How to Implement Printing for Oracle Applications:

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Sucharitha Thokala.

How to Implement Printing for Oracle Applications: Getting Started

The information in this article applies to:

Oracle Application Object Library - Version: 11.5.1 to 11.5.10

This problem can occur on any platform.

Printing, PASTA, SRW, Driver

Goal

How to get started on installing a printer(s) for Oracle Applications? What are the general steps for installing a printer?

Fix

I. PRINTER

The Oracle Applications printer name must be the same printer name that works at the Operating System (OS) command line on the server where the concurrent processing server resides. If files in Postscript format will be generated and printed from Oracle Applications, make sure to setup a raw OS print queue so that Postscript files will be passed to the target printer without any filtering or actions by the OS print queue or print command.

Any printer that can be controlled with embedded printer commands, such as

PCL, or supports the Postscript language can be used with Oracle Applications, see Note 353071.1 "Where Can I Find A List Of Supported Printers For Oracle Applications?"

II. PRINTER TYPE

A printer type lists which styles and drivers are available to the assigned printer.

Group printers according to make or family model and utilize a unique printer type name. All printers are not the same or possess the same capabilities and functions. Using only one printer type such as the "HPLJ4SI" type, with one set of printer drivers, to support all make and model of printers may not allow for fine adjustments to one particular printer or a group of printers. That is to say, a change or fine adjustment intended for a specific printer may adversely affect all printers on the instance using the same printer type or driver.

III. PRINT STYLE

A print style specifies the layout of the report’s output file. It is also matched with a driver that supports the same layout for printing.

In a full installation of Oracle Applications there are some 7,500 registered programs, of which 2,800 programs are defined as Oracle Reports. Approximately 70% of these Oracle Reports programs are designed as landscape reports--portrait and landwide are the next two widely used styles.

Therefore, setup the three most widely used styles (landscape, portrait, and landwide) for all printers and do not attempt to make corrections to the associated drivers on a "report by report" basis. Individual reports that do not work well with the three main print styles and printer drivers may need a special or custom style / driver to print correctly. Custom reports will typically require a custom print style or driver, see Note 357941.1 "Applications Product Support Guidelines Regarding Custom Reports and Programs"

Hint: For ease and convenience in release 11i, rather than creating new styles, use the existing styles “as is” or modify them as needed. The bulk of the printing instructions are contained in the printer driver and the SRW driver; therefore, the same print style can normally be re-used with several different printers and printer types.

IV. PRINT DRIVER

A printer driver provides the needed commands to initialize a printer and to invoke an OS print command or a print program or routine.

Oracle Applications provides a simple beginning set of printer drivers. These generic or plain drivers are working examples intended for the printer make or model stated in driver name and description. They may or may not work optimally with other printers. Oracle does not provide additional deliverable examples; therefore, outside of this set, a custom printer driver needs to be defined.

An initialization and reset string is needed to define a printer driver in Oracle Applications. The initialization string, also known as a "setup string", is printer dependent information. It instructs the printer on which printing characteristics are needed for the document to be printed. The printer’s vendor typically supplies the initialization string or provides information on how to construct printer-controlling commands.

Typically a simple initialization string can be found in the printer's user guide or technical reference manual. The back of the manual should have a section on supported printer command languages and/or commonly used printer commands and control characters, see Note 152285.1 "Building a Printer Initialization String for Oracle"

The best setup method is to create an initialization string using the printer command language utilized by your printer. An alternate setup method is to test existing printer drivers for compatibility with your printer. Unfortunately, the latter choice is a "trial and error" approach that may or may not achieve the desired printing appearance. For precision printing, like checks or pre-printed forms, the initialization string will likely require fine tuning, see Note 106186.1 "How to Test an Initialization String Outside of Oracle Applications".

V. SETUP STEPS

Existing printer types, styles, and drivers can be modified or a new record can be created. Adding a new record is the preferred approach. The printer type, styles, or drivers can have any name that best describe it usage. Additionally, it is more secured during upgrades than modifying seeded records; that is, Oracle seeded records can be overwritten by a patch or an upgrade process.

Concisely, the steps required to defined a printer for Oracle Applications are as follows:

1. Setup and verify the operation of the printer and print queue at the operating system level--test from the OS command line prompt.

2. Identify, select, or define a new Apps printer drivers that will support the specified printer make or model.

3. Identify, select, or define a new Apps printer type to register all needed printer styles and drivers.

4. Register an Apps printer name and associate an Apps printer type to the newly registered printer name.

For detailed setup instructions, please review the chapter titled "Printers" in the Oracle Applications System Administrator's Guide. Also see Note 123140.1 "How to Setup Printer for Oracle Applications 10.7 - 11.5.x" and Note 112172.1 "Oracle Applications Character Printing"

NOTE 1: Please keep in mind that Apps printer driver information is cached in memory, the concurrent manager will need to be bounced in order to make any recent changes take effect.

The following Notes may be helpful with common setup problems and oversights:

Note 262796.1 "Standard Reports Just Print the First Row or Double Space"

Note 359716.1 "Apps Reports Generate and/or Print With Incorrect Page Break Points"

Note 352384.1 "Reprint Does Not Correctly Print When The Original Request Is Formatted By Noprint"

Note 189708.1 "Oracle Reports 6i Setup Guide for Oracle Applications 11i"

VI. PASTA

Oracle Applications has a printing tool called PASTA that can help Administrator quickly configure a Postscript ready printer. Although Pasta is optional for most installations, it required for multilingual installations and installations using the Unicode / UFT8 character set, see Note 356501.1 "How to Setup Pasta Quickly and Effectively"

PASTA is the only viable solution when dealing with multiple languages and multiple printers in a UTF8 character set environment. Otherwise, an extensive amount of time will be spent identifying which fonts are supported by a particular symbol set and which symbol set matches up well with the Unicode super set. "Most printers can not handle UTF8 encoded data". As per the Printing chapter in the Oracle Applications System Administrator's Guide, "In order to print reports with the UFT8 character set, you 'must' configure PASTA".

Please reference the following notes for more information on PASTA:

Note 420019.1 - Pasta Overview

Note 356501.1 - How to Setup Pasta Quickly and Effectively

Note 239196.1 "PASTA 3.0 Release Information"

Note 240864.1 "Activating and Configuring IX Library"

Presently, the latest available PASTA patches:Patch 3325651 PASTA 3.0.4 RELEASE

References

Note 356501.1 - How to Setup Pasta Quickly and Effectively

Note 152285.1 - Building a Printer Initialization String for Oracle Applications

Note 106186.1 - How to Test an Initialization String Outside of Oracle Applications

Note 123140.1 - How to Setup Printer for Oracle Applications 10.7 - 11.5.x Quick Reference

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