One of the things people always ask me about is how to do page range printing when using Line Printer Requester (LPR) on their AS/400s. In this article, I’ll discuss some Web sites you can visit for information on providing this functionality.
To get started, go to IBM’s Technical Support Web site at www.as400service.ibm.com. Click on the Tech Info & Databases/Software Knowledge Base, then click on Print. Collapse the options tree to find the Network Attached Printers option. Click on Network Attached Printers/Remote Output Queues (RMTOUTQs).
Read article 14143423, “Capabilities and Limitations of TCP/IP Remote Output Queues.” You will find an entry in the limitation section specifying that there is no AS/400 page range support for using TCP/IP Remote Output Queues to print to a LAN-attached printer. This limitation exists because LPR client transmissions include a Control File with print formatting information as well as a Data File with the actual information to be printed. If a receiving device running an LPD server chooses to ignore the information in the control file, job control is effectively lost. This is why AS/400 LPR cannot guarantee that page range support will work on any given printer.
To get around this limitation, three options exist:
• Download the Spool File Tools (SPLTOOL) v6.13 program from www.bvstools.com. This shareware program from Bradley V. Stone supports OS/400 V3R2M0 and above. SPLTOOL allows the printing of page ranges to a TCP/IP printer. It
also allows you to download AS/400 spool files to a PC document and it allows you to send an AS/400 spool file via FTP.
• IBM’s TSPRWPR Writer Transform Exit Program—On the IBM Technical Support Web site, go to the Network Attached Printers/Remote Output Queues (RMTOUTQ) articles as described above. Read article 12594243, “Page Range Support on Remote Output Queue (LPR).” This document contains instructions for creating and assigning the TSPRWPR exit program to an output queue so that you can print a specific page range using LPR or the Send TCP Spool File (SNDTCPSPLF) command. This QUSRTOOL exit program was created by IBM and has been available since V4R2. The tool can also be compiled and ported back to V4R1 and V3R7. The only warning here is that IBM supplies this tool as is without any support so, if you run into problems, IBM will not be able to help you.
• LAN Device Description—On the IBM Technical Support Web site, go to the Software Knowledge Base again and choose Print. There are some documents that describe the LAN device description parameters in the Network Attached Printers-*LAN Device Descriptions area. You may want to read article 14461435, “LAN PJLTCP/IP Device
Description Configuration Settings.” This device description has been available since V3R7. It uses PJL commands to support LPR page ranges on HP-PCL compatible laser
printers. The application is a TCP socket application that writes printer output to a target TCP port on the print server that is handling the target printer.
Business users want new applications now. Market and regulatory pressures require faster application updates and delivery into production. Your IBM i developers may be approaching retirement, and you see no sure way to fill their positions with experienced developers. In addition, you may be caught between maintaining your existing applications and the uncertainty of moving to something new.
IT managers hoping to find new IBM i talent are discovering that the pool of experienced RPG programmers and operators or administrators with intimate knowledge of the operating system and the applications that run on it is small. This begs the question: How will you manage the platform that supports such a big part of your business? This guide offers strategies and software suggestions to help you plan IT staffing and resources and smooth the transition after your AS/400 talent retires. Read on to learn:
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