RE: Printing AutoCad Drawings With MO

Doug,

We are at release 6 also and have been printing drawings with our packets for 
some time.  Here is how we do it:

1. First of all we have re-designed the MAPICS shop packet and run it through 
forms software.  Also, all of our engineering drawings, whether from auto-cad 
or other apps are converted and archived as Acrobat PDF files on a network 
server (could be the IFS I suppose).  Our drawing librarian maintains a table 
on the iSeries that references the item number to the drawing path URL.

2. When a shop packet is printed, we have a program which looks up the mfg item 
number in the drawing path table and passes the path as a parameter to a PC 
server using RUNRMTCMD.

3. RUNRMTCMD runs a batch file which calls an application called Ghostscript (a 
readily available open source app that will rastorize and print a PDF, much 
better than Acrobat's command line for printing).  The drawing path and file 
name are passed to ghostscript and it finds, rastorizes and prints the drawing 
to an LPT mapped printer.

4. To handle the sequencing of the packet and the drawing, we have the packet 
printed to a Remote Outq on the iSeries.  This outq is the same PC printer that 
is LPT mapped for the drawing, so both the shop packet and the drawing end up 
on the same PC print queue.  In order to insure the drawing is always second we 
put a 5 second delay in the program after the packet prints and before it runs 
the RUNRMTCMD to print the drawing.

This process has proved to be very fast and reliable with over 1,000 packets 
printed per month.  If you need more details, contact me offline.

Joe Perrault
MIS Manager
McElroy Manufacturing, Inc.
833 North Fulton Avenue
Tulsa, OK 74115
Phone (918) 831-9230
Fax     (918) 831-9285
jrperrault@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx
http://www.mcelroymfg.com



-----Original Message-----

We are running MAPICS XA Rel 6 including browser on an AS/400.  Our
manufacturing department has requested that we automate the printing of
AutoCad drawings with the printing our MAPICS MO's. 
 
Has anyone integrated the printing of drawings with their MO printing?
Or have any recommendation on how to accomplish this task?
 
Thanks in advance for your input.
 
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