The Print button from the File Menu brings up the Print Control Panel for controlling hard copy plot generation. The panel supports a variety of printers and file formats through internal drivers.
While the Print Control Panel is visible, Xic is in ``print mode'' where the colors and other attributes of the main drawing window are set to those in force for the current print driver. The print driver is selected with the Format menu in the Print Control Panel.
Each print driver can have its own set of attributes and colors, which can be set from the technology file. Thus colors, fill, etc., can be set to provide best results from the driver. Changing the colors or attributes while in print mode will affect the setting for the current print driver only, and the original setting will be restored when print mode is exited. The settings applied to a driver are remembered the next time the driver is selected in print mode.
If, after setting up print driver-specific attributes and colors, the Save Tech button is used to generate a technology file, the file will contain the driver-specific information.
The driver-specific attributes include all of the settings from the Main Window sub-menu of the Attributes Menu, including all grid settings other than the spacing and snapping values. Grid spacing and snapping values carry over when switching to and from print mode. Individual layer colors, as well as the other attribute colors used in drawing windows, can be set for the driver with the Color Selection panel from the Set Color button in the Attributes Menu. Fill patterns are set with the Fill Pattern Editor, from the Set Fill button. Layer visibility can be set for the driver by clicking with mouse button 2 in the layer table. All of these settings apply only to the current print driver when in print mode, instead of the general screen display as when not in print mode.
Not all attributes will be recognized and used by all print drivers. In particular, the ``line draw'' drivers will typically ignore the fill pattern and simply draw an outline, though the HPGL and Xfig drivers have a means to use predefined fill patterns defined in the specific interface protocol. This can be set up in the technology file by use of the HPGLfilled and XfigFilled keywords, respectively.
When using the Image driver, a No Backg check box will appear above the driver selection menu. When checked, image files produced will use a transparent background, meaning that existing background will show through when the image is used in a document. This applies to PNG and other formats that support this feature. (Qt releazes only)
The temporary file produced may be quite large in some cases. This file is created in the /tmp directory by default. If this directory has insufficient disk space the XIC_TMP_DIR environment variable should be set to a path to a suitable directory.