KONICA MINOLTA QMS Qform User Guide

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The following are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective owners. Those listed as registered are registered in the United States Patent and Trademark Office. Some trademarks are also registered in other countries. Other product names mentioned in this manual may be trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective owners. QMS, the QMS logo, Crown, the Crown seal, CrownNet, PS Executive Series/QMS, Inc. Adobe is a registered trademark of Adobe Systems Incorporated, registered in the United States Patent and Trademark Office. PostScript is a trademark of Adobe Systems Incorporated for a page description language and may be registered in certain jurisdictions. Throughout this manual, “PostScript Level 2” is used to refer to a set of capabilities defined by Adobe Systems for its PostScript Level 2 page description language. These capabilities, among others, are implemented in this product through a QMSdeveloped emulation that is compatible with Adobe's PostScript Level 2 language. Apple, TrueType/Apple Computer, Inc. CompuServe/H & R Block. DEC, DECnet, VMS, LN03/Digital Equipment Corporation. FrameMaker/ Frame Technology Corporation. Hewlett-Packard, HP, PCL HP-GL, LaserJet/Hewlett-Packard Co. IBM PC, AT, PC/XT, Token-Ring/International Business Machines Corporation. Intel/Intel Corporation. Microsoft, MS-DOS/Microsoft Corporation. ITC Avant Garde Gothic, ITC Zapf Chancery, ITC Bookman, ITC Zapf Dingbats/International Typeface Corporation. Helvetica, Palatino, and Times/Linotype-Hell AG and/or its subsidiaries. Novell, NetWare/Novell, Inc. UNIX/UNIX Systems Laboratories, Inc. Ethernet, Xerox/Xerox Corporation. Solaris, SunOS/Sun. Elixir/Elixir Technologies Corporation. FormFlow/Delrina Technology, Inc.

The QFORM software is Copyrighted © 1997 by QMS, Inc. All Rights Reserved. This software may not be reproduced, modified, displayed, transferred, or copied in any form or in any manner or on any media, in whole or in part, without the express written permission of QMS, Inc.

This manual is Copyrighted © 1997 by QMS, Inc., One Magnum Pass, Mobile, AL 36618. All Rights Reserved. This manual may not be copied in whole or in part, nor transferred to any other media or language, without the express written permission of QMS, Inc.

QMS, Inc. reserves the right to make changes to this manual and to the equipment described herein without notice. Considerable effort has been made to ensure that this manual is free of inaccuracies and omissions. However, QMS, Inc. makes no warranty of any kind including, but not limited to, any implied warranties of merchantability and fitness for a particular purpose with regard to this manual. QMS, Inc. assumes no responsibility for, or liability for, errors contained in this manual or for incidental, special, or consequential damages arising out of the furnishing of this manual, or the use of this manual in operating the equipment, or in connection with the performance of the equipment when so operated.

This manual was written and formatted in FrameMaker. Some illustrations were created in Microsoft PowerPoint. Forms used in the illustrations were created with Delrina FormFlow Designer. Typefaces used are Benguiat, Courier, Helvetica, MarkerFelt, Symbol, Tekton, and Wingdings. This manual was printed on a QMS 4525 Print System.

Introduction ........................................................................	1-2
About This Manual .............................................................	1-3
Typographic Conventions 1-5
QFORM Installation ............................................................	1-6
Hardware Requirements 1-6
Configuring the Printer 1-6
Installing QFORM 1-8
Testing the Installation 1-10
QFORM User Interface Installation .................................	1-12
Minimum System Requirements 1-12
Installing the User Interface 1-12
About QFORM ..................................................................	1-13

A Quick Look at QFORM Features 1-13

The QFORM Printing Environment 1-14

QFORM Integration and Support 1-15

Some Notes on Performance 1-16

	Introduction ........................................................................	2-2
	Opening the QFORM User Interface .................................	2-2
	Building a QFORM Job File ...............................................	2-2
	Naming the Job File 2-2
	Identifying the Default Job Name 2-3
	Selecting an Existing Job File 2-3
	Configuring the Job File 2-4
	Building a QFORM Control File ......................................	2-15
	Naming the Control File 2-15
	Identifying the Recognition String 2-15
	Identifying the Job File 2-16
	Sending the Control File to the Printer 2-16
	Working with Fonts ..........................................................	2-17
	Working with Forms and Graphics ................................	2-17
	Using QFORM Utilities .....................................................	2-19
	Locating Version and Copyright Information ................	2-19

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Introduction ........................................................................	3-2
What a QFORM Job Looks Like ........................................	3-2
Building a QFORM Job ......................................................	3-3
Identify the Print Stream as a PostScript Job 3-3
Start QFORM 3-4
Include the QFORM Parameters 3-4
QFORM Parameters ...........................................................	3-5
Syntax 3-5
Parameters 3-6
Location of QFORM Parameters 3-7
Existing Xerox DJDE Requests 3-11
More About the QFORM Printing Environment .............	3-13
Example—Overlaying Data on a Form ...........................	3-14
Options Syntax .................................................................	3-16
Conventions and Guidelines 3-16
Basic and Paper Handling Options ................................	3-17
Page Orientation 3-18
Input Source and Output Location Selection 3-19
Oneand Two-Sided Printing 3-21
Page Offsets for Two-Sided Printing 3-22
Options for Two-Sided Forms 3-24
Graybar Printing Options ................................................	3-26
Multi-part Form Options .................................................	3-31
Example— Preparing a Four-Part Form 3-33

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Advanced Form and Paper Handling Options ..............

3-37

The Default Four-Part Form Set With One Form 3-39

Defining a Form Set with Multiple Forms 3-40 Using Multiple Input Sources and Output Trays

3-45

Using Multiple Form Sets in a Printing Cycle 3-49 Using Multiple Cycles in a QFORM Print Job 3-

52

	Additional Options ..........................................................	3-58
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	Introduction ........................................................................	4-2
	Using QFORMCON.BAT ....................................................	4-2
	Building the Control File ...................................................	4-3
	Defining the Control File Contents 4-3
	Loading the Control File into Permanent Memory ..........	4-5
	Downloading the Control File to the Printer’s
	Hard Disk 4-6
	Making the Control File Automatic 4-7
	Testing the Downloaded Control File 4-7
	Loading the Control File into Temporary Memory ..........	4-9
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	Introduction ........................................................................	5-2
	The Structure of the Job File ............................................	5-2

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QFORM Site Definitions ....................................................

5-3

The Job Recognition String 5-3

The Job Parameter 5-4

Paper Tray Mapping 5-5

Default QFORM Job 5-5

Input Buffer Length 5-6

Example 5-6

QFORM Job Descriptions .................................................

5-7

The Structure of the QFORM Job Description 5-7

Example 5-8

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Introduction ........................................................................	6-2
Printing Forms to Encapsulated PostScript Files ..........	6-2
Downloading the Forms to the Printer’s Hard Disk ........	6-2
Testing the Printer-Resident Forms .................................	6-3
Preparing PostScript Forms for Level 2 Caching ...........	6-4

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Introduction ........................................................................	7-2
Downloading to the Printer's Hard Disk ..........................	7-2
Forms and Files 7-2
Fonts 7-3
Testing Downloaded Fonts ...............................................	7-5

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Printing Disk-Resident Forms ..........................................	7-6
Printing the Disk Directory ................................................	7-6
Printing a Disk-Resident File Listing ...............................	7-7

Deleting Forms, Files, and Fonts from the Printer's Hard Disk 7-7

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	Introduction ........................................................................	8-2
	Sample Job Descriptions ..................................................	8-2
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	Introduction ........................................................................	9-2
	Migrating from Xerox DJDE to QFORM ...........................	9-2
	The Xerox DJDE Printing Environment 9-2
	The QFORM Printing Environment 9-3
	Implementing the Conversion 9-4
	Recognizing DJDE Requests ...........................................	9-6
	DJDE Options Supported by QFORM ..............................	9-7
	Converting the Xerox JSL .................................................	9-9
	Defining the Job Recognition String in the
	QFORM Control File 9-9

Building the Site Definitions in the QFORM Job

File 9-10

QFORM Job Descriptions 9-12

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Defining a Job with Multiple Fonts 9-14
Limitations ........................................................................	9-17

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Introduction ......................................................................	10-2
Customized Features .......................................................	10-2

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Introduction ......................................................................	11-2
When You Need Help .......................................................	11-2
Reporting PostScript Error Messages ...........................	11-3
Understanding PostScript Error Status Pages
11-4
Using the VMDEBUG Option 11-7

Testing Job Boundaries with Header and Trailer Pages 11-

7
Printing a Hex Dump of the QFORM Print Stream	........ 11-8
Printing a Directory Listing .............................................	11-8
Test Printing Forms .........................................................	11-9
Test Printing Fonts ........................................................	11-10
Listing the Contents of a Disk-Resident File ...............	11-10
Capturing the QFORM Print Stream .............................	11-11
Debugging the QFORM Job File ...................................	11-12

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	Sources of Support ...........................................................	A-2
	Your QMS Vendor A-2
	Your Application Vendor A-2
	Q-FAX A-2
	The QMS Corporate Bulletin Board System A-3
	CompuServe A-3
	Internet A-3
	QMS Customer Response Center (CRC) A-4
	QMS World-wide Offices ..................................................	A-5
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	Introduction .......................................................................	B-2
	Files, Forms, and Fonts ....................................................	B-2
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	Introduction .......................................................................	C-2
	QFORM Parameters ..........................................................	C-2
	QFORM Options ................................................................	C-3

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About this manual

QFORM installation

About QFORM

QFORM, a printer-resident forms printing enabler for QMS Crown printers, is designed to support the migration of existing line-printer and forms printing applications to new computing and printing environments, especially from direct connect mainframe printing to distributed network printing within a client/server computing environment. This printer-resident application offers users of QMS Crown printers the ability to store PostScript forms on the printer hard disk and fill those forms with their current ASCII print streams.

The primary emphasis in the development of QFORM was a strong feature set that could accommodate the conditions encountered in replacing legacy line printer and laser printer applications. Since QFORM supports the existing print stream, it requires little or no change in the applications or systems environment. Critical applications can migrate to QFORM without long development cycles or the associated costs in resources and time.

With QFORM, the definition of print-job characteristics is straightforward. The entire description of the QFORM job can be contained in the print stream, or job descriptions can be compiled and stored on the printer. Using the printer-resident job descriptions minimizes the amount of job information required at the front of the print stream.

QFORM job requests are initiated in the same manner as the forms requests or setup information your current printers require. In this way, QFORM enables you to change the structure and appearance of your print job without any change to the print stream. You can maintain a dynamic printing environment without requiring constant changes at the application or system level.

QFORM is designed not only to enable you to update old printing applications; it’s also a powerful tool for implementing new forms printing applications. QFORM and QMS Crown printers are ideally suited to building and supporting your evolving printing environment.

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This manual guides you through the installation and use of QFORM. Information is organized in the following sections:

Introduction

Provides an overview of this manual and QFORM, and explains how to install QFORM.

QFORM User Interface

Explains how to use the QFORM user interface to work with forms.

Discusses QFORM jobs and

QFORM Jobs, parameters and then provides details of Parameters, and the QFORM features and associated

	Options	options that let you further define your
		QFORM jobs, including paper handling,
		graybar printing, and multi-part forms
		printing.
		Explains how to construct your own

The QFORM QFORM control file and permanently Control File load it to your QMS printer.

(Sys/Start)

Explains how to build your QFORM job

(The QFORM Job requests, parameters, and options into File job descriptions and how to use these

		descriptions in a production
		environment.
)	Preparing	Explains how to prepare your own
		PostScript forms and load them to the
	PostScript	QMS printer’s hard disk.
	Forms for
	QFORM

+Loading QFORM Files, Forms, and Fonts

Discusses how to load and use the utilities included with QFORM.

Provides a collection of sample job

-Sample QFORM descriptions that you can adapt for your

Job Descriptions own use.

Discusses migrating from a Xerox

/QFORM and DJDE print environment to QFORM.

Xerox DJDE

Recognition

One of the strengths of QFORM is its ability to support your migration from line printers to network-based laser printing with little or no change to your applications. This is also true for current Xerox DJDE print environments. The structure of QFORM job requests supports existing Xerox DJDE requests, including many of the basic DJDE options. The QFORM job file is the rough equivalent of the Xerox JSL.

3 Customizing

QFORM

Explains how to customize QFORM to handle special print stream processing requirements. Additional QFORM options and job file modifications, not contained in the earlier chapters, that support the use of multiple fonts in a job, special header pages, attachments, the use of bar codes and MICR, etc. QFORM customization is discussed in Chapter 10.

Provides troubleshooting information.

Troubleshooting

5QMS Customer Support

Provides world-wide product sales and support telephone numbers and describes how to communicate with QMS through the QMS Bulletin Board, CompuServe, the Internet, and Q-FAX.

6	Lists QFORM files, forms, and fonts.
	QFORM Files,

Forms, and

Fonts

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!Summary of QFORM Parameters and Options

Summarizes QFORM parameters and options.

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The following typographic conventions are used throughout this manual:

Mixed-Case	Text you type, and messages and information
Courier	displayed on the screen; in interactive
	examples, text you type is in bold mixed-case
	Courier
Mixed-Case	Variable text you type; replace the italicized
Italic Courier	word(s) with information specific to your printer
	or computer
lowercase bold	Commands
lowercase italic	Variable information in text
UPPERCASE	File and utility names
	Press the Enter key (PC) or Return key
	(Macintosh)

»Note: Notes contain tips, extra information, or important information that deserves emphasis or reiteration.

▲Caution: Cautions present information that you need to know to avoid equipment damage, process failure, or extreme annoyance.

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Installing QFORM requires three steps:

1Configure the printer.

2Install QFORM on the printer’s hard disk.

»Note: On printers that don’t use a portion of the hard disk as virtual memory (QMS 1060, 1060E, 1660, and 1660E Print Systems) and are restricted in their memory allocations, Disk Swap must be enabled (Administration/Memory/Disk Swap) in order for QFORM to be loaded.

3Test the installation.

QMS Crown printer with a hard disk attached

Direct or network connection between the computer and the printer

»Note: QFORM support of specific features, such as two-sided printing, enhanced print resolution, color, and multiple input and output trays/cassettes/bins, depends on whether these features are supported by your printer.

The QFORM application requires several specific configuration settings to run successfully on your QMS Crown printer. These settings should not affect the successful processing of any other print jobs.

Print an advanced status page to check the your printer’s current configuration. Confirm the following settings. If you need to change any of the settings in the printer’s configuration menu, you can do so via the printer control panel, QMS Remote Console, or QMS CrownAdmin or CrownNet Manager software. Refer to your QMS documentation for instructions.

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Menu							Setting
Administration		Communi-	Networkx1	CrownNet	Common	Emulation2	PostScript
		cations
				PS Protocol3			QBinary
			Parallel	Emulation2			PostScript
				End Job Mode4			QMS EOD
				PS Protocol3			Binary
		Engine	Rotate Duplex5				No
		Startup	Do Error Handler6				Yes
		Options
			Do Sys/Start7				Yes
Operator		Orientation8					Portrait
Control

1 The variable x is replaced by 1 or 2 in this menu name (Network1 or Network2), depending on whether your printer has one or two optional network interfaces and which network interface is being configured.

2 Setting the emulation to PostScript is optional. If you don’t, however, you must set it to ESP, and you must ensure that QFORM jobs are sent to the printer with a QMS DOC header requesting the PostScript emulation.

3 The Normal PS Protocol setting interprets all occurrences of <CR><LF>, <CR>, and <LF> as <CR><LF>. While this has no effect on most PostScript files, it can cause unwanted results (usually in the form of unwanted blank lines) in ASCII print streams being used as input to a PostScript program. QFORM requires a PS Protocol setting of QBinary on a network port and Binary on the parallel port.

4 The QMS EOD End Job Mode is recommended to separate jobs correctly on the parallel port.

5 This menu option is applicable only to printers equipped to do duplex and rotate duplex printing. Setting Rotate Duplex to On can affect printer performance on two-sided print jobs. Unless otherwise required, it is recommended that Rotate Duplex be set to Off.

6 During installation and development, and when you’re troubleshooting a problem, the PostScript error handler should be loaded on the printer. Setting the Do Error Handler option to Yes loads the error handler each time the printer is turned on. If you choose not to set this option, you can manually load the error handler on the printer when it’s required (see chapter 11, “Troubleshooting”). If Do Error Handler was not already set to Yes, you turn the printer off and then back on again before loading QFORM.

7 When you run in production mode, the QFORM control file is installed as your printer’s Sys/ Start file. It is necessary that the Do Sys/Start option is set to Yes.

8 Regardless of the orientation you request within a QFORM job, the QFORM application runs as a PostScript Level 2 job using portrait orientation. Either the printer’s default Orientation must be set to Portrait or the QMS DOC that sets set portrait orientation must be included in the header of the QFORM print stream: %%IncludeFeature: orientation (portrait)

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The performance of your QFORM jobs can be adversely affected by inadequate memory allocations. The size of the Frame Buffer should be sufficient to allow the printer to run at rated engine speed (see your printer documentation).

Obtaining the best possible performance from your QMS printer running the QFORM application depends on how fast the printer can interpret the PostScript file. On some QMS printers, default memory settings are sufficient for processing QFORM jobs and far exceed the following minimum recommendations. On printers that do not use a portion of the hard disk as virtual memory (Administration/Memory/ Disk Swap enabled) and are restricted in their memory allocations, we recommend the following minimum memory settings:

	Font Cache	1024 KB
	Host Input	2048 KB
	Display List	2048 KB
	PS Heap	3072 KB

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»Note: The QFORM application files, utilities, fonts, and sample files are provided as print-loadable PostScript files. That is, once they are installed on your computer, they can be loaded to the QMS printer’s hard disk by copying them to the printer across the parallel port, via your network printer connection, or over TCP/IP using ftp. In this procedure, the files are loaded using the DOS COPY command.

If you’re sending the files using a parallel connection, make sure the printer message window displays Idle between each file.

1With your computer on, insert the QFORM disk in your computer’s 3.5” disk drive.

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2At the DOS C:\ prompt type the following commands to install the QFORM application files, utilities, fonts, and sample files in a directory on your computer’s C: drive:

mkdir c:\qform cd qform x:qform

»Note: Replace x with the drive letter of your computer’s 3.5” disk drive.

QFORM is distributed as a self-extracting compressed file. The contents of the QFORM software disk are listed in appendix B, “QFORM Files, Forms, and Fonts.”

3Install the QFORM application, QFORM.V31, on the printer’s hard disk:

copy qform.dsk lpt1

4Install the QFORM job file, CUSTOMER.V31, on the printer’s hard disk:

copy customer.dsk lpt1

5Install the letter-gothic PostScript font, BlackGothic, on the printer’s hard disk:

copy /b blackgot.dsk lpt1

6Install the QMS logo font, QMSlogo, on the printer’s hard disk: copy /b qmslogo.dsk lpt1

7Load the QMS control file, CUSTOMER.SYS, into the printer’s memory:

copy customer.sys lpt1

»Note: At this point, the QFORM application files (QFORM.V31 and CUSTOMER.V31) and fonts (BlackGothic and QMSlogo) have been loaded to the QMS printer’s hard disk; they will remain there until deleted or overwritten. However, the QFORM control file (CUSTOMER.SYS) is resident only in memory. Until you perform a complete QFORM installation, you must send the CUSTOMER.SYS file whenever you restart the printer.

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»Note: Whenever you want to test QFORM, you don’t need live print streams to run tests; any ASCII text files will serve the purpose. The first things you’re testing for are the success of your overlay instructions and the fit of the text lines in characters and lines per inch, and in alignment. Once this is accomplished, you can run live print streams to fine tune your results. If you can capture a live print stream to a file for development and testing, so much the better.

1Send the CUSTOMER.TST file to the printer in one of the following ways:

Copy the CUSTOMER.TST test file to the printer: copy CUSTOMER.TST lpt1

List the CUSTOMER.V31 sample file from the hard disk: listfile CUSTOMER.V31

»Note: See chapter 7, “Loading QFORM Files, Forms, and Fonts,” for more information on the LISTFILE utility.

2If a listing of CUSTOMER.V31 (the QFORM job file you loaded onto the printer’s hard disk) prints, your installation was successful.

The listing has a graybar background, and the name of the file is in the lower-left corner of the page.

If the listing doesn’t print correctly or if it doesn’t print at all, your installation wasn’t successful.

Reconfirm the printer configuration settings (see “Configuring the Printer” on page 1-6).

If the configuration settings are correct, one of the following four errors probably occurred:. Perform the corrective action noted in the following table, and then try the test again. If you still don’t get the graybar listing, refer to chapter 11, “Troubleshooting,” or contact the QMS Customer Response Center or your local QMS Applications Consultant.

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Incorrect Result	Cause	Corrective Action
You get a listing of the	The interface is set for	Check the appropriate
CUSTOMER.TST file	the wrong emulation.	interface’s emulation
without a background.		setting; make sure it is
		set to either ESP or
		PostScript.
You receive a PostScript	The QFORM control file,	Repeat the installation.
error page telling you that	CUSTOMER.SYS, was
do_Custom_File is	not correctly loaded into
undefined.	memory.
You receive a PostScript	The QFORM job file,	Repeat the installation.
error page telling you that	CUSTOMER.V31, was
the CUSTOMER.V31 file	not correctly installed on
is undefined.	the hard disk.
You receive a PostScript	The QFORM application	Repeat the installation.
error page telling you that	was not correctly
the QFORM.V31 file is	installed on the hard
undefined.	disk.

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The QMS QFORM user interface allows you to use the QFORM forms-printing utility in point-and-click fashion rather than by manually coding instructions to send to the printer.

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The QFORM user interface requires the following hardware and software:

An IBM or compatible computer with a 386 processor

Windows NT 3.5 or Windows 95

8 MB RAM

1 MB of free hard disk space

QMS QFORM installed on a QMS Crown printer

»Note: You can install QFORM on your printer either before or after installing the user interface, but you must install it before you can use the user interface. Installation instructions are included in “QFORM Installation” on page 1-6. For more information on the user interface, see chapter 2, “QFORM User Interface,” or the on-line help.

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1With your computer on and Windows running, insert the QFORM user interface disk in the appropriate drive on your computer.

2From the Start menu choose Run.

3In the Run dialog box type x:\setup (where x is the drive in which you inserted the disk in step 1, and choose OK.

4Follow the instructions on the screen.

The installation program copies the user interface files into the directory you specified.

5When the “Setup is complete” message box appears, choose OK.

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The following basic features of QFORM provide support as a replacement for continuous-form line printer listings and can also be used with all of your current laser and impact printer ASCII print streams:

Page formatting and font definition

Duplexing with binding-margin offsets

Two-sided forms with text fill-in on front and/or back

“Greenbar” listing formats (called “graybar” in QFORM)

Automatic page numbering

ANSI carriage-control recognition

QFORM’s support of the next three features allows you to replace your singleand multi-copy preprinted continuous forms with plainpaper laser printing with no changes to your print stream:

Singleand multi-part forms

Labels for multi-part forms

Logos and watermarks

Several advanced features of QFORM make it an ideal solution for supporting legacy printer applications and further simplify the integration of QFORM into the existing environment:

Varying parts on multi-part forms

“Cycle-forms” and other multi-set forms (for example, first page and continuation pages)

Multiple paper trays and output trays in the same job

Printer-based job definitions

Xerox DJDE compatibility

Multiple images per page

PostScript Level 2 forms caching

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QFORM is a PostScript application that resides on your QMS Crown printer. A QFORM control file is installed as an automatic startup file (Sys/Start) that enables your printer to recognize QFORM job requests and to identify your QFORM job file installed on the printer’s hard disk. Your site definitions, job descriptions, and any additional supporting routines or site customizations are compiled into the QFORM job file. Forms are resident on the QMS printer hard disk as encapsulated PostScript files. Any custom PostScript fonts, including logos and signatures, are also resident on the hard disk.

The beginning of your print stream can contain all of the parameters, commands, and options necessary to define and run a QFORM job. The application is executed from the printer hard disk and processes the remainder of the print stream using the fonts and forms and layout you’ve specified.

Or your print stream can begin with a one-line QFORM job request. Your QMS printer’s ability to interpret this request is supported by information in your QFORM control file. The job request initializes the QFORM application and accesses your QFORM job file to load and start the job. The QFORM job description identifies your forms, fonts, layout, paper handling, and all other job characteristics. New QFORM

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job requests encountered later in the print stream will be processed and will override the initial QFORM job settings.

Initial			Control		Job File			Forms
QFORM			File					Fonts
Job
Request

Printed

Output

Print

QFORM

Stream

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QFORM and QMS Crown printers provide an integrated approach to distributed network printing and the migration of your current print applications. Your QMS Applications Consultant and QMS Professional Services are available to work with you, your support staff, and your applications and systems software providers, to assist you with planning and implementing your new printing environment.

The printer-resident forms used with QFORM are prepared using standard Windows-based products, such as Delrina’s FormFlow or Elixir Forms design software. They are then saved in encapsulated PostScript format to the printer hard disk. QFORM is not a formsdesign package, although it does provide the native ability to produce a variety of greenbar* replacement formats.

*Called “graybar” in QFORM.

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Forms design services are available from the QMS Font & Forms Center (see appendix A, “QMS Customer Support,” for contact information). Working from your designs or original preprinted or legacyprinter forms, QMS will provide you with both the encapsulated PostScript files to load on your printers and the design application’s source files for your future use.

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QFORM doesn’t add appreciable overhead to the processing of the PostScript forms; therefore the speed you’ll achieve is comparable to printing the empty forms. Because some design software produces more complex PostScript than others, we recommend a forms-design application as opposed to a desktop publishing package. For full-text forms (for example, Terms and Conditions), we suggest Microsoft Word, WordPerfect, or a similar application.

Bitmap graphics impose high-overhead for forms processing and printing. The QMS Font Center will convert logos and signatures to scalable fonts (printer-based Type 1 and TrueType). In addition to the performance improvements, the fonts can be used in any Windows application and offer virtually unlimited flexibility in scaling and shading.

Support for the PostScript Level 2 forms caching feature has also been added to QFORM. This feature lets you compile the forms once at the beginning of a job and cache them in the same manner as a font, and then use the cached forms throughout the job without the processing overhead.

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Opening the user interface

Building a QFORM job file

Building a QFORM control file

Working with fonts

Working with forms and graphics

Using QFORM utilities

The QFORM user interface allows you to use the QFORM formsprinting utility in point-and-click fashion rather than by manually coding instructions to send to the printer. This chapter introduces you to the QFORM user interface and explains each of its features in detail. More in-depth information about QFORM coding can be found throughout the rest of this manual.

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To open the QFORM user interface, in Windows Explorer change to the appropriate directory, and then double-click the QFORM.EXE icon. On-line help is available to guide you through the options—just choose the Help button.

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A QFORM job file contains site definitions, job descriptions, associated font definitions, and supporting custom routines. It also contains, if implemented, your PostScript Level 2 forms-caching instructions.

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On the Job File tab enter the name of the job file in the Job File text box.

If you don’t know the name, use the Browse button to locate it.

Choices: 8 characters plus .QIF extension

Default: CUSTOMER.QIF

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! 0 " . /-

If a job file name is not specified in the Job File text box, the printer uses the default job file.

On the Job File tab enter the default job file name in the Default Job Name text box.

Choices: Any valid DOS filename

Default: [None]

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Rather than creating a new job file for each QFORM job, you can select an existing job file to be used.

On the Job File tab select an existing job file name from those in the Defined Job Names list box.

If you don’t know the name, use the Browse button to locate it.

Choices: All existing job files

Default: [None]

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The job description contains the parameters and options that describe the processing of the QFORM job file. This section describes each of these parameters and options in more detail.

On the Job File tab select the Configure button to access the configuration tabs discussed in the rest of this section.

The recognition string alerts the printer to execute QFORM and causes the remainder of the print job to be interpreted as a QFORM job.

On the Required tab enter the recognition string in the Recognition String text box.

Choices: User-defined

Default: $QFORM$

On the Required tab enter the left margin size (in inches, measured from the left edge of the page) in the Left Text Margin text box.

Range: Depends on the paper size

Default: 0.5 inches (12.7 mm)

On the Required tab enter the vertical location where text begins printing on the page (in inches, measured from the bottom of the page) in the Top Text Margin text box. (For example, the default setting of 10.5 means that text begins printing 10.5" from the bottom of the page, which results in a 0.5" top margin if you’re working with 8.5" x 11.0" paper.)

Range: Depends on the paper size

Default: 10.5 inches (266.7 mm)

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