Ideal Online Documentation

29078 GENERAL SYSTEM GUIDE INFORMATION
GS2-03 Printer Selection

 

PURPOSE

 

The print utility program enables you to produce hard copy reports for your business records. You can print "Listings" of all or part of the records stored in your master files and "Reports" of your transaction data. In addition, you can print the "Registers" of open data batches to confirm their accuracy and completeness prior to updating their contents to your system data files.

 

You have the option of printing directly to any printer, printing to a file where the information can be retrieved into a word processor, spreadsheet or database, or printing to a terminal if you simply wish to view the output. Programs always default to the same printer that was last selected on your terminal.

 

The print utility program is accessed from every program and other utility in the system that produces some form of output. Wherever you are in the system, when you access the print utility you are taken to the following selection screen:

 

PRINTER UTILITY SELECTION & CONFIGURATION

┌────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│08/14/96             ***** PRINTER SELECTION UTILITY *****                      │
│                                                                                │
│                                                                                │
│** MAKE SURE PRINTER IS READY BEFORE PRESSING CR .....                          │
│                                                                                │
│1. PRINTER NAME ................................. P1  OKIDATA 390               │
│                                                                                │
│2. CHARACTERS PER INCH ? (10,12,17) ............. 10                            │
│   SINGLE OR DOUBLE DENSITY ? (S,D) ............. S   SINGLE DENSITY            │
│                                                                                │
│** PRESS CR TO SET PRINTER, OPTION# TO CHANGE, F4 TO END (BYPASS): _            │
└────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘

 

** PRESS CR TO SET PRINTER, OPTION# TO CHANGE, F4 TO END (BYPASS):

 

You have the option of printing to any printer that is defined for your system, printing to disk, or printing to the screen.

 

To change the printer selection from the last printer used at your terminal, press "1" at the cursor to move to the first character of the Printer Name field:

 

1. PRINTER NAME ................................. P1  OKIDATA 390

 

To print to a different printer you may enter the printer code if you know it or press [F5] to display a list of printers that have been defined for your system and select the printer you wish to print to.


Example Printer Selection display:

┌────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ ┌────────────────────────────< GENERAL INQUIRY >─────────────────────────────┐ │
│ │08/15/96                 ***** SYS: Printers *****                  09:41:24│ │
│ │────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────│ │
│ │   Id  Description                    Model Code                            │ │
│ │────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────│ │
│ │ 1 L2  EPSON LQ-570                    EPSON                                │ │
│ │ 2 LP  ACCOUNTING PRINTER              OKML32XI                             │ │
│ │ 3 P1  OKIDATA 390                     GE5290A                              │ │
│ │ 4 P2  OKIDATA 320                     OKML32XI                             │ │
│ │ 5 P3  HP LASER                        HP-LASER                             │ │
│ │ 6 P4  HP LASERJET                     HP-LASER                             │ │
│ │ 7 PD  DISK FILE                       UNDEFINED                            │ │
│ │ 8 SC  PRINT TO SCREEN                 UNDEFINED                            │ │
│ │────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────│ │
│ │** SELECT INQUIRY OPTION (F12 FOR OPTIONS); F4 TO EXIT INQUIRY: ___         │ │
│ │                                                                            │ │
│ └────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ │
│                                                                                │
└────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘

To select a printer from the list enter the line number of the desired printer; you will immediately return to the Printer Utility Selection and Configuration screen with the printer you selected displayed in the Printer Name field.

 

If there is more than one page of printers to select press [Enter] to advance to the next page and press [F3] to return to the previous page.

  • To print to a file press "PD" at the PRINTER NAME prompt. Output will be dumped as ASCII text to a file in the default disk file directory created during your system set up where you can retrieve it into a word processor, spreadsheet or database.
  • Depending on your system configuration, files produced this way are purged after a set period of time to clear the disk file directory. To save the files permanently you must print them to a different directory; see Print to Disk Option below.
  • To print to screen press "SC" at the PRINTER NAME prompt. Output will be directed to your terminal where you can view it directly. This is useful in situations where you need to view information prior to printing or updating, but do not require a hard copy of the data. Most, but not all report programs support this option.

You have the option of changing the appearance of your printed output.

 

To change the default value of how many characters per inch you wish your printer to print and/or the density (darkness), press "2" at the cursor. The cursor moves to the first character of the Character Per Inch field:

 

2. CHARACTERS PER INCH ? (10,12,17) ............. 10

 

Depending on the printer selected, the system will display your available options. Simply [Enter] the desired number of characters per inch at the cursor.

 

After selecting the number of characters per inch, the cursor moves to the first character of the Print Density field:

 

SINGLE OR DOUBLE DENSITY ? (S,D) ............. S   SINGLE DENSITY

 

"S" or "D" to select single or double density printing.


After selecting the options you desire you are returned to the main prompt again:

 

** PRESS CR TO SET PRINTER, OPTION# TO CHANGE, F4 TO END (BYPASS):

 

[Enter] to print.

  • If you are printing to a printer make sure the printer is powered up and on line and the print server is running before attempting to print.

"1" or "2" to change printers or print appearance.

 

[F4] to bypass printing.

  • You are returned to the menu or program from which you accessed the print utility.

If you are working with a batch, you must print the register before the program will allow you to update the batch to the transaction data files. If you attempt to update before printing the register, an alert message will appear notifying you that the register has not yet been printed.

 

 

 

PRINT TO DISK OPTION

 

Your system can be configured so you can select printer PB for your printing. This prints to disk, storing the print job in a special directory called /u/iw/pjobs.batch. If required, at a later time you can access any print job in this directory and (a) view the print job on screen or (b) print it to a physical printer. Any register, listing or report can be printed to disk.

 

Please note that it is essential that you review all batch registers prior to updating any batch. For this reason, you should always print your registers to paper for review either prior to or after printing to disk.

 

 

If you do not wish to maintain a physical filing system, printing to disk allows you to maintain a complete audit trail for all batch transactions. For accounting and tax purposes, it is important to maintain an audit trail and printing to disk allows you to do so conveniently and reliably. Please note that some setup is required to activate this feature. If you would like to use this feature please contact your Ideal consultant.

 

 

PRINT TO SCREEN OPTION

 

Your system can be configured so you can select printer SC for your printing. This prints to the screen and can be used if you desire simply to visually check some report, data or other output. In most cases, any registers printed to screen will also require further printing to paper or disk before the system will permit the batch to be updated.