Absolute positioning means being able to start printing at any point on a piece of paper by specifying that point.
Use of absolute positioning requires the Advanced Function Presentation™ data stream. This is obtained on i5/OS by specifying *AFPDS on the device type (DEVTYPE) parameter of the printer file.
Inches or centimeters are the measurement methods available. You choose the measurement method by specifying *INCH or *CENT on the unit of measure (UOM) parameter of the printer file.
The following shows DDS coding using the absolute method of positioning.
000100911101 R LABEL PAGSEG(LOGO 1.5 1) 000200911101 BOX(1 1 5 4 *MEDIUM) 000300911101 BOX(1.5 4 2 4.5 *NARROW) 000400911101 NAME 25A O POSITION(1.3 1.6) 000500911101 ADDR1 25A O POSITION(1.5 1.6) 000600911101 CITY 15A O POSITION(1.7 1.6) 000700911101 STATE 2A O POSITION(1.7 2.7) 000800911101 ZIPCD 5S 0O POSITION(1.7 3) 000900911101 BARCODE(POSTNET *HRITOP) f01000911101 TEXT 20A O TXTRTT(270) 000800911101 POSITION(1.9 .25) 001100911101 FONT(5687 (*POINTSIZE 6))
In this example, a page segment called LOGO is specified to start printing at 1.5 units down and 1 unit in. The TEXT record (Made in the USA) is supplied by the application program. The UOM parameter value (*INCH or *CM) of the printer file determines which unit of measurement is used.
The following figure shows the output achieved using absolute positioning. This figure highlights the additional features that absolute positioning provides by using boxes (indicating where the stamp goes) and page segments (the pencil-type logo).