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RE: [sqr-users] Help! SQR mysteriously prints extra pages! Problem solved
After a lot of digging and some good pointers from Jay and Ray this is
how I solved the problem.
For the benefit of those who may encounter this problem in the future I
will attempt to explain the problem and the solution as I understand
them. (Which isn't necessarily very well.) SQR was sending a report,
actually a check advice form (DDP003.sqr for all of you PeopleSoft
types), to a unix print que. When I generated the advice as a PDF file
it looked just fine; all of the text and graphics appeared on one page
as they should. But when I sent it to an HP printer the text and
graphics were being printed across a range of pages. In addition many
blank pages were being ejected from the printer. In the raw .lis file I
couldn't see any extra formfeeds. Nor could I see anything in the
program logic that would have caused this problem. Ray (see below)
pointed out what the basic problem was and Jay (also see below)
elaborated on it further. If I understand what Jay was saying correctly
the problem was that the graphics being printed on the form, boxes and
shading in this case, caused a lot of extra bytes of binary data to be
included in the data stream that was sent to the printer. The printer
was factoring these extra bytes into its line wrap and line feed
calculations - even though this extra binary data wasn't actually
printed on the report - and the extra line feeds were eventually forcing
the unwanted extra page ejects. Jay noted how to solve this problem
for VMS. I then began to search for an equivalent solution for AIX. I
found a handy AIX tutorial at the following URL
http://www.unet.univie.ac.at/aix/aixbman/printrgd/toc.htm.
After studying how the Unix print spooler works I determined that if I
could pass the passthru argument to unix this should cause the spooler
to ignore all of the binary data when it calculated the number of lines
printed on the page and thereby prevent the extra lines feeds which were
causing the extra pages to eject. After a while I stumbled onto a
setting in smit. The navigation is Print Spooling>Change / Show Print
Que Characteristics. Select the appropriate print que. Select Default
Print Job Attributes. There you will find a setting for the
Pre-processing FILTER NAME. Select the pass-through filter option from
the list of choices available for that setting (capital I).
This solved the problem.
Mark Hall
IS Analyst
ERP Team
260-373-8796
mark.hall@parkview.com
>>> jbeller@lbisoftware.com 10/07/03 09:34AM >>>
I agree with Ray, the HP "thinks" you're trying to print after the
end-of-page.
This frequently occurs when your document has embedded binary data
(graphics or escape sequences) and is sent to the printer as a Text
document. Even though the binary data doesn't "use up" any space on the
printed page, the HP thinks you're printing text and counts the number
of bytes per line (affects wrap) and lines per page (affects formfeed).
So, if you're creating a .lis file that has more than the
"number-of-lines-per-page" lines before reaching the <FF> character, the
printer will eject to a new page (typically a spooler function),
regardless of the formfeed=no setting on the printer.
What you need is a way to tell the printer (or spooler) that you're
printing binary and your document will handle the pagination.
In VMS, this would be the PRINT /PASSALL /NOFORMFEED command - not sure
what the equivalent would be under AIX. Hopefully, someone out there can
supply that.
jay
-----Original Message-----
From: Ray Ontko [mailto:rayo@ontko.com]
Sent: Monday, October 06, 2003 6:31 PM
To: sqr-users@sqrug.org
Subject: Re: [sqr-users] Help! SQR mysteriously prints extra pages!
Mark,
The problem is that you are attempting to print past the
end of the page, so the HP printer is adding a newline after
each print attempt.
I don't recall the exact escape sequence that you need to
send the printer, but it's the one that defines the printable
area of the page. Since you're printing past the printable
area, the printer thinks you want to start the NEXT text on
a fresh page.
Ray
On Mon, Oct 06, 2003 at 04:23:57PM -0500, Mark Hall wrote:
> I am totally stumped on this one. I have an sqr (DDP003P.SQR, The
check
> advice print, for all of you peoplesoft types out there) that for
some
> strange reason prints mystery pages. I can see no reason why. My
> checks print fine and the advices use the same layout. When I run
the
> process to a pdf file the pdf looks fine. All the text and graphics
are
> on one page just like they should be. When I look at the raw .lis
file
> I only see one formfeed (at the bottom of the page where it should
be).
> But when I run it to an hp printer it just goes crazy. It prints
some
> stuff on the first page. Then it prints some stuff on the next page.
> Then it goes to the next page and prints a line. Then it prints a
line
> on the next page. And so on for a few more pages. Then it prints a
> whole bunch of blank pages. Then it prints the category subtotals
on
> one page. Then finally it prints the grand totals on the last page.
It
> spits out about 45 pages between blanks and pages with stuff on them.
>
> I've tried the formfeed=no option but that doesn't work. Like I said
I
> don't see any extra formfeeds.
>
> Does anyone have any idea what the problem is? Any help would be
> greatly appreciated. We are going live in a few weeks and I am at
my
> wits end.
>
> I am running the PeopleSoft version of sqr on an AIX 5.1 box and
> printing to an HP LaserJet 4000T. PeopleTools release 8.4.3.
>
>
>
> Mark Hall
> IS Analyst
> ERP Team
> 260-373-8796
> mark.hall@parkview.com
>
> _______________________________________________
> sqr-users mailing list
> sqr-users@sqrug.org
> http://www.sqrug.org/mailman/listinfo/sqr-users
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Ray Ontko rayo@ontko.com Phone 1.765.935.4283 Fax 1.765.962.9788
Ray Ontko & Co. Software Consulting Services http://www.ontko.com/
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