Re: Printing PDF on iseries outq

[CRPence <CRPbottle@xxxxxxxxx>]

On 03-Mar-2015 07:38 -0600, Erwin Donker wrote:
> Last week I was asked to have pdf documents that are stored on IFS
> printed from a job on the iseries. After doing some research, I
> found two possible solutions:
>
> 1. Using the command PRTSTMF, made by Scott Klement
>
> 2. Using QSH:
> cat -c /pdf/test.pdf | Rfile -wbQ -c "OVRPRTF FILE(QSYSPRT) DEVTYPE(*USERASCII) OUTQ(MYOUTQ)" -C "DLTOVR FILE(QSYSPRT)" QSYSPRT
>
> Option 1 works perfect (thanks Scott!). It generates a spoolfile on
> the specified outq and the document gets printed as it should.
>
> Option 2 (that should basically do the same IMO) also generates a
> spoolfile on the specified outq, but when send to the printer results
> in more than 100 pages with strange characters.

  A third option might be to use a BINARY mode FTP with the PUT 
subcommand being used send the file data to a Printer File defined with 
the attributes noted in the override used in the above example of how 
the second option was coded; or the PrtF perhaps similarly overridden 
with the proper scoping to effect those attributes.

> Even though I have decided to implement PRTSTMF in my application, I
> am still curious as to why option 2 doesn't work for me. The only thing
> I can think of is that somehow QSH converts the original data using my
> job's CCSID. <<SNIP>>

  As coded, both the cat utility [per -c] and the Rfile utility [per 
-b] are being told to treat the data as binary.  Those should be able to 
be tested together or separately, and if spooling then verified using 
DEVTYPE(*SCS) to allow Display Spool File (DSPSPLF) or Copy Spool File 
(CPYSPLF) to verify the content on the IBM i rather than deferring to 
the recipient [e.g. the printer] to interpret the content.

  What release?  TR?  Cumulative?  I would first test separately, the 
results of both the 'cat -c' and the 'Rfile -b' to verify those switches 
for those utilities perform as expected.

  The problem _could be_ with override scoping; for lack of explicit 
specification, the default is used for the Override Scope (OVRSCOPE) 
parameter for the Override With Printer File (OVRPRTF) command and the 
Level (LVL) parameter for the Delete Override (DLTOVR) command.  Does 
the Work With Spooled File Attributes (WRKSPLFA) of the spooled QSYSPRT 
file, show that the spooled file was created with the specified-as 
overridden attributes, or perhaps the spooled file was not generated for 
*USERASCII, and that effect would mean that the DSPSPLF should be 
functional against the SPLF.?

> 2. What am I doing wrong in the QSH option? I have read on the net
> that other people have used this option successfully...

  FWiW the usage shown quoted above seems quite near identical to the 
2nd Rfile example shown in the "Rfile - Read or write record files" 
documentation, showing the /same/ activity for a .PS file type instead 
of .PDF:
<http://www.ibm.com/support/knowledgecenter/ssw_ibm_i_72/rzahz/rzahzrfile.htm>
"...
  2. Write the contents of stream file mydoc.ps to spooled printer 
device file QPRINT as unconverted ASCII data, and then use the CL LPR 
command to send the spool file to another system:

before='ovrprtf qprint devtype(*userascii) spool(*yes)'
after="lpr file(qprint) system(usrchprt01) prtq('rchdps') transform(*no)"
cat -c mydoc.ps | Rfile -wbQ -c "$before" -C "$after" qprint
..."