5 Printing on UNIX with Oracle Reports

5.1.1 General Printing Mechanism

To understand how printing works for Oracle Reports on UNIX, it is useful to have the Microsoft Windows printing mechanism as a reference point. Microsoft Windows provides an application level API that supports different types of printers based on the installed printer drivers. Applications can interact with various printer drivers through these standard APIs. For example, to change the paper margin, an application needs to call the appropriate Microsoft Windows API method, which conveys the desired changes to the printer driver. On Microsoft Windows, printer drivers are printer specific; that is, you need to install a specific printer driver for a printer. These printer drivers know how to communicate to the printer and provide services to applications that need to send output to the printer. Applications can access the printer properties, change their properties, and perform printing through these standard APIs.

Motif and character-based UNIX operating systems do not have their own standard interface to printers like Microsoft Windows. Individual applications are responsible for sending their output in a streamed file to the printer and adhering to the specifications of the printer. On UNIX platforms, Oracle Reports output must be formatted properly (for example, PostScript or PCL) before sending it as a stream to the printers. To print on UNIX, Oracle Reports mimics the behavior of the Microsoft Windows printer drivers internally. The next section describes more precisely how this mechanism works on UNIX.

5.1.2 Oracle Reports Printing Mechanism on UNIX and Windows

Figure 5-1 and Figure 5-2 depict the differences between Oracle Reports printing on UNIX and on Microsoft Windows.

Figure 5-1 Oracle Reports printing on UNIX

Description of "Figure 5-1 Oracle Reports printing on UNIX"

Figure 5-2 Oracle Reports printing on Microsoft Windows

Description of "Figure 5-2 Oracle Reports printing on Microsoft Windows"

To support printing on UNIX, Oracle Reports internally creates logical printer drivers. A logical printer driver simulates the behavior of Microsoft Windows printer drivers and provides a printing service interface for Oracle Reports on UNIX. Through the logical printer driver, Oracle Reports can access the printer properties and perform printer-related operations. These logical drivers:

• Support PostScript and PCL printing specifications, which are the most popular printing standards.

• Read the printer description files (for example, PPD or HPD) to get the printer descriptions.

• Embed the various printer commands in the generated PostScript or PCL output. For example, to change paper margin, the logical printer driver needs to write the corresponding printer commands in the generated output. These commands differ depending on whether you use a PostScript or a PCL printer. When the generated PostScript or PCL file is sent to the printer through the printing executable (for example, lpr), the printer interprets the commands in the file and processes them accordingly.

To function correctly, the logical printer drivers require the following input:

• The printer queue name that is used to spool the print request.

• The printer description file that contains the printer properties.

• The driver type required by the specified printer queue, PostScript or PCL.

You provide this information in a file called uiprint.txt. Oracle Reports uses this file to get a list of the printer queue names available for printing. In uiprint.txt, you need to specify the printer queue name, the type of driver needed for the queue, the version of the driver, and any special printer description file that the print driver needs for that specific printer (for example, a PPD file for the PostScript driver). Once this information is available, the internal logical printer drivers are constructed and they use the definition files provided to access the printer properties.

5.1.3 Printing Support

Oracle Reports supports the following printing standards on UNIX:

• PostScript Level 1 and 2

• PCL Level 3

• ASCII (for character mode printing)

The printers you use with Oracle Reports should be compatible with these versions.

5.2.1 Installing a Printer on UNIX

The installation of a printer queue is slightly different depending upon your flavor of UNIX. Some platforms may have user interface tools to help in the installation. Please refer to your UNIX platform documentation for the steps on adding a printer queue.

The following sample script adds a printer queue on the Solaris 2.6 platform. The domain information expldomain and printer names printer1 and printer2 are hard coded in this example. The printer is a Xerox DCS model.

#!/bin/sh 
echo "Please enter the Printer Name Either printer1 or printer2\n"
read PRINTER
LOGFILE=/var/adm/config.log
PATH=/usr/bin:/usr/sbin:$PATH 
export PRINTER LOGFILE PATH 
lpsystem -t bsd expldomain >$LOGFILE 2>&1
lpadmin -p "$PRINTER" -s expldomain!"$PRINTER"  -I any >$LOGFILE 2>&1
mkdir -p /usr/Xerox_DCS /usr/Xerox_DCS/original
chown -R 755 /usr/Xerox_DCS /usr/Xerox_DCS/original
cp /usr/bin/lp /usr/Xerox_DCS/original
mv /usr/bin/lp /usr/bin/lp.Xerox
ln -s /tmp /usr/Xerox_DCS/tmp
echo "$PRINTER" > /usr/Xerox_DCS/printer.db
cp  /usr/local/packages/dc99cc23.txt  /usr/Xerox_DCS
ln -s /usr/Xerox_DCS/dc99cc23.txt /usr/bin/lp
lpadmin -d "$PRINTER"

5.2.2 Verifying the Printer Setup for Oracle Reports

To verify that your printer queue installed correctly:

1. Ensure that the PPD or HPD file used with the installed printer queue is available in the following location:

   ORACLE_HOME/guicommon/tk/admin/PPD
   ORACLE_HOME/guicommon/tk/admin/HPD
   
   

2. Ensure that the font metrics, AFM or TFM files, installed on the printer are available in the following location:

   ORACLE_HOME/guicommon/tk/admin/AFM
   ORACLE_HOME/guicommon/tk/admin/TFM
   

5.3.1 Editing uiprint.txt File

As discussed in Section 5.1, "UNIX Printing Overview", Oracle Reports creates logical printer drivers. To create these internal printer drivers, it needs information from you like the available printer queue, the type of driver to be used with the queue, the version of the driver, and the printer description file. uiprint.txt is the main file for providing this information. It is located in:

ORACLE_HOME/guicommon/tk/admin

uiprint.txt is the printer configuration file and Oracle Reports reads it when it creates the internal printer drivers. You should modify this file for each instance of Oracle Reports.

The format of entries in uiprint.txt is:

Printer:DriverType:DriverVersion:PrinterDescription:PrinterDescriptionFile:

This one line entry, in prescribed format, in uiprint.txt defines a printer to be used by Oracle Reports. Each line contains five fields separated by colons. Table 5-1 describes each element of the uiprint.txt entry.

Usage Note:

• All the fields in the uiprint.txt entry must be filled and every line must end with a colon.

• At least one entry must be defined in uiprint.txt. Alternatively, you can set the related printer variables (TK_PRINTER and PRINTER). Without these, Oracle Reports is unable to perform any printer-related task.

  
  

  See Also: Section 5.3.2, "Environment Variables" for more information on printer-related environment variables.

  
  

  The internal printer drivers provide a drawing surface for Oracle Reports. In addition to using this surface for printing, Oracle Reports uses it internally whenever output is generated to a file. Hence, you need to have a valid entry in uiprint.txt or to set one of the printer-related environment variables. To simplify the selection of printers for your users, we recommended that you list all printers accessible to users in uiprint.txt.

Example:

Following are two example entries for uiprint.txt:

colprt14:PostScript:2:RMSC Atrium HPLaserJet5:default.ppd: 
colprt15PCL:5:RMSC 1st Floor HPLaser4:ui4.hpd:

5.3.2 Environment Variables

This section lists the environment variables related to printing:

• TK_PRINTER / PRINTER

• TK_PRINTER

• TK_PRINT_STATUS

• REPORTS_NO_DUMMY_PRINTER

• TK_HPD and ORACLE_HPD

• TK_PPD and ORACLE_PPD

• TK_TFM and ORACLE_TFM

• TK_AFM and ORACLE_AFM

5.3.3 Print Property Dialog Boxes

On UNIX, Reports Builder provides several dialog boxes for printer-related operations.

5.4.1 Overview of Files

Table 5-2 lists files used by Oracle Reports for printing on UNIX.

5.4.2 PPD Files

PostScript is Adobe's page description programming language. PPD files define what capabilities a printer has for applications like Oracle Reports. For example, a PPD file might define which paper tray to use, what paper sizes are available, what is the physical dimension of the paper, and what font is available. Currently, Oracle Reports reads the paper sizes and fonts available on the printer as well as its default resolution from this file. In the future, more information may be used, such as memory for proper image partitioning.

The only reason to modify the PPD file is to allow Oracle Reports to recognize newly added fonts or memory. You can also change the DefaultPageSize to your preferred page size.

When you select a printer that is not listed in uiprint.txt or change the type of printer to a PostScript type in the Choose Printer dialog box, you are prompted for the PPD file for the printer. You must choose the PPD file for a printer that most closely resembles the printer being used. PPD file names typically bear some resemblance to the printer model name.

In uiprint.txt, a PPD file must be specified for each printer. If an invalid PPD file is specified for the current printer (for example, no PPD file is found or the PPD file format is wrong), Oracle Reports will use default.ppd for that printer. You should make default.ppd a copy of another PPD file that better reflects the most likely default, local printer.

Oracle Reports includes a common set of PPD files, but sometimes you may need to get specific PPD files for your printers from the vendor. Table 5-3 shows some examples of PPD files that are shipped with Oracle Reports:

If you need a PPD file that is not among those shipped with Oracle Reports, you must do one of the following (in order of preference):

• Ask the printer vendor for the PPD file.

• Download the PPD file from Adobe's Web site.

• Copy an existing PPD file and edit it.

• Ask Adobe for the PPD specs and write the PPD file.

The PostScript file only has the font information not the font metrics. Oracle Reports refers to the AFM file installed for the font metrics information. The font vendors provide these AFM files. Oracle Reports ships AFM files for some of the most commonly used fonts. The printer must have the required font installed in order to correctly print the PostScript file generated by Oracle Reports.

*Include: "filename"

*PPD-Adobe: "4.0"
*Include: "datap462.ppd"

*% Page definitions
*DefaultPageSize: Letter
…………………………
*DefaultPageRegion: Letter

5.4.3 HPD Files

HPD files provide functionality for PCL printers that is similar to what PPD files provide for PostScript printers. HPD or HP glue files provide information on what fonts are available for a PCL printer. The HPD file format can be found in the HP PCL5 Developer's Guide.

Just as PostScript has AFM files, every HP font must have an associated TFM file. The font vendor should provide TFM files and new fonts should be added to the HPD file for your printer when installed. For a new font, you should specify the following fields in the HPD file:

FONT={fontname}
/tfm={tfm-filename}

where

fontname is a descriptive name for the font.

tfm-filename is the base file name for the TFM file.

If the TFM file isn't specific enough, you can also specify the following after the FONT field:

/ptsize={size {size ...}}

If the specified font is a bit mapped font but is listed in the TFM file as a scalable font, you can limit the point sizes used by listing the acceptable sizes as follows:

/symset={symset {symset ...}}

This field limits the supported symbol sets to those listed. See the HP PCL documentation for a list of recognized symbol sets.

Oracle Reports also supports the defaultpaper field for printing to PCL format. This field can be used to set the defaultpaper to be used by the Toolkit. The format of this field is:

<defaultpaper={papername}>

For example, the following sets the paper name to A4:

<defaultpaper=A4>

The paper name is case insensitive. If you specify defaultpaper in more than one place, then the last instance of defaultpaper is used. If you specify a paper name that is not supported by the printer, defaultpaper is ignored and LETTER is used as the paper name instead. Similarly, if the paper name is incorrect, then LETTER is used.

5.4.4 Font Metrics Files

Oracle Reports supports two kinds of font metrics files:

• AFM files

• TFM files

5.4.5 uifont.ali

The uifont.ali file defines the font aliases used by Oracle Reports. It is an extremely useful tool for cross-platform development because it enables you to define which fonts to substitute when a particular font is unavailable. uifont.ali is located in:

ORACLE_HOME/guicommon/tk/admin

To alias a font, use the following syntax:

source_font = destination_font

For each font, you may also specify the following attributes:

face.size.style.weight.width.character_set

Styles may also be combined using a plus sign + to delimit the styles. For example:

Arial.Italic+Overstrike = Helvetica.12.Italic.Bold

This entry maps any Arial font that has both Italic and Overstrike styles to a 12-point, bold, and italic Helvetica font. Font faces can be case sensitive depending on the platform and the surface; that is, printer or system.

5.4.6 uiprint.txt

uiprint.txt provides a convenient way for you to provide details about the printer queue, such as the type of printer driver and the printer description. You should edit uiprint.txt for each instance of Oracle Reports.

5.4.7 Editing the Printer-Related Files

This section describes how to edit the various print-related files:

• Editing PPD files

• Editing HPD files for PCL printing

*ImageableArea mediaOption: "llx lly urx ury "
*DefaultImageableArea: mediaOption | Unknown

*Font {fontname}: {encoding} "({version})" {charset}

*OpenUI *InputSlot:   <PickOne>

*DefaultInputSlot: Lower

*InputSlot Upper/Multipurpose Tray: "
...
*InputSlot Lower/Paper Cassette: "

*CloseUI: *InputSlot

 <defaultpaper=A4>

FONT={fontname}        # {fontname} is a descriptive name for the font
/tfm={tfm-filename}    # {tfm-filename} is the base filename for TFM file

5.5.1 Multibyte Character Set Printing

Oracle Reports does not currently support Unicode character sets in PostScript output. As an alternative, you can use Oracle Reports PDF output (desformat=pdf), which supports multibyte character sets, and print it.

Oracle Reports supports a set of encoding schemes for the AFM files for the multibyte character sets.

The fonts must be installed on the printer that prints the PostScript report output.

Example

Suppose you build a report and its generated PostScript output contains a Chinese character set. First, you need AFM and PPD files that adhere to the encoding scheme for multibyte character sets. The destination printer must also have the required Chinese fonts installed because the PostScript file generated by Oracle Reports on UNIX does not have fonts embedded in it. The PostScript file contains only the font name and the font metrics taken from the AFM files. If you try to send the report to a printer that does not have the Chinese fonts installed, it will not print the Chinese characters properly.

5.5.2 Overview of IX and PASTA

When installed and used with Oracle Applications, Oracle Reports includes utilities for font embedding in PostScript output.

For character-mode reports, the utility is called PASTA. For bit-mapped reports, the utility IX enables you to embed the fonts in the PostScript output, thereby allowing you to print even if the font is not installed on the printer. Both PASTA and IX are supported only for Oracle Reports used with Oracle Applications.

When used for character-mode reports, PASTA takes tagged character mode output (generated through an appropriate prt file) and generates a PostScript rendition of it. IX enables Oracle Reports to print PostScript bit-mapped reports for all character sets, including UTF8, on a PostScript printer. With this functionality, PostScript printing in Unicode as well as all native languages on UNIX is supported. The IX library is turned off by default with the Oracle Reports patch.

Please refer to your Oracle Applications System Administrator's Guide for the setup and usage information for IX and PASTA with Oracle Reports. If you are a member of Oracle Metalink (http://metalink.oracle.com), you can also get this information from MetaLink notes 189708.1 and 159225.

If you have problems with PASTA, you can use the following technique to isolate the problem:

1. Unset the PASTA environment variable.

2. Try to perform the steps that caused the problem again.

3. If the problem reproduces without the environment variable set, then it should be treated as a normal Oracle Reports printing problem and the diagnostic steps provided in this document should be applied.

   If the problem reproduces only with the PASTA environment variable set, then follow the diagnostic process given in the Oracle Applications documentation.

5.6.1 DEBUG_SLFIND

If this environment variable is set, the file-finding routine lists what was searched for and where Oracle Reports searched for it. This information is a tremendous help if your current configuration does not work. You can send the output to a file, stdout (for standard output), or to stderr (for output to standard error). If you try to send the output to a file and it cannot be written to, Oracle Reports uses stderr instead.

We recommend sending the output to a file because it is faster and the output can be quite large. Sample output from DEBUG_SLFIND is shown below. Notice how the debug information generated helps you identify the various setup issues, such as which PPD and AFM files are being referred to and their location.

You can see all of the following in this output:

• The various environment variables, such as TK_PPD and TK_AFM, and their values.

• The resource files, such as the PPD and AFM, and their locations, which helps you to determine if any are the missing.

• The default location of various resource files under ORACLE_HOME.

slsfindfile(): checking environment variable TK_PPD(8).
slsfindfile(): environment variable not set
slsfindfile(): checking environment variable ORACLE_PPD(10).
slsfindfile(): environment variable not set
slfpath(): looking up path
/oraclehome/guicommon/tk/admin/PPD/
slfexist(): testing /oraclehome/guicommon/tk/admin/PPD
slfexist(): testing /oraclehome/guicommon/tk/admin/PPD/default.ppd
slsfindfile():returned
/oraclehome/guicommon/tk/admin/PPD/default.ppd
slfindfile(): type = 39 (AFM)slfindfile(): name = Courier-Bold
slsfindfile(): checking environment variable TK_AFM(8).
slsfindfile(): environment variable not set
slsfindfile(): checking environment variable ORACLE_AFM(10).
slsfindfile(): checking ORACLE_HOME environment variable.
slsfindfile(): environment variable set to /oraclehome (len=18)
slfpath(): looking up path/oraclehome/guicommon/tk/admin/AFM/
slfexist(): testing /oraclehome/guicommon/tk/admin/AFM
slfexist(): testing /oraclehome/guicommon/tk/admin/AFM/Courier-Bold
slsfindfile():returned /oraclehome/guicommon/tk/admin/AFM/Courier-Bold
slfindfile(): name = uiprint.txt
slsfindfile(): checking ORACLE_HOME environment variable.
slfpath(): looking up path/oraclehome/guicommon/tk/admin/
slfexist(): testing /oraclehome/guicommon/tk/admin
slfexist(): testing /oraclehome/guicommon/tk/admin/uiprint.txt
slsfindfile(): returned /oraclehome/guicommon/tk/admin/uiprint.txt

5.6.2 TK_DEBUG_POSTSCRIPT

This variable effects the PostScript output generated by Oracle Reports. Table 5-5 shows the settings for this variable.

Any of the options can appear in the environment variable, abbreviated down to one letter. You can set it to any combination of these, separated by "/". This variable is case insensitive. For example, Func/L/Mem would give you all three options.

5.7.1 Common Printing Error Messages

REP-00177 - Error while running in remote server

REP-1800 - Formatter error

REP-3300 - Fatal error in 'component name

UI-9 - This function call is out of context.

REP-3002: Internal error initializing printer information

Cause:

These errors generally indicate a printer configuration issue.

Action:

Check the printer queues that have been defined at the operating system level in your setup. You can use:

• lpc status

• lpstat -a

If a valid printer queue is installed, check for the following:

• uiprint.txt must have a valid entry for the printer.

• Oracle Reports must be able to open and read the uiprint.txt file:

  The person running the report must have operating system level read permissions on uiprint.txt. Oracle Reports must be able to open the uiprint.txt. UNIX operating systems do have an open file limit. If you are over that limit, Oracle Reports might not be able to open uiprint.txt.

• The printer description files specified in uiprint.txt must exist in your installation in:

  ORACLE_HOME/guicommon/tk/admin
  
  

• The printer specified in uiprint.txt must be enabled at the operating system level. A quick test is to try printing any file from the command line using lp or lpr. If you can print using one of these commands and get the output on the printer, then the printer is enabled.

• The printer queue and uiprint.txt entry syntax must be valid.

  If the printer validation fails, refer to the environment variables TK_PRINT_STATUS and REPORTS_NO_DUMMY_PRINTER in Appendix B, "Environment Variables".

REP-00826 - Invalid printer driver xxx specified by parameter desformat.

REP-00177 - Error while running in remote server (When run through CGI)

Cause:

An invalid value was specified for DESFORMAT for the specified report execution mode.

Action:

The DESFORMAT parameter specifies which output format is needed. Valid formats are:

• For bit-mapped reports, any of the output formats supported by Oracle Reports (PostScript, PCL, PDF, HTML, XML, HTMLCSS) is valid for DESFORMAT. You should not give the PRT file names here. While running to a file, the DESFORMAT parameter needs to be set to a valid printer queue. Oracle Reports uses the printer definition file associated with the printer to format the output.

• For character mode reports, DESFORMAT sets up the output for ASCII printers and passes escape characters. For running character mode reports, ensure that you change the MODE parameter to Character and use any valid .PRT file.

Table 5-6 maps the command line options (DESTYPE, DESNAME, and DESFORMAT) to the printer by what you are trying to achieve.

REP-01800 - Formatter error.

REP-00177 - Error while running in remote server

(When run through CGI)

Cause:

The error indicates that a printer configuration issue has occurred on a UNIX server. Even if there is not a physical printer available on the system, you have to set it up as if there was one.

Action:

1. Verify that there is a valid entry in uiprint.txt.

2. If you have multiple printer queue entries in uiprint.txt and you need to set the default printer, verify that the environment variable is set to a printer that is listed in uiprint.txt. If the related environment variable is not set, then the first entry in uiprint.txt is used. For more information on printer-related environment variables, refer to Appendix B, "Environment Variables".

If there is no printer available for your system, refer to Section 5.3, "Configuring the Printing Environment" for alternatives.

Error while printing to a printer with spaces in its name

Cause:

If you are on Solaris 2.8 and have printers that have spaces in the names, you may encounter a bug that causes an error resulting from the lpr/lp command including quotes around the printer name.

Action:

To resolve this issue, you must do either one of the following:

• Remove the spaces in the printer's name.

• Install the Solaris 2.8 patch from Sun Microsystems that fixes the lpr/lp command so that quotes can be used in printers names.

  and

• Modify the section of rwlpr.sh that provides the workaround for including quotes, in order to make accessible any printer that has a space in the name. The rwlpr.sh file is located in the ORACLE_HOME/bin directory.

  Specifically, make the following changes:

  #either LPR or LP Command was found 
  if [ -x $PRNCMDPATH ]
   then
     if [ `basename $PRNCMDPATH` = "lpr" ]
     then
      #if [ `/usr/bin/uname -r` = "5.8" ]
      #then
        #$PRNCMDPATH `echo $@ | tr -d "\""`
      #else
        $PRNCMDPATH "$@"
      #fi
    else
     # parse and Fix the command Line as Required by lp
     #if [ `/usr/bin/uname -r` = "5.8" ]
     #then 
       #getLpCommandLine `echo $@ | tr -d "\""`
     #else
       getLpCommandLine "$@"
     #fi
     $PRNCMDPATH
    fi  
    # exit with the command's exit code , This will tell the 
    # server Print module if the command completed successfully 
    # or not.
    exit $?
  fi
  done
  

Printing on Solaris 2.9

If you print a report using the DESTYPE=PRINTER and the DESNAME=printer_name command line options on Solaris 2.9, you will encounter the following errors:

REP-0069: Internal error
REP-57054: Inprocess job terminated with error
REP-50157: Error while sending file to printer 2op837a.Exit with error code 1

To resolve this issue, you must do the following:

1. Navigate to the following line at the end of the file:

   #either LPR or LP Command was found
   
   

2. Add an OR operator to the existing if...else condition.

   if [ `uname -r` = "5.8" ] || [ `uname -r` = "5.9" ] # If Solaris Release 5.8 / 5.9
      ...
      else
      # parse and Fix the command Line as Required by lp
      					...
        if [ `uname -r` = "5.8" ] || [ `uname -r` = "5.9" ]# If Solaris Release   
        5.8/ 5.9 
   
   

3. The if...else if condition checks for the Solaris Release version. Based on the version number, it strips the quotes from the printer name and passes it to the print command.

5.7.2 PCL Printing Issues

Why do fields that appear as gray on my PC print as white on a UNIX PCL printer?

PCL color printing is not supported. When the pattern is set to transparent, PCL printing uses the white pen (in PCL language) to draw. When the pattern is set to a solid pattern, it uses the black pen. This behavior occurs irrespective of what color is set for the foreground or background. PostScript printing logic is different. It uses the foreground color set when the pattern is solid and the background color set when the pattern is transparent.

What PCL level is supported in Oracle Reports?

The Oracle Reports PCL driver currently supports the features of PCL Level 3. It does support HPD files for later PCL versions, but it will not honor the additional features introduced since PCL Level 3.

5.7.3 PostScript Printing Issues

What is the work around for duplex printing on PostScript printers?

You should have a printer with a duplex option and an appropriate PPD file. The example that follows was tested with a PPD file for the Kyocera FS-9000 printer. You also need the UNIX sed tool named to filter the output file.

The problem with duplexing is that it is enabled at the job level, but it gets reset in the page setup because the paper size and printer tray information are generated for every page. To work around this problem, you need a script that removes the page level setup information to avoid resetting the duplex setting. A side effect of this work around is that you cannot switch the printer tray between pages.

1. Write a sed script with the following three lines:

   /^%%BeginPageSetup/,$ {
      /^%%BeginFeature/,/^%%EndFeature/d
   }
   
   

2. Save the script to a file named duplexsed.

3. Copy duplexsed to an appropriate directory, such as ORACLE_HOME/bin.

4. Set the environment variable TK_PRINT as follows:

   TK_PRINT="sed -f $ORACLE_HOME/bin/duplexsed | lpr -l -s -P'%n' -#'%c'"
   export TK_PRINT
   

   
   

   Note: Print commands differ for various kinds of UNIX. Check your installation guide and man pages for your platform. Refer to Appendix B, "Environment Variables" for a description of TK_PRINT. The command stored in TK_PRINT is only executed if DESTYPE=PRINTER. If DESTYPE=FILE, you still get a PostScript file with page level setup information. You can run the duplexsed script against the PostScript file to correct it.

   
   

What PostScript level is supported in Oracle Reports?

Oracle Reports supports PostScript Level 1 and 2.

How do you dynamically change the printer tray setting in the midst of a print job?

In some cases, you may want to switch printer trays in the middle of a report. For example, you might want the first page of a report printed on letterhead stationary and subsequent pages printed on plain white paper. For character mode reports, you can achieve this result through a combination of editing the .prt file and changing the report's properties. For bit-mapped reports, you use the SRW.SET_PRINTER_TRAY built-in procedure. On UNIX, this functionality is supported for PostScript output but not PCL output. For PCL, Oracle Reports ignores the commands for changing orientation and paper tray. Although dynamically changing the orientation and printer tray for PCL is not supported on UNIX, you can change them at runtime through the print dialog box for PCL.

By using the Before Report, Between Pages, or format triggers you can switch to different printer trays as your report formats. This enables you to easily print pages of the same report on different sheets of paper.

Example

From the BEFORE REPORT trigger, you can set the printer tray for the very first page:

function BeforeReport return boolean is
begin
    srw.set_printer_tray('UPPER PAPER TRAY');
    return (TRUE);
end;

To set the printer tray dynamically for subsequent pages, add a format Trigger to an item that prints on each page of the report. The following code checks for even pages and sets the page number accordingly:

function B_tbpFormatTrigger return boolean is
page_num number;
begin
   srw.get_page_num(page_num);
  begin
 if mod(page_num, 2) = 0 then  
   srw.set_printer_tray('UPPER PAPER TRAY'); 
  else 
   srw.set_printer_tray('LOWER PAPER TRAY');
 end if; 	 
  return (true);
end;
end; 

Why does the external print command ignore the tray select option while trying to print the PostScript output generated by Oracle Reports?

Suppose that you enter the following print command:

- lp -dprinter -oupper $report_print_file1

In this case, the -oupper option in the lp command is ignored. The reason for this behavior is that Oracle Reports generates tray information in its PostScript output. The tray selection in the PostScript overrides the specification on the command line. If you want the tray information on the command line to be respected, you need to remove the tray information from the PostScript file. You can do this by searching for and removing the following from your PostScript file:

%%BeginFeature: *InputSlot name of printer tray   
....
%%EndFeature

For more information on switching printer trays, refer to How do you dynamically change the printer tray setting in the midst of a print job?

5.7.4 Font-Related Printing Issues

How do you check whether a font is used in Oracle Reports printing?

PostScript files have a list of fonts, which is created after reading the PPD file. If you examine the PostScript file, you can check the fonts by looking for the following tags:

• DocumentNeededResource has the list of fonts referenced in the PPD file.

• DocumentSuppliedResource has the list of fonts for which the PostScript driver was able to find corresponding AFM files.

• %%Page before the field's %IncludeResource:font has the font name that will be used for the field.

For PCL output files, you can check whether a particular font was used. Depending on this information, the font settings in Oracle Reports or the printer can be modified.

What is the real difference between running reports to Screen and Preview?

Formatting a report to Screen, for screen fonts, guarantees that the report will look good in the Paper Design view of the Report Editor. If an attempt is made to print a report formatted with screen fonts, though, it is likely to come out with some differences because screen fonts typically map very poorly to printer fonts. If Preview is selected instead of Screen, the report is formatted with printer fonts and the output on the screen is almost certain to match the printed output.

Will there be any font issues if I do not have a valid printer installed?

Prior to Oracle Reports 10g on UNIX, you had to set the DISPLAY environment variable in order for Reports Server to use the windowing system display surface for creating images and getting pixel resolution. This dependency is removed with Oracle Reports 10g.

Additionally, earlier releases required a valid printer on UNIX for fonts. When no valid printer was available, OracleAS Reports Services used the screen fonts, which again required setting the DISPLAY environment variable. Now, OracleAS Reports Services includes a default screen printer surface, ScreenPrinter, that emulates a screen or printer for fonts in the absence of an available printer. As a result, OracleAS Reports Services no longer requires a printer on UNIX.

5.7.5 Printed Output Issues

Why does my report look okay on the screen but have truncated data when printed?

Any one of a number of possible causes may account for the truncation of fields.

• Check the field and determine if it is allowed to expand.

  1. In Reports Builder, double-click the field in the Paper Design or Paper Layout view to display the Property Inspector.

  2. Find the Horizontal Elasticity property.

  3. If it is set to Fixed, you should change it to Variable or Expand.

  4. Run the report to the printer.

  5. If it still truncates, it could be that the field requires multiple lines.

  6. Return to the Property Inspector for the field and check its Vertical Elasticity.

  7. If it is set to Fixed, you should change it to Variable or Expand.

  8. Run the report to the printer again.

• If the right most fields on the page are always the ones truncating, it could be an issue with the printable area of the printer. If you are using a PCL printer, then you will have to estimate the size of the printable area and resize your margins accordingly:

  1. Open the report in Reports Builder.

  2. Go to the Paper Layout view.

  3. Click the Margin tool on the top tool bar. A thick black line appears indicating where the body of your report ends and the margin begins.

  4. Click and drag the black line to the left approximately 0.5 inches.

  5. Save and run the report to the printer again.

  6. If necessary, repeat steps 4 and 5 to determine approximately where the printable area boundary is located and then ensure that your report body fits within that area.

• If you are using a PostScript printer, you can get the printable area boundary to appear in the Paper Layout view as follows:

  1. Open the report in Reports Builder.

  2. Choose File > Page Setup.

  3. Verify that the margins are small and that the orientation is correct.

  4. Click OK. The Paper Layout view should now be able to read the boundary.

  5. Go to the Paper Layout view.

  6. Click the Margin tool on the top tool bar. A thick black line appears indicating where the body of your report ends and the margin begins. A black hashed line also appears indicating the boundary of the printable area.

  7. Ensure that the thick black line is inside of the black hashed line. If it is not, click and drag the black line inside the printable area.

  8. Click the Margin tool to leave margin mode.

  9. If necessary, reposition your fields to fit within the new body boundaries.

  10. Save and run the report to the printer.

• For PCL, if it is still truncating, try using a fixed space font instead of a proportional font. Sometimes PCL printers have problems interpreting proportional space fonts and it leads to truncation. You should try using a fixed space font, such as Courier, and possibly font aliasing.

  
  

  See Also: Chapter 4, "Managing Fonts in Oracle Reports" for more font-related information.

  
  
  
  

  Note: Default layouts are built against a generic printer. Each printer has its own printable area. As a result, you may have to reset the report to fit the printer. Ideally, if you know the various printers you will be using, you can design the report from the start to fit the printer with the smallest printable area.