Re: external *PRTF

["Simon Coulter" <shc@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

M
Hello Dan,

Aside from the good engineering aspect of externalising EVERYTHING the major 
benefit to 
external printer files is that they are printer independant.

RPG's view of the printer world consists only of very stupid line-at-a-time 
printers.  
You cannot do bolding or underlining (although you can fake it).  You cannot 
control 
fonts nor other advanced functions supported by laser printers.  You can 
certainly embed 
printer control codes in your RPG output and directly control the printer but 
then your 
code needs to know what printer it is talking to and once spooled you cannot 
then direct 
it to a different type of printer without stuffing up the printed result.  For 
example, 
generate PCL in RPG and then move the spooled file to an output queue 
associated with a 
PS printer.

Using DDS to describe your printed output allows you to design the report for 
the 
fanciest printer you have installed and know that it will still print on the 
most 
primitive printer you have.  (There are some limitations of course but for the 
most part 
the OS will handle the printer differences.)  External printer files buy you a 
lot of 
extra function.

Of course, if your shop is primitive and you're still using band printers and 
half-shadow 
listing paper then by all means continue with your antiquated practices.

Regards,
Simon Coulter.

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