Print jobs that are not ASCII text files should be printed as ``Byte Stream'' files. ASCII text files may be printed as ``Text'' files. The difference between these two types is whether tab conversion is enabled.
Tab conversion means that as a job is printed, a tab character is replaced by a specified number of spaces. Tab conversion takes place if ``File contents'' is set to ``Text'' in the print job configuration or if ``Tabs'' is set in the CAPTURE command.
If the jobs to be printed are ASCII text files, the ``File contents'' should be set to ``Text''. ``Tab size'' can then be set to 1 through 18. This is the number of spaces that will be substituted for each full tab that is encountered. This is set in the CAPTURE command using the T= parameter.
For example, to set the tab conversion to
6 spaces, the command is as follows:
CAPTURE T=6
Any job that is not an ASCII text file should be printed with ``File contents'' set to ``Byte Stream''. This is because tab conversion usually causes graphics to be printed incorrectly. Text from most word processors is printed as graphics.
``Byte Stream'' is the default setting. It can
be manually set in the CAPTURE command using
the NT (No Tabs) parameter. The command is
as follow:
CAPTURE NT
To determine if a file is an ASCII
text file, the DOS TYPE command can be
used to look at it. For example, the
syntax for checking the AUTOEXEC.BAT
file is as follows:
TYPE AUTOEXEC.BAT
If the file can be read properly when it is displayed, it is probably an ASCII text file.
Another way to determine this is to try printing the file. If the file contains tabs, yet prints out legibly and in the proper format, it is an ASCII text file.
If you have determined that the job is text, yet it will not print properly with ``File contents: Text'' (or T=<1 through 18> in the CAPTURE command), change the setting to ``File contents: Byte Stream'' (or NT in the CAPTURE command.)