Jul 1, 2008
A Neat Tool
By Paul Kiel and Dave Webber, Senior Output Consultants
Welcome again to AFP Tech, where we deal with the technical and implementation aspects of AFP and the computer output environment. In our last series of articles, we presented simple but meaningful ways to customize your AFP capabilities to improve over cost and effectiveness. In these articles we thought we would spend some time looking at some simple things that can be done with AFP that can provide additional forms savings and added benefits to your print operations.
Our goal in this article is to get a little creative with tools provided at no charge by InfoPrint Solutions - the AFP Driver for Windows. What we present here may not be an exact match for your environment but you should find some useful hints and tips. So, you’ll be able to solve a problem that’s been nagging your user community for long time, uncover some savings, or best of all, find a new revenue opportunity. All of the ideas we present here have been implemented in production at customer locations.
OVERLAYs
Part of the migration to AFP printing is to take advantage of electronic forms or overlays. Overlays typically resemble the pre-printed forms they’re replacing and can be printed on blank paper stock. This can provide significant savings by reducing cost of acquisition, storage, forms obsolescence, scrap, operator handling and ease future changes. To create these overlays, there are several tools that you may use. Overlay Generation Language or OGL is a batch tool provided by InfoPrint Solutions. Workstation development tools like Elixir and ISIS can be used for more complex applications as well as much quicker creation of all resources for AFP printing. All these tools do have a price tag, however.
The AFP Driver for Windows is not new. It’s been around for more than a decade. But, it still can be quite useful for simple overlay and page segment creation such as logos or signatures. If you can display and print it in Windows, you can build it into an AFP resource. You’ll still need a form definition (FORMDEF) to be able to print the overlay once it is built. So, the requirement for other AFP development tools still remains.
Another very handy use for the AFP Print Driver is to create an overlay that consists of terms and conditions for the back of a form. Most customers have their T&Cs in a MS Word Document or PDF format. Print the Terms & Conditions using the AFP Driver, build the overlay and place it on the back of your purchase orders or invoices. This is achieved by using the overlay on the back of a duplexed form and choosing “Constant Back” attribute in your formdef’s copygroup.
TIP: To build an overlay for use within a formdef make sure you select the document type of medium overlay from the print driver’s properties options. And, remember the name of your overlay must start with an “O1”.
Page Segments
Another use of the AFP Print Driver for Windows is to create Page Segments. Things like signatures and logos may be required to make your new AFP documents look more profession. Page Segment can be created from just about anything that can be displayed in Windows. JPG or TIFF files that are already Black and White line art are the best to use for creating a Page Segment. The print quality of a piece of image is only as good as the original artwork it is made from.
TIP: Avoid color artwork for making Page Segments. Color is transformed to shades of grey and can leave jagged edges to the Page Segment.
PDF Printing on AFP Printers
For users of a product like InfoPrint Server for z/OS that have the InfoPrint Printer Interface enabled, the AFP Driver can be used to print from Windows to the z/OS System and have the output routed to high-speed AFP capable printers. This could be very useful for creating hardcopy of manuals or large Windows documents that you may not want to print on a low-end departmental printer.
Limitations:
As you work with the AFP Driver for Windows, you will find it does have some limitations. Among them is the use for creating complex overlays. It does not do exact match for the size of a document. So, tightly aligned boxes may not be a good fit. Another limitation is grey shaded areas from a PDF or Scanned image will not be a smooth pattern. But, for the price, the AFP Driver for Windows can be a very useful tool to get started with the more advanced parts of an AFP Migration.
Need additional information on what you’ve just read? Got a question in some other area of AFP technical support? Do you have some AFP trick you’d like to share with the world? Is there a topic you’d like to see us cover? Just drop us a line at AFPTech@OutputLinks.com.