Oracle Applications Release 10.7 Printing

Overview

Oracle Applications supports both character mode and PostScript (e.g. bitmap) printing of Oracle Reports reports. This document will outline the steps required to implement both types of printing.

Oracle Applications implements Oracle Reports printing by printing to a file. This is important to note because it affects the parameters that are passed to the Oracle Reports executable. Once the file has been created it may or may not be printed depending on the parameter COPIES. The report output will be located in the $APPLCSF/$APPLOUT directory. If $APPLCSF is not set then the report will be located in the product top directory/$APPLOUT (e.g. $GL_TOP/out).

Reports 2.5 Requirements (Server installation)

Bitmap Printing

Motif option (e.g. GUI) must be installed. This can be verified by checking to see if the Motif runtime executable for Reports 2.5 has been created (e.g. $ORACLE_HOME/bin/r25runm). The actual Oracle Applications executable is ar25runb and will be located in $FND_TOP/bin. If this executable does not exist and the Motif option for Reports 2.5 has been installed then adrelink can be used to create the ar25runb executable (e.g. adrelink force=y ranlib=y "FND ar25runb").

The file uiprint.txt must be modified. This file is located in $ORACLE_HOME/guicommon2/tk23/admin . This file provides a mapping between the type of printer and the printer definition file (e.g. PPD). See the Developer/2000 Installation Guide for further information.

Sample entry for uiprint.txt:

Appropriate PPD (PostScript print definition) files must exist. PPD files are located in the directory $ORACLE_HOME/guicommon2/tk23/admin/PPD. The PPD file referenced in the example above is appropriate for a HP Laserjet 4 at 600 dpi.

There are other Oracle Reports configuration files that control fonts (e.g. $ORACLE_HOME/guicommon2/tk21/admin/ uifont.ali) and character sets (e.g. $ORACLE_HOME/guicommon2/tk21/admin/Tk2Motif.rgb), but their use and description is beyond the scope of this document. The recommended text for information about configuring the options available is the Developer/2000 Installation Guide.

Character Printing

No requirements. No uiprint.txt entry is needed or used, and no PPD files are required.

Oracle Applications Product File Requirements

Bitmap Printing

No file requirements. The following environment variable should be set as part of the applmgr setup:

This is used by Reports 2.5 to map to the appropriate PPD file in the uiprint.txt file.

Oracle Reports 2.5 supports three different environment variables for determining the printer, TK2_PRINTER , ORACLE_PRINTER , or PRINTER. We recommend using the PRINTER environment variable since this is a standard UNIX convention and less confusing.

Character Printing

SRW print style definition. For character mode printing with Oracle Reports there needs to be a print style definition in the $FND_TOP/srw directory. This file defines printer specific codes for landscape, bold, underline, etc., and is named with the format <SRW driver>.prt.

Oracle Applications Requirements

Bitmap Printing

For bitmap printing the printer associated with the print request MUST be defined and available at the host level. The Reports 2.5 engine not only requires that the definitions be available (e.g. defined in uiprint.txt and PPD file assigned), but that the printer be available at the host level (e.g. there is some communication that takes place).

Concurrent Program Requirements (e.g. \Navigate\Concurrent\Program\Define)

Concurrent programs must be registered with "Execution Options" set to Version=2.0b (Note: not Version=b).

Print Style Requirements (e.g. \Navigate\Install\Printer\Style)

The SRW driver must be set to the printer name in the uiprint.txt file for the type of printer being used. This is passed to the print command so that the appropriate PPD file can be found to create the PostScript file.

This definition will be used if COPIES=0 is set on the print request.

SRW driver = <printer name>

The file $FND_TOP/srw/<printer name>.prt is not used.

Print Driver Requirements (e.g. \Navigate\Install\Printer\Driver\Define)

The SRW driver field is not used, and no $FND_TOP/srw/<SRW driver>.prt needs to exist.

The following fields should be set:

 
SRW Driver: HPP
Driver Method: Command
Spool File: No
Standard Input: Yes
Program Name: <blank>
Arguments: lp -c -d$PROFILES$.PRINTER \
-n$PROFILES$.CONC_COPIES -t"$PROFILES$TITLE" \
$PROFILES$.FILENAME 
Initialization: /eE/e&l0o2a7C/e(s0t0p11H/e&a5L
Reset: /eE

$FND_TOP/bin/ar25runb \
report=XXEMPASG.rdf \
<parameter name>=<parameter value>
userid=apps/apps \
batch=yes \
copies=1 \
mode=bitmap \
destype=printer \
desname=<printer name>

$FND_TOP/bin/ar25runb \
report=XXEMPASG.rdf \
<parameter name>=<parameter value>
userid=apps/apps \
batch=yes \
mode=bitmap \
destype=file \
desname=mytest.lis \
desformat=<printer name>

NET USE LPT1: \\<remote node>\<printer name>

GS_FONTPATH=<gs fonts>;export GS_FONTPATH
GS_LIB=<gs fonts>; export GS_LIB

GS_FONTPATH=/usr/openwin/X11/fonts/Type1/outline:/opt/Aegs/share/fonts;
export GS_FONTPATH

GS_LIB=/usr/openwin/X11/fonts/Type1:/usr/openwin/X11/fonts/Type3:/opt/Aegs/share/fonts; 
export GS_LIB