Drawer Pulls & Paper Stock

[jgeremia]

I'm an RPG developer working in an AS/400 shop.

We have a statement print program that uses drawer pulls for different form types. One of the forms are labels. The report is printed on a Xerox Workcentre Pro 255 copy machine.

Is there any way to program via the DDS the type of paper stock to use? Currently the drawer is set to plain paper. I've tried changing the stock type to something other than plain paper but it produces an error message on the printer. It knows it should be plain paper. Lots of times, the labels jam since the form is thicker than plain paper.

There must be some way via keywords to specify the paper stock.

Any help would be appreciated.

[littlepd]

Re: Drawer Pulls & Paper Stock

Well, there's the FORMTYPE parameter on the Create Printer File (CRTPRTF) command. It specifies the type of form on which the output is printed. The default is *STD, which means whatever the deault paper type is for the printer. You can define your own form type of, say, "LABELS" and use that for the FORMTYPE parameter when you create your PRTF object. Then, when the labels get printed, a message will be sent to the OUTQ operator/manager that tells them to change the form type in the printer before continuing.

Does that do it for you?

[jgeremia]

Re: Drawer Pulls & Paper Stock

I am familiar with the FORMTYPE parameter and am using it with this program.

However the issue is specifying the paper stock I wish to use and conveying it to the printer. When I check the settings of each drawer, it states it's using plain paper.

I need to communicate to the printer to change the stock to labels.

Thanks for your help.

[MichaelCatalani]

Re: Drawer Pulls & Paper Stock

In addition, you can specify the drawer to pull from as well. This allows multiple forms to be loaded on one printer, which can reduce the need to change forms in the first place. By combining this with the FORMTYPE mentioned above, the system can keep track of what form type was last loaded in each drawer, and send a message if the form needs to be changed.

Based upon the original message, it kind of sounds like everyone is using *STD for the forms, and were using drawers to separate which form was used. That's a good concept for a multiple drawer printer, but you still need to use the form type to ensure the correct form is being used. That way, if someone loads 3x5 labels into a drawer that typically holds 8 1/2 x 11 paper, the system will know that as long as the printer file specifies the form type as something like LABEL3X5.

[MichaelCatalani]

Re: Drawer Pulls & Paper Stock

I am familiar with the FORMTYPE parameter and am using it with this program.

However the issue is specifying the paper stock I wish to use and conveying it to the printer. When I check the settings of each drawer, it states it's using plain paper.

I need to communicate to the printer to change the stock to labels.

Thanks for your help.

It sounds like you are saying that the printer itself needs to know that you are changing over to labels. I'm not sure if that can be handled automatically or not, as I've never had to do that. (The printers I have used have never cared what forms were in the drawers in of themselves) What you may have to do is to use the form types, and just have a procedure that when the system says to change the forms to LABELS, that the person loading the labels also updates the printer that there are labels in the drawer. WHen a message saying to load *STD is received, then the person loading the paper back in the drawer also sets the printer settings for standard paper in the drawer.

[jgeremia]

Re: Drawer Pulls & Paper Stock

I take back my previous reply.

I just reread the response from LITTLEPD and realize he was referencing the FORMTYPE parameter on the CRTPRTF. I thought he was talking about on OVRPRTF.

Not sure if it will work but I'll try it and see what I get.

Thanks again!!!

[MichaelCatalani]

Re: Drawer Pulls & Paper Stock

I take back my previous reply.

I just reread the response from LITTLEPD and realize he was referencing the FORMTYPE parameter on the CRTPRTF. I thought he was talking about on OVRPRTF.

No sure if it will work but I'll try it and see what I get.

Thanks again!!!

It should work the same way unless the override is not working. (Such as scoping issues.)

[jgeremia]

Re: Drawer Pulls & Paper Stock

Unfortunately, I won't be able to use this solution as I do an OVRPRTF on the printfile in the CL and I am using the FORMTYPE parameter to rename the formtype for other purposes.

Even if I compiled it as previously suggested, my override will disregard the FORMTYPE from the compile.

Nuts!!!!!!

[jgeremia]

Re: Drawer Pulls & Paper Stock

Thanks Michael for your responses as well. But if I combine your solutions with littlepd's solution, it will be bypassed by my OVRPRTF.