in a *-manifest.ini file.

The class driver's GPD file has the following switch tree:

* Option: A4
    1. Switch: Resolution
* Option: Letter
    1. Switch: Resolution
    2. Switch: InputBin

The derived v4 printer driver wants to add the MarginSetting switch, so its GPD file will have the following switch tree:

* Option: A4
    1. Switch: Resolution
    2. Switch: InputBin
    3. Switch: MarginSetting
* Option: Letter
    1. Switch: Resolution
    2. Switch: InputBin
    3. Switch: MarginSetting

Note that Resolution is set before InputBin in the derived GPD and MarginSetting is set after both. The derived v4 printer driver's GPD file follows the same order as the base class driver's and adds MarginSetting after.

For example, an incorrectly derived GPD file may look like the following:

* Option: A4
    1. Switch: MarginSetting
    2. Switch: InputBin
    3. Switch: Resolution
* Option: Letter
    1. Switch: MarginSetting
    2. Switch: InputBin
    3. Switch: Resolution