The print system provides attributes for changing the characteristics of each print job. This appendix provides summaries of several commonly used attributes organized into the following categories:
Job and document attributes determine the printer requirements of jobs and documents.
Text job attributes provide controls for printing simple text jobs.
Physical printer attributes define the capabilities of the printer device the object represents.
For a detailed directory of all attributes and their associated values, refer to the Advanced Printing Software Command Reference Guide.
The following job and document attributes are available for use with print commands. The attribute always applies to the file name(s) entered on the command line after the attribute. See the accompanying examples.
Requests that the document is to be printed in landscape or portrait orientation. These values are defined in the printer's content-orientations-supported attribute and apply to simple text documents only. For example:
pdpr -x "content-orientation=landscape" report.txt
Requests a number of copies of the document. For example:
pdpr -x "copy-count=2" report.txt
Requests that the document is to be printed on media drawn from the named input tray. Input tray names are defined in the printer's input-tray-supported attribute. For example:
pdpr -x "default-input-tray=bottom" report.txt
Requests that the document is to be printed on the named media. Media names are defined in the printer's media-supported attribute. For example:
pdpr -x "default-medium=iso-a4-white" report.txt
Specifies whether to print auxiliary sheets at the beginning of each document in a job. If you specify doc-set-start-copies-separate, a separator sheet precedes each copy of the document. For example:
pdpr -x "document-sheets=doc-set-start-copies-separate" report.txt
Specifies a text comment for a print job. If you use the job-sheets attribute to select job start sheets, then the job-comment is printed on them. For example:
pdpr -x "job-sheets=job-copy-start \
job-comment='final draft of secret report'" report.txt
Requests a number of collated copies of all documents in the entire job. For example:
pdpr -x "job-copies=3" report.txt forecast.txt budget.txt
Supplies a name for a print job. The job name is printed on job start sheets and used in notification and logging messages. If you do not specify a job-name, it defaults to the file name in a one-document job or to the name of the first file in a multi-document job. For example:
pdpr -x "job-name='copy for Dave'" report.txt
Specifies the calendar date and time after which the job should be scheduled. Use the format dd:mm:yyyy:HH:MM:SS. When the specified date and time arrive, the job is scheduled for printing. For example:
pdpr -x "job-print-after=12:31:1999:23:59" report.txt
Specifies the period of time following job completion that the system retains the job, its attributes, and data. Use the format [HH:]mm[:SS]. By setting this attribute, you can obtain status information after your job has printed. It also allows you to print the job again, possibly with modified attributes. For example:
pdpr -x "job-retention-period=01:00" report.txt
Specifies the auxiliary sheets that will print with a job. If you specify job-copy-start, a start sheet prints in front of every copy of the job. If you specify job-copy-wrap, a start and end sheet prints for every copy of the job. For example:
pdpr -x "job-sheets=job-copy-start" report.txt
Requests that the document is to be printed with multiple page images on one side of the sheet. This is done by reducing the size of the printed page. For example, number-up=2 reduces two pages so they print side by side on one sheet. Values are defined in the printer's numbers-up-supported attribute. A value of 0 is equivalent to no number-up processing. This feature is generally limited to the printing of text files on PostScript printers. For example:
pdpr -x "number-up=4" report.txt
Requests that the job be deposited in the printer's specified output bin. Output bin names are defined in the printer's output-bins-supported attribute. For example:
pdpr -x "output-bin=side" report.txt
Requests that the document is to be printed one-sided or two-sided. Values of 1 or 2 or both are defined in the printer's sides-supported attribute. For example:
pdpr -x "sides=2" report.txt
The print system supports several attributes that are used primarily for documents that are free of formatting instructions, that is they contain only text. These attributes provide some control over the appearance and placement of text in the printed document. Some attributes are specific to document formats such as PCL or ESC/P and to printers that uses those formats. Others apply only when using the text-to-PostScript translation filter supplied with Advanced Printing Software with a PostScript-capable printer.
For the following attributes, only content-orientation applies to both formats. See the accompanying examples.
Specifies the distance in lines between the bottom edge of the logical page and the bottom edge of the text area when held in the intended reading orientation. The distance may be a decimal number like 3.14 or 6.28. For example:
pdpr -x "bottom-margin=1.5" report.txt
Specifies the most significant orientation of the document. Choices include the following:portraitlandscapereverse-portraitreverse-landscape
For example:
pdpr -x "content-orientation=landscape" report.txt
Specifies the text that is to be printed on the first line of each printed page. The header-text could be the title of the document. For example:
pdpr -x "header-text='Favorite Pumpkin Recipes'" report.txt
Specifies the distance as the number of characters between the left edge of the logical page and the left edge of the text area when held in the intended reading position. For example:
pdpr -x "left-margin=8" report.txt
Specifies the page length of the text area as a number of lines. For example:
pdpr -x "length=60" report.txt
Indicates whether to print page numbers on the document pages. The value may be yes or no. For example:
pdpr -x "number-pages=yes header-text='Final Draft'" report.txt
Requests that the document is to be printed with multiple page images on one side of the sheet. This is done by reducing the size of the printed page. For example, number-up=2 reduces two pages so they print side by side on one sheet. Choices include 0, 1, 2, and 4. The value 0 is equivalent to no number-up processing. For example:
pdpr -x "number-up=4" report.txt
Specifies the distance as the number of characters between the right edge of the logical page and the right edge of the text area when held in the intended reading position. For example:
pdpr -x "left-margin=6 right-margin=6" report.txt
Specifies the distance in lines between the top edge of the logical page and the top edge of the text area when held in the intended reading orientation. The distance may be a decimal number like 1.2 or 2.5. For example:
pdpr -x "top-margin=5 bottom-margin=6" report.txt
Specifies the width of the text area as the number of characters. This is the maximum line width before text wrapping occurs. For example:
pdpr -x "length=56 width=132 content-orientation=landscape" report.txt
Logical printers reside in and are controlled by spooler processes. As an end user, you normally cannot change logical printer attributes, but you can query them. Use the pdls command and specify the logical printer name as the command operand.
When you use the pdls command to display properties of a logical printer, you can request attributes associated with the printer. For example, requesting the value of the printer-state attribute lets you know if the printer is idle, printing, needs attention, or is some other state.
You can use the following logical printer attributes with the pdls command. For example, the following command requests a list of the input trays that are supported for a logical printer named printer_1.
%pdls -c printer -r "input-trays-supported" printer_1
Indicates the general availability of an object. It is set to none if the object is disabled and normal if the object is enabled.
The character-sets-supported attribute identifies the character set encodings supported by the printer.
On job submission, the spooler checks the character set specified for a document against the logical printer's character-sets-supported attribute. If there is no match, the spooler rejects the print request. Refer to the Advanced Printing Software Command Reference Guide for a list of valid values.
The content-orientations-supported attribute specifies the document content orientations supported by the printer. This attribute's values must include any content orientation for a document directed to the printer. Valid values are portrait, landscape, reverse-portrait, and reverse-landscape.
The document-formats-supported attribute specifies the document formats supported by the printer. This attribute must contain a value corresponding to the value of the document-format attribute of a document submitted to this printer. Refer to the Advanced Printing Software Command Reference Guide for a list of valid values.
The document-sheets-supported attribute specifies the auxiliary sheets supported by this printer.
This attribute must contain a value corresponding to the value of the document-sheets attribute of a job submitted to this printer. Valid values are none and doc-set-start-copies-separate.
The enabled attribute indicates whether the specified object is enabled to accept print requests (value=yes). This attribute is set with pdenable/pddisable. When an object is created, it is disabled by default (value=no).
In order for a server to accept print requests, both the server's and the specified printer's enabled attributes must be set to yes.
The finishings-supported attribute identifies the per-document finishings supported on the printer. This attribute must contain a value corresponding to the value of the finishing attribute of a document submitted to this printer.
Refer to the Advanced Printing Software Command Reference Guide for a list of valid values.
The fonts-supported attribute identifies the font resources supported by the printer.
On job submission, the spooler checks the font specified for a document against the logical printer's fonts-supported attribute. If there is no match, the spooler rejects the print request.
The highlight-colours-supported attribute indicates the values of highlight colors supported on this printer.
This attribute must contain a value corresponding to the value of the highlight-colour attribute of a document submitted to this printer. Valid values are red, blue, green, cyan, magenta, yellow, cardinal, royalblue, ruby, violet, black, or name.
The input-trays-supported attribute identifies the input trays supported on this printer.
This attribute must contain a value corresponding to the value of the default-input-tray attribute of a document submitted to this printer. Valid values are top, middle, bottom, envelope, manual, large-capacity, main, side, 1, 2, 3, 4.
The job-finishings-supported attribute identifies the job-level finishing supported by this printer. On job submission, the spooler checks the finishing specified for a job against the logical printer's job-finishings-supported attribute. If there is no match, the spooler rejects the print request. Refer to the Advanced Printing Software Command Reference Guide for a list of valid values.
The job-sheets-supported attribute specifies the auxiliary sheets supported by this printer. This attribute must contain a value corresponding to the value of the job-sheets attribute of a job submitted to this printer. Valid values are none, job-copy-start, and job-copy-wrap.
The jobs-pending attribute specifies the number of outstanding jobs in the queue. Outstanding jobs are jobs with a current-job-state value of pending, held, or paused.
The maximum-copies-supported attribute indicates the maximum number of copies of a document that can be printed on this printer. This includes document copies specified via the attributes copy-count and job-copies.
A value of zero or empty indicates no limit.
The media-supported attribute identifies the media supported by the printer. On job submission, the spooler checks the medium specified for a document against the logical printer's media-supported attribute. If there is no match, the spooler rejects the print request.
Refer to the Advanced Printing Software Command Reference Guide for a list of valid values.
The message attribute supplies a human readable string intended to indicate to users something about an object's state. This attribute may be used to indicate to users why an object is unavailable or when it is expected to be ready.
The -m option can also be used to attach a human readable message to a job. Users can retrieve the message with the pdls command.
The numbers-up-supported attribute indicates valid values for the document attribute number-up. Valid values are 0, 1, 2, and 4.
The output-bins-supported attribute identifies the output bins supported on this printer. The value of this attribute may be an OID, a name, or a number.
The output-bins-supported attribute must contain a value corresponding to the value of the output-bins attribute of a job submitted to this printer. Refer to the Advanced Printing Software Command Reference Guide for a list of valid values.
The page-select-supported attribute indicates the types of page identifiers supported by this printer. Numeric or alphanumeric page identifiers are used to specify one or more sequences of pages to be printed.
The values for page-select-supported must include the value of page-select used by a document submitted to this printer.
The print-colour-types-supported attribute identifies the colors that are supported on this printer. Valid values are lack-and-white, highlight-colour, and full color.
On job submission, the spooler checks the print color types specified for a job against the logical printer's print-colour-types-supported attribute. If there is no match, the spooler rejects the print request.
The printer-associated-printer attribute identifies the physical printers associated with this logical printer. This attribute is updated when the printer's associated-queue attribute is modified. It is checked for end-to-end consistency when the printer is enabled.
The printer-initial-value-document attribute identifies an initial-value-document in the server for use on this logical printer.
This attribute is used if the document does not specify an initial-value-document object.
The printer-initial-value-job attribute identifies an initial-value-job in the server for use on this logical printer.
The printer-initial-value-job is used if the job does not specify an initial-value-job object.
The printer-locations attribute identifies the location of the printer.
The printer-name attribute specifies a unique name for a printer.
Some printers produce a text message describing a problem. In these cases, the supervisor places the message in the printer-problem-message attribute.
The printer-realization attribute identifies if the printer is logical or physical. A printer created on a spooler is logical. A printer created on a supervisor is physical.
The printer-state attribute identifies the current state of the printer. Valid values are unknown, idle, printing, needs-attention, paused, shutdown, timed-out, connecting-to-printer, and saturated.
The printers-ready attribute identifies the physical printers ready to be used with this logical printer.
The sides-supported attribute indicates the values of sides supported by this printer. This attribute must contain a value (1 or 2) corresponding to the value of the sides attribute of a document submitted to this printer.