RTC General Information

The ZPL II Field Clock

^FC

command is used to specify the clock‑indicator character for the primary, secondary, and third clocks. This command must be included within each label field command string whenever the date or time clock values are required within the field. No date or time clock information can be printed in a label field unless this command is included. The

^FC

command can now be combined with the

^SN

command in V60.13.0.10 and later.

A clock-indicator can be any printable character except the ZPL II Format Prefix, Control Prefix, or Delimiter characters. The default value for the primary clock-indicator is the percent sign

%

. The secondary and third clock-indicators have no defaults and must be specified in order for that clock to be used.

The Field Data

^FD

command has been expanded to recognize the clock-indicators and associated command characters, and to replace them during the printing process with the corresponding time or date parameter. For example, if the primary clock-indicator is the percent sign

%

, then during printing, the character sequence

%H

in the

^FD

statement would be replaced by the 2-digit current hour.

The name of the day of the week, the name of the month, and the AM or PM designation can also be inserted in place of a specific clock-indicator/command character sequence. This table lists command characters and their functions.

1.

%U

establishes Sunday as the first day of the year.

2.

%W

establishes Monday as the first day of the year.

The Set Offset

^SO

command permits the printing of specific times and dates relative to the primary clock. The secondary (or third) clock is enabled when secondary (or third) offsets are entered using this command. The secondary (or third) clock time and date are determined by adding the offsets to the current clock reading.

One

^SO

command is required to set the secondary offset; an additional

^SO

command is required for a third offset. The offsets remain until changed or until the printer is either powered down or reset.

The Set Mode/Language (see ^SL) command is used to select the language the days of the week and the months are printed in. This command also sets the printing mode, which can be

S

for START TIME,

T

for TIME NOW, or a Numeric Value for the time accuracy. In START TIME mode, the time printed on the label is the time that is read from the Real Time Clock when the label formatting begins (when the

^XA

command is received by the printer). In TIME NOW mode, the time printed on the label is the time that is read from the Real Time Clock when the label is placed in the queue to be printed. In Numeric Value mode, a time accuracy tolerance can be specified.