Re: afp questions -- MIDRANGE-L

>y'all,
>
>in order to print logos do you need to purchase afp?  i got it to work
>on my system, (thank you for the archives!) but it didn't work on the
>client's machine.
>
>we have afp, but the client does not.  and if they have to purchase it,
>which function do they need?  the information from IBM is not the most
>clear!


There are 2 AFPs-- the 'free' part comes with every AS/400.

The 'U-pay' part, of course, costs extra.  This piece is not necessary
unless you need feaatures above and beyond a basic overlay.

The piece you -do- need is PSF/400.

We've just finished creating overlays for a number of documents.  Some of
the setup is -interesting-, to say the least.

Creating Overlays:
The instructions on how to create an overlay have been here before.  In
summary, however:  You download the Special Print Driver from IBM's web
site. This driver lets you print-to-disk from just about any program.  I
used Paint Shop Pro for graphical overlays, and Word Pad and Microsoft Word
for text overlays.

Settings for this print driver are important:  You need to select MEDIUM
OVERLAY, and, under the TEXT tab, UNCHECK font mapping (or whatever it is).
(I have a suspicion that the font mapping may work with an *IPDS printer,
but haven't had the time to try it out.)

Once you have the output file, you need to get it to your AS/400.  I was
able to simply copy the file from the C: drive to the I: drive, where the
I: drive is mapped to the QDLS Shared Folders on our AS/400.

Then, I used the CPYFRMPCD to copy the document from a folder to a work
file.  It's a specific record length; I don't have the reference handy...

The file is then converted into an overlay (object type *OVL) using the
CRTOVL command.


Now that the overlay exists, you need a printer and a print file.

As I understand it (based on experimental data) there are at least 3 types
of print data streams the AS/400 can create:

*SCS
*AFP
*IPDS

You can have printers defined as any of these types.  An *IPDS printer can
print data of all 3 types, *AFP printers can print *AFP and *SCS data
streams.

An *IPDS printer has one advantage for us-- it is more efficient at
handling documents with overlays than *AFP.  An *AFP data stream sent to a
purely *AFP printer sends the overlay for each side of each page.  Unless
it's a locally attached printer it's s-l-o-w.

Printing an *AFP data stream on an *IPDS printer takes advantage of *IPDS's
intelligence-- the overlays are sent to the printer once.  An *IPDS printer
can save the overlay 'beyond the end-of-job boundary,' meaning it can
re-use it for multiple print jobs.

There are differences in how *AFP and *IPDS printers align documents on the
page, including typeface and position.

Normally your 'variable data' and your 'overlay' are positioned on the page
as a unit.  You can define a margin around the page,  and move the overlay
Down and Across the page.

Check out Redbooks  "AS/400 Printing IV"  and  "AS/400 Printing V"  for
information on a data area that lets you change the way printing happens on
your AS/400.

One position of the data area will 'unlock' the overlay from the
background.  You can now move the 'variable data' down and across the page,
-OR- the 'overlay' down and across the page; each moving on its own,
totally unrelated to the other.

In our situation we're sending *AFP data streams to *IPDS printers, which
gives us the benefits of both.

--Paul E Musselman
PaulMmn@Ix.netcom.com


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