Selecting Flag Pages from a Different Tray





Products	Support	Download	Contact

SELECTING FLAG PAGES FROM A DIFFERENT TRAY WITH SCRIPTSERVER® PAN

Contents | Index | About the Icons

Abstract

The ScriptServer® PAN Printing System (PAN) product supports advanced tray switching functionality, such as printing flag (job separator) pages on different colored paper (from a different paper tray).

Techniques Covered In This Memo

This memo covers the basics of creating a simple form which selects paper from a different tray when printing flag pages. This memo is targeted towards PostScript printers. The construction of the form from the appropriate resources is described first. Ways of obtaining suitable resources and other issues are discussed last. You may also find the following pages of interest:

Creating a Form which Switches Trays

The process is straightforward:

Create the appropriate Media Type resources with PAN Administration -> Resources -> create resource or utilizing the PPD Parser. NOTE: Be sure you create a Media Type resource. This is important, since there are other resource types which allow the entry of PostScript snippets, but only Media Type resources will be triggered by the job assembly process at the appropriate points in the process.
Create a form with PAN Administration -> Manage forms -> create form and add the resources to it, as indicated in the screen snapshot which follows.
Specify a flag page when you print your job.

Content of the Media Type Resources

Both the TankerTopTray and TankerBottomTray resources look similar to the following screen snapshot, differing only in the media position used. Variations on the command shown will work with many PostScript Level 2 printers, but when in doubt consult the appropriate PPD for the model of printer.

Global, Shared or Queue Resource Set?

The naming convention utilized for the media type resources in the above example is acceptable for a tutorial, but is not really scalable: if your printer is not named Tanker, then what? Creating a separate form for each printer would not be advisable. Best practice might be to:

Name the respective resources FlagTray and JobTray.
If they work with most of the printers at the site, put the resource instances in the global resource set.
If they work with the Tanker class of printers, put them in a shared resource set named "Tanker" and associate that set with all queues for printers of that class.
If they work with a specific printer named Tanker, put them in the queue resource set for Tanker.

Will this work on Non-PostScript Printers?

While PAN will translate PostScript into PCL, allowing printing on PCL-only printers in many cases, the kind of hardware-specific commands required for tray switching do not translate well. We recommend you utilize a PostScript capable printer if you want to do tray switching in the middle of a job.

Will this work on All PostScript Printers?

Some PostScript printers with long paper paths, in particular high speed multifunction devices, may not support tray switching in the middle of a job (or may only do so at a considerable reduction in throughput... then again, some of them have this kind of switching capability as a selling point). Consult the printer manufacturer for information as to whether or not it supports tray switching in the middle of a job.