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Quantum VS Help: System Administration |
The full procedure for setting up 'printing' in Quantum VS is as follows:
Note: The following steps are carried out by EDP OS Support as part of the Quantum VS and server installation procedure. However, non-EDP System Administrators may periodically be required to add/edit Printer records (see 2), add/edit the various IO Control fields on users' User records (see 5), and create/edit Print Groups within Quantum VS (see 6).
Before the printer can be added to Quantum VS (see 2) or configured within the User Profile (see 3), EDP OS Support must install the 'raw' printer device on the Linux Host Server, as per the installation of printers for all EDP Back Office applications. This printer will then appear within the 'lpstat' listing, with a printer name as known by the Operating System.
Note: Lpstat is part of the Common Unix Printing System (CUPS) and displays status information about classes, jobs and printers (i.e. the current status of the LP print service to standard output). For further details see http://www.cups.org/documentation.php/network.html
Once the printer has been created and is listed within 'lpstat' on the Linux Host Server, the printer can be added to Quantum VS as an available printer throughout the application. This is done by creating and saving a Printer record in Quantum VS. See Printer Record Maintenance and Creating A New Printer Record.
The next step is to determine the operating system command Quantum VS will use to send a document to the printer. This is configured within the User Profile maintained within /unistore1/univ/.user_profile on the Linux Host Server.
The configuration of each printer variable within the User Profile also enables additional print options to be specified, depending on the initial setup of the printer driver; e.g. Number of Copies (-n) or Font Size (-cpi).
The following details provide the standard configuration requirements for a printer implemented within Quantum VS:
For each printer, a new variable called 'dd_QTYPRINT_aaaa' is added to the User Profile, where 'aaaa' is the 'Application ID' assigned to the printer within Quantum VS (1 to 4 digits).
The standard set up of a printer variable within the User Profile would be as per the following line: dd_QTYPRINT_aaaa=”lp –dprinter_name –onff –s”; export dd_QTYPRINT_aaaa
Once the printer has been installed and configured as per the details above, the Quantum VS Services need to be restarted to pick up the new device.
When certain document types are printed in Quantum VS they are automatically converted from XML to PDF format for delivery to the print destination (Printer / Email / Fax) using the XML to PDF print service.
For XML to PDF document printing to take place, the 'Web Service' must be installed on the Linux Host Server by EDP OS Support. In addition, the following 'XML Print' record types must be set up and configured in Quantum VS:
XML Gateway ID Records
XML Identification Records
XML Document ID Records
XML Source Files
XML Gateway Lookup Records
Note: These records are set up in Quantum VS by EDP OS Support as part of the Quantum VS and Linux Host Server installation procedure. It is not recommended that System Administrators or users set up or amend these documents.
XML to PDF printing also requires the installation of XML Stylesheets (XSL) on the Linux Host Server, which dictate the design of the printed PDF document. A set of generic document layout templates are installed by EDP OS Support as part of the Quantum VS and server installation procedure, although specific document layout templates may be designed for each customer.
For details of the above see Setting Up XML To PDF Document Printing.
The print destination for each 'printable' document type is defined within each individual Quantum VS User record (in the Output Lines fields in the IO Controls Tab of the User record). Appropriate settings must be entered in the User record for each Quantum VS user to determine the output destination for each document type.
For each document type/user, the selected output destination may be one of the 'application ID' records set up earlier (in steps 1 - 3). Alternatively, one of the system default 'application ID' records may be selected. This determines whether the document is sent to an Email or Fax number maintained against the Customer or Supplier record, to Disk (i.e. a directory on the Linux Host Server), to the printer connected to the user's terminal, or to the Linux Host Server's default operating system printer.
Note: Some of the available system default output options have multiple destinations. For example, documents being sent to the Email / Fax print destination will be sent via email first if there is an email address maintained against the Customer or Supplier record, and if not will then revert to Fax and be sent to the fax number maintained against the Customer or Supplier record. If the Customer or Supplier Record does not have either an email address or fax number, the document generated is sent to a default 'admin' email address for the Quantum VS User configured in the 'global.properties' file maintained on the Linux Host Server.
See Defining User IO Control Fields.
Print Groups enable users to preview, print and email text and PDF files which have been generated in Quantum VS and saved to 'Disk' (i.e. to the Linux Host Server). These files include document types such as Sales Orders and Credit Notes, and Reports generated by running a Report or a Process.
Each 'Print Group' is given a name and its own set of default options which apply only to that group. A Print Group is made up of one or multiple Templates - essentially a directory on the server - each of which hold documents (i.e. which have been saved to that directory on the server). So for example, a Print Group called 'Accounts' may be available to all users who work in accounts. Within this Print Group might be the following Templates: 'Statements', 'Credit Control', 'Accounts On Stop', and so on. By selecting one or more Templates a user may view a list of documents for each Template (e.g. all Statements), then click on a document in order to view, print or email it.
Note: There is no direct relationship between document types saved and the Print Groups and Templates they are saved to. It is up to the System Administrator setting these up how each available Print Group and Template relates to the document types which will be saved/accessible and to the users accessing them.
Before Users can view/print/email Documents which have been saved to 'Disk', the System Administrator must set up the necessary Print Groups and Templates. See Print Group Maintenance.
Quantum VS has various features for the automated printing of product labels and maintaining the required records for this procedure. Product information, such as a Bar Code and additional product- and/or company-related details, may be printed on demand onto specific stationery according to the company's requirements.
To facilitate label printing in Quantum VS, various records must be set up. For further details see Label Printing.