Software Solutions to enhance AS400 Printing

iSeries® spool file printing can be accomplished with an outq or a device description. The spool file type can determine which is the required option for the AS400 printer configuration. SCS and AFPDS files can be printed using a remote outq. IPDS spool files require a device description. Using a remote outq with AFPDS spool files is dependent upon a compatible printer emulation being supported with the Host Print Transform.

RPM Preserves SCS Formatting and AS400 Finishing Functions

RPM takes AS400 print files and gives you full control over the AS400 printer finishing functions. RPM also allows you to easily print AS400 page ranges, reduces the CPU time, and gives you the ability to automatically archive and email all your AS400 print files. Download and try RPM for 21 days free.

ExcelliPrint Prints AS400 IPDS Files to Any Windows Printer

ExcelliPrint is software installed on Windows allowing you to receive the AS400 IPDS/AFPDS file on your Windows printer, desktop or networked. Once ExcelliPrint receives the file, it can also be converted into PDF format or archived to a print history location or folder. Download and try ExcelliPrint for 21 days free.

AS400 printer configuration: Queues and Objects

Both AS400 printer configurations have print writer objects and output queues. One of the differences is the spool file will be directed to the outq name instead of the printer name. Another difference is a remote outq uses the LPR protocol which defaults to port 515. A device supports three system driver options, IBMPJLDRV, HPPJLDRV and NETSTNDRV.

Both the patterns (lines, squares, dots, etc.) and spacing’s constitute the data encodation schema.

AS400 Barcode Printing with ExcelliPrint IPDS

Various IPDS printers support various barcodes dependent upon the printer
model. ExcelliPrint supports 3812, 3816, and 4028 IPDS printer emulation.

ExcelliPrint can archive barcode spool files in various formats including pdf, gif, tif, and bmp.

ExcelliPrint currently supports all barcodes except 2D barcodes and converts IPDS spool files to a “Windows Print Driver” format which will support printing barcodes to most PC capable printers.

Barcode Printing with RPM (for non-IPDS files)

If the data stream is preformatted in the appropriate printer language for the printer and the printer supports barcodes, an RPM “Raw Printer” action will meet the requirement of barcode printing.

Print Barcodes to your Existing Printers

We have provided AS400 and mainframe barcode printing solutions for over 10 years. Both are able to print barcodes on most printers. AS400 and mainframe barcode printing can be streamlined and affordable by using RPM and ExcelliPrint. With RPM, to do barcodes, the files must be preformatted and printed by RPM with the raw printer action.

RPM converts *SCS, *USERASCII, and *LINE into formats such as PDF and HTML, or printer-ready PCL 5e.

Benefits to using RPM for AS400 to PDF Conversion

• RPM saves money in paper and AS400 printer costs.
• Automatically create an AS400 print file archive.
• Send AS400 PDF files via email.
• Use your desktop printers to print the converted PDF files.
• Save money and resources with converting AS400 files into PDF.
• Have a complete record of all AS400 print files at the end of the day.

RPM supports AS400 text printing features including fonts, margins, line wrap and orientation. RPM can pass AS400 spool files
directly to a printer without modification, open it in another Windows application, or save the file to disk in plain text, PDF, or HTML format.

COR (Character Output Reduction) can be applied to the PDF conversion. Automatically formats the document to landscape or portrait orientation. Eliminating multiple queues or user intervention

The RPM Remote Print Manager “Text Queue” can apply any and all the finishing functions that the print driver supports to the report.

Text printing allows RPM to adapt text to any Windows printer using the print driver. The ability to handle many text formats intelligently, while providing a simple interface, has been a key reason for administrators and other IT professionals to make the switch from their existing print server to RPM.

Flexible Finishing Functions for AS400 Spool Files

• Select the printer and the setup
• Margins, both soft margins set by the user and printer margins
• Control the font
• Wrap or truncate lines
• Show bold & overstrike
• Suppress banner pages
• Suppress blank pages

RPM can accept print jobs from an iSeries and print the file to ANY printer that can be seen in the Windows print manager. This way you do not have to purchase extra hardware, add maintenance fee’s, or deploy extra upkeep and upgrades. RPM installs in seconds and and you can be receiving and printing your iSeries print jobs in minutes… right on your PC attached printer!

IPDS Watermark: merge form and graphic

1. iSeries™ or zSeries® generates a file (AFPDS, IPDS, SCS) and the PSF 400 converts the file to IPDS
2. The file is sent via TCP/IP to a Windows PC with ExcelliPrint installed
3. ExcelliPrint merges the IPDS file with the Watermark or graphical overlay
4. ExcelliPrint creates a PDF file
5. You can send this PDF file to your locally attached printer, network printer, or write to disk

Recent related printing overlay searches: printer overlays, as400 tif afp, as400 overlays, iseries forms overlay

1. Prompts the user for the name of the OUTQ (printer) they want to use
2. Automatically obtains their IP Address.
3. Notifies the user that the OUTQ’s IP address is being updated.
4. Updates the OUTQ they provided with their IP address.
5. Prompts them to update another OUTQ.

This CL program may be used and modified for your needs. It is possible to modify the program to eliminate user interaction and perform the OUTQ update automatically. This program can be placed in the user’s profile to run at the time of login.

When printing from the AS/400 through RPM AS400 Print Manager (Print Server) or ExcelliPrint IPDS Printing Software, many new AS/400 (iSeries® System i5) printing features are opened.

Format AS400 printed text / finishing functions

When printing to the PC network printer from the AS/400 using the Hot Print Transform, the font is too compressed.

• RPM can be configured to scale the font.
• This will fill the page correctly for any paper size, including custom paper sizes.
• RPM will remove any embedded PCL formatting commands and any characters below the decimal 31, which are not printable.

To place characters on a pre-printed form in the exact position, such as on a medical form. The data is in excess of 60 lines per page and the excess print on the top of the next page.

• RPM can be configured to use a True Type font to scale the font appropriately for CPI (characters per inch) and LPI (lines per inch).
• Several fixed width fonts have been tried without success. Custom paper sizes and margins can be configured as well.

The report is 198 characters per line. The printer is truncating everything past 132 characters.

• Wrapping the lines is not the solution. The data must fit on a cut sheet paper size (8.5×11).
• RPM can be configured to scale the font to fit the paper size.
• This will be placed between the configurable margins and the configurable page orientation (printable area).
• The data can be printed in portrait or landscape.

Purchased a new copier that supports hole punch, watermarks, stapling, duplexing, overlay and various other page finishing functions. How can these finishing functions be applied to the spool file?

• The AS/400′s printer emulation does not support many of these functions.
• MFC device supports various finishing functions that can be used.
• RPM can be configured to apply these print driver finishing functions to the spool file.
• Individual RPM queues can be configured to apply
  different finishing options for specific jobs.
• The default Windows print driver settings are not affected, therefore the Windows print jobs will not be affected.

AS400 page range printing to Windows

The AS/400 remote OUTQ does not support page range printing as standard OUTQ’s.

• The remote OUTQ uses the LPR/LPD protocol which is a “file” printing protocol not a “page” printing protocol.
• Use an RPM to configure appropriately for the formatting.
• Hold the RPM queue, send the print request, set the AS400 page range printing within RPM for the job, and unhold the job.
• IBM supports a work around also, the program is called “TSPRWPR “and details can be found on the IBM web site.

iSeries connectivity and AS400 network printing

How to set up a CL program in the AS/400 so one can print to a queue with a Dynamic IP address.

Our current clients have provided us with this CL Program. We are providing it for your consideration. This program does the following:

• Prompts the user for the name of the OUTQ (printer) they want to use
• Automatically obtains their IP Address.
• Notifies the user that the OUTQ’s IP address is being updated.
• Updates the OUTQ they provided with their IP address.
• Prompts them to update another OUTQ.

This CL program may be used and modified for your needs.

AS400 printing speed to a network or local printer

When printing to the PC networked printer, the job takes a long time to print and the AS/400 processor take a fair hit on larger jobs (100 pages or more).

• The AS/400 is converting the spool file to PC printer language using the appropriate Host Print Transform settings.
• The Host Print Transform is very resource intensive and the resulting data is much larger than the original spool file. In fact, the connection can be lost to the printer on larger spool files while the Host Print Transform is be completed, which may start the process over.
• RPM supports an SCS to ASCII conversion.
• RPM will convert the EBCDIC characters to ASCII characters and the SCS formatting instructions to appropriate PC formatting instructions.
• This will preserve the SCS formatting instructions including italic characters, bolding, and underlines.
• The data can then be formatted to the specific Windows printer. This can be done by using the Windows printer driver to apply any available finishing functions.
• In bench tests, RPM accomplishes the transform in a tenth of the time. The larger the spool file, the better the results. Less bandwidth is used to transfer the spool file, also.

The spool file does not complete printing job/complete multiple pages.

• This is generally a protocol issue. RPM supports the LPR/LPD protocol.
• The LPR/LPD protocol is a “file” printing protocol vs. a “page” printing protocol.
• The integrity is much better than that of other protocols available. If the file is not transferred, the file is sent again.
• Other protocols verify if a page has printed, this does “not” mean there is any data on the page.

AS400 print to file and archiving spool files

To capture the AS/400 spool file to PC folder. You will only need the text, not the embedded PC printer commands from the Host Print Transform. You will also need to call a Windows forms generator to apply a form to send to a printer.

• RPM supports a filter action that can receive the incoming spool file, remove the printer commands, and writes to disk, that the system can access.
• RPM supports various file naming conventions which includes any information passed in the control file that was sent from the AS/400.
• The user name, host, banner, class, job, title, source, RPM queue name, date, time, and job sequence number are available.

To apply a form created by a Windows forms application to the spool file and then send job to PC printer.

• RPM supports a “Command Line Interface” to start additional software (forms, applications, etc.).
• RPM receives the spool file, starts the application, and passes the spool file to the current application.
• The application then applies the form and sends the job to the printer.
• Many requirements can be met RPM.

To capture spool file and save as PDF file with an applicable file name for future reference and emailing.

• If the data is pure text or text with embedded pcl, an RPM, with various virtual PDF printers will render the data to PDF file.
• OctoPDF, Adobe PDF, PDFCreator have been used successfully to obtain data. OctoPDF and PDFCreator offer various file naming conventions.
• RPM can also be used to write the incoming data that will be submitted to a “watch” folder, for third party application rendering as Report to Web, etc…

RPM is a software solution, thus lowering your overhead not having to buy expensive hardware, include upkeep and maintenance. Now you do not have to track down the expensive large AS400 network printers to retrieve your print job, you can easily print the job straight to your desktop printer!

 

Print Queue Setup

Unlimited print queue definitions accommodate routing and special printing needs. Customize data before printing. Transmit raw or formatted text to a Windows printer including AFPDS data streams using the AS/400 Host Print Transform. Print to PDF, print to HTML, a new string translator, and more.

Remote Administrator

Remote Print Administration is available in RPM Elite only. RPM’s web browser interface was designed to provide administrators the ability to remotely manage software configuration and job processing. Edit, create, add, and delete print queues from one PC.

Finishing Functions

RPM can handle all the finishing functions your printing device supports. Now you can punch holes, print duplex and staple pages even if it is not supported by the host system.

Extensive Customization

Translate EBCDIC data to ASCII text, and convert SCS to ASCII for all queue types. In text mode, RPM preserves SCS formatting instructions (i.e. font changes and character positioning).

Simple Page Formatting

Easily configure text output to any paper size. Users can select any font supported by the printer and the print driver. A variety of host data formats enable end-users to print without modifications to the host system.

File Name Options

Duplicate file name handling is verified to ensure that files are never overwritten. Filenames can be customized using job data such as date/time, RPM queue name, and any control file information such as user, host, or title.

Internationalization

Supports single and double byte characters for international processing. RPM allows users to utilize any language supported on their system including Asian languages.

AS400 Forms Printing and Check Printing

RPM allows you to fit the data within whatever scalable boundaries needed to fit on a pre-printed check. Scale the fonts to inches, lines per inches, characters per inches and more. A Windows custom paper size can be created and then use RPM’s queues to scale “Lines per inch” and “Characters per inch” options to scale the font to fit the custom paper size. This is a great solution when changing from a Dot matrix printer to a Laser printer, especially if the file is formatted for a Dot Matrix printer.

There are various other forms as "Bill of Lading" and special "shipping invoices" that RPM can format the data to fit.

Postscript Files

Postscript files that are preformatted with a form, like Ezprint generates, can be printed through RPM. The unique functionality of the RPM Print Data Options allows an escape sequence to be inserted in a pre-formatted file to change the output tray, etc.

There are various Windows forms generator applications. These forms generators can be used in conjunction with RPM.

• RPM receives the incoming data
• Calls the forms generator
• Passes the incoming data to the forms generator for processing.

The RPM can also write the incoming data to a specific watch folder with a specific file name. An application can now pick up the file and apply further processing.