Re: Remote printer problem -- MIDRANGE-L

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
>
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