The Perfect Manager Tools to help manage print files
From "VS Workshop",  Access to Wang, August 1991
[ Prior Article ]     [ Return to the Catalog of articles ]     [ Next Article ]

A large part of many VS user's life is managing print files. From initial file identification, controlling the character size and page orientation, queueing the file and resubmitting after the inevitable late-afternoon jam, many valuable hours are spent gathering the results of other work at the printer.

As a particularly heavy printer user myself, I have spent a considerable amount of time baby-sitting finicky printers, intercepting problems on the Operator's Console, and requeueing jobs when I have made a mistake. And I find that most of the mistakes I make are due to the qualities of the Print Queue itself. So what's wrong with the Print Queue?

• A moving target: Files are constantly coming and going on the queue, making it difficult to select the correct file and print it. Guess wrong and you'll release someone else's file - a leading cause of missing reports in our shop.

• Files hard to find: With an average of 150 files on our queue at any time, it is difficult to find anything. Once you locate the files you have created, it is hard to know from the file names which ones to print.

• Security problems: Though print files are usually marked for exclusive access, anyone near an Operator's Console can release a print file and gain access to privileged information.

• Poor resource usage: Managing print file from the Print Queue assumes that you always need to print reports. Sometimes it is only necessary to review a few items in the report - a job more easily done on a terminal screen and DISPLAY.

• Multiple approaches to the same problem: If you have non-Wang printer connections through 2110 terminal connections, coax file transfer products, or across LAN bridges, the Print Queue is not involved; instead, you face several "queue" products specific to individual vendor approaches to printer connectivity.

In fairness, the Queue does a good job in its primary mission of accepting printer requests and scheduling them according to stated priorities. Nevertheless, as a management tool the Print Queue looked better in simpler times, when printers came only from Wang and thirty users was considered a heavy load.

Print file management programs

For those of us looking for an alternative, there are several good choices available. Though none of the programs mentioned here will work in all instances for every situation, all have features that are attractive for some purposes. Some list the names of files in the user's spool library and allow the file to be displayed. Some allow control of print class, form number, disposition after printing, number of copies, and printer number.

Most are flexible enough to be used for other file management tasks.

The programs covered here are DISPRINT, FSIDISPL, SELPRINT, DISPMANY, and DL. All are USERAIDS, available from the United States Society of Wang Users; a version of SELPRINT is also supported by Wang beginning with the 7.20 operating system release.

DISPRINT: easy display, conversion to Word Processing

DISPRINT is the granddaddy of print file management programs. It offers an quick review of up to fourteen files, with PF key display of those files. Pressing the shifted PF key value will scratch the file, so be careful with that shift lock key when using this program!

Tabbing to an entry and pressing PF15 will send it to the Print Queue, using the printer characteristics in the usage constants of the user. The library and volume name defaults to the user's SPOOLIB and SPOOLVOL but can be modified on the screen, allowing management of other libraries. The file names appear in their order in the disk catalog - roughly the order of their creation.

DISPRINT also converts print files to VS/IIS documents through a call to COPYWP. Each relevant screen in COPYWP is intelligently defaulted, but the document number is assigned using the NEXT parameter and you must look fast to see the ID as it flashes by on the screen.

DISPRINT also has two hidden GETPARMs (OPTIONS and PRINTLIB) that allow program control of some of its features. The scratch and library change features can be inhibited, or the scratch set to ignore file expiration dates. The print class, form number, and library and volume can be set explicitly.

All things considered, a reasonable management program.

FSIDISPL: Displays the last file created

Actually, FSIDISPL is not really a print management tool: it is a display tool that assumes that the last print file you created is what you want to see. The input screen prompts for the file to be displayed and defaults to the last file in the user's SPOOLIB.

The DISPLAY utility is called to show the file on the screen. Might be useful in applications where a file is displayed between steps in a process.

SELPRINT: Control of Print Queue parameters, columns

There are two versions of SELPRINT available. Both allow control over the mode (hold or spool), print class, form number, and copies. The Wang-supported version adds a unique option to control the left margin of the file and a GETPARM entry screen. When the left margin option is requested, SELPRINT creates a new file from the original, padding the requisite spaces to the right.

In short, SELPRINT can act as a direct Print Queue replacement but lacks the display capabilities for easy file management.

DISPMANY: Almost the do-all tool

In its latest version, DISPMANY is the Swiss Army knife of VS software. It accepts the name of a library and volume, then displays the names of the files in the library. By tabbing to a file name and pressing ENTER, the file is displayed. PF key options allow the user to change the modification history or protection, rename the file or library name (effectively, moving the file), scratch, execute, edit, transfer (via a Wang network), copy, or convert the file to a VS/IIS document. The default library and volume is the user's SPOOLIB.

Prior versions of DISPMANY merely displayed the files; a sister utility - COPYMANY - performed the copy portion of the task. The version shipped currently by USSWU combines the two functions, replacing COPYMANY. Like the old COPYMANY, this version offers an option to scratch an input file after a copy; be careful to use this only on files that you can replace, since the copy can fail but allow the file scratch to continue.

Sadly, the one option that was left out was to send items to the Print Queue. For this reason, DISPMANY is best used to review files and manage the print library through file scratching, transfer, or copying.

DL: A versatile library manager

The best (and newest) of the file managers is DL. Like DISPRINT and DISPMANY it defaults to the user's SPOOLIB and displays the file by pressing ENTER. DL displays the file's protection, file class, organization, and record length, and shows a portion of the first record in the file. Executable files can be run directly by pressing PF9, and the file or library names can be changed. Up to fifteen files are shown, along with a count of the number of files in the library. The library, volume, and starting file fields are shown at the top of the screen and can be modified to change the display. The file names are sorted alphabetically.

Besides display, DL will also pass the name of a file to any other program using a GETPARM name of INPUT or FILES; this means that DL can act as a front-end selection program and perform any kind of action on a file.

There are three hidden GETPARMs to further refine DL: LIBRARY, NEWNAMES, and OPTIONS. LIBRARY allows the initial file and library names to be specified and an option to exit DL if the library is not found. The OPTIONS screen controls access to features, including the ability to change the library name, scratch files, and rename or run programs, and allows control of the print class, form number, and print file disposition; the program used to display files may also be changed. The NEWNAMES screen allows entry of up to fifteen alternate library names that can be selected by the user during the rename option.

By itself, a good print file manager; with program control, a great file selection front end. World class software, this one.

A project

For all the features offered by these five programs, there is still much left uncovered in print file management. Next month we'll construct a program to better control print files and deploy the features of modern printers.