Previous Topic: Defining Printer DestinationsNext Topic: Initial Formfeed Generated if FF=YES or FF=HEADER

Customizing the Print Subsystem (PSS) Component › Managing and Administering Print Services › Network Printer Definition Considerations

Network Printer Definition Considerations

When defining network printers, there are additional characteristics and hardware overrides that you can specify. These characteristics include:

You can logically view an output printed at a network printer as five separate components. All of the components except the output itself are optional.

  1. Initial Formfeed
  2. Header Section
    1. Header Text
    2. Header Formfeed
  3. Output
  4. Trailer Section
    1. Trailer Formfeed
    2. Trailer Text
  5. Final Formfeed

The following is a detailed explanation of some of the options used when defining or modifying network printer definitions. The commands that use these options are DEFINE OUTPUT DESTINATION NETWORK and ALTER OUTPUT DESTINATION.

FF YES
FF NO
FF HEADER
FF TRAILER

Controls the PSS generated formfeeds at the beginning and end of an output routed to a network printer.

FF YES PSS issues a formfeed at the start and end of the print. This option results in blank pages between PSS outputs printed consecutively. Use this option when non-PSS outputs printed to the same printer do not generate consistent formfeed control.

FF NO PSS does not issue formfeeds at the start or end of the print. This option prints outputs on the same page between PSS outputs printed consecutively. Use this option when the printer does not have a fixed page size, such as rolled paper.

FF HEADER A formfeed is issued at the beginning of each new print. This insures that each PSS print starts at the beginning of a new page. Use this option to provide compatibility with the workings of non-PSS output that can also print to the same printer.

FF TRAILER A formfeed is issued at the completion of each print. This option places the printer at the top of a blank page after each PSS print is complete. Use this option when you want to remove the printed output from the printer when it is complete without having to wait for the next printout to start or manually intervene with the printer.

Note: The values HEADER and TRAILER associated with the FF parameter are not the same as the HEADER opt and TRAILER opt parameters of the DEFINE OUTPUT DESTINATION NETWORK and ALTER OUTPUT DESTINATION commands.

PERTASK nnn Determines how many outputs can process during one print transaction for a specified printer. If the network printer is dedicated to a single CICS region, define this option as 0 to allow the minimum initialization and termination overhead. Set a number greater than 0 to reduce the amount of time PSS can monopolize a printer.

WIDTH nnn If greater than 0, the value determines the default width of the printer. If 0, the site option default network printer width on SET OUT SITE is used. If the default network printer width is also defined as 0, the TCT definition for the network printer determines the printer width.