Step By Step Guide to Set Up a Printer in Oracle Applications [ID 60936.1]
Overview -------- This document provides a step by step guide for setting up printers in GUI mode Applications. This information applies to Smart Client, NCA, Release 11 & 11.5. Several Windows NT printing bugs are covered as well. The following is the outline of this document: I. How to Set Up a Printer in GUI Applications A. Driver B. Style C. Printer Type D. Printer Register E. Activate and Test II. Windows NT Printing Bugs A. PRINTER Variable B. LP Command C. Network Printer I. How to Set Up a Printer in GUI Applications ----------------------------------------------- A. Driver To set up the driver, perform the following steps: 1. Log into Applications with sysadmin privileges and go to: INSTALL PRINTER DRIVER 2. Enter the driver name, e.g., hplj5si. 3. Enter the user driver name, e.g., hplj5siUD. 4. You may enter a description for the driver, but this is not required. 5. Enter the Sql*ReportWriter (SRW) driver. Details on this driver are discussed in Chapter 9 of the "Oracle Applications System Administration Release 10 Reference Manual". Page 9-23 states the following: "SRW drivers are read by Oracle Reports when a report is generated, and insert control characters that tell the destination printer where to set page breaks, and which characters to format as bold or underlined. SRW drivers only pertain to Oracle Reports output files. An SRW driver is used when the completed output file is sent to the printer." SRW files reside in the following directories as .prt files: $FND_TOP/srw (for 10.7 applications) $FND_TOP/reports (for 11.0 applications) $FND_TOP/reports (for 11.5 applications) The SRW driver HPP is named HPP.prt. If you edit this file, the following is displayed: printer "HPLJ Portrait" height 66 width 80 between pages control(L) return control(M) linefeed control(J) code "bold on" esc "(s7B" code "bold off" esc "(s0B" code "underline on" esc "&d0D" code "underline off" esc "&d@" SRW drivers are designed for printers that understand the same control characters as the LN03 and are only used for character reports. 6. Enter the platform by clicking on the List of Values (LOV) button and choose the appropriate value. 7. Enter the arguments. Arguments are used by the concurrent program to pass information to the UNIX lp print command or to the NT print /d: command. Arguments are documented in the "Oracle Applications Release 10.7 for UNIX Installation Manual", page A-12, and in the "Oracle Applications System Administration Release 10 Reference Manual", Chapter 9. The printer driver passes the following arguments to the program: o Name of the destination printer o Number of copies to print o Banner on title page o Filename Page 9-21 of the System Administration Reference Manual discusses the four arguments typically used for UNIX platforms. UNIX platforms use LP command at the beginning of the argument. A common argument command for a UNIX application server is: lp -p$PROFILES$.PRINTER -#$PROFILES$.CONC_COPIES -c"$PROFILES$.TITLE" $PROFILES$.FILENAME Windows NT platforms use PRINT /d: command at the beginning of the argument. At this time, the arguments for the Windows NT platform are limited. One supported argument for the NT platform is as follows: PRINT /d:$PROFILES$.PRINTER $PROFILES$.FILENAME For OpenVMS, the following argument can be used: * PRINT /QUE=$PROFILES$.PRINTER/ 8. Enter the initialization and reset strings. These strings are used to set and reset the orientation, character set, and line density for your printer. The initialization string is specific to the PRINTER, not the platform. An escape sequence begins with a "/e. An example of an initialization string which can be used for an NT platform is: /eE/e&l1o2a5.45C/e(s0p16.66H/e&k6.75H The reset string in this case is: /eE/000 (This is the number 0, not the letter O.) 9. Click the Save and Proceed Button (the green check). Note: Oracle only supports driver files distributed with Applications. Oracle does not support, or provide, custom driver files or initialization strings. Custom driver files must be built using initialization strings obtained from the printer manufacturer. B. Printer Style Perform the following steps to set the printer style: 1. Go to: INSTALL PRINTER STYLE 2. Enter a name and unique sequence number for the style. 3. Enter the user style name. 4. Enter the SRW driver name. This name should match the file within the driver define page, e.g., HPP. 5. The layout area provides the typical columns, rows, and orientation for the SRW files in use. Note: The columns and rows entered here override the height and width specified in the SRW driver file. 6. Save and Proceed. C. Printer Type 1. Go to: INSTALL PRINTER TYPES 2. Enter the printer type name. 3. Click in the style box, and then click the LOV button. Choose the style you previously defined. 4. You are then moved to the driver name box. Again, press the LOV and select the driver you defined in the first step. 5. Save and Proceed. D. Printer Register 1. Go to: INSTALL PRINTER REGISTER 2. Specify the printer that programs should print to in the printer box. For a network printer, specify the connection used for the print operation. For example: \\<server_name>\<printer_name> Note: This is specific to Windows NT. 3. In the type box select LOV and choose the type you defined in the previous step. 4. Save and Proceed. E. Activate and Test Stop and start the concurrent managers to activate your changes. Then, test the freshly installed printer by performing the following steps: 1. Go to: REQUEST RUN 2. Choose a report to run. 3. Enter one or more for the number of copies. 4. In the style box choose LOV and select the style you defined. 5. In the printer box choose LOV and select the printer you defined. 6. Submit the report. II. Windows NT Printing Bugs ----------------------------- A. PRINTER Variable The PRINTER variable must be set in the environment tab. It can be set to any value, however, it must be set. B. LP Command Patch 496052 changes the lp command in the arguments box to print /d: for standard Windows NT drivers. You may obtain this patch by contacting Worldwide Oracle Support. C. Network Printer When you log into the operating system as applmgr and go to: START CONTROL PANEL PRINTERS you must be able to see the network printer. If you do not, you will not be able to print.