Re: Problem solved, Re: Pictures in a report?

James,

Just an FYI for you and the archives...

But recent version of iSeries Navigator can upload the AFP resources
directly for you...
http://www4.infoprintsolutionscompany.com/help/topic/com.ibm.printers.afpproducts/com.ibm.printers.guidetooutput/c5pu3mst99.htm#managertransfer


Using AFP Manager to Upload and Compile an AFP Image

Follow these steps to transfer the AFP page segment or overlay to the
i5/OS and create it as an i5/OS object.

1. Double-click the iSeries(TM) Access icon.
2. Double-click the iSeries Navigator icon.
3. Open a connection to an i5/OS.
4. Expand AFP(TM) Manager then Resources.
5. Right-click the image resource type (Page Segments or Overlays)
and select Import.
6. Fill in the fields as appropriate. Source file is the name and
location of the resource on the workstation. Use Resource name and
Library to specify what to name the image resource on the i5/OS and
where to store it.
7. For help press F1 or click Help.
8. Click OK.

Charles

On Thu, Aug 5, 2010 at 11:59 AM, James H. H. Lampert
<jamesl@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

Well, as it turns out, Gumbo Spoolmail can graft an AFP overlay onto a
simple SCS spool file during the PDF conversion (alphabet soup, anybody?)

Thanks to GIMP, a generic AFP WinDoze driver, and a LOT of VERY PATIENT
coaching from List guru Sharon Wintermute, the problem was solved.

The first indication I had that the problem was not as difficult as I'd
thought was when put a stripped-down version of the "tutorial" overlay
onto the customer box, and tried to email myself a spool file with that
overlay attached. Bingie! It worked, and the process was reduced to
simply coming up with an overlay.

That's when a whole off-list conversation with Sharon came in. She
advised me that she used Gumbo Spoolmail all the time, with overlays
generated from M$ Word.

She went on to explain that with an AFP print driver (free download from
IBM), all I had to do was select "print to file" with an output format
of "overlay," FTP it into a DB file on the box, and do a CRTOVL.

Given that the print driver would, at least in theory, work with any
WinDoze application, and that the primary content of the overlay was
graphical in nature, I decided to do it in GIMP. (For those not familiar
with it, GIMP [GNU Image Manipulation Program] is the open source
world's answer to Photoshop, native to Linux, but also available for
WinDoze and Macintosh.) So I put the customer's logo onto a page,
printed it to an overlay, uploaded it, converted it, and transferred it
to the customer box.

Except for having to make sure the receiver file was LVLCHK(*NO) (you'd
think that if CRTOVL doesn't give a rodent's defecatory orifice about
format level, it would be coded to ignore it!), it worked the first
time, and while I've still got a bit of tweaking left, it's looking
quite good indeed.

Thanks, Sharon. I owe you one.


--
James H. H. Lampert
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