Compaq DECprint Supervisor (DCPS) for OpenVMS
System Manager's Guide


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7.12 Printing on Unrecognized Printers

The DCPS software automatically obtains a printer's product name before printing jobs. It uses the product name to select and download device control modules that are specific to the particular printer.

If you use the DCPS software with a printer whose product name it does not recognize, the product name defaults to "UNRECOGNIZED" and the supervisor downloads device control modules associated with that name. Although this configuration is unsupported, the modules associated with the unrecognized printer may be sufficient to permit simple printing with that device.

A system manager can also modify the corresponding device control modules as needed without affecting the characteristics of any of the supported printers. By following the comments contained within the LPS$$UNRECOGNIZED modules, along with some knowledge of PostScript and the specifics of the printer, and examination of device control modules for similarly programmed printers (if any), the system manager may be able to get tray and sheet size selection working for the printer.

Note

Your use of an unrecognized printer with DCPS, and any use or modification of the LPS$$UNRECOGNIZED device control modules, is without support or assistance from Compaq Computer Corporation. Further, Compaq makes no commitment to maintain the same contents of or interface to these modules for different versions of DCPS.

Device control modules are located in the following device control library:


  SYS$COMMON:[SYSLIB]DCPS$DEVCTL.TLB 

The device control modules associated with an unrecognized printer are:


  LPS$$UNRECOGNIZED_INITPSDEVICE 
  LPS$$UNRECOGNIZED_SETCONTEXT 
  LPS$$UNRECOGNIZED_SETINPUTTRAY 
  LPS$$UNRECOGNIZED_SETOUTPUTTRAY 

If you modify these modules for a certain printer, you should always place the modified modules in a site-specific device control library (see Section 7.4).


Chapter 8
Creating and Maintaining Form Definitions

You can create form definitions, which users can include in their PRINT command to modify the appearance of a file. A form definition can specify several attributes for a print job, including the type of paper stock on which it is to be printed; the width, length, and margins associated with the paper; whether long text lines are to be truncated or wrapped onto another line; and setup modules to be implicitly sent to the printer.

When users specify an unknown form name in their PRINT command, DECprint Supervisor informs them immediately. In contrast, if they specify an unknown setup module in their PRINT command, DECprint Supervisor does not inform them of the problem until it starts printing the job and needs to access the setup module.

The commands for creating, maintaining, and deleting forms require that you have operator privileges.

8.1 Associating Setup Modules with Forms

To associate a setup module with a form, use the DEFINE/FORM command with the /SETUP qualifier.

Example 8-1 defines a form called CONFIDENTIAL that uses a setup module called PRIVATE.

Example 8-1 Sample Form Definition, CONFIDENTIAL

$  DEFINE/FORM CONFIDENTIAL 101-       /DESCRIPTION="prints the word CONFIDENTIAL on each page"-       /STOCK=DEFAULT-       /SETUP=PRIVATE

When you define a form, you supply the following qualifiers and information:

Note

The existence of the setup module(s) is not checked until the form is used.

8.2 Associating a Form with a Print Queue

If users invoke a setup module frequently, you can associate the setup module with a form, then associate the form with a queue. This method ensures that print jobs submitted to the queue automatically use the setup module. Use the following procedure to associate a form with a queue:

  1. Associate the setup module with the form, as described in Section 8.1.
  2. Associate the form with the execution queue, by editing parameter 5 (p5) in DCPS$STARTUP.COM as follows:
    The following example associates the form called CONFIDENTIAL with an execution queue called XLR8:


    $ @SYS$STARTUP:EXECUTION_QUEUE.COM - 
      XLR8-                    !P1 - Execution queue name 
      "DECNET/XLR8" -          !P2 - Device name 
      DCPS_LIB -               !P3 - Logical name for /LIBRARY 
      "" -                     !P4 - Not used 
      "/FORM_MOUNTED=CONFIDENTIAL/DEFAULT=(FORM=CONFIDENTIAL,NOFEED)" 
                               !P5 - Queue default qualifiers 
    

8.3 Creating Form Definitions for ANSI Files

When you define forms for ANSI files, you can use various qualifiers that affect the page layout. For example, the following command defines the form CENTER to have a top margin of 6 and a left margin of 10:


$ DEFINE/FORM /MARGIN=(TOP=6,LEFT=10) CENTER 3

You can use the qualifiers in Table 8-1 with form defintions for ANSI files only:

Table 8-1 DEFINE/FORM Qualifiers for ANSI Files
This Qualifier ... Does the Following ...
/LENGTH= n Sets the length of each page, in lines.
/MARGIN= keyword= n Sets the margins.

You supply one or more of the following keywords:

  • TOP= n
  • BOTTOM= m
  • RIGHT= y
  • LEFT= z

To supply more than one margin keyword, enclose the list in parentheses, as in:

/MARGIN=(TOP=
n,BOTTOM=
m)

/PAGE_SETUP= module Applies a page setup module to each page in the job.
/[NO]TRUNCATE Truncates long lines that do not fit in the page width.
/WIDTH= n Sets the width of the page in columns or characters.
/[NO]WRAP Wraps lines wider than the page to the next line.

Notes:

8.4 Displaying Forms and Their Attributes

You can display the forms that already exist on your system with the following command:


$ SHOW QUEUE/FORM

The form definitions display as follows:


Form name                            Number   Description 
---------                            ------   ----------- 
A4_12 (stock=PLAIN_PAPER)              1129   A4 12-Pitch with margins 
A4_LPT_GRAY (stock=PLAIN_PAPER)        1118   A4 DP line printer with gray bars 
A4_LPT_PLAIN (stock=PLAIN_PAPER) 
                                       1119   A4 Plain DP line printer format 
BOOT_CHART (stock=DEFAULT)               37   BOOT_CHART 
BSS$LANDSCAPE (stock=DEFAULT)          3301   BSS Specific Landscape 
BSS$PORTRAIT (stock=DEFAULT)           3302   BSS Specific Portrait 

You can display the attributes of a form using the SHOW QUEUE/FORM/FULL command. For example, this command displays the attributes of DCPS$DEFAULT:


$ SHOW QUEUE/FORM/FULL DCPS$DEFAULT


Form name                            Number   Description 
---------                            ------   ----------- 
DCPS$DEFAULT (stock=DEFAULT)           1115   DCPS default 
    /LENGTH=66 /STOCK=DEFAULT /TRUNCATE /WIDTH=80 

8.5 Deleting a Form

Use the DELETE/FORM command to delete a form definition from the system's form table. The format of this command is as follows:


$ DELETE/FORM form-name

In the command line, you supply form-name, which is the name assigned to the form you are using.

Before you use the DELETE/FORM command, execute the SHOW QUEUE/FULL/ALL command. References to a form can exist as an attribute of an active print queue or as a qualifier to a print request. If you try to delete a form that has outstanding references, you are notified of the condition, and the form is not deleted. (Refer to Appendix A.)

8.6 Using the Default ANSI Form Definition

If users omit a form definition in their PRINT command, but supply one of the following qualifiers, DECprint Supervisor links the default form definition DCPS$DEFAULT with the ANSI file.
/HEADER
/SPACE
/PARAMETERS=[NO]TAB


Chapter 9
Charging Users for Printer Resources

This chapter describes the accounting information that is supplied to the OpenVMS accounting files by the DECprint Supervisor software.

The OpenVMS Accounting Utility reads information about the use of system resources from the file SYS$MANAGER:ACCOUNTING.DAT. The DECprint Supervisor software records information in this file about printer usage. For information about the OpenVMS Accounting Utility, see the OpenVMS System Management Utilities Reference Manual.

9.1 Accounting Information Supplied by the DECprint Supervisor Software

The print symbiont supplies the following information in the accounting file for each print job:

When a print job has been completed successfully, the print symbiont sends a request to the job controller to insert certain accounting data fields into the accounting log file. For successful jobs and jobs terminated by the DELETE/ENTRY command, the accounting file also includes the following message:


%SYSTEM-S-NORMAL, normal successful completion

If the print job terminates abnormally, the information the print symbiont supplies in the accounting log may be incomplete. To filter out such jobs, count only the jobs that receive the successful completion status message. Any of the following may cause the job to terminate abnormally:

9.2 Accounting Information Supplied by the Job Controller

The job controller supplies the following information in the accounting file for print jobs:

9.2.1 Accounting Fields Left Blank by the Job Controller

The job controller fills the following fields with blanks in the accounting file for print jobs:

9.2.2 Accounting Fields Filled with Zeros by the Job Controller

The job controller fills the following fields with zeros in the accounting file for print jobs:

9.3 Accuracy of DCPS Page Counts

The page count reported by DCPS in the accounting file and on the DCPS trailer page relies on information returned by the printer. Some printers do not report accurate information, due to different methods for:

For the page count reported by DCPS to be correct, the printer must count physical sheets interpreted by the printer. All Compaq, DIGITAL and GENICOM printers supported by DCPS, except those noted below, adhere to this requirement and so send the proper information to DCPS.

No other printer is guaranteed to supply correct accounting information. In addition, these Compaq and DIGITAL printers do not supply correct accounting information:

Compaq Laser Printer LN20
Compaq Laser Printer LN40
Compaq Laser Printer LNC02
DIGITAL Laser Printer LNC02

9.4 Compatibility with Mechanical Page Counters

The PrintServer printers have mechanical page counters.

The mechanical page counter is different from the counter accessible through the PostScript pagecount operator.

Under normal use, the totals of both counters increase at a similar rate, but there can be a significant difference between them. Print engine test pages, initiated with the test button on the printer, are recorded on the mechanical counter but not on the PostScript counter. Also, replacing components can affect the counters. For example, replacing the nonvolatile memory of the controller resets the PostScript counter, but it does not affect the mechanical counter.

Because the counters record different events, they should be used for different purposes:


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