Setting Up Environments for Binary Documents

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# Setting Up Environments for Binary Documents

This document describes various Entire Output Managements setups for the processing of binary documents. It covers the following topics:

- General Information on Binary Documents

- Environments for Binary Data Processing

- Examples of Converting Binary Document

## General Information on Binary Documents

For general information on the processing of binary documents, see the section Processing of Binary Data in the Concepts and Facilities documentation.

## Environments for Binary Data Processing

You can set up an environment that integrates binary data of UNIX and Windows computers with Entire Output Management, using the file system.

This is possible if binary files are to be transferred to Entire Output Management which are filed to a UNIX or Windows directory that is owned by Entire Output Management:

This requires a UNIX node and predefined report definitions in Entire Output Management depicting which directories are to be viewed and handled by the monitor of the respective source system. The directories will be scanned synchronously in each Entire Output Management monitor cycle.

With this setup, the original file will be is forwarded to Entire Output Management, and can be automatically archived/distributed as required. Each document can then be reprinted using the corresponding application on the target system (which in fact could also be the source system).

The files are stored in Entire Output Management and you can decide where to print and which layout is to be used at the time when the document is printed out of Entire Output Management.

It will not be possible to printout a binary file to a printer directly, because Entire Output Management does not know the binary format of the file. However, the output converter function (see the description of printer type DISKUNIX) of Entire Output Management is able to invoke the print function of an application on the target system which can do the job. This is the way to have the printout of binary files controlled by Entire Output Management, or to convert binary data on the target system for subsequent processing.

## Examples of Converting Binary Document

The following examples are all based on the following assumptions:

- An Entire Output Management installation is active on a mainframe or a UNIX system.

- The source system of the documents is a Windows PC called "win" with Entire System Server on UNIX and a service `npr_win` being active.

- The target system for the output of documents is a UNIX sample system called "unix" where the Entire System Server UNIX service `npr_unix` is active.

The following cases are covered:

- Example 1 - Convert Any Windows Printouts to PDF

- Example 2 - Convert Word Documents to PDF

- Example 3 - Print a PDF File

- Example 4 - XML Documents

### Example 1 - Convert Any Windows Printouts to PDF

#### Task:

Convert any Windows printouts to PDF and store them as PDF files in Entire Output Management.

#### Possible solution:

Entire Output Management can read binary files from UNIX or Windows directories. This feature can be used to fetch all PDF files from a directory owned by Entire Output Management.

Define a report as follows:

                          **** ENTIRE OUTPUT MANAGEMENT ****
    User ID XYZ       - Report Definition >Unix Identification -

    Report
       Name .............. GET-PDF__________________

    Unix Attributes
       Node Name ......... npr_win_____ Read-binary... B
       Path:
       /output/
       and Files ......... *.pdf________________________________________
                           _____________________________________________
                           _____________________________________________
                           _____________________________________________
                           _____________________________________________

By using this report definition the Entire Output Management monitor will look for PDF files in `c:\output` of the specified Windows PC regardless of whether Entire Output Management runs in a mainframe or a UNIX environment.

In order to convert the required printouts to PDF format, a PDF converter must be used. Customize a PDF converter which is installed as a virtual printer and which writes the resulting PDF file to the directory `c:\output`.

Now you can use the print function of any Windows application by printing on the created printer. The output will be converted to PDF, and the Entire Output Management monitor will load the PDF files for further processing.

### Example 2 - Convert Word Documents to PDF

#### Task:

Microsoft Word documents are saved to the directory `c:\output`. They have to be converted to PDF and then transferred to Entire Output Management as PDF files.

#### Possible solution:

Use the input converter feature of Entire Output Management. Assuming the PDF converter printer profile "NOM-Printing" is available and the Entire Output Management report "GET-PDF" (as defined in Example 1) is active, the following report will instruct the Entire Output Management monitor to convert Word documents to PDF and load them into Entire Output Management:

                           **** ENTIRE OUTPUT MANAGEMENT ****
     User ID XYZ       - Report Definition >Unix Identification -

     Report
        Name .............. DOC2PDF__________________

     Unix Attributes
        Node Name ......... npr_win_____ Read-binary... B
        Path:
        /output/
        and Files ......... *.doc________________________________________
                            _____________________________________________
                            _____________________________________________
                            _____________________________________________

Enter the following jobcards:

                          **** ENTIRE OUTPUT MANAGEMENT ****
    User ID XYZ       - Report Definition >Printing Attributes -

    Report
       Name .............. DOC2PDF__________________

    Hold Logic ........... _

    Printers ............. ________ ________ ________ ________ ________
    Copies ............... ___      ___      ___      ___      ___
    Separator Pages
       Start ............. ________
       End ............... ________
       Copies ............ ___
       Length ............ ___
    Style.. ______________________________________________________________
    Jobcards
       input-cmd=""C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\OFFICE11\WINWORD.EXE"
       &f /q /n /mNOMPrinting"____________________________________________
       ___________________________________________________________________

Add the following macro "NOM-Printing" to Microsoft Word, using the Visual Basic editor:

    Sub NOMPrinting()
    Dim printerName As String
    Dim CurrentDoc  As Word.Document

    Set CurrentDoc = ActiveDocument
    Set printerName = Trim$(Left$(ActivePrinter, _
    		InStr(ActivePrinter, " on ")))
    ActivePrinter = "NOMPrinting"
    ActiveDocument.PrintOut
    ActiveDocument.Close
    ActivePrinter = printerName
    End Sub

The following will happen:

- Entire Output Management will recognize the ".doc" file in the directory `c:\output`.

- The monitor will activate the report DOC2PDF and execute the input command in the jobcards fields. Afterwards the ".doc" file will be deleted and not processed further by Entire Output Management.

- The command (without the outer quotation marks) will be executed on the Windows source system "win" (where the `c:\output` directory resides).

- There Microsoft Word will be invoked without splash screen (/q), without opening a new document (/n) but opening the recognized ".doc" file (&f) and executing the macro "NOM-Printing" (/m). If it is called using a batch user of this Windows system, the user will not see any part of the execution of this function.

- The Microsoft Word macro will set the current default printer to "NOM-Printing" and print the document using the PDF converter. Then the former default printer will be restored.

- Entire Output Management will get the created PDF file with the report "GET-PDF" from Example 1.

Entire Output Management will replace "&f" with the current file name.

No user intervention is required, and the procedure will be carried out for all Word documents that have been filed in `c:\output`. Everything is triggered by the Entire Output Management monitor on a mainframe or on UNIX.

### Example 3 - Print a PDF File

#### Task:

Print a PDF file that has been stored in Entire Output Management on a real printer.

#### Possible solution if Entire Output Management runs on a UNIX system:

Ensure that the product Ghostscript is installed.

Create a logical printer "PRTPDF" of type NATUNIX with the following special attributes:

                           **** ENTIRE OUTPUT MANAGEMENT ****
     User ID XYZ       - Logical Printer >Special Attributes -

     Logical Printer
        Name ............. PRTPDF__
        Description ...... Print a PDF file

     Attributes

       Formfeed ..........
       Linesize ..........
       Max-Pages .........
       Output-Target ..... 1
       Pagesize ..........
       Printer-Name ...... gs -sDEVICE=printserver01:printer09
       Print Method ...... tty
       Profile ...........
       Trace ............. 0

#### Possible solution if Entire Output Management runs on a mainframe system:

Ensure that the product Ghostscript is installed on the target system "unix".

Create a logical printer "PRTPDF" of type DISKUNIX with the following special attributes:

                            **** ENTIRE OUTPUT MANAGEMENT ****
      User ID XYZ       - Logical Printer >Special Attributes -

      Logical Printer
         Name ............. PRTPDF__
         Description ...... Print a PDF file______________

      Attributes

        command ........... gs
        filename ..........
        filetype ..........
        logpath ...........
        Opt1 .............. -sDEVICE=printserver01:printer09
        Opt2 ..............
        Parm1 .............
        Parm2 .............
        Parm3 .............
        Path .............. /tmp
        Server ............ npr_unix
        Trace ............. 0

If a binary active report containing a PDF file is printed on the printer PRTPDF, a file `filename.pdf` will be written to the directory `/tmp` of the UNIX computer on which the Entire System Server UNIX node `npr_unix` is active, where filename is the origin file name of the file. Ghostscript will send the printout to the printer `printer09` on the printer server `printserver01`.

### Example 4 - XML Documents

#### Task:

Store XML documents in Entire Output Management; at printing time, these documents are to be formatted and rendered to several different documents.

#### Possible solution:

1. Create the desired XML documents with any application.

2. Transfer them to Entire Output Management, using the UNIX identification feature as text files.

3. Create several printers of type DISKUNIX that forward the documents to an XML renderer which takes care of the final formatting. You may consider using the Apache Formatting Objects Processor (Apache FOP) for the final formatting.

### On this page

- General Information on Binary Documents
- Environments for Binary Data Processing
- Examples of Converting Binary Document