Overview of Files Printer-Related Files

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: Printing on UNIX with Oracle Reports 10-11 ■ AFM files ■ TFM files

10.4.4.1 AFM files

Each AFM files contains the font-related metrics for a single font. The metrics include various font attributes such as style, weight, width, and character set. AFM files and a description of the AFM file format are typically available from the font or printer vendors. To install the AFM file, just copy it to the AFM file location, which is listed in Section 10.2.2, Verifying the Printer Setup for Oracle Reports . The name of the file must match name of the font without the.afm extension. For example, if the font name is CodedreineunBold, the file name must be CodedreineunBold. To verify the font name, you can look for the fontname string in the AFM file. Please note that the AFM files are not font files, they are metrics files, which give information on how to properly format the characters for the printer. If you have an AFM file for a font, but the font is not present on the printer, Oracle Reports cannot generate the correct output on the printer because of the font metrics mismatch. You must ensure that the font used to design the report is also available on the printer.

10.4.4.2 TFM files

PCL uses HPD and TFM files. The HPD file contains the list of available fonts for the printer and each font refers to a TFM file. TFM files serve the same purpose as Adobes AFM files, with each file listing information about a single font. The HPD file is an ASCII file, which can be edited, but the TFM file is a binary file, which cannot be edited. To use a new font in Oracle Reports and have it appear correctly in PCL output, you need the HPD and TFM files for the printer. You can copy an HPD file from an existing one, after you ensure it is suitable for your printer. The fonts specified in the HPD file must be available on the printer. Oracle Reports includes a common set of TFM files. If you need other font metrics files for your printer, you should obtain them from your font or printer vendor. To install the TFM file, just copy it to the TFM file location, which is listed in Section 10.2.2, Verifying the Printer Setup for Oracle Reports .

10.4.5 uifont.ali

The uifont.ali file defines the font aliases used by Oracle Reports. It is an extremely useful tool for cross-platform development because it enables you to define which fonts to substitute when a particular font is unavailable. uifont.ali is located in: On Windows: ORACLE_ INSTANCE\config\FRComponent\frcommon\tools\common On UNIX: ORACLE_ INSTANCEconfigFRComponentfrcommonguicommontkadmin To alias a font, use the following syntax: source_font = destination_font For each font, you may also specify the following attributes: face.size.style.weight.width.character_set