Re: OpenVMS spld output to netwrkd Apple Laserwriter?

[Dietmar Krause <Dietmar.Krause@x400.detemobil.de>]

Re: OpenVMS spld output to networked Apple Laserwriter?

Hi Rod,

I'm not familiar with Apple LaserWriters but if there IS a sequence of 
characters, which forces end-of-job processing, the task is simple. VMS 
provides the mechanism of setup modules, associated with a print form or 
job, and reset modules, associated with a queue. Both kind of modules are 
simple ASCII files, which may contain any number of characters. They are 
kept in a text library, which must be placed at SYS$LIBRARY.

In your case you would write a module, maybe called EOJ.TXT, which 
contains the LaserWriters end-of-job command. Next you create a text 
library, for example APPLE_CTRL.TLB, in which to put that module:

$ LIBRARY /TEXT /CREATE SYS$LIBRARY:APPLE_CTRL.TLB EOJ.TXT

Now you add two qualifiers to the INIT command for your queue:

           /LIBRARY=APPLE /SEPARATE=RESET:EOJ

After you stop and reinitialize your queue the next print job will be 
trailed by the contence of EOJ.TXT.

Note that the module name I choose does not reference the type of 
printer. If you name the library after the printer type and the module 
after the function it performs, you will have an easy to maintain 
environment. For instance you could have modules PORTRAIT and LANDSCAPE 
each in a library called APPLE_CTRL and HPLJ_CTRL. Though the contence of 
those modules will be very different, they perform the same function. You 
can now create a form UPRIGHT with the qualifier /SETUP=PORTRAIT. This 
form will work on both types of printers and you may even swap them as 
need demands without retraining your users.

There is one thing one has to get used to though. You can not modify the 
device control library as long as there is a queue associated with it. If 
you need to update your modules you will have to stop the queues, delete 
them or initialize them using a different library, modify the library and 
finally reinit all queues referencing the new library. This a little bit 
tedious, but may be simplified using a command procedure.


Best regards,
Dietmar