Environment Variables Configuring the Printing Environment

Printing on UNIX with Oracle Reports 10-9 If you need a PPD file that is not among those shipped with Oracle Reports, you must do one of the following in order of preference: ■ Ask the printer vendor for the PPD file. ■ Download the PPD file from Adobes Web site. ■ Copy an existing PPD file and edit it. ■ Ask Adobe for the PPD specs and write the PPD file. The PostScript file only has the font information not the font metrics. Oracle Reports refers to the AFM file installed for the font metrics information. The font vendors provide these AFM files. Oracle Reports ships AFM files for some of the most commonly used fonts. The printer must have the required font installed in order to correctly print the PostScript file generated by Oracle Reports.

10.4.2.1 Local Customization of PPD files

A PPD file is a static representation of the features of a printer. It contains default factory settings. Once a printer is installed, features such as additional memory, paper trays, and fonts may be added to the device. The task of managing a device is a dynamic issue that requires keeping track of fonts downloaded to disk, error handlers, RAM-based fonts and procedure sets, default device setup, and so forth. This kind of device management is beyond the scope of PPD files. However, there are some provisions for customizing the information contained in PPD files to adapt them to local instances of printers or to specific applications when necessary. Instead of modifying the original PPD file, another approach would be having a new file having the local customization of certain parameters and refer to the primary file for the remaining information. The local customization file must contain a reference to the primary PPD file in this format: Include: filename where filename is the name of the primary PPD file. This referencing allows a system administrator to later replace the primary PPD file without forcing users to edit their local customization files. A file referenced by the Include keyword is treated as though it were in the including local customization file. For example, suppose that the default.ppd file is defined as: PPD-Adobe: 4.0 Include: datap462.ppd Page definitions DefaultPageSize: Letter ………………………… DefaultPageRegion: Letter lwntx470.ppd Apple LaserWriter II NTX nccps801.ppd NEC Colormate PS80 tkphzr33.ppd Tektronix Phaser III PXi v2011.108 l530_523.ppd Linotronic 530 screenprinter.ppd Default PPD file to be used when a printer is not available on UNIX. Table 10–3 Cont. Common PPD Files Shipped with Oracle Reports PPD File Name Corresponding Printer 10-10 Publishing Reports to the Web with Oracle Reports Services The primary PPD file is datap462.ppd. Administrators should change the name of the included file to conform to their sites default printer type. When a local customization file includes a primary PPD file, there might be several instances of the same keyword in the composite file. Hence, the location of the primary file in the customization file beginning or end is important and effects the changes made by the customization file.

10.4.3 HPD Files

HPD files provide functionality for PCL printers that is similar to what PPD files provide for PostScript printers. HPD or HP glue files provide information on what fonts are available for a PCL printer. The HPD file format can be found in the HP PCL5 Developers Guide. Just as PostScript has AFM files, every HP font must have an associated TFM file. The font vendor should provide TFM files and new fonts should be added to the HPD file for your printer when installed. For a new font, you should specify the following fields in the HPD file: FONT={fontname} tfm={tfm-filename} where fontname is a descriptive name for the font. tfm-filename is the base file name for the TFM file. If the TFM file isnt specific enough, you can also specify the following after the FONT field: ptsize={size {size ...}} If the specified font is a bit mapped font but is listed in the TFM file as a scalable font, you can limit the point sizes used by listing the acceptable sizes as follows: symset={symset {symset ...}} This field limits the supported symbol sets to those listed. See the HP PCL documentation for a list of recognized symbol sets. Oracle Reports also supports the defaultpaper field for printing to PCL format. This field can be used to set the defaultpaper to be used by the Toolkit. The format of this field is: defaultpaper={papername} For example, the following sets the paper name to A4: defaultpaper=A4 The paper name is case insensitive. If you specify defaultpaper in more than one place, then the last instance of defaultpaper is used. If you specify a paper name that is not supported by the printer, defaultpaper is ignored and LETTER is used as the paper name instead. Similarly, if the paper name is incorrect, then LETTER is used.

10.4.4 Font Metrics Files

Oracle Reports supports two kinds of font metrics files: