═══ 1. General Help ═══ PCPRINT is program which helps you print documents on your workstation printer, formatted with running headings and footings, margins and page numbers, etc. The document can be, for example, o a PC file on disk or diskette o a VM file on your A-disk o an OfficeVision/VM note or calendar o an MVS file being browsed with TSO ISPF o a copy of whatever is on the host screen at the moment. The printing of host documents and screens can be requested from the host side, without leaving 3270 emulation. PCPRINT also helps you control your printer. You can select printer, queue, print driver and font. PCPRINT can use the Presentation Manager interface for printing and print on Postscript printers, HP Laserjet, and even plotters. Alternatively, you can use the device driver interface for printing and have PCPRINT send a control string with printer control codes and escape sequences to the printer before each document. The output from PCPRINT can be sent to any printer, or saved in a PC file for later printing. For further information, see 1. the other help panels (select Contents from Options above) 2. PCPRINT User's Guide. ═══ 1.1. The Profile menu ═══ The way PCPRINT prints documents is controlled through a number of options. These options can be entered 1. as command line parameters when PCPRINT.EXE is started, 2. using PCPRINT pull-down menus and associated panels, and 3. in a profile. A profile is a regular ASCII file containing option keywords and values. The default name for this file is PCPRINT.PRO, but you can use any name. When started, PCPRINT will look for PCPRINT.PRO in the current directory, and use it if it finds it, unless you specify a different initial profile. For example: pcprint profile=report5.pro Once PCPRINT is running, you can use the Profile pull-down menu to 1. Load a new profile (Open) 2. Reset all PCPRINT options to their default values (New) 3. Update the current profile with any changed options (Save) 4. Create a new profile (or overwrite an existing one) (Save As...) The recommended way of creating a PCPRINT profile is using the Save As... option under Profiles, but you can also create one using a text editor. Each line has one of these formats: keyword keyword=value<,value><,value>... keyword="string" Example of what a profile might contain: DS PL=66 RH="For XYZ Company Internal Use Only" ═══ 1.2. The Session menu ═══ Use this menu to select the host session to work with. This menu is dynamically created a few seconds after PCPRINT has been started. ═══ 1.3. The AUTO option ═══ Choose this for automatic session selection. When you switch to a new host session, PCPRINT will automatically switch to this session also. ═══ 1.4. The Printer menu ═══ The output from PCPRINT can be directed to different destinations: 1. PCPRINT can send the output directly to a LPTx or COMx port, using what is known as the device driver interface for printing. LPT1, LPT2, LPT3, COM1, COM2 or COM3 can be selected directly from the Printer menu. If, in a LAN environment, you want to print to LPT4 or higher, you can do so by putting DEST=LPT4 in a profile. If the OS/2 print spooler is started, it will intercept the output and hold it in a print queue until the printer is ready to receive it. If you select LPTx/COMx from the Printer menu, you will be presented the "Printer control string" dialog. This allows you to enter an optional string which is sent to the printer immediately before each document and is used to set font, forms length, drawer, etc. More about this later. 2. PCPRINT can use the Presentation Manager interface for printing. This is usually a bit slower than the first method, but has many advantages: o You can use Postscript printers, HP Laserjet printers, and even plotters. o You can select font and character size. o The print driver will often allow you to print sideways (landscape printing), use low or high resolution, print several copies, and more. You request this method by selecting one of the printer names listed in the Printer menu. You will then be presented the "Specify queue, driver and font" dialog described later. This method requires that the OS/2 print spooler is started. 3. PCPRINT can send the output to a file on disk or diskette. The file will be created if it doesn't exist, or appended if it already exists. You request this method by selecting "File..." in the Printer menu. You will then be presented a file name dialog. You can change the destination at any time using the Printer pull-down menu. The print destination can also be set with the DEST keyword as a parameter to PCPRINT.EXE or in a profile. For direct output, specify DEST="LPTx" or DEST="COMx". For PM output, specify DEST="PRINTER" and PRINTER="printer name". In this case you must also specify queue, driver and font - more below. For output to a file, specify DEST="file name". ═══ 1.5. The Options menu ═══ From this menu, you can bring up four different dialog boxes. These contain options affecting different aspects of how PCPRINT works. ═══ 1.6. The Print menu ═══ Use this menu to request a printout of the current host session screen, to request the printing of a file, and to activate or deactivate the capability to to request printing from the host side. ═══ 1.7. Help for Activate/Deactivate Host Print ═══ Select these to activate or deactivate the Host Initiated Print function. When activated, it will monitor the current host session and process host documents when requested to do so from the host side. Select Deactivate Host Print to interrupt the processing of a host document after it has started. ═══ 1.8. Help for Print Host Screen ═══ Select this to get a printout of the host screen for the current session. ═══ 1.9. Help for Print PC File ═══ Select this to print a PC file. You will be prompted for the file name. ═══ 1.10. The Help menu ═══ Use this menu to get help, and to display the current version of the PCPRINT program. ═══ 2. Keys Help ═══ In addition to the standard system and window keys, PCPRINT supports the following hot-keys: Ctrl-s Print Host Screen. A copy of the host screen for the current session is printed. Ctrl-f Print File. You will be prompted for the name of a PC file. Then this file will be printed. Ctrl-a Activate Host Print. PCPRINT will start monitoring the current host session and process host documents when requested to do so from the host side. Ctrl-d Deactivate Host Print. PCPRINT will disconnect from the host session and only process print requests entered from the PC side. F3 Terminate PCPRINT. ═══ 3. Help for the File Name dialog ═══ This dialog is used to enter the name of o a profile to be read or saved o a file to write to when the destination is a file o a file to be printed. ═══ 3.1. Help for File name or search pattern ═══ Enter the name of the file (a profile, an output file, or a file to be printed). Only enter the file name part if the file is in the current directory. Otherwise, enter the full name including drive, path and name. The file name may contain global file name characters (* and ?). Matching files, if any, will be shown in a drop-down list when you click the down-arrow. ═══ 4. Help for the Select queue, driver and font dialog ═══ This dialog is invoked when you specify a printer name in the Destination menu, and thus request the Presentation Manager interface for printing. The dialog is used to select print queue, print driver, driver data, and font for the print job. The current queue, driver and font are displayed and can be modified. Note that if you have more than one printer defined, the current values could apply to another printer and may not be valid for the printer you work with now. The listboxes will show the valid values. You may need to do some experimenting to find the best combination of font, number of lines per page and page margin (in the page layout dialog) for a particular type of print job. When done, use Profile Save or Save As... to save the selections. ═══ 4.1. Help for Queue ═══ There may be more than one Print Manager queue defined for the selected printer. Use the drop down list to select the desired queue. For example, a 4019 might have one queue for PPDS jobs, one for HP Laserjet jobs, and one for Postscript jobs. All queues are normally held except the one corresponding to the mode in which the 4109 is currently started. Regardless of the current status, you can direct your PCPRINT output to the desired queue. This option is coded as QUEUE="string" in a PCPRINT profile. There is no default. ═══ 4.2. Help for Driver ═══ There may be more than one print driver defined for the selected printer. Use the drop down list to select the desired driver. For example, a 4019 might have one driver for PPDS jobs, one for HP Laserjet jobs, and one for Postscript jobs. The selection will affect which fonts that are available. This option is coded as DRIVER="string" in a PCPRINT profile. If the driver contains a period (for example, "PSCRIPT.IBM 4019 v52_1 (39 Fonts)" ), the name before the period is coded as DRIVER="string" and the name after the period is coded as DEVICE="string". There are no defaults. ═══ 4.3. Help for Driver data ═══ When you change to a new print driver, or click the "Driver data" push button, the print driver will display a dialog allowing you to specify things like resolution, paper format, portrait or landscape printing, and number of copies. Please note that this dialog is provided by the print driver, not by PCPRINT. PCPRINT only invokes it. The driver data is coded as DRIVDATA1="string1" and DRIVDATA2="string2" in a PCPRINT profile. String1 contains the total driver data length in hex (byte 1-4), the driver version number in hex (byte 5-12) and possibly a device name (byte 13-44). String2 is the remaining driver data in hex. The length of String2 is (total driver data length - 40)*2. There are no defaults. The recommended way of placing this information in a PCPRINT profile is by using Profile Save or Save As... The profile should be re-saved if you apply service to the OS/2 print driver, since the version number and the format of the data may have changed. ═══ 4.4. Help for Font source ═══ Select Device font to use a font specifically made for the selected printer. Such a font is normally faster and nicer looking than a generic font. Select Generic font to use a font which is available on all printers and screens. On some printers, this is the only way to get an outline font. An outline font can be scaled to any size and can be printed sideways. The selection affects which fonts that are displayed when the List fonts pushbotton is clicked. ═══ 4.5. Help for Font spacing ═══ Select Proportional spacing unless the document contains tables or other information that needs to be aligned. In that case, specify Fixed spacing. The selection affects which fonts that are displayed when the List fonts pushbotton is clicked. ═══ 4.6. Help for List fonts ═══ When you click "List fonts", the "Fonts" listbox will be filled with fonts that are o device or generic fonts, as desired o proportionally or fixed spaced fonts, as desired o small enough to provide the desired number of lines per page, as specified in the "Number of lines per page" field in the Page Layout dialog. If there is no such font, you will get an error message. In that case, change font type, or decrease the number of lines per page. The reason could also be that you have specified an invalid combination of printer, queue and driver. Click the down-arrows in the Queue and Driver fields to list valid names. The currently selected font is shown above the listbox. It can be replaced by clicking on a font in the listbox. The font specifcation has three parts: 1. The font face name 2. The character cell size (horizontal x vertical) for a raster font, or "(Outline)" for an outline font. 3. The font match value. The match value plus the face name identifies a particular font. The match value is negative for a device font, positive for a generic font. There may be more than one raster font with the same face name and cell size. Then you will have to experiment to find the difference. An outline font can be scaled to any size and can be printed sideways. But a raster font with a given size normally prints faster and looks better than an outline font scaled to the same size. The selected font is coded as FONT="string" in a PCPRINT profile. ═══ 5. Help for the Page Layout dialog ═══ The Page Layout options affect the layout of the printed page. You can define margins at the top, the bottom and the left side, as well as running headings and footings. ═══ 5.1. Help for Number of lines per page ═══ This value is used by PCPRINT to figure out when it is time to put out footing and bottom margin. It should be set to the same value as the forms length known by the printer. (The forms length can be set using an Esc C nn escape sequence.) The PCPRINT default is 66. This option is coded as PL=number in a PCPRINT profile. ═══ 5.2. Help for Top margin ═══ Enter the number of blank lines you want on top of each page. The PCPRINT default is 3. This option is coded as TM=number in a PCPRINT profile. ═══ 5.3. Help for Bottom margin ═══ Enter the number of blank lines you want printed at the bottom of each page. The PCPRINT default is 3. This option is coded as BM=number in a PCPRINT profile. ═══ 5.4. Help for Left side margin ═══ The output will be adjusted this many columns to the right. If this value is too large, it can cause lines to wrap. The PCPRINT default is 0. This option is coded as PM=number in a PCPRINT profile. ═══ 5.5. Help for Initial page number ═══ If the running heading or footing contains the page number (%n), the first page will have this number. The PCPRINT default is 1. This option is coded as PN=number in a PCPRINT profile. ═══ 5.6. Help for Double spacing ═══ Click this box for double spacing. PCPRINT will then add a blank line after each line in the source document. The PCPRINT default is single spacing. This option is coded as DS in a PCPRINT profile. ═══ 5.7. Help for Running heading ═══ This string will be printed after the top margin on each page. Current date, time, page number and file name can be included in the heading. The following substituitions will be made: Code Will be replaced by %y year (last two digits) %m month (two digits) %d day-of-month %h hour (24-hour format) %i minute %s second %n page number %f file name The file name (%f) format depends on the type of document you are printing: o For a PC file, it is the PC file name, including drive and path if given when requesting the printout. o For a VM file, the format is "filename filetype filemode". o For a note displayed with PEEK, it is "userid node A0". o For a note displayed with PROFS, it is "userid node A1". o For a Print Screen, %f is replaced by "Session xxxx" where xxxx is the long session name. For %f to work properly, you must use rel 7.1 or later of PCPRINT EXEC and PCPRINT XEDIT. If the device driver interface for printing is used (i.e. if LPTx, COMx or File was selected from the Printer menu), advanced users may include printer control codes and escape sequences in the string. This can be used to make the heading appear in a different style or font. The running heading is not used when printing PROFS documents. The PCPRINT default is no running heading. This option is coded as RH="string" in a PCPRINT profile. ═══ 5.8. Help for Running footing ═══ If a footing is specified, a blank line and then the footing will precede the bottom margin. The same substitutions as in the running heading will be made. The PCPRINT default is no running footing. This option is coded as RF="string" in a PCPRINT profile. ═══ 6. Help for the Form Feeds dialog ═══ The Form Feeds options affect the way the paper is fed through the printer. ═══ 6.1. Help for Ignore initial form feed ═══ Often, the first or second line of a document contains a code for skipping to the start of a new page. If you are already at the top of a page, a blank page will be fed through the printer. Select this option if you want such an intial form feed to be ignored. The PCPRINT default is to not remove an initial form feed. This option is coded as REMOVEFF in a PCPRINT profile. ═══ 6.2. Help for Form feeds after each document ═══ This is the number of form feeds PCPRINT sends to the printer after printing the last line of the document. The PCPRINT default is to send one form feed. This option is coded as EJECTS=number in a PCPRINT profile. ═══ 6.3. Help for Beep after each document ═══ Select this option if you want PCPRINT to beep the speaker when it has completed the processing of a document. The PCPRINT default is to remain silent. This option is coded as BEEP in a PCPRINT profile. ═══ 7. Help for the Printer Control dialog ═══ To help you control the printer, PCPRINT can send a printer control string to the printer immediately before sending the first line of each document to be printed. This string can be used to set condensed mode, select font and print quality, select paper drawer, etc. - exactly what you can do depends on what type of printer you are using. ═══ 7.1. Help for Printer control string ═══ To help you control the printer, PCPRINT can send a printer control string to the printer immediately before sending the first line of each document to be printed. This string can be used to set condensed mode, select font and print quality, select paper drawer, etc. - exactly what you can do depends on what type of printer you are using. The printer control string contains hex values which are either printer control codes or escape sequences. You can enter or edit the control string directly from the keyboard. Or you can use the list box to add an escape sequence or a control code to the end of the string. This option is coded as PCONTROL="string" a PCPRINT profile. The string should be contain hexadecimal numbers separated by blanks, just as it looks on the screen. ═══ 8. Help for the Escape Sequence dialog ═══ Escape sequences are used to set tabs, select print quality, and other things which require more than a simple printer control code. An escape sequence consists of the Esc character (x'1B'), a command character, and zero or more values. The Guide to Operations for your printer will show which escape sequences the printer supports. ═══ 8.1. Help for Command character ═══ Enter the command character as one ASCII character. PCPRINT will convert it to hex before putting it in the printer control string. The following commands are supported by most printers: B Set vertical tabs C Set page length D Set horizontal tabs E Start emphasized printing F Cancel emphasized printing G Start double-strike printing H Cancel double-strike printing I Select print mode, font, or quality W Control double-wide printing X Set margins 9 Stop at end-of-page See the printer Guide to Operations for details about values to use etc. ═══ 8.2. Help for First value ═══ Enter the value, if any, as a decimal number. PCPRINT will convert it to hex before putting it in the printer control string. ═══ 8.3. Help for Second value ═══ Enter the value, if any, as a decimal number. PCPRINT will convert it to hex before putting it in the printer control string. ═══ 8.4. Help for Third value ═══ Enter the value, if any, as a decimal number. PCPRINT will convert it to hex before putting it in the printer control string. ═══ 8.5. Help for Fourth value ═══ Enter the value, if any, as a decimal number. PCPRINT will convert it to hex before putting it in the printer control string. ═══ 8.6. Help for Fifth value ═══ Enter the value, if any, as a decimal number. PCPRINT will convert it to hex before putting it in the printer control string. ═══ 9. Help for the Host Screen Format dialog ═══ PCPRINT must know how the host screen is formatted to be able to retrieve documents from the host. The options in this dialog can be used to customize PCPRINT to your host environment. If you use VM and the standard PCPRINT host support, there is no need to change these values. For TSO, there is a sample profile in PCPRINT PACKAGE called PCPRINT TSO. ═══ 9.1. Help for Command line ═══ Enter the line number for the line where the command input area is. (In the VM XEDIT case, this is the area after ====> .) A negative number means 'counted from the bottom'. So -2 means line 23 on a regular model 2 session. The PCPRINT default is -2. This option is coded as CMDLINE=number in a PCPRINT profile. ═══ 9.2. Help for Command column ═══ Enter the column where the first character of a host command is entered. The PCPRINT default is 7. This option is coded as CMDCOL=number in a PCPRINT profile. ═══ 9.3. Help for Identification line ═══ The "Identification" concept is used to ensure that the expected panel is on the host screen before lines to printed are retrieved or a command is issued. PCPRINT verifies that the Identification Text is on the Identification Line, starting in the Identification Column. A negative number means 'counted from the bottom'. So -5 means line 20 on a regular model 2 session. The PCPRINT default is -5. This option is coded as IDLINE=number in a PCPRINT profile. ═══ 9.4. Help for Identification column ═══ The "Identification" concept is used to ensure that the expected panel is on the host screen before lines to printed are retrieved or a command is issued. PCPRINT verifies that the Identification Text is on the Identification Line, starting in the Identification Column. The PCPRINT default is 17. This option is coded as IDCOL=number in a PCPRINT profile. ═══ 9.5. Help for Identification text ═══ The "Identification" concept is used to ensure that the expected panel is on the host screen before lines to printed are retrieved or a command is issued. PCPRINT verifies that the Identification Text is on the Identification Line, starting in the Identification Column. The PCPRINT default is "PCPRINT". This option is coded as IDTEXT="string" in a PCPRINT profile. ═══ 9.6. Help for Message line ═══ Enter the line number for the line where the host PCPRINT command is echoed. Any text on this line following a left parenthesis will be treated as a PCPRINT option. A negative number means 'counted from the bottom'. So -3 means line 22 on a regular model 2 session. If there is no message line (as in the case of TSO), enter 0. The PCPRINT default is -3. This option is coded as MSGLINE=number in a PCPRINT profile. ═══ 9.7. Help for Screen top margin ═══ Enter the number of lines to be skipped at the top of each screen. The PCPRINT default is 3. This option is coded as SCREENTM=number in a PCPRINT profile. ═══ 9.8. Help for Screen bottom margin ═══ Enter the number of lines to be skipped at the bottom of each screen. The PCPRINT default is 5. This option is coded as SCREENBM=number in a PCPRINT profile. ═══ 10. Help for the Host Communication dialog ═══ These options define the signals and commands used to communicate between the PC part and the host part of PCPRINT. If you use VM and the standard PCPRINT host support, there is no need to change these values. For TSO, there is a sample profile in PCPRINT PACKAGE called PCPRINT TSO. ═══ 10.1. Help for Primary trigger character ═══ When PCPRINT finds this character in the first position of the command input area, it will start retrieving the document. The PCPRINT default is ". This option is coded as QQSIGNAL=character in a PCPRINT profile. ═══ 10.2. Help for Alternate trigger character ═══ Works the same as the Primary trigger character. The only difference is that the Alternate final command will be issued last instead of the Primary final command. The PCPRINT default is `. This default is fine for the US, but must be changed in most other countries. This option is coded as MSGSIGNAL=character in a PCPRINT profile. ═══ 10.3. Help for 'Checking interval ═══ This value determines how often PCPRINT will check the host session to see if there is work for it to be done. The unit is seconds. If you are running many copies of PCPRINT at the same time (monitoring different sessions), or if you are using a comparatively slow PC, you may want to increase the checking interval. Otherwise other programs, including the 3270 emulator, may be slowed down by PCPRINT. But if you increase this value, PCPRINT will not respond as fast to your host printing requests. The PCPRINT default is 2 seconds. If you change this value, the change will not take effect until you restart PCPRINT. Therefore you should select Profile - Save after making the change. This option is coded as INTERVAL=number in a PCPRINT profile. ═══ 10.4. Help for Initial command ═══ This is the first command sent to the host when one of the trigger characters is found in the command input area. The PCPRINT default is "TOP". This option is coded as TOP="string" in a PCPRINT profile. ═══ 10.5. Help for Page forward command ═══ This command will be sent to the host when a screen full of data has been processed. The PCPRINT default is "FOR". This option is coded as FOR="string" in a PCPRINT profile. ═══ 10.6. Help for End-of-file string ═══ PCPRINT will look for this string to indicate the end of the document. The string MUST start in column 1. The comparison is made without regard for lower and upper case. Only as many bytes as are specified here are used in the comparison. The PCPRINT default is "* * * End Of File * * *". This option is coded as EOF="string" in a PCPRINT profile. ═══ 10.7. Help for Primary final command ═══ This command will be sent to the host after the End-of-file string has been detected, if processing was triggered by the primary trigger character. The PCPRINT default is "COMMAND QUIT". This option is coded as QQ="string" in a PCPRINT profile. ═══ 10.8. Help for Alternate final command ═══ This command will be sent to the host after the End-of-file string has been detected, if processing was triggered by the alternate trigger character. The PCPRINT default is "MSG PCPRINT processing complete". This option is coded as MSG="string" in a PCPRINT profile. ═══ 10.9. Help for 3270 emulator task title ═══ This text identifies an entry in the OS/2 Task List as a 3270 session. You only need to change this if you are using a translated version of OS/2. For example, when using the French version, specify "Emulateur 3270". The PCPRINT default is "3270 Emulator". This option is coded as EMULATOR="string" in a PCPRINT profile. ═══ 11. Help for error messages ═══ Locate the message in the list below. The following string cannot be found in the task list PCPRINT expects to find the string in the Task List entries for the 3270 sessions. If you are using a translated version of OS/2, you may have to select Host Communication from the Options menu and change 3270 emulator task title. PCPRINT.DLL could not be loaded. Make sure PCPRINT.DLL is in a directory listed in the LIBPATH statement in CONFIG.SYS. Until this error is corrected, automatic session selection will not work. And print screen cannot be done by pressing the Print Screen key, only by selecting Print host screen from the Print menu. PCPRINT.DLL is corrupt. Make sure PCPRINT.DLL has been correctly downloaded and that you are not using an old version. Until this error is corrected, automatic session selection will not work. And print screen cannot be done by pressing the Print Screen key, only by selecting Print host screen from the Print menu. PCPRINT.DLL is not responding. Make sure PCPRINT.DLL has been correctly downloaded and that you are not using an old version. Until this error is corrected, automatic session selection will probably not work. And print screen can probably not be done by pressing the Print Screen key, only by selecting Print host screen from the Print menu. Your FCLDLGP.DLL is back-level. Get the latest version. PCPRINT wanted to use FCLDLGP.DLL but obtained a version of this file which was too old for PCPRINT to use. Use PMSEEK to find all copies of FCLDLGP.DLL in your system and erase them. Then install the version which comes with the latest version of PCPRINT. Until this error is corrected, PCPRINT will use a very rudimentary file selection dialog. Error printing this PC file The file could not be printed. The most probable cause is an incorrect file name. Error printing host screen. The host screen could not be printed.