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Text File | 1996-11-08 | 14.4 KB | 318 lines

!Printer Spooler ---------------- (c) Justin Fletcher, 1994 Introduction ------------ The !Spooler application is intended to make life that little bit easier for the few people who haven't got access to expensive printers, but want to print out a lot of work, and need to use the computer at the same time. When an application prints a file, it sends it, quite predictably, to the printer. However, you can change the location of the printer by changing the 'Printer Destination' to something other than where the printer is located. For example, my Citizen printer is connected to the parallel port and this is where all the printer data is send. But there is an option to print the file to the serial port (mostly used for PostScript printers), a network driver, or to a file. Dumping a printout into a file may seem pretty silly at first, but this is probably the most important feature of the !Printers application. By setting the output to a file, all the 'easy' work of calculating the codes to send to the printer (ie. rendering the image) can be done quickly and sent to a file. The reason the computer is held up when the printing, is that the printer is much slower at printing than the computer is at processing. The benefit in doing this is that the time taken to print is greatly reduced and therefore control of the computer returns much quicker. And as control returns quickly, you can get on with whatever work you were doing. But this is only half of the solution, because, although the 'printing' of the file took perhaps 30 second instead of 30 minutes, there is no actual hardcopy yet. What you can do now is to drag this newly created file onto the !Printers icon and it will be printed, in the background (ie. you can work at the same time as it is printing). And if you want 5 copies of the same file, the all you need to do is drag it onto the icon 5 times. That's easy, yes ? No! Well actually it is, but you try explaining it to my dad, along with what to do to drag-and-drop text in !Style, Replicate data in !PipeDream, and all the other non-exotic things. And actually, if you want two copies of one file and these are printing and then you wish to print another document then you must change the name of the destination file on !Printers, and drag this onto the icon (not hard, but takes some remembering). So, getting down to the actual use of the !Spooler application, what it does is to control the output of these printout files and prints them in the background with no problems with changing names. Setting up your system ---------------------- Currently, the application is set up for an Epson FX-85 printer, which covers so many dot matrix printers that it should apply to many users. The only things which need to be done to ensure that the !Spooler application will start up correctly are :- a) A system variable ( Printer$Destination ) must be set up to point to the location to which any print out files will temporarily stored. These are transitionary files which will only exist whilst the file is actually being processed, after which the file is moved to the correct location on the disc. It should be set in the Boot-up sequence for preference and could perhaps be : *Set Printer$Destination <WimpScrap$Dir>.TempPrint b) The printer driver must have been loaded previously. (Note: Not _seen_ previously, _loaded_ previously). The printer must be loaded to set things like the actual codes which must be send to the file and its destination. Once loaded and set to output to the file <Printer$Destination>, the application may be quit. Having done these two things, the only other thing that may need setting up is the Area$Name variable. On my system the whole family can use the computer (not simultaneously, at different times), and therefore each logs on and has his/her own area of the hard-disc to work in. This means that if one user leaves something in the printer queue and then shuts down, then the next user may not wish to print out the queued work, only his/her own. Hence the use of an area name. The Area$Name variable should be less than 8 characters long, not contain and fullstops, and be recognisable. It doesn't actually affect the program, only how you use it. If Area$Name is unset then the default name 'Nobody' is used. A further thing which may speed up the printing process is to configure a 16k printer buffer (By *Configure PrinterBufferSize 16k or 32 depending on page size) which will cut down the amount of times !Spooler has to read the harddisc. The minimum PrinterBufferSize can go is 1k and thereafter is in 16k (or 32k if you have 4Mb) blocks (ie. 1k, 16k, 32k, etc). Note: Points a) and b) must be done each time !Spooler is to be used. Setting Area$Name can be done at any time, and configuring buffer size only needs to be set once. Using !Spooler -------------- Simple : 1) Set up as above. 2) Load the !Spooler program. 3) Print a file. When the file is printed, a box will appear to tell you that a 'file has been printed' and it needs to be given a name. The name is not a filename, and is only there so that you remember what files you have printed. The length is restricted to 11 characters and all may be used, except fullstop. The actual name may have little relation to the files name or its contents, and is entirely up to you. Leaving this blank will give the job the name Untitledx, where x is an unused number. The number of copies is selectable, but can be changed later. By selecting the 'Immediate' option, the file will be printed immediately after the current copy of the current job is completed. Cancel will discard the printed file and delete its entry. Ok places the file in the queue. Note: If you wish to have, say 5 copies of an Impression page, then tell Impression to print a single copy and then tell the Spooler that you want 5 copies. This speeds up the process and saves disc space. The Queue Window ---------------- The queue window is accessed by selecting Queue.. from the iconbar menu and contains information about which file is printing, which are waiting, how many copies are required and who printed them. The Job name is the name of the job as entered into the initial 'file has been printed' box. Copies is a indication of how far through the job the printing is. The format is pp/tt, where pp is the total number of copies printed so far, and tt is the total number of copies required (pp is not the number of the copy currently printing). This should be read as pp copies out of tt have been printed. By whom just tells you the name of the user who printed the file (Area$Name when the file was printed). By selecting an item on the queue with SELECT, and pressing MENU, options appear to show the control which may be exerted over the file. Remove will remove the item from the queue, asking you first if you are sure. Priority will send the item to the front of the queue for printing as soon as the current copy of the current job is completed. Copies allows you to change the maximum number of copies to be printed. If you enter a number which is too low or too high then the copies will not change. The queue window will be brought to the front of the stack whenever its entries change, so if you don't want this to happen then close it. The Printer Info Window ----------------------- This show information on the current printer quality and connection. The quality cannot be changed from this box, but can be altered by reloading the !Printers application and changing the settings. If this is done then the window must be reopened to update the contents. By clicking on the menu icon to the right of the connection, the Parallel and Serial printer ports may be selected as the printer destination. The serial output I cannot test, but I assume that if you have sent up the !Printers application correctly then it set up all the baud/xon/stop bits/parity options. Note: Opening this window will force the printer to empty its buffer, so if you open it whilst printing, then it is likely that the computer will lock up until the printer finishes printing. Pause Next ---------- This option on the iconbar menu will pause the printer after the next copy has finished printing. This is useful if you have to shut down but don't want to start a document from the start, so just waits until the current copy is finished, then pause, after which you can quit the application. Abort -> -------- There are three abort options : Current copy - Abort current copy, form feed, and pause. This is useful if the paper jams and you need another copy. This just pretends that the last copy had never printed, and will try to print it again when unpaused. Current job - Abort current job, form feed and start next. This is useful if the job you have printed contains 18 spelling mistakes and you don't want 5 copies printed for no apparent reason. This forgets all copies which still have to be printed and moves on to the next job. All - Abort all copies and form feed. This is useful if you have printed out a load of rubbish by accident and don't want to go through removing each individually. Manual Pause ------------ Clicking on the !Spooler icon will pause or unpause the printing, depending on the current state. Remember that if a 16k or more buffer is configured, then the printer may continue printing until this is empty and so this is not a instant pause. Quitting !Spooler ----------------- When quitting, a window may appear to tell you that there are jobs still printing and that they will be left unfinished. Cancel will stop the quit and continue as if nothing happened. Quit will quit immediately, abandoning all then unfinished copies. Pause after next will pause the printing as soon as a copy is completed at which time the application may be quit safely. If the application is quit and there are still items in the queue, then they will remain in the queue and still be there when the application is restarted. If, however, the application quits and there is an job still being printed, say if the computer crashes, then, when restarted, !Spooler will give you an indication of what happened. It is possible to : Abandon the copy - That copy is not printed again, ie it is given up on. Delay printin - That copy will be printed again, but not yet. !Spooler will be paused. Restart copy - This will restart the copy immediately. All options will restart copys from the beginning. It is suggested that if the computer crashes whilst a job is being printed, that the printer is turned off for a few seconds and then turned on, to clear its internal buffer (bit images use repeat sequences which may be in an unfinished state) The Info Window --------------- This is the only other window not covered and it simply gives information on the current version number of the application and who wrote it. !Help Responsiveness -------------------- !Spooler will respond to !Help and return information on many of its options including the menus. Use it to find out about the options in practice. RISC OS Compatability --------------------- Currently this application will only work reliably with RISC OS 3.1 as this is where it was written. As the output from Pre-RO3 printer drivers was of a lower quality, and as it would be better if all users upgraded, I have not included compatability with RO2. Any one wishing to take on the task can get support from me in any way I can help. Knowing the circuitous nature of my code they are likely to need help! However, the only things that really need changing are, I think, the !Help menu information needs removing, there need be no selectiveness for messages, and most importantly, there is no such thing as Devices#Bufferx:$.Parallel. File Storage ------------ Don't try this on a floppy based machine. I can't guarentee anything working. I can say that it is likely to be just a lot more hard work. Files are stored in <WimpScrap$Dir>.Spooler as Spoolerx, where x is the number of the file, as stored internally. <WimpScrap$Dir>.Spooler.Spooler is a text file which contains all the queue information. <WimpScrap$Dir>.Spooler.SpoolerP is a text file giving the internal number of the file which is currently printing, so that after a crash, the file can be found ready to be reprinted. The <WimpScrap$Dir>.Spooler.Spooler text file has a format as follows. One entry of the queue per line. Each entry consists of a line of form : ff.nnnnnnnn.cp/tc.uuuuuuuu ff = internal file number nnnnnnnn = job name cp = copies printed tc = total copies to be printed uuuuuuuu = user who printed the file Very important note: Do NOT delete any Spoolerx files as this may cause !Spooler to become confused. If you wish to manually alter the Spooler file, do so whilst the application is not loaded to avoid confusion and insanity. Another note: Files are not kept open over Wimp_Poll's as should really be the standard way of working. This means that you can safely type *Close at the command prompt and not get silly messages such as Illegal Handle or File Not Found. Copyright --------- This software is © Justin Fletcher. The written permission of the author is required if any part of this software is to be sold other than at cost by a recognised shareware library. Bulletin board operators and shareware libraries are advised to contact me to ensure that the latest version is being distributed. Contact ------- Any comments, queries, donations or bug reports can be sent to Justin Fletcher at : E-Mail : Gerph@essex.ac.uk URL : http://users.essex.ac.uk/users/gerph IRC : On #Acorn as Gerph Finger : finger jrflet@postman.essex.ac.uk Tel : (01842) 813979 Snail Mail : Justin Fletcher “Galadriel” 17b Cromwell Road, Weeting, Brandon, Suffolk. IP27 0QT History ======= v1.00 : Base application written v2.00 : Rewrote using WimpLib and Messages v2.40 : 08 Mar 1994 Started writing history notes v2.41 : 05 Apr 1995 Added snazzy decrementing sized icon for iconbar! Printed... option