This chapter explains how to submit jobs to a printer and how
to specify characteristics for printed output by using attributes.
For a detailed
explanation of attributes and summaries of all available attributes, see Appendix
A.
3.1 Submitting a Print Job
Use
the
pdpr command to print a job.
For example, the following
command submits a document file called
report.txt
to
the default printer:
$ pdpr report.txt
The following command line sends three files to the default printer by using a space to separate the file names:
$ pdpr report.txt table.txt chart.ps
To indicate a specific printer, use the
-p
option and
its
printer_name
argument.
Always place the options and
arguments before the document file names they apply to.
The following command line submits
report.txt
and
table.txt
to the printer named pawprint:
$ pdpr -p pawprint report.txt table.txt
You can specify different characteristics for each
job and document by using attributes.
Enter a value for an attribute by using
the
-x
option.
For example, to print a two-sided copy of
budget99.txt, enter the following:
$ pdpr -x "sides=2" budget99.txt
Note
In some examples, quotation marks are shown around single attributes. However, quotation marks must surround multiple attributes or an attribute value containing spaces.
To specify more than one attribute in a print request:
Bundle them together inside quotes, following the -x option; you can specify each attribute with its own -x option
Store the attributes in an attribute file and specify that file with the -X option.
The following commands are equivalent:
$ pdpr -x "sides=2 job-comment='After the takeover'" budget99.txt
$ pdpr -x sides=2 \ -x job-comment="'After the takeover'" budget99.txt
3.2.1 Setting Print Job Priority
You can set the job priority of a new print job or you can change the priority of a print job that has been submitted.
To set the priority of new print job,
new_job.txt
to 20, use the
pdpr command with the
job-priority
attribute, as shown in the following example:
$ pdpr -x job-priority=20 new_job.txt
To change the priority of a print job that has been submitted, first
use the
pdq
command to get the job identification number.
Then, use the
pdmod
command with the
job-priority
attribute to change the job's priority.
For example, to change
the priority of an existing print job identified as 0102 to a priority of
25, enter the following:
$ pdq job-identifier job-name current-job-state intervening-jobs -------------- -------- ----------------- ---------------- dogear_spl:0102 budget02.txt pending 0 % pdmod -x job-priority=25 dogear_spl:0102
3.2.2 Specifying the Number of Copies
You can print multiple copies of individual documents or of an
entire job.
To specify the number of copies in a job, use the pdpr command
with the
job-copies
attribute or with the
-n
option.
The system prints one copy by default.
To print two copies of
budget99.txt
and
inventory99.txt
on the default logical printer, use either of the
following examples:
$ pdpr -x "job-copies=2" budget99.txt inventory99.txt $ pdpr -n 2 budget99.txt inventory99.txt
To print a different number of copies for each document in a job, use
the
copy-count
attribute.
The following example prints
two copies of the file
slides.ps
and three copies of
the file
handout.ps.
$ pdpr -x copy-count=2 slides.ps -x copy-count=3 handout.ps
3.2.3 Specifying Two-Sided Printing
If your environment includes printers that can print on both sides
of a sheet of paper, you can specify one-sided or two-sided printing with
the
sides
attribute.
To determine which printers offer two-sided printing, use the following
pdls
command line:
$ pdls -c printer -r "printer-name sides-supported"
printer-name sides-supported
------------ ---------------
bulldog 1
2
boxer 1
The output shows that the only the first printer supports two-sided
printing.
To print a two-sided copy of the file
budget99.txt,
enter the following:
$ pdpr -p bulldog -x sides=2 budget99.txt
If the printer does not have a value for
sides-supported,
you cannot use the
sides
attribute for your job.
The printer
prints the document according to control instructions within the document
file, or according to the default sides value set on the printer device front
panel.
Some documents, particularly those created by PC-based applications,
include printer instructions that force them to print as one-sided or two-sided,
regardless of how you specify the print command.
3.2.4 Specifying the Document Format
The print system can print jobs in document formats such as text, PCL, and PostScript. When you submit a print job, you usually do not need to specify a document format. The print system determines the format by inspecting a small portion of each document.
There may be instances where the print system cannot determine the document
format and the result may be unacceptable.
In this case, you should specify
the format with the
document-format
attribute.
To print a file called
review
on the default logical
printer and specify PCL as the document format, enter:
$ pdpr -x "document-format=PCL" review
In some print environments, media types are associated with input
trays by the operator or administrator who assigns values to the
input-trays-medium
attribute.
If this is the case, you can select
a medium for printing by using the
default-medium
attribute.
You can ask your administrator for the specifics of your configuration, or
you can use the pdls command with the
media-supported
attribute.
For example, to determine what media is supported for logical printer bulldog,
enter:
$ pdls -c printer -r media-supported bulldog
If the command reports nothing, then you need to specify an input tray to select media.
Before you submit a job, you should first determine if the
input-trays-medium
attribute is defined on the physical printer.
For example, if your physical printer is bulldog1_pp, then you can enter the
following command line to view the
input-trays-medium
attribute:
$ pdls -c printer -r input-trays-medium bulldog1_pp
To submit a file called
mailer
to printer bulldog
and specify
monarch-envelope
as the medium to use, enter:
$ pdpr -p bulldog -x "default-medium=monarch-envelope" mailer
If the document contains tray-selection operators that override the
printer default settings, then unexpected media selection can occur.
3.2.6 Specifying Input Trays
Another way of selecting printing media is to use the
pdpr
command with the
default-input-tray
attribute.
First, determine the input trays supported by your printer, as in the following
example:
$ pdls -c printer -r input-trays-supported pawprint input-trays-supported --------------------- top bottom large-capacity
To print the file called
cad23.ps
on the printer
pawprint using the bottom input tray, enter:
$ pdpr -p pawprint -x "default-input-tray=bottom" cad23.ps
If the document contains tray-selection operators that override the
printer default settings, then unexpected media selection can occur.
3.2.7 Specifying Output Bins
You can specify the output bin for your print job by using the
pdpr
command with the
output-bin
attribute.
First, determine the output bins available for your printer as in the following example:
$ pdls -c printer -r output-bins-supported bulldog output-bins-supported --------------------- top side
To print the file
budget99.txt
and place it in
the side output bin, enter:
$ pdpr -x output-bin=side budget99.txt
3.2.8 Specifying Finishing Processes
Some printers offer advanced hardware options that perform finishing operations, such as trimming, binding, and stapling. To determine if any printers support finishing operations, use the following command line:
$ pdls -c printer -r "finishings-supported"
To print a job using a finishing process, include the
finishing
attribute in the pdpr command.
For example, to print a saddle-stitched
copy of
budget99.txt, enter:
$ pdpr -x "finishing=saddle-stitch" budget99.txt
3.2.9 Printing from Standard Input
You can print jobs that originate from standard system
utilities by using the shell's pipe capability.
For example, to print a listing
of files in your current directory, you can pipe the output of the
ls
command directly to your default printer:
% ls -l | pdpr
3.3 Specifying Job Scheduling Attributes
When you submit a print job, it is scheduled on a first in/first-out basis. Resource checking ensures that jobs are delivered only to printers that can print the job.
In some instances, you might want to submit a job with instructions to print at a later date. For example, you might want to schedule a long job to print after hours. You might also want to set a retention period for the job so you can check its status after you return to work.
The following sections explain job scheduling attributes that allow
you to control when jobs are printed and how long they are retained.
3.3.1 Holding a Print Job
The
job-hold attribute specifies whether a
print job is to be printed or put on hold.
The default value is
no
(do not hold).
If you have submitted a job and it is still waiting in its print queue,
you can use the
pdmod
command to set its
job-hold
attribute to
yes
to put it on hold.
The spooler
server then prevents the job from printing.
Other jobs submitted to the same
printer (but not on hold) will continue to be scheduled normally.
The held
job will remain unprinted until you set the
job-hold
attribute
to
no
or until the time specified by
job-discard-time
arrives.
The following example uses the
pdmod
command to
put job dogear_spl:1027 on hold:
$ pdmod -x "job-hold=yes" dogear_spl:1027
At a later time, you can send the job to print with the following command line:
$ pdmod -x "job-hold=no" dogear_spl:1027
Note
You can use the
pdpauseandpdresumecommands independently of the value of thejob-holdattribute.
3.3.2 Printing a Job After a Specific Time
The
job-print-after
attribute specifies the
calendar date and time after which the job can be scheduled for printing.
You may enter values in the format dd:mm:yyyy:HH:MM:SS.
To specify that the file
budget02.txtprint after
5:00 p.m.
on March 23, 2002, use the following examples:
$ pdpr -x "job-print-after=23:03:2002:17:00:00" budget02.txt
If the job has not yet started to print, you can change the time after
which it will print.
First, use the
pdq
command to obtain
the job identifier.
$ pdq job-identifier job-name current-job-state intervening-jobs -------------- -------- ----------------- ---------------- dogear_spl:1517 budget02.txt pending 0
Then use the
pdmod
command to specify a new time
(like 7:00 p.m.), using the job identifier as the command operand.
$ pdmod -x "job-print-after=02:03:2002:19:00:00" dogear_spl:1517
Print jobs can be retained by the print system after they print
or complete with errors.
This is useful if you need to print extra copies
after a job is complete or if the job does not print correctly.
The
job-retention-period
attribute specifies the period of time following
completion of a job that the print system retains the job, its attributes,
and its data.
By setting this attribute, you can obtain status information
after a job has printed and also resubmit the print job.
The
job-retention-period
attribute specifies a lower
boundary on how long the print system retains a job, its attributes, and data.
The
job-discard-time
specifies an upper boundary for retention,
regardless of whether the job has printed.
Use the format [HH:]MM[:SS] for
the time value.
For example, to specify that the job dogear_spl:27 be retained for 60
minutes after printing, use the
pdmod
command line:
$ pdmod -x "job-retention-period=60" dogear_spl:27
3.3.4 Automatically Discarding a Print Job
The
job-discard-time
attribute specifies the calendar date and time
of day at which a print job should be discarded, regardless of whether it
has printed.
This attribute specifies an upper boundary for retention, regardless
of whether the job has printed.
The
job-retention-period
attribute specifies a lower boundary on how long a job, its attributes, and
data are retained.
Use the format dd:mm:yyyy:HH:MM:SS for the time value.
To specify that the print job for the
budget99.txt
file should be deleted if it does not print by 5:00 p.m.
on February 2, 1999,
submit it as follows:
% pdpr -x "job-discard-time=02:02:1999:17:00:00" budget99.txt
3.4 Specifying Default Attributes for Jobs and Documents
The printing system supports two kinds of objects that supply an initial set of attributes for jobs and documents:
initial-value-job objects, which contain
a set of job attributes that are applied to a job.
initial-value-document
objects, which contain
a set of document attributes that are applied to individual documents in a
job.
Initial-value objects make it easy for you to apply commonly-used sets of job and document attributes to your print jobs. Your administrator can create as many initial value objects as necessary. In addition, it is easy to modify the attributes and values they contain.
Initial value objects can be used in two ways:
Administrators can apply initial-value objects to a logical
printer by setting the logical printer's
printer-initial-value-job
and
printer-initial-value-document
attributes.
Jobs you submit to the logical printer inherit the attributes contained in
the initial-value object.
You can apply initial value objects to a job or document by
specifying them in print requests with the
initial-value-job
and
initial-value-document
attributes.
Only administrators can create or modify initial value objects. If you need to create a a colletion of job and document attributes, refer to Section 3.4.3.
Every site is unique.
Check with your administrator for details on your
installation's use of such objects.
3.4.1 Setting Default Print Job Attributes
The following example demonstrates how an
initial-value-job
object might be used.
Your administrator uses the
printer-initial-value-job
attribute to apply default job settings to your default logical printer.
One of those settings is the
job-sheets=job-copy-start
attribute.
Consequently, all jobs sent to that logical printer include job
start sheets.
You, however, prefer to have start sheets, end sheets, and document
sheets printed with certain jobs.
Your administrator created an initial-value-job
object called
ivj_full_sheets
for this purpose.
It contains
the
job-sheets=job-copy-wrap
and
document-sheets=doc-set-start-copy-separate
attributes.
To send the file
quote.txt
to the default printer
and apply
ivj_full_sheets to your print request, enter:
$ pdpr -x initial-value-job=ivj_full_sheets quote.txt
3.4.2 Setting Default Print Document Attributes
The example below shows how an initial-value-document object might be used.
Your administrator uses a
printer-initial-value-document
attribute to apply document defaults to a logical printer.
One of those defaults
is the
sides=1
attribute.
As a result, all documents submitted
to that logical printer are printed one sided.
You, however, occasionally need to print text documents two-sided and
two page images per sheet side.
To meet this need, your administrator created
an initial-value-document object called
ivd_2x2.
It contains
the
sides=2
and
number-up=2
attributes.
To send the file
quote.txt
to the logical printer
called bulldog and apply initial values in
ivd_2x2
to your
print request, enter:
$ pdpr -x initial-value-document=ivd_2x2 -p bulldog quote.txt
You can predefine specific attributes and initial value objects in a text file and include them with a print command. These attributes files are a convenient way to store and retrieve frequently used combinations of printing attributes and values, making it easier to express complex commands reliably. Refer to the Advanced Printing Software Command Reference Guide for more information.
For example, if you need to print five copies of a monthly report for
a staff meeting and print them two sided on a printer named pawprint, then
create and use the following attributes file,
monthly.attr:
job-comment="wonderful monthly report" document-format=PostScript job-copies=5 sides=2 printer-requested=pawprint
Use the -X option to specify the attributes file. For example, if your report file is mar02.ps, enter this:
$ pdpr -X monthly.attr mar02.ps
3.5 Requesting Notification of Job Status
You can use the
-Noption with the
pdpr
command to request notification when your job has completed printing.
Notification
can be via e-mail or a message written to the console window.
Valid values for the -N option are:
email[:address]
message[:address]
3.5.1 Requesting E-mail Notification
To print file
inventory.txt
on the default
logical printer and receive an e-mail notice at your jane.doe@abc.com address
after the job has printed, enter:
$ pdpr -N email:jane.doe@abc.com inventory.txt
The default value for an email address is <your username>@<your
DNS domain>
.
3.5.2 Requesting Console Message Notification
Specify the
-N
option with the message argument
to send a notice to a host's console window, typically the dxconsole console
in the CDE, Motif, or X Window environment.
Before you can use the message
method for notification, you must be running the Console Notification Daemon
(/usr/pd/lib/pdconntf).
To print the file
cutbacks.txt
and request that
a job-completion message be written to the console window on node bulldog,
enter:
$ pdpr -N message:bulldog cutbacks.txt
The default address for console messages is the client hostname.
3.6 Using Preprocessor Filters
Document data frequently needs translation or modification before printing. For example, to print a simple text file on a PostScript printer, the text needs to be translated to PostScript using preprocessor filter programs. The print system supports the following kinds of filter programs:
Translation filter - a filter that translates one document
format to another, typically one supported by a printer.
An example of a translation
filter is one that translates a file from TIFF to PostScript.
The print system
automatically invokes a translation filter whenever the document format of
your file does not match the native printer language of the target physical
printer.
You can also specify a translation filter with the
pdpr
command.
Modification filter - a filter that modifies the document
data stream but does not change the document format.
One example is a program
that inserts line numbers and page headers in a text file.
To use a modification
filter, you must specify it with the
pdpr
command.
Your system administrator can set up filters that use common UNIX utilities that read from standard input and write to standard output. The Advanced Printing Software includes a text-to-PostScript translation filter that performs the task of translating text files into the PostScript language. With help from your administrator, you can create or obtain other preprocessor filters.
Your system administrator uses the
filter-definition
attribute to configure preprocessing filters for the print supervisor servers.
You can obtain a list of configured filters if you know the name of the supervisor
server that controls the physical printers you use.
The following example show how to determine which filters are available for a given logical printer.
Determine which physical printers are associated with the logical printer in this case, bulldog:
$ pdls -c printer -r printer-associated-printer bulldog printer-associated-printers --------------------------- bulldog1_pp bulldog2_pp
Use one of the reported physical printer names to request the name of its associated server, a printer supervisor:
$ pdls -c printer -r associated-server bulldog1_pp associated-server ----------------- dogear_sup
Request the list of filter definitions available to that printer supervisor:
$ pdls -c server -r filter-definition dogear_sup
Translation and modification filters are displayed.
You can request that a filter be applied to documents you print by specifying
the
modification-filter
attribute for a modification filter,
or the
translation-filter
attribute to select a translation
filter.
In the following example, the file
c_supprt.c
is
printed on the default printer with a modification filter named listing.
$ pdpr -x modification-filter=listing c_supprt.c
3.6.1 Translating Text Files to PostScript
The text-to-PostScript translation filter (/usr/pd/bin/trn_textps) translates simple-text documents to PostScript. This filter executes whenever you send a simple text document to a printer that supports only the PostScript language.
The text-to-PostScript translation filter provided with Advanced Printing Software offers formatting options, such as number-up printing, page orientation, page length and width, and adjustable margins.
Administrators can set up the
filter-definition
attribute
with command option substitutions that relate job and document attributes
to translator options.
The configuration of the text-to-PostScript translation
filter is performed automatically when the administrator uses pd_get_started
to setup a supervisor server..
Although translation filters are automatically applied, you can specify particular translation filters if more than one of a given type is configured on your server.
In the following example, the text file
c_supprt.c
is printed on the default PostScript-capable printer with the built-in text-to-PostScript
filter.
The supervisor filter detects that a translation filter is required
to convert the text to PostScript.
$ pdpr c_supprt.c
In the following example, the file
c_supprt.c
is
printed on the default printer with the translation-filter list-to-ps.
$ pdpr -x translation-filter=list-to-ps c_supprt.c
3.7 Printing to a Specific Physical Printer
When you submit a print job, it is sent
to a logical printer that might be associated with several physical printers.
The spooler schedules the request to an available physical printer most suited
to the needs of the job.
You can, however, send a job to a specific physical
printer by using the
physical-printers-requested
attribute.
You can determine the names of physical printers supported by a logical
printer by using the
pdls
command with the
printer-associated-printers
attribute, as in the following example:
$ pdls -c printer -r "printer-associated-printers" printmore
This command line returns a list of all physical printers associated with the logical printer printmore. To print your job on one of those physical printers, you must also specify the logical printer, either implicitly with the PDPRINTER environment variable, or explicitly with the -p option.
For example, to submit the file
emily.ps
to the
physical printer printer1_pp that is associated with logical printer printmore,
enter:
$ pdpr -p printmore \ -x "physical-printers-requested=printer1_pp" emily.ps