Hey thanks for all the info - really appreciated.
In my experience the ONLY value that works for CRTPRTF FRONTMGN() is *DEVD - at least when designing a complex form. This forces OS400 writer to use the allowable print area of a printer and get some consistency.
Any other values seem to comply with local printer margin settings and don't seem to override the local settings.
For example if a printer is configured ON THE PRINTER MENU with 1/2" quiet zone, every Windows program over-rides that local setting. But from my recollection CRTPRTF FRONTMGN(0.3 0.3) will NOT over-ride the locally configured margin. The only way to over-ride the local margin is *DEVD.
So using the CRTPRTF FRONTMGN(0.3 0.3), one printer will have a 0.8" margin, and another will have a 0.4" margin depending on the local printer setting. But using *DEVD, all printers seem to work more consistently - at least as far as margins are concerned. There are still a host of issues with fonts, graphics, etc.
Regarding known printer issues and IBM not fixing them, I would have to say NO, it does NOT make sense to my mgmt. All they see is the hours of development and testing time to change a font size, and ask why it takes so long on the iseries and it is effortless on any and every other platform in use at my company.
That reminds me of my kids at college - students rent old dilapidated houses that are falling apart. When my kid asked the landlord to fix something - he gave his standard reply that the house is on the "National Register of Historic Places" - so nothing on the house can be altered :) Kind of funny, kind of sad. But kids are gullible and believe it.
IBM can certainly choose to leave bugs galore in the output writer; but IMO the market will respond to these kinds of issues by leaving the platform. I don't think the market will be as kind as you are hoping and spend gobs of money and resources on third-party forms design packages that are free and built-in to every other modern platform in use.
-----Original Message-----
From: midrange-l-bounces@xxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:midrange-l-bounces@xxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of franz400
Sent: Wednesday, October 24, 2012 9:03 PM
To: Midrange Systems Technical Discussion
Subject: Re: printed reports with font changes and logos, signatures, etc
Joel,
Rather than assuming a any printer has a particular margin, set it the same
on all with the CRTPRTF.
example: DEVTYPE(*AFPDS) PAGESIZE(51 134) CPI(13.3) OVRFLW(47) PAGRTT(90)
FRONTMGN(.2 .2)
This article has some of the basics (which I know you are aware of)
http://www.itjungle.com/fhg/fhg050207-story02.html
But this article explains the way an overlay is created and why it can print
within the margin.
http://www-01.ibm.com/support/docview.wss?uid=nas1f612a5be35f44fdf862565c2007cc346
(and finally, not to beat a dead horse, but IBM (and I do not speak for
them) has at Common Conferences in the Q&A where several of us have pressed
them about the printing issues, has also stated that, with development $$
allocation, they generally do not duplicate what the i-vendors have already
supplied to the market (and this should make sense to your management) - and
there are as prev mentioned several forms packages.
Jim Franz
----- Original Message -----
From: "Stone, Joel" <Joel.Stone@xxxxxxxxxx>
To: "Midrange Systems Technical Discussion" <midrange-l@xxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Wednesday, October 24, 2012 2:27 PM
Subject: RE: printed reports with font changes and logos, signatures, etc
Yes - agreed. But with the other OS's this stuff is all part of the
development studio. No extra charge. And it works seamlessly.
Requiring an i-series add-on product from a different vendor than the OS
to do something as commonplace as printing a report with various font
sizes doesn't seem right. And mgmt has a tough time swallowing that.
midrange.com
