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Hi Al, I presume its ok to call you that forgive me if not. Thanks for your input. What I am facing is that my client is using an application that produces varios types of paper , A4,A3 etc ... And he has that one IBM InfoPrint 32 with five drawers, though I created an outq with the original setting some type of forms want come out or a message would apear on the panel . Thanks, Avi ----- Original Message ----- From: <MacWheel99@aol.com> To: <MIDRANGE-L@midrange.com> Sent: Sunday, November 05, 2000 11:00 PM Subject: Re: Remote printer problem > Your tale of reports seemingly jumping to random drawers other than the > intended ones reminded me of similar history at Central. > > We had a similar problem when we first got IBM 4247 which supports 2 drawers. > There were several issues that had to be resolved. > > I found it neccessary to add a program to the start-up sign-on, so that when > people sign onto the M/36 reality, it defaults the user identity to the > appropriate corporate printer drawer, then have particular programs printer > files tie particular form types to particular drawers, and when we have > multi-drawer printers in more than one facility, consistently assign > particular drawers to particular forms ... one part paper / factory job > tickets / etc. always go in a particular drawer globablly within the company. > > This is because we have people helping each other across facilities in the > same kind of department ... a facility is understaffed in a particular > department due to vacations or sickness or something, so folks who understand > the application generate everything that is needed, then at the last step > move it to the relevant printer, at which point you want defaults to be > consistent across facilities. > > Reports use many defaults & sometimes software has been written for a > different reality, inadvertently over-riding what we now seek, thanks to > adding hardware or OS featues that we previously never had occasion to use. > > From IBM classes I learn that (& this might not be the whole story) ... well > at the bottom of this post to you is a copy (with a bit snipped out) of > something I recently shared with some power user help desk co-workers. My > focus on what overrides what overrides what ... was from the issue of "Where > is my report?" but you can use the same general path to find "What is telling > it which drawer to use?" > > We were periodically on M/36 owning the hardware, so the 4247 had to emulate > a type of printer the M/36 recognized and was also capable of using the 4247 > features. It turned out that we needed microcode patches for the 4247 for > M/36. > > In more recent times our problems have been with the use of PC printers > attached to twinax monitors, in which the emulation has to be one that the > monitor supports, and also can handle the kinds of printing we are doing .. > the printer can do it, the problem is that the printer it is emulating can > not. > > > An important significance of being able to navigate this stuff is where > the > > AS/400 gets its instructions from & what overides what defaults in > > determining where to put my report ... we often have users who create a > > report, it prints on the wrong printer, they cannot find it ... they have > > settings they comfortable with, everything working good, go to some other > > work station & problems. > > > > If we use 100% defaults, which we do not, then the bottom line rule is > > > > DSPSYSVAL QPRTDEV > > This is the system value that says our system printer is PRT02 ... > > everything is to go there unless something overrules that. When we see > > something saying PRTDEV(*SYSVAL) that means check the > > system values & use whatever is there. > > System Values are about 120 rules that govern everything > > that runs on AS/400. You can WRKSYSVAL then select a category & find > > interesting one & 5-view it current setting & choices & F1 help > explanation. > > I am currently studying implications of changing some of them > > due to my security review & the last ones that > > I changed were due to my performance review. > > If you WRKSYSVAL F4 *PRINT you get a nice chart showing original values > > as shipped from IBM vs. those we have changed to something else. > > > > The next level of over-rides is at the Device definition level ... there > are > > tons of stuff that we barely understand & frankly I basically want to > concern > > myself here with IS THE EQUIPMENT WORKING & > > handle any over-rides at a higher level. > > If you see something like OUTQ(*DEV) that means use whatever default > > is setup in the device configuration. There is a way to tie a particular > > display station to have its output go to a particular printer. > > > > Device rules can override System Values. > > > > The next level of over-rides is at the Work Station Device Address > > Description ... If you ever see something (*WRKSTN) that means it is saying > > to use whatever rules are set at this level, which could point to something > > else. > > > > BPCS pop-up menu option-1 gives easy way to futz with that data, so > > basically those rules work, so long as there are no over-rides. There is > a > > lot of stuff here that we should not be messing with, assuming we want > BPCS > > to work right for us. There are IBM commands to view this, but I think the > > BPCS access is the best for most of our users. The key issues for our > users > > are which printer is my stuff to go to, which jobq am I using, and should > > anything be on hold? > > > > Occasionally & unfortunately we sometimes have users who lack the > > 400 computer literacy skills to comprehend this topic, let alone > > manage this properly. BPCS security can lock them out of pop-up-1 > > which resets values for the current work station they signed on as > > & for serving their needs, power users can use the option on main SYS menu > > in which it prompts you for which WRKSTN address we need to reset rules for. > > > > User profile is usually only messed with by Security setup, but perhaps we > > need a little program similar to the BPCS pop-up 1 because User rules can > > override work station rules. This would benefit people who move around > > within one office to a variety of work stations that may have different > > settings. Within DSPUSRPRF (default your profile) & CHGPRF (changes to > your > > profile) you may see something like *WRKSTN meaning to use work station > rules > > for that scenario & we might want to change PRTDEV here to use your > favorite > > printer regardless of which work station you sign onto at which facility, > > remembering that this also applies when you travel to another facility. > > > Let's suppose some of our highly mobile users want to use this feature, > > but do not want to have to remember what to change every time they visit > > another office ... we could use a variation on how we handled BPCS/36 > > facilities where people had to sign on like AL.LAW > > to access the LAW data base, or AL.GWD for the GWD data base, > > or today I use AL for the regular enviroment & ALE for the educational > > & test environment. When you are physically at a particular office, > > sign on with the user-id issued to you that has been optimized for > > printer you want to use at that office. I do not like this approach > > due to flaws in BPCS security management & the complicated > > task of counting real users for license management. > > I will be thinking about alternatives here ... ideally for end user > > some menu option they run that says "reset my defaults for me > > working in ______ fill in which facility that you want your reports > > to go TO as opposed to WHERE you physically are now" > > > > I am thinking that eventually I may wish to have OS4 type functions > > intended for end users to change rules for their sign-on that do not > > impact their BPCS access, similar to other general functions on some > > of our user menus today. > > > > Change Password > > Overrule Workstation Address rules - me regardless > > Display what stuff is currently running in my name from anywhere on > > the system > > > > DSPJOBD defaults to the 400 job description for your current sign-on > session > > which has been setup to be BPCS rules that apply to all BPCS users - > slightly > > different one for test environment - stuff in here includes library list & > > also what printer & JOBQ & etc. & it had better have pointers to *USRPRF or > > *WRKSTN so that this kind of thing can continue to be tailored by user or > work > > station. > > > > Several programs that output special forms, such as JT05, invoices, > checks, > > etc. have what is called a printer device file, which spells out the > > dimensions of the forms ... page size, whether we need special alignment, > and > > many of the values in there can default to *JOBD (BPCS defaults) or lower * > > USRPRF *WRKSTN etc. or do an override, to say ... we do not care who > > generates this in the company, we want all of it to go to a particular > > printer. > > > > To a certain extent this is under the control of the programmer, but once > > the program objects are compiled, we can CHGPRTF change that object > > to a set of standards we wish to impose & in fact > > I have written several simple CL to impose standards on JT05 > > and other special reports after each DDS software update, > > to make sure I never overlook certain basics. > > > > Query fits into this via QPQUPRFIL or something like that, where the rules > > are set by whoever created the query, so if someone defined a query to say > > "print this query on a particular printer & do not put it on hold" > > that overrides anything the end user of the query had defined > > through BPCS for their standard defaults. > > Somewhere in here, and I am not exactly sure where, are defaults for the > spool > ie. info associated with WRKOUTQ, that say what to do with all reports that > are sitting in that outq, in the absense of any overrides to these defaults. > This has been an issue for us with software that violates our page size .. > we use 68 lines / page at 8 lines to inch, which is much more user friendly > handling the paper than the standard sizes that far too much software assumes > everyone uses. > > > This in turn can be overriden by the CL program that runs the job. > > If you look in the QCLSRC for CIIIQUERY & 5-browse some of the > > RUNQRY there, you will occasionally find a line > > just above RUNQRY saying OVRPRTF which is > > an over-ride printer device file, where I can impose some stuff like > > > > ... I do not care what the query creator says, put this sucker on hold & > > let's give it a NAME on spool file that provides a clue as to WHAT it is. > > so if there are a ton of queries you can distinquish between them. > > > Summary Chart to help remember what overrides what > > ======================================= > > Where 100% defaults still in effect - check System Values. > > Device configuration rules can override System Values. > > Work station address rules can override Device rules. > > User sign-on rules can override Work station rules. > > Job Description rules can override User profile rules. > > Printer Device File & Query can override Job Description. > > CL program off of Menu can override the above. > > User at WRKSPLF can change the rules before releasing to print report. > > Now what is missing from Al's picture? > > > The important stuff that we might want to do differently in the future is > > > > 1) We can override work station printer defaults at the user profile level. > > In the short term Al Security adjustments. > > Longer term think about a program for users to adjust what is safe > > themselves. > > > > 2) There are many elements of what can be over-ridden at various levels & > > this hierarchy is important to stay aware of. I intend to cut / paste into > > a Word document, then add that to our notebook on system values. > > > > 3) Most RUNQRY CL does NOT have any printer over-ride > > but when Al includes, usually does put it on hold. > > Alister William Macintyre > Computer Data Janitor etc. of BPCS 405 CD Rel-02 on 400 model 170 OS4 V4R3 > (forerunner to IBM e-Server i-Series 400) @ http://www.cen-elec.com Central > Industries of Indiana--->Quality manufacturer of wire harnesses and > electrical sub-assemblies > > +--- > | This is the Midrange System Mailing List! > | To submit a new message, send your mail to MIDRANGE-L@midrange.com. > | To subscribe to this list send email to MIDRANGE-L-SUB@midrange.com. > | To unsubscribe from this list send email to MIDRANGE-L-UNSUB@midrange.com. > | Questions should be directed to the list owner/operator: david@midrange.com > +--- > +--- | This is the Midrange System Mailing List! | To submit a new message, send your mail to MIDRANGE-L@midrange.com. | To subscribe to this list send email to MIDRANGE-L-SUB@midrange.com. | To unsubscribe from this list send email to MIDRANGE-L-UNSUB@midrange.com. | Questions should be directed to the list owner/operator: david@midrange.com +---
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