00558: How to print an alignment page

Title:

How to print an alignment page

Description:

Q: 
I’m trying to print a report on a pre-printed form. Therefore, it’s necessary to print an alignment test to ensure that the output is printed correctly on the form. However, whenever I print the alignment page I have to close the channel to pass the job on to the spooler. This causes the printer to print, but it also ends my print job and formfeeds the alignment page. Is there a way around this? 

Resolution:

A: 
Alignment forms can be difficult, especially when the output is treated as a job to a spooled printer. In this case, the output is buffered and won’t be printed until the channel has been closed. However, that’s not a very desirable feature when printing an alignment form. The solution is to print to the device directly, bypassing the spooler. This may be undesirable if you’re dealing with a shared printer, but if you need this type of control over the printer then it’s the only option. To print to the device directly, you can create a new alias line for it similar to: 

alias P0 /dev/lpt1 “HP LASER JET” CR,… 

This way, the output will go directly to the printer without being buffered, and you will bypass any formfeeds or other formatting that the spooler may add. 

The Windows ports offer another mechanism to accomplish this via the ‘ENDSPOOL’ mnemonic. ‘ENDSPOOL’ takes no parameters and forces a Windows print job without software having to do a CLOSE(chan). The advantage is that the print job which does alignment first does not have to reset the printer after alignment parameters are adjusted correctly which a CLOSE(chan) forces software to do.

Last Modified: 02/23/2004 Product: PRO/5 Operating System: All platforms

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