Re: Printing each page multiple times

On Thu, 2015-08-06 at 11:41 -0400, Don Programmer wrote:

Forms would be received pre-collated from the supplier (i.e. white, blue,
pink, yellow, green; white, pink, etc.).

Even if you could solve the issue of printing 5 copies of each page, p1
p1 p1 p1 p1 p2 p2 p2 p2... etc, what happens in the very likely event
that the printer pulls 2 pages stuck together, or a page jams and its
impossible to start the printer on the correct number of print for the
given page?

Even if the printer did the sensible thing of (re)starting at the first
copy of the correct page (or first copy of page X) could you guarantee
that the operator remembers to remove the duff number of pages from the
stack to make sure it starts on colour A... the whole thing is just
waiting to go wrong at some point, with no one noticing that half way
through the print run the collated paper sequence is out of whack with
the page sequence, or having to re-print it 5 times because the stack of
paper is a bit damp or the pull rollers are getting a bit smooth...

Worse, no one notices and the whole thing gets delivered to the various
departments and only one department realises that there are missing, or
duplicate, pages in their given colour so pulls the dup pages.. but the
warehouse doesn't catch the problem then starts packing/shipping
duplicates.

I can see how multipart forms might have been a useful thing back in the
day, although to be honest I sometimes wonder if it was more a cost/time
saving thing (print once get five) and the multi colours were just a
happy bonus rather than the colour=department being the primary factor.

Another thing... I also though one important factor of multi-parts was
the ability for X copies to record signatures. Once you no longer need
that ability is there anything really to be gained from colour printed
multi pages? If you need 3 signatures on three pages (copies) just print
on the top and bottom of the page "customer copy" "accounts copy" etc.

When appropriate client personnel return next week, they will evaluate the
suggestion that a new, dedicated printer be configured to print each page 5
times (before proceeding to the next page). This printer would only have
one drawer. [Since there are 5 colors involved, they are not considering a
multi-drawer printer.]

Thanks for all the suggestions.

On Wed, Aug 5, 2015 at 5:32 PM, Scott Klement <midrange-l@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
wrote:

I've done something like this where we had a laser printer with multiple
input drawers. We put pink paper in one drawer, gold/yellow paper in
another, white (of course) in another, etc...

We changed the program to use DDS for printing, and there's the ability to
specify the paper drawer on a DDS keyword, so we coded the program to,
basically, print three times so it would print from each drawer.

We also printed things like "Sales Copy", "Office Copy", "Customer Copy"
at the bottom of each in case they ran out of a given color of paper.

We used overlays to print a nice form on the document, too. It looked
very professional... everyone was happy with it, and it only took me a few
days to make the changes to the application and get it all working. I
looked like a real hero on that one :-)




On 8/5/2015 12:13 PM, Don Programmer wrote:

Our client would like to replace the printing of 5 part forms (each a
different color) on a pin-feed with collated forms (not connected) with
the
same colors (in the same order) on a laser printer.

If these forms only printed on one page, using CL to change the number of
copies would work. However, these forms frequently exceed one page (which
would create page 1 white, page 2 blue, etc.).

The apparent best solution on IBM i would be a parameter on OVRPRTF that
would allow each page to be printed x times (default = 1), but none
exists.
(Client is on V7R1.) [Note: System z does have such a parameter in its
JCL.]

I have developed a procedure to utilize System i Navigator, but it adds
too
much time to the printing process.

I also know that I could table everything inside the program and print
each
page 5 times. However, this problem does not appear to be unique, so an
easier solution may exist. [If possible, the client would like to save
development dollars.]

Any recommendations?

Thanks,
Don

PS I did see the November 2010 discussion 'Printer for 4-part forms'.

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