RE: Printer file Mods

John,
If I got it straight, the original support for IPDS printers was a free part
of OS/400.  This support included barcodes, vector fonts and GDDM functions.
Sort of met the original "Batteries Included" philosophy.

Later, the IBM revenue dept. decided to make money on AFP for the AS/400,
much like they did for mainframes.  We now have a bizarre situation where
you can compile a program/printer file combination but not execute it unless
you've purchased and installed the runtime support (PSF/400) for it.
PSF/400 is product option 17 of OS/400.

I don't know if IBM has relaxed enforcement of the PSF/400 requirement (like
they did with the CA user limit debacle) but the official documentation
still points to requiring PSF/400.  Here's a snip from the V4R4 DDS manual
under the BOX keyword: "Note: Feature PSF/400 is required for use of this
keyword. If PSF/400 is not installed, you will not be able to print files
using this keyword and specifying DEVTYPE(*AFPDS). "  

The manual link:
http://publib.boulder.ibm.com:80/cgi-bin/bookmgr/BOOKS/QB3AUI03/4.8

The AS/400 Guide to AFP and PSF describes when PSF is required and when it
is optional:
http://publib.boulder.ibm.com:80/cgi-bin/bookmgr/BOOKS/C5PU3M00/3.3

As for "AFP/400", I am not certain exactly what is being referred to.  IBM
offer several products which are supposed to make either the developer's
life or the end user's life easier.  We had them here in house for a while,
but nobody used them, so we sent them back I think.

I *think* that the AFP Utilities provides you with a way to create overlays
(like RLU for SCS files) and query database records and create AFP output
directly from the database (like warehouse item barcode labels from the
product master file).  Check out the manual at:
http://publib.boulder.ibm.com:80/cgi-bin/bookmgr/BOOKS/C5PA1M00/CCONTENTS

There's also AFP PrintSuite.  It provides an end user AFP tool(!) as well as
the AFP Toolbox, which are the APIs used to directly manipulate AFP data.
Web link:
http://publib.boulder.ibm.com:80/cgi-bin/bookmgr/BOOKS/C5PS1M00/CCONTENTS

Buck Calabro
Aptis; Albany, NY
mailto:Buck.Calabro@aptissoftware.com

> -----Original Message-----
> From: John Hall 
> Sent: Monday, August 23, 1999 3:11 PM
> To:   RPG400-L@midrange.com
> Subject:      Re: Printer file Mods
> 
> 
> 
> Buck Calabro wrote:
> > 
> > In order to print most AFP spooled files, you'll need to licence
> PSF/400.
> > I'm not certain what AFP/400 contains, as I've always used DDS for my
> home
> > grown AFP printing.  I am aware of several alternative solutions, one
> lets
> > you "merge" standard SCS line data with AFP overlays, but I have no
> > experience with them.
> > 
> > Buck Calabro
> 
> Is this new to V4R4 ?  I've been using AFP spool files since V3R1.
> 
> I just put the AFP commands in the DDS and compile.
> 
> What exactly is AFP/400 supposed to do for you beyond DDS ?
> 
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