Default Printers

[sally]

Hello,
What is your advise on the setup on default printers ? we
seem to have a problem with the status , When we set a group up with *All
Reports and *All Versions to a printer in WPD environment it is
Active , then the same group with a different printer it becomes Not Active.
Then *PUBLIC for *All Reports and *All Versions for different printers are
active and not active . Then when we set individual users for specific
reports and specific versions only one or two can be set active, the
rest are not active. So what is the solution to set up default printers ,
Users, Groups or *Public ? When we go live , how can people print a report
if the printer
is not active ? will I be changing printer status every five minutes
or this a Bug ?
What is the correct way to set default printers ?

Kind Regards

Sally


Sally Owen - IT Department
Racal Instruments Ltd
480 Bath Rd
Slough
Berks
SL1 6BE

Tel No: 01628 604455 ext 343
Mobile : 07789 652487
Mailto : [email protected]

 

[jeremey_garcia]

Happy New Year Sally!

First off what is your config? I'm going to guess on Xe b/c this sounds like a problem we went/are going through.

Active status means for that particular person/group that will be their default printer. Whenever they go to run a UBE and get to the print selection screen that is the one that pops up.

The best way to setup printers is by group. That way when you add a user you don't have to add a printer for them, just add them to a group and the printer is set. Easier to maintain and troubleshoot.

In my setup I have default printers by users, by groups, and by UBE's.
1. By groups - our company offices are divided based on what the posiition is. I.e. accounting is in one area, customer service in another, etc. So our groups are done by the same idea. Each area has a printer. Therefor, common sense says use that to setup a printer.

2. Certain users for testing in PY or DV need a particular printer so I set just them up with a default printer

3. Checks go to a special printer, timecards and lot orders go through our formscape system, so I setup a printer on those ube's. user is *public, report name is the specific report name and then version is the specific version being run.

Now, with Xe there is a "glitch" out where only Env, User, Report are the qualifiying options for printers. There is a SAR that allows versions to be added to that list. Only one printer per Env, User, Report (and versions if you pull down that SAR) can be active at a time. If the printer isn't active you can still print to it by changing printers at the print selection screen.

Hope this is what you are looking for. If I find the SAR number I will put it on the list for you. Maybe someone else knows what it is off the top of their head and can put it out there.



Jeremey Garcia
Xe SP14 ES - AS/400 CO - AS/400 Deploy - NT Citrix

 

[Adrian_Chimirel]

Hi Sally,

Adding my CAD 2¢here
Quoting the Xe - Printing Properties in Report Design / ERW manual page 399 and up -
"A default printer is associated with batch processes.
Default printers can also be associated with users; a user-associated printer overrides a batch process-associated printer.
You can override both of these printers by selecting a printer when you design a report in Report Design. The printer you select is stored in the print specifications, causing the report to always print to that printer unless overridden at submission."
...
The RDA allows you to setup the Report/Version's printer OR "You can use the DO_INIT_PRINTER event to specify a printer when the batch application processes. In this way, you could print the same report to different printers based on other criteria that you specify. The event rule (ER) for this event is the first ER that is processed when the report is submitted. The system function resolves and validates the printer, and the Batch engine then uses the printer name Enterprise Report Writing (if valid) to obtain a printer device context. Portions of this device context can be overridden if certain flags in the report specification are set."

Basically:
1 Rpt Design Version overrides
2 Rpt Design Template that overrides
3 User/Group that overrides
4 Batch Process.

Warm regards,
Adrian Chimirel
PS ... there is another very interesting chapter, the Printing Properties at Report Submission, too

Xe U3 SP17, Oracle 806, Citrix, HTML, FormScape 2.1 Ent RS/6000, AIX 4.2, Dep NT4