DCPS includes a device control library caching feature that optimizes the retrieval of certain commonly-used PostScript device control modules.

The caching feature causes modules with names beginning with LPS$$ to be read only the first time they are requested. Those modules reside in the symbiont's cache. Jobs that follow can quickly access those modules until you reset the queue or restart the system. This minimizes access to the primary device control library, saves CPU time, reduces disk activity.

The device control library caching feature is disabled by default. To enable the device control library caching feature for a specific queue, enter the following command before you start a print queue:

$ DEFINE /EXECUTIVE_MODE /SYSTEM DCPS$queue-name_DEVCTL_CACHE 1

Caching device control library modules can decrease the total CPU time consumed by the symbiont by as much as 17 percent. I/O activity on the part of the symbiont is also reduced by as much as 50 percent.

You can define the system logical DCPS$DEVCTL_CACHE (with no queue name specified) to specify that device control library caching is enabled for all DCPS print execution queues on that system.

7.12 Printing on Unrecognized Printers

The DCPS software automatically obtains a printer's product name before printing jobs. It uses the product name to select and download device control modules that are specific to the particular printer.

If you use the DCPS software with a printer whose product name it does not recognize, the product name defaults to "HPGENERIC" if it is an HP printer, and "UNRECOGNIZED" if it is not. The supervisor downloads device control modules associated with that name. Although this configuration is unsupported, the modules associated with an "unrecognized" printer may be sufficient to permit simple printing with that device. Printers identified as "generic HP" use commands common to most HP printers and allow additional features such as tray selection and use of the printer's native PCL interpreter.

If a printer is being treated as a "generic HP" printer, an OPCOM message similar to the following will be issued:

%%%%%%%%%%% OPCOM 14-NOV-2002 16:25:43.37 %%%%%%%%%%% Message from user SYSTEM on FUNYET Queue MY_NEW_PRINTER: %DCPS-W-HPGENERIC, Product name hp LaserJet 9999 not recognized; assuming HP Generic

If a printer is being treated as an "unrecognized" printer, an OPCOM message similar to the following will be issued:

%%%%%%%%%%% OPCOM 20-MAY-2003 16:54:05.25 %%%%%%%%%%% Message from user SYSTEM on FUNYET Queue YOUR_NEW_PRINTER: %DCPS-W-UNRECOGNIZED, Product name Foo Bar 1234 not recognized; assuming Unrecognized

A system manager can also modify the corresponding device control modules as needed without affecting the characteristics of any of the supported printers. By following the comments contained within the LPS$$UNRECOGNIZED modules, along with some knowledge of PostScript and the specifics of the printer, and examination of device control modules for similarly programmed printers (if any), the system manager may be able to get tray and sheet size selection working for the printer.

Device control modules are located in the following device control library:

SYS$COMMON:[SYSLIB]DCPS$DEVCTL.TLB

The device control modules associated with an unrecognized printer are:

LPS$$UNRECOGNIZED_INITPSDEVICE LPS$$UNRECOGNIZED_SETCONTEXT LPS$$UNRECOGNIZED_SETINPUTTRAY LPS$$UNRECOGNIZED_SETOUTPUTTRAY

If you modify these modules for a certain printer, you should always place the modified modules in a site-specific device control library (see Section 7.4).

You can create form definitions, which users can include in their PRINT command to modify the appearance of a file. A form definition can specify several attributes for a print job, including the type of paper stock on which it is to be printed; the width, length, and margins associated with the paper; whether long text lines are to be truncated or wrapped onto another line; and setup modules to be implicitly sent to the printer.

When users specify an unknown form name in their PRINT command, DECprint Supervisor informs them immediately. In contrast, if they specify an unknown setup module in their PRINT command, DECprint Supervisor does not inform them of the problem until it starts printing the job and needs to access the setup module.

The commands for creating, maintaining, and deleting forms require that you have operator privileges.

8.1 Associating Setup Modules with Forms

To associate a setup module with a form, use the DEFINE /FORM command with the /SETUP qualifier.

Example 8-1 defines a form called CONFIDENTIAL that uses a setup module called PRIVATE.

Example 8-1 Sample Form Definition, CONFIDENTIAL

$ DEFINE /FORM CONFIDENTIAL 101 - _$ /DESCRIPTION="prints the word CONFIDENTIAL on each page" - _$ /STOCK=DEFAULT - _$ /SETUP=PRIVATE

When you define a form, you supply the following qualifiers and information:

• Form Name: You select the name for the form you are defining. The name can consist of up to 31 characters and must contain at least one alphabetic character.
• Form Number: You specify a number for the form you are defining.
• /DESCRIPTION: You can optionally add a description to the form to help users understand what the different forms do.
• /STOCK: You supply the name of the media that needs to be in the printer when this form is invoked. The media you specify must match the media in the printer. If they do not match, the job is held in the queue until users load the specified media or modify the form definition. Use the DEFAULT parameter to use whatever media is in the printer.
• /SETUP: You must supply the name of the setup module(s) you want associated with the form.

If users invoke a setup module frequently, you can associate the setup module with a form, then associate the form with a queue. This method ensures that print jobs submitted to the queue automatically use the setup module. Use the following procedure to associate a form with a queue:

1. Associate the setup module with the form, as described in Section 8.1.
2. Associate the form with the execution queue, by editing parameter 5 (P5) in DCPS$STARTUP.COM as follows:
   • With the /FORM_MOUNTED qualifier, specify the name of the form you want tied to the queue.
   • Specify the /DEFAULT=FORM=form-name qualifier to ensure that every job prints with the form, even if the user does specify a form.
   
   The following example associates the form called CONFIDENTIAL with an execution queue called XLR8:

   $ @SYS$STARTUP:EXECUTION_QUEUE.COM - XLR8- !P1 - Execution queue name "DECNET/XLR8" - !P2 - Device name DCPS_LIB - !P3 - Logical name for /LIBRARY "" - !P4 - Not used "/FORM_MOUNTED=CONFIDENTIAL/DEFAULT=(FORM=CONFIDENTIAL,NOFEED)" !P5 - Queue default qualifiers

When you define forms for ANSI files, you can use various qualifiers that affect the page layout. For example, the following command defines the form CENTER to have a top margin of 6 and a left margin of 10:

$ DEFINE /FORM /MARGIN=(TOP=6,LEFT=10) CENTER 3

You can use the qualifiers in Table 8-1 with form defintions for ANSI files only:

Table 8-1 DEFINE /FORM Qualifiers for ANSI Files

This Qualifier ...	Does the Following ...
/LENGTH= n	Sets the length of each page, in lines.
/MARGIN= keyword= n	Sets the margins. You supply one or more of the following keywords: TOP= n BOTTOM= m RIGHT= y LEFT= z To supply more than one margin keyword, enclose the list in parentheses, as in: /MARGIN=(TOP= n,BOTTOM= m)
/PAGE_SETUP= module	Applies a page setup module to each page in the job.
/[NO]TRUNCATE	Truncates long lines that do not fit in the page width.
/WIDTH= n	Sets the width of the page in columns or characters.
/[NO]WRAP	Wraps lines wider than the page to the next line.

Notes:

• These form definitions are useful only with ANSI files, because other types of files have internal controls for these attributes.
• You can prevent the software from wrapping or truncating long lines by including both /NOWRAP and /NOTRUNCATE in the form definition.

You can display the forms that already exist on your system with the following command:

$ SHOW QUEUE /FORM

The form definitions display as follows:

Form name Number Description --------- ------ ----------- A4_12 (stock=PLAIN_PAPER) 1129 A4 12-Pitch with margins A4_LPT_GRAY (stock=PLAIN_PAPER) 1118 A4 DP line printer with gray bars A4_LPT_PLAIN (stock=PLAIN_PAPER) 1119 A4 Plain DP line printer format BOOT_CHART (stock=DEFAULT) 37 BOOT_CHART BSS$LANDSCAPE (stock=DEFAULT) 3301 BSS Specific Landscape BSS$PORTRAIT (stock=DEFAULT) 3302 BSS Specific Portrait

You can display the attributes of a form using the SHOW QUEUE /FORM /FULL command. For example, this command displays the attributes of DCPS$DEFAULT:

$ SHOW QUEUE /FORM /FULL DCPS$DEFAULT

Form name Number Description --------- ------ ----------- DCPS$DEFAULT (stock=DEFAULT) 1115 DCPS default /LENGTH=66 /STOCK=DEFAULT /TRUNCATE /WIDTH=80

8.5 Deleting a Form

Use the DELETE /FORM command to delete a form definition from the system's form table. The format of this command is as follows:

$ DELETE /FORM form-name

In the command line, you supply form-name, which is the name assigned to the form you are using.

Before you use the DELETE /FORM command, execute the SHOW QUEUE /FULL /ALL command. References to a form can exist as an attribute of an active print queue or as a qualifier to a print request. If you try to delete a form that has outstanding references, you are notified of the condition, and the form is not deleted. (Refer to Appendix A.)

8.6 Using the Default ANSI Form Definition

/HEADER
/SPACE
/PARAMETERS=[NO]TAB

This chapter describes the accounting information that is supplied to the OpenVMS accounting files by the DCPS software.

The OpenVMS Accounting Utility reads information about the use of system resources from the file SYS$MANAGER:ACCOUNTING.DAT. The DCPS software records information in this file about printer usage. For information about the OpenVMS Accounting Utility, see the HP OpenVMS System Management Utilities Reference Manual.

9.1 Accounting Information Supplied by the DCPS Software

The print symbiont supplies the following information in the accounting file for each print job:

• Pages printed
  This is the actual number of sheets printed. When you are using the NUMBER_UP parameter to print multiple pages on a sheet, this field records the number of sheets of paper printed, not the number of logical pages printed. The number of sheets printed includes the separation (flag, trailer, and burst) pages. When the print job is deleted by the user or system operator, this information reflects the number of pages printed before the job was terminated.
  The value shown in the accounting file and on the DCPS trailer page will not be correct for all printers. See Section 9.3 for more information.
• Gets from source
  This is the number of RMS "gets" from all files in the print job (records read).
• QIO puts
  This is the number of QIO "writes" to the printer per job.

When a print job has been completed successfully, the print symbiont sends a request to the job controller to insert certain accounting data fields into the accounting log file. For successful jobs and jobs terminated by the DELETE /ENTRY command, the accounting file also includes the following message:

%SYSTEM-S-NORMAL, normal successful completion

If the print job terminates abnormally, the information the print symbiont supplies in the accounting log may be incomplete. To filter out such jobs, count only the jobs that receive the successful completion status message. Any of the following may cause the job to terminate abnormally:

• STOP /QUEUE /RESET command
• Symbiont crash
• Printer crash
• Network connection lost

The job controller supplies the following information in the accounting file for print jobs:

• Username
  User name of the user who submitted the print job.
• Account
  Account name of the user who submitted the print job.
• UIC (user identification code)
  UIC of the user who submitted the print job.
• Process ID
  Process ID of the user who submitted the print job.
• Start Time
  The time the print job reached the top of the device queue (not necessarily the time that the print job actually began to print).
• Finish Time
  The time the job finished printing.
• Elapsed Time
  The wall-clock time it took for the job to print (finish time minus start time).
• Priority
  Queue priority of the print job.
• Final Status Code
  Exit status of the print job. The status code for success is 00040001.
• Queue Entry
  Queue entry number. This is the print job number. In this example, 222 is the job number:

  $ PRINT /QUEUE=LN03R$SCRIPT4 /NOTIFY TEST.MEM Job TEST (queue LN03R$SCRIPT4, entry 222) started on queue SCRIPT4

• Queue Name
  Name of the print device queue.
• Queue Job
  Print job name, as printed on the job flag page.
• Final Status Text = F$MESSAGE
  The text for the Final Status code. The text for completion of a normal job is:

  %JBC-S-NORMAL, Normal successful completion

The job controller fills the following fields with blanks in the accounting file for print jobs:

• Owner ID
• Terminal Name
• Remote Node Name
• Remote ID

The job controller fills the following fields with zeros in the accounting file for print jobs:

• Privilege <31--00>
• Privilege <63--32>

The page count reported by DCPS in the accounting file and on the DCPS trailer page relies on information returned by the printer. Some printers do not report accurate information, due to different methods for:

• Counting pages vs. sides
  Some printers count physical sheets of paper, while others count images, or sides printed.
• When pages are counted
  Some printers count pages interpreted by the printer, while others count pages physically output.

For the page count reported by DCPS to be correct, the printer must count physical sheets interpreted by the printer. All Compaq, DIGITAL and GENICOM printers supported by DCPS, except the following models, adhere to this requirement and send the proper information to DCPS.

Compaq Laser Printer LN20
Compaq Laser Printer LN40
Compaq Laser Printer LNC02
DIGITAL Laser Printer LNC02

No other printers, including HP printers, are guaranteed to supply correct accounting information.

9.4 Compatibility with Mechanical Page Counters

The PrintServer printers have mechanical page counters.

The mechanical page counter is different from the counter accessible through the PostScript pagecount operator.

• The mechanical page counter counts all the sheets printed since the print engine was built.
• The PostScript page counter counts the number of sheets printed by the controller.

Under normal use, the totals of both counters increase at a similar rate, but there can be a significant difference between them. Print engine test pages, initiated with the test button on the printer, are recorded on the mechanical counter but not on the PostScript counter. Also, replacing components can affect the counters. For example, replacing the nonvolatile memory of the controller resets the PostScript counter, but it does not affect the mechanical counter.

Because the counters record different events, they should be used for different purposes:

• Use the PostScript counter to determine the number of sheets printed within a PostScript program.
• Use the mechanical counter to track print engine use.