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March 10th
1997

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CHAPTER 6

Network Printing



To print on a network printer, you must configure the print server and the printer client. This is done by loading the Printer Spooler (SPOOLER.COM) on the print server machine, and the printer redirector (PRNREDIR.COM) on the client machine.

Data sent to the printer is redirected by the Printer Redirector to the Printer Spooler. The diagram below shows the data path of printed data.


Fig.1


The Printer Redirector

The printer redirector program (PRNREDIR.COM) is responsible for capturing all data sent to your local printer port, and redirecting the data to the network printer. The data is sent across the network to the print server's printer spooler. The spooler queues each print job and prints them in turn.

Your application software would normally print to a device called PRN or LPT1. If you have more than one printer, your software may also print to LPT2 or LPT3.

When you connect to a network printer using the NET USE command, or the Station Manager, a link is established that associates the local printer device name (such as LPT1) with the network printer on the print server machine.

Each time you print to the local device LPT1, the data is redirected to the network printer, instead of the local printer. The printer spooler is responsible for the actual printing process.

Some software print using the PC BIOS INTERRUPT 17H calls. These calls are also redirected by the printer redirector.

Loading PRNREDIR.COM

The PRNREDIR.COM program must be loaded on a client configuration (using either CLIENT.COM or DOSNET.COM). To load the Printer Redirector, type the following at the DOS command line.

cd\dosnet

prnredir

Once loaded, you may connect and print to network printers from within your application software.

The Printer Spooler

The printer spooler program (SPOOLER.COM) is responsible for queuing and printing jobs sent from the client machine's printer redirector program. Each time a new job is started, the printer spooler creates a spool file in the spooler's designated sub directory.

The filenames of the spool files are always in the form of SPOOLXXX.YYY. The YYY is the node number of the client machine which sent the print job. The XXX is the number of print jobs sent by that client. This value is incremented for each print job which is sent by that particular client.

The structure of the filenames ensure that duplicates cannot occur, because each node number must be unique on the network.

Loading SPOOLER.COM

The SPOOLER.COM program must be loaded on a server configuration (using either SERVER.COM or DOSNET.COM). To load the Printer Spooler, type the following at the DOS command line:

cd\dosnet

spooler

Once loaded, the printer spooler scans the spool sub directory (normally C:\SPOOL) for files. If any files are found in this directory, they are printed.

Peer-to-Peer Printing

When a user on a server machine wishes to send a print job to a network printer, they firstly load the Printer Redirector and Printer Spooler, and secondly connect to the network printer using the NET USE command, or the Station Manager, even though the printer is local.

If this is not done, DOS will print to the same printer at the same time as the printer spooler. The diagram below shows the data path of all print jobs sent to a local network printer.


Fig.1


All print jobs are passed from the local printer redirector to the local printer spooler. This allows the spooler to gain complete control over local and network print jobs.

Printer Menus

Both the printer spooler and printer redirector have a comprehensive set of menu commands. These commands facilitate the network printer management. To use these menus, the Popup= parameter in the DOSNET.INI file must be set to 1.

The printer menus are accessed through the DOS-NET Main Menu by using the network pop-up keys. These are normally CTRL+ALT+Right Shift keys. From the DOS-NET Main Menu, select either Printer Redirector or Printer Spooler respectively.

Printer spooler menus

View Print QueueTo view the print queue in the print server, select View Print Queue.


The print queue displays the file being printed at the top of the list. You can scroll through the queue by using the up and down arrow keys.


For printer management functions, select a queue entry and press the Enter key.


There are six functions that may be performed from this menu. These are detailed below:

Stop/Go
Allows you to stop and start the printer spooler as required.
Pause Next
Pauses printing after the most current print job.
Print Next
Moves the selected print job to the top of the queue.
Print Last
Moves the selected print job to the bottom of the queue.
Remove One
Deletes the selected entry from the queue.
Remove All
Deletes all entries in the queue.

Printer status

Print StatusYou can view the real time status of all the server's printers by selecting Printer Status.


If the printer stops printing, you can use this menu to check the printer status. If the printer is out of paper or busy, it will be indicated on this menu.

Printer commands

Print CommandsThe spooler includes some basic printer commands to aid paper control. You may use these commands by selecting Printer Commands.

The printer commands are not executed if the selected printer is busy or off-line. These commands include:

Print Commands1. Reset Printer:- Initialises the selected printer.

2. Send Form Feed:- Prints current page on the selected printer.

3. Send Line Feed:- Prints a blank line to the selected printer.

Fine tuning the spooler

Tune PrinterThere are many fine-tune options available. To use the fine tune options, select Tune Performance.


Tune PrinterPrint Slice:Change Print Slice timing.

Retry/Busy Slice:Change Busy Slice timing.

Foreground Slice:Change Foreground Slice timing.

Print Method:Use PC BIOS or print direct to Printer Port.

Send Print Output to: PRINTER, SCREEN, or DUSTBIN.


The last option on the above menu sets the spooler's print job time out in seconds. Its function is to automatically close print jobs that were started, but not completed by a client machine.

If the spooler has not received any data for a particular print job within the specified number of seconds the job is automatically queued.


NOTE DOS-NET cannot detect the end of a print job, if the job was printed through the PC BIOS. This feature will automatically truncate those print jobs when the time-out expires.

Viewing the print buffer

View Print BufferYou can view the contents of the print buffer by selecting View Print Buffer.


View Print Buffer


The View Print Buffer option allows you to see the data that the printer is receiving in hexadecimal, and in ASCII formats. This information may be useful to programmers, or technical personnel.

Printer redirector menus

The printer redirector menus allow the client to control the individual print jobs from the client machine.

Viewing a print queue

PrnredirYou can view a client's individual print queue by selecting View A Print Queue.


PrnredirYou will be prompted to select the queue you wish to view.


PrnredirThe print queue for the selected device will only display the files that belong to each individual client.

If the selected print queue is empty, the message Queue Empty is displayed.

If the printer spooler is not loaded on the printer server, the message No Spooler is displayed.

Keeping print jobs together

PrnredirThe Keep Jobs Together option puts all your print jobs into a single spool file. This may be useful if multiple print jobs (that should be printed together) are to be printed on a busy printer.

Keeping print jobs separate

PrnredirBy default, all jobs are printed to separate spool files on the server. The Keep Jobs Separate option will ensure that each print job is printed separately.


Queuing print jobs

PrnredirIf you have kept a number of jobs together using the Keep Jobs Together option, this option will inform the print spooler that it may queue and print all jobs belonging to this client.


Changing the print mode

PrnredirBy default, all print jobs are printed in data mode. This is the best option for most printers. The Change Printer Mode option allows you to select Text Mode for an old printer (that does not expand tabs).


Viewing printer set-up strings

PrnredirEach user can have a separate printer set-up string that configures the printer for each particular print job. You can view these set-up strings by selecting View Setup Strings.


Truncating print jobs

There are five ways to truncate (end) a print job. Usually, print jobs are queued automatically by the printer redirector. If your print job does not print, do one of the following:

  1. Press CTRL+ALT+* keys together. This sends a signal to the printer spooler to queue all print jobs.

  2. Select Queue All Jobs from the Printer Redirector menu.

  3. Press the Enter key at the DOS Prompt.

  4. Wait for the auto-close timer to expire. This automatically queues print jobs on the server.

  5. Use the NET FLUSH command to truncate the current print jobs.

[Chapter 7] [Chapter 5]
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