delayed prnting in dos programs

i have a dos program that prints to a dot marix printer.

windows xp does not immediately print, it prints after 20 to 30 seconds or i have to exit the dos program for it to start printing.

what are my options, is there a setting in xp that i can change?The problem here is that dos printing and windows printing have a majour diference..

Windows printing has a distinct setup: Start of Job, Start of Page, Data, End of Page, Start of Page, Data, End of Page, End of job.

Dos has a more liberal setup .. Data, Next page, Data, Next page..

Printing from dos Via windows has a few Advantages, and a few drawbacks.

Advantages VS Disadvantages

Print spooling A few Dos Applications do not properly identify the Out of Papaer signal from the printer and end the job with a dreadedPRINTER ERROR message, Hence with Windows spooling the job, it handles the O.O.P. error and restarts the relevant page..

With Spooling the control returns relevantly quickly back to the application as it does not have to sit and wait for each page Load up, Print and Eject. This gives Dos App the illution of near immidiate printing.

BUT...

This poses the problem of.. End of Job.. Dos apps do not pass this out with the printjob. Windows will automaticaly Append the End of job when either one of these conditions are met.
1) A predetermined timeout expires usualy round 60sec..
2) The Dos Aplication terminates..

There is no real fix here.. best bet is to set your printspooler (Printer properties Advanced Tab) to 'Start Printing Imidiatly'. or to 'Do not Spool printjobs' wich will adversly affect printing responce in other apps..

Gremmy..