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HP OpenVMS Systems Documentation
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HP DECprint Supervisor (DCPS) for OpenVMS

User's Guide

Order Number: AA--PSVFK--TE

January 2005

This guide describes how to use the DECprint Supervisor software to print files and select DCPS and printer features.

Revision/Update Information: This manual supersedes the User's Guide V2.3.

Software Version: HP DECprint Supervisor (DCPS) for OpenVMS, Version 2.4

Operating System: OpenVMS Alpha Version 6.2, 7.3-2, or 8.2
OpenVMS I64 Version 8.2
OpenVMS VAX Version 5.5-2, 6.2, or 7.3



Hewlett-Packard Company Palo Alto, California

© Copyright 2005 Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P.

Confidential computer software. Valid license from HP required for possession, use or copying. Consistent with FAR 12.211 and 12.212, Commercial Computer Software, Computer Software Documentation, and Technical Data for Commercial Items are licensed to the U.S. Government under vendor's standard commercial license.

The information contained herein is subject to change without notice. The only warranties for HP products and services are set forth in the express warranty statements accompanying such products and services. Nothing herein should be construed as constituting an additional warranty. HP shall not be liable for technical or editorial errors or omissions contained herein.

Adobe, Adobe PostScript 3 and PostScript are trademarks of Adobe Systems Incorporated.

Intel and Itanium are trademarks or registered trademarks of Intel Corporation or its subsidiaries in the United States and other countries.

Microsoft and Windows are U.S. registered trademarks of Microsoft Corporation.

UNIX is a registered trademark of The Open Group.

Printed in the U.S.

The DECprint Supervisor documentation set is available on CD-ROM.

Contents Index

Preface

Intended Audience

The information in this guide is intended for users at all levels of experience. It contains step-by-step procedures for most printing tasks.

Document Structure

This manual contains the following chapters and appendices:

  • Chapter 1 explains how to print files.
  • Chapter 2 describes how to display the status of print jobs and print queues.
  • Chapter 3 explains how to specify input and output trays for your print job.
  • Chapter 4 describes printing PostScript files.
  • Chapter 5 describes printing ANSI files.
  • Chapter 6 describes printing DDIF image files.
  • Chapter 7 describes printing PCL files.
  • Chapter 8 describes printing Proprinter files.
  • Chapter 9 explains how to print with the LIST data type.
  • Chapter 10 describes using advanced page layouts.
  • Chapter 11 explains how to use layup.
  • Chapter 12 explains how to use forms.
  • Chapter 13 explains how to use setup modules.
  • Chapter 14 describes specifying file separation pages.
  • Chapter 15 describes how to select finishing options.
  • Chapter 16 explains using the error handler to debug problems.
  • Chapter 17 describes how to troubleshoot printing errors.
  • Chapter 18 provides information about using DCPS with specific printers.
  • Appendix A describes system messages issued by DCPS.
  • Appendix B lists PRINT command qualifiers used for controlling print jobs.
  • Appendix C lists PRINT command parameters used for specifying DCPS features and options.
  • Appendix D describes SoftFont fonts.
  • Appendix E discusses using encoding vectors.
  • Glossary explains DCPS-related terms.

Related Documents

The primary source of information about DCPS is the following set of software manuals:

Table 1 DECprint Supervisor Documentation
Software Installation Guide Describes how to install DCPS.
System Manager's Guide Describes how system managers, data center operators and application programmers can create and manage DCPS print queues and solve printing problems.
User's Guide Describes how to use DCPS to print to PostScript® printers.
Software Product Description (SPD 44.15.xx) Contains the full list of printers supported by DCPS and additional information about the features and requirements of DCPS V2.4.

For additional information about HP OpenVMS products and services, visit the following World Wide Web address: 


    http://www.hp.com/go/openvms/

Reader's Comments

HP welcomes your comments on this manual. Please send comments to either of the following addresses:

Internet openvmsdoc@hp.com
Mail Hewlett-Packard Company
OSSG Documentation Group, ZKO3-4/U08
110 Spit Brook Road
Nashua NH 03062-2698

How to Order Additional Documentation

For information about how to order additional documentation, visit the following World Wide Web address: 


    http://www.hp.com/go/openvms/doc/order/

Part numbers for DCPS-related documentation are listed in the Ordering Additional Documentation appendix of the Software Installation Guide, System Manager's Guide and User's Guide.

Conventions

The following conventions are used in this manual:

Ctrl/ x A sequence such as Ctrl/ x indicates that you must hold down the key labeled Ctrl while you press another key or a pointing device button.
[Return] In examples, a key name enclosed in a box indicates that you press a key on the keyboard. (In text, a key name is not enclosed in a box.)

In the HTML version of this document, this convention appears as brackets, rather than a box.

... A horizontal ellipsis in examples indicates one of the following possibilities:
  • Additional optional arguments in a statement have been omitted.
  • The preceding item or items can be repeated one or more times.
  • Additional parameters, values, or other information can be entered.
( ) In command format descriptions, parentheses indicate that you must enclose choices in parentheses if you specify more than one.
[ ] In command format descriptions, brackets indicate optional choices. You can choose one or more items or no items. Do not type the brackets on the command line. However, you must include the brackets in the syntax for OpenVMS directory specifications and for a substring specification in an assignment statement.
| In command format descriptions, vertical bars separate choices within brackets or braces. Within brackets, the choices are optional; within braces, at least one choice is required. Do not type the vertical bars on the command line.
{ } In command format descriptions, braces indicate required choices; you must choose at least one of the items listed. Do not type the braces on the command line.
bold text This typeface represents the introduction of a new term. It also represents the name of an argument, an attribute or a reason.
italic text Italic text indicates important information, complete titles of manuals or variables. Variables include information that varies in system output (Internal error number), in command lines (/PRODUCER= name) and in command parameters in text (where dd represents the predefined code for the device type).
UPPERCASE TEXT Uppercase text indicates a command, the name of a routine, the name of a file, or the abbreviation for a system privilege.
Monospace text Monospace type indicates code examples and interactive screen displays.
- A hyphen at the end of a command format description, command line or code line indicates that the command or statement continues on the following line.
numbers All numbers in text are assumed to be decimal unless otherwise noted. Nondecimal radixes---binary, octal or hexadecimal---are explicitly indicated.

Chapter 1
Printing Files

1.1 Overview

To print files, you need to do the following:

  1. Issue the PRINT command
  2. Specify the name of the print queue
  3. Add any command qualifiers you want
  4. Include the name of the file you want to print

For example: 


    $ PRINT /QUEUE=MYPRINTER /PARAMETER=DATA_TYPE=POSTSCRIPT SUMMER.PS

This example specifies:

  • Queue name (MYPRINTER)
  • PostScript data type
  • File name (SUMMER.PS)

The following sections show you some of the techniques you can use to print custom documents.

1.2 Selecting a Data Type

To specify the data type of your print job, use the /DATA_TYPE=parameter qualifier. For example: 


    $ PRINT /QUEUE=MYPRINTER /PARAMETER=DATA_TYPE=ASCII

You can choose from any of the following data type parameters:

ASCII
ANSI
DDIF
List
PCL
PostScript
Proprinter
ReGIS
Tek4014

For more information about the various data types, see Chapters 4 through Chapter 9.

If you try to print to a printer model unsupported by DCPS, the printer is classified as an "unrecognized" printer and while printing is attempted, it may not be successful.

DCPS has a "generic HP" class of printer to help in printing to new HP printer models. When printing to an HP printer not recognized by DCPS, a set of paper sizes, tray names and commands to select those trays, known to work with HP printers, are used. Therefore, features not available with an "unrecognized" printer are probably available with an "generic HP" printer. These features include tray selection and use of the printer's native PCL interpreter.

1.3 Printing Two-Sided Documents

Some PostScript printers can print on two sides of each sheet of paper, also known as duplex printing. You can print a document on both sides of the paper if you include the SIDES=2 parameter in the PRINT command.

For example: 


    $ PRINT /PARAMETERS=SIDES=2 MYFILE.PS

If the printer does not support two-sided printing, your print job is terminated and the following message is displayed: 


    DCPS-E-DPLXNOSUP, printer-name does not support duplex printing

See Figure 1-1 for an example of a two-sided document.

Figure 1-1 Two-Sided Printing

1.4 Specifying Landscape and Portrait Orientation

To specify the page orientation, use the PAGE_ORIENTATION parameter with either the PORTRAIT or LANDSCAPE keyword. For example: 


    $ PRINT /PARAMETERS=PAGE_ORIENTATION=LANDSCAPE MYFILE.TXT

Note
Do not use this parameter with PostScript and DDIF files because these types of files already contain printing instructions that include orientation. If you include the PAGE_ORIENTATION parameter for these types of files, your specification is ignored and the print job is printed following the instructions in the file.

Figure 1-1 shows pages printed in portrait orientation. For advanced methods of printing documents, see Chapter 10.

Figure 1-2 shows a page printed in landscape orientation.

Figure 1-2 Landscape Orientation

1.5 Specifying Multiple Copies

To make multiple copies of a file, use any of the following commands:

  • PRINT/JOB_COUNT=n
    Prints the entire job n times.
  • PRINT/COPIES=n
    Prints each file n times.
  • PRINT/PARAMETERS=SHEET_COUNT=n
    Prints each sheet of the print job n times. Copies are not collated, unless you print to the COLLATOR tray of a printer that has such a tray.
    The SHEET_COUNT parameter allows you to print multiple copies of each sheet of paper in the print job. This method of making copies will save print job processing time. With /COPIES or /JOB_COUNT, the print files must be processed each time they are printed. With the SHEET_COUNT parameter, each sheet is duplicated n times after the data on the page has been processed once by the software.

1.6 Printing Multiple Pages on Each Side of the Sheet

You can print more than one page on each side of a sheet of paper. This technique saves paper and can also be used to provide customized printed documents. For example, you can print four pages on each side of a sheet, as shown in Figure 1-3.

Use the NUMBER_UP parameter in the PRINT command to specify the number of pages to print on each side of a sheet of paper. For example: 


    $ PRINT /PARAMETERS=NUMBER_UP=4 MYFILE.PS

To fit multiple pages on a side, the DECprint Supervisor software changes the size of the logical pages in the document to fit in the area on the physical sheet. This change does not affect the relationship of the page height to the page width.

Figure 1-3 Printing Four Pages to a Sheet (NUMBER_UP =4)

1.7 Printing a Range of Pages

You can print a specific page or range of pages in a print job. This feature may be useful, for example, when you continue a large print job that was terminated in the middle of printing.

To print only a specific range of pages from the print job, include the PAGE_LIMIT parameter in the PRINT command. Include one or two page numbers to specify the range of pages. For example, to print only the 50th through the 100th page of a print job, enter the following command: 


    $ PRINT /PARAMETERS="PAGE_LIMIT=(50,100)" MYFILE.PS

Note
Quotation marks are required when the parameter value contains a comma, as in this PAGE_LIMIT parameter.

The pages you specify do not correspond to the page numbers in the document. They represent the number of pages that have been printed. You can print the last portion of this same document by using the following command: 


    $ PRINT /PARAMETERS="PAGE_LIMIT=(50,)" MYFILE.PS

This command instructs the DECprint Supervisor software to start printing at the 50th page in the document, and continue to the end of the document.

You can print the first part of a document by using the following command: 


    $ PRINT /PARAMETERS=PAGE_LIMIT=50 MYFILE.PS

This command instructs the DECprint Supervisor software to print the first 50 pages of the document.

When you use the PAGE_LIMIT parameter, your print job completes when the upper-limit value is reached. Therefore, if you specify the PAGE_LIMIT parameter and do not print to the end of the file, you do not get a file trailer page for the file that was cut off. The rest of the data for that file and for any subsequent files for that print job is ignored.

The maximum PAGE_LIMIT value, for either the starting or ending page, is 999999.

1.8 Delays in Deleting an Entry or Stopping a Queue

If DCPS has problems communicating with a printer when processing a STOP/QUEUE/NEXT or DELETE/ENTRY request, it may take several minutes before DCPS considers the request completed. Eventually, however, it will stop waiting for a response from the printer that the current job has been cancelled.

1.9 File Formats

If you are copying your file from a system running another operating system to an OpenVMS system and then printing it, the resulting file must have one of the OpenVMS file formats listed in Table 1-1.

Table 1-1 File Formats
OpenVMS Record Format Record Attributes
Stream Any
Variable length None
Undefined Any
Fixed format None
Indexed Any
Relative Any
1Acceptable for files with binary data

Note


When you copy files with binary data, such as images and fonts, make sure you copy the file in binary mode. For example, use binary mode in FTP or use COPY /B from a Windows® system.

DCPS allows you to print files that utilize an indexed, relative or sequential file organization.

Indexed and relative files are accessed sequentially, by their primary index and relative record number respectively. This is consistent with the TYPE command.

Note
Indexed and relative files frequently contain binary data. Attempting to print files containing such unprintable binary data can give unpredictable and probably undesirable results.

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