Enabling Support for Color in PCL XL Minidrivers

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.

Developing a GPD file for color PCL XL is similar to developing a GPD file for monochrome PCL XL. The main differences are described in this topic. The sample GPD entries presented here might need to be modified appropriately for your device.

• The GPD file must specify that the device is color.

  That is, the GPD file must contain a ColorMode standard feature. Note that the current implementation of PCL XL supports only 24 bits-per-pixel color. The following example shows a ColorMode feature that has two *Option entries: Mono and 24bpp color.

*Feature: ColorMode
{
    *rcNameID: =COLOR_PRINTING_MODE_DISPLAY
    *DefaultOption: 24bpp
    *Option: Mono
    {
        *rcNameID: =MONO_DISPLAY
        *DevNumOfPlanes: 1
        *DevBPP: 24
        *DrvBPP: 24
        *Color? : FALSE
        *PaletteSize: 1
        *PaletteProgrammable? : TRUE
        *Command: CmdDefinePaletteEntry { *Cmd: "" }
    }
    *Option: 24bpp
    {
        *rcNameID: =24BPP_DISPLAY
        *DevNumOfPlanes: 1
        *DevBPP: 24
        *DrvBPP: 24
        *PaletteSize: 256
        *PaletteProgrammable? : TRUE
        *Command: CmdDefinePaletteEntry { *Cmd: "" }
    }
}

• Some commands might need to be changed for color printing.

  For example, if the GPD file allows the user to choose between printing color and monochrome (as in the previous example), the page setup command will be dependent on whether the user is printing in monochrome or in color. In this case the CmdStartPage command (see Printer Configuration Commands) must be placed within a *Switch: ColorMode statement, as in the following example. (Note that the number 4 in the *Order: PAGE_SETUP.4 command attribute may need to be modified, depending on your GPD file and device.) For more information about the PAGE_SETUP syntax, see Command Execution Order.

*Switch: ColorMode
{
  *Case: Mono
  {
    *Command: CmdStartPage
    {
    *Order: PAGE_SETUP.4
    *Cmd: =real32_xy "<0000803f><0000803f>" =attr_ubyte =PageScale =SetPageScale
+         =ubyte =eGray =attr_ubyte =ColorSpace =SetColorSpace
    }
  }
  *Case: 24bpp
  {
    *Command: CmdStartPage
    {
    *Order: PAGE_SETUP.4
    *Cmd: =real32_xy "<0000803f><0000803f>" =attr_ubyte =PageScale =SetPageScale
+         =ubyte =eRGB =attr_ubyte =ColorSpace =SetColorSpace
    }
  }
}

• Some commands or information in your GPD that cater to monochrome devices may need to be removed or modified.

  For example, if you modify the p6sample.gpd sample GPD file to add color information, you might want to remove the *Feature: Dither customized feature or constrain it so that it is used only when printing in monochrome mode.