The DFNCHR keyword allows you to define characters of your own design at the file or record level for the 5224 Printer and 5225 Printer. With this keyword you can specify DFNCHR more than once at the file or record level, or as many as 50 characters each time you specify DFNCHR.
The format of the keyword is:
DFNCHR(X'code-point-1' X'dot-matrix-pattern-1' [X'code-point-2' X'dot-matrix-pattern-2'... [X'code-point-50' X'dot-matrix-pattern-50']])
User-defined characters can take up one print position (as in Figure 317) or more than one print position (as in Figure 319 and Figure 322). For each print position, specify a code point and a dot matrix pattern. In the EBCDIC character set, hex C1 is assigned the character A; hex 51 is an unassigned code point (see Selecting Which Code Points to Redefine in Printer Files).
You define a dot matrix pattern in DDS by specifying nine 2-digit pairs of hex digits. You can specify only the characters 0 through 9 and A through F (see Specifying Dots to be Printed in the Dot Matrix in Printer Files).
When your program sends an output operation to a record format for which DFNCHR defines code points different from those defined for the previous output operation, the OS/400 program loads the new definitions, thereby changing the defined characters. This process can slow printing.
If, however, the same DFNCHR keywords are in effect for two output operations in a row, the OS/400 program does not reload code points for the second output operation.
You can use DFNCHR only with SCS printers. It cannot be specified on the same record format with IPDS printer keywords such as COLOR, LPI, and BARCODE. If any format in the file contains a combination of SCS and IPDS printer keywords, the file is not created.
If you specify DFNCHR in a file created with DEVTYPE(*IPDS) or DEVTYPE(*AFPDS), a warning message appears at create time.
You cannot specify DFNCHR on the same record format as the DRAWER keyword. If any format in the file contains DFNCHR at the record-level and a DRAWER keyword, the file is not created.
Option indicators are valid for this keyword.
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