Logical Printers

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# Logical Printers

This section explains the use of logical printers and how to define them. It covers the following topics:

- What is a Logical Printer?

- Attributes of a Logical Printer

- Available Commands for Logical Printers

- Listing All Logical Printers

- Listing Selected Logical Printers

- Adding a New Logical Printer

- Copying a Logical Printer

- Modifying a Logical Printer

- Renaming a Logical Printer

- Deleting a Logical Printer

- Displaying a Logical Printer

- Displaying Log Information for a Logical Printer

- Authorizing User Access to a Logical Printer

## What is a Logical Printer?

In the report definition, you specify on which printer the active report is to be printed. A printer assigned to a report is called a logical printer. In the definition of the logical printer you specify a set of attributes linked to an actual physical printer, which determine the printing characteristics and printing format of the report on the physical printer.

A physical printer can be: an actual printer, a file, or a follow-up process for further processing.

If all output to be printed on a physical printer is to be printed in the same way, you only need to define one logical printer referring to the physical printer. If you wish to print different reports differently on the same physical printer, you define multiple logical printers which refer to the same physical printer, but with different printing characteristics.

A physical printer has to be defined first (as described under Physical Printers in the System Administration documentation), before you can assign it to a logical printer.

A logical printer can be assigned to individual reports as well as bundles.

## Attributes of a Logical Printer

- General Attributes

- Special Attributes

### General Attributes

Field | Explanation
--- | ---
Logical Printer | Name | If you are adding a logical printer, you must enter its ID before proceeding. This ID must be unique. If you are modifying an existing printer, this field is write-protected.
Description | Enter a short description for the logical printer.
Physical Printer | Name | Use the list box to select the ID for the physical printer where reports are to be printed.
Location | The location of the selected physical printer is displayed here when a printer has been selected.
Restrict usage to administrators and authorized users | By default, a general user may select any logical printer for which the user or PUBLIC is authorized (even if all authorization options are set to "No"). Also, when printing an active report, the user may select any printer defined in the master report definition. If you select this option, only administrators and users with at least one authorization option set to "Yes" may select this printer.
Copies | Enter the number of copies to be printed.
Priority | Enter the print priority. This is passed to the spooling system when using system printers, or used internally when referring to VTAM printers.
Printer Exit | Member | Use the list box to select the name of the exit to be executed for each line before it is printed.
Library | This field displays the name of the library where the printer exit is located.
Jobcards | Enter the jobcards to be used when printing in batch mode. SERIAL - If a jobcard contains the keyword SERIAL, Entire Output Management checks if the desired printer is already in use by another printer task. If so, the printout processing is delayed until the printer completes. This is useful if, instead of a printer spooler, a printer is addressed directly which cannot spool itself. SERIAL only applies to NATUNIX and UNIXLP printers. SKIP - The keyword "SKIP nnnnnn" is interpreted as SKIP nnnnnn pages and will suppress the output for nnnnnn pages. However, if a printout is resumed that begins with the line after an error occurred, SKIP will also suppress nnnnnn pages - which might not be intended. In this case the SKIP parameter has to be omitted. The SKIP function is not exact, it will start the printing shortly before the desired page, because the print data are passed to the print program with internal blocking (for performance reasons). Other parameters of the jobcard fields are not affected. SKIP can be used for any printer type where jobcards are allowed. WAIT-PRINTER - If this keyword is contained in a jobcard of the printout queue or of the logical printer, it will be checked whether the physical printer name of the special printer attributes contains a pipe to the UNIX command `lp` or `lpr`. If so, the printer addressed with the "-P" parameter will be checked calling a user-defined script `nomchkpr.bsh`. A sample script is supplied in the Entire Output Management UNIX directory `INSTALL`; please refer to it for details. WAIT-PRINTER will be ignored on mainframes and on printer types other than NATUNIX. EXTERNAL-OK – If this keyword is contained in one of the jobcard fields, a printer task will print the output completely, but instead of status "D" (printed successfully) status "X" (wait for external confirmation) will be set. To change this status to "D", you execute a batch job which calls the Natural program `NOMEXOK`. You invoke `NOMEXOK` as follows (using the desired input delimiter):
    NOMEXOK
    printout-id1 message-number1 message1
    printout-id2 message-number2 message2
    printout-id3 message-number3 message3
    ...
    printout-id-n  message-number-n message-n
    END or FIN
printout-id is the printout ID of the output; message-number is any user error number; message is any text to be written to the monitor log and to the status field of the printout. If the message-number is 0, the printout status will be set to "D". If it is greater than 0, the printout status will remain set to "X", and the message-number and message will be returned. If it is a negative value, the printout status will be set to "E" (error) with message-number and message being returned. If processing is not successful, `NOMEXOK` will issue return code "1". If you specify no jobcards here, the specifications made for the Monitor Standard Definitions will be used.

### Special Attributes

Depending on the type of the physical printer, as determined by the Physical Printer specifications under General Attributes (see above), you can set special attributes for a logical printer. They are the same as the special attributes of the corresponding physical printer type, which are described under Attributes of Physical Printers in the System Administration documentation.

## Available Commands for Logical Printers

To list all available commands for logical printers:

1. In the object workspace, expand the Printers folder.

2. Select a printer and invoke the context menu.

   A list of available commands is displayed.

These are:

Command | Shortcut | Explanation
--- | --- | ---
Authorization | F9 | Authorize other users to process the logical printer.
Copy | Ctrl+C | Copy a logical printer. (*)
Delete | Del | Delete a logical printer. (*)
Display | Ctrl+D | Display a logical printer.
Display Log | F10 | Display log information about maintenance activity on this printer.
Filter | F3 | List selected logical printers.
List | F8 | List all logical printers.
New | Ctrl+N | Add a new logical printer.
Open | Ctrl+O | Modify a logical printer.
Rename | F2 | Rename a logical printer. (*)

(*) These commands cannot be used for DEFAULT printers.

## Listing All Logical Printers

To list all defined logical printers:

1. In the object workspace, select the Printers folder.

2. Invoke the context menu and choose List.

   All defined logical printers are listed in the content pane.

For each printer, the following information is displayed:

Field | Explanation
--- | ---
Printer | Name of the logical printer.
Authorization | Authorization used to access the logical printer. Possible values: ADMIN = You are defined as administrator with owner authorization for the listed printers. PUBLIC = All users are authorized for the printer. user ID or name of distribution list = This user or the members of the distribution list are authorized for the printer.
Description | Short description of the logical printer.
Physical | The name of the physical printer.
Status | The status of the physical printer: stopped; or blank = printer started and active for printing.
Location | The location of the physical printer.

## Listing Selected Logical Printers

To list defined logical printers according to selection criteria:

1. In the object workspace or in the printer list, select the Printers folder.

2. Invoke the context menu and choose Filter.

   The Filter Printers window is displayed.

3. Enter your selection criteria, and choose OK.

   Now only defined logical printers which satisfy the selection criteria appear in the expanded Printers folder in the object workspace.

## Adding a New Logical Printer

To define a new logical printer:

1. Select the Printers folder in the object workspace and invoke the context menu.

2. Choose New.

   The New Logical Printer window is displayed in the content pane.

3. You can define General Attributes and Special Attributes. To do so, select the appropriate tab.

4. The corresponding window is displayed, and you enter your data. The fields are described under Attributes of a Logical Printer.

5. Choose OK to save your data.

## Copying a Logical Printer

To copy a logical printer:

1. In the object workspace or in the printer list, select the desired printer.

2. Invoke the context menu and choose Copy.

   The Copy window is displayed.

3. Enter the name of the target logical printer in the To Printer field provided and choose OK.

   The new logical printer appears in the printers list.

Note
DEFAULT printers cannot be copied.

## Modifying a Logical Printer

To modify a logical printer:

1. In the object workspace or in the printer list, select the desired printer.

2. Invoke the context menu and choose Open.

3. The logical printer definition is displayed, and you can change it. The fields are described under Attributes of a Logical Printer.

4. Choose OK to save your changes.

## Renaming a Logical Printer

To rename a logical printer:

1. In the object workspace or in the printer list, select the desired printer.

2. Invoke the context menu and choose Rename.

3. Change the name of the selected printer, and press ENTER.

Note
DEFAULT printers cannot be renamed.

## Deleting a Logical Printer

To delete a logical printer:

1. In the object workspace or in the printer list, select the desired printer.

2. Invoke the context menu and choose Delete.

   A window is displayed, asking you to confirm the deletion.

3. Choose Yes to delete the printer, or No to cancel the operation.

Note
DEFAULT printers cannot be deleted.

## Displaying a Logical Printer

To display a logical printer:

1. In the object workspace or in the printer list, select the desired printer.

2. Invoke the context menu and choose Display.

   The definition of the logical printer is displayed. The fields are described under Attributes of a Logical Printer.

## Displaying Log Information for a Logical Printer

To display log information for a logical printer:

1. In the object workspace or in the printer list, select the desired printer.

2. Invoke the context menu and choose Display Log.

   The Log Information window for the printer is displayed.

3. To display more detailed log information, select an entry from the Log Information window.

4. Invoke the context menu and choose Info.

   A detailed log message for the selected entry is displayed.

## Authorizing User Access to a Logical Printer

To authorize user access to a logical printer:

1. In the object workspace or in the printer list, select the desired printer.

2. Invoke the context menu and choose Authorization.

   The Authorization List for the printer is displayed. It lists all users and user groups on distribution lists who are authorized for the printer, and their authorization levels.

3. Invoke the context menu for the dialog and select New.

   The Authorization Definition is displayed.

4. Enter the data for the authorization. The fields are described under Authorization Options.

5. Choose OK to save your data.

### On this page

- What is a Logical Printer?
- Attributes of a Logical Printer
- Available Commands for Logical Printers
- Listing All Logical Printers
- Listing Selected Logical Printers
- Adding a New Logical Printer
- Copying a Logical Printer
- Modifying a Logical Printer
- Renaming a Logical Printer
- Deleting a Logical Printer
- Displaying a Logical Printer
- Displaying Log Information for a Logical Printer
- Authorizing User Access to a Logical Printer