1    Introduction

1.1    Advanced Printing Software Users

Advanced Printing Software users are classified by their access and privilege levels. The ability to access certain commands depends on which access category the user is assigned. Users can be assigned End User, Operator, or Administrator privileges. The End User has access to only certain operations. The Administrator has access to all levels of operation. The Operator access falls in between the End User and the Administrator.

The following sections define the three types of Advanced Printing Software users.

1.1.1    End User

As an end user you can perform the following operations:

1.1.2    Operator

In addition to accessing all of the operations available to the end user, an operator may perform the following tasks:

1.1.3    Administrator

In addition to those operations performed by end users and operators, an administrator can perform the following tasks:

1.2    Command Syntax and Elements

The syntax for all command line utility operations has the format shown below.

utility-name -option-option option-argument object-instance

A command line operation consists of the following elements:

1.2.1    Utilities

A utility is a CLI program that performs Advanced Printing Software functions. The name of the utility must be the first element of the command line. There are several types of utilities.

Table 1-1 lists the CLI utilities used by a system administrator to create and manage objects in the print system.

Table 1-1:  Administrator Utilities

Utility Description
pdcreate Create an object and set its attributes.
pddelete Delete an object.
pdmakedb Create an object database for a print system supervisor or spooler.
pdmoddb Modify an existing object database.
pdset Set the attributes of printing objects.
pdshowdb Display an object database.

Table 1-2 lists the CLI utilities used by an operator to maintain the print system.

Table 1-2:  Operator Utilities

Utility Description

pdclean

Remove all jobs scheduled on a specified server, queue, or printer.

pddisable

Stop acceptance of print jobs by servers or printers.

pdenable

Allow acceptance of print jobs by servers or printers.

pdpause

Pause jobs, servers, or printers.

pdpromote

Promote a job to print next on a printer.

pdresume

Resume paused jobs, servers, or printers.

pdset

Set the attributes of printing objects.

pdshutdown

Shut down servers or physical printers.

Table 1-3 lists the CLI utilities used by an end user to submit jobs and obtain status of those jobs on the print systems.

Table 1-3:  CLI End User Utilities

Utility Description

pdls

List printing object attributes.

pdmod

Modify previously submitted jobs or documents.

pdpr

Submit a print job.

pdq

Report or obtain status of print jobs.

pdresubmit

Resubmit print jobs to another logical printer.

pdrm

Remove print jobs or documents.

1.2.2    Options

An option is part of a command used to modify the default behavior of a utility. As shown in the following example, options are preceded by a hyphen character ( - ).

command_name argument object_instance

In addition,

Table 1-4 lists all available options with a brief functional description.

Table 1-4:  Common Options and Arguments

Option Description

-c class_name

Identifies the object class of the operand.

-f filename

Identifies a file that is to be printed as a document in a print job.

-f filter_text

Specifies the selection criteria to be used among candidate objects.

-F

Turns off all filtering, including any default filtering provided when the -f option is unspecified.

This option takes precedence over any -f filter_expression options that are specified.

-g

Turns off column headings on output of requested attributes specified with the-r option.

-h

Writes a message to standard output on how to invoke the utility.

-m message_text

Attaches a human-readable message to the specified object.

-n copies

Specifies the number of copies of the print job that should be printed.

-N notification_method

Specifies how a user wishes to be notified of events that occur during print job processing.

-p printer_name

Specifies the printer to which the print job is to be submitted.

-r requested_attributes

Specifies those attributes the utility writes to standard output.

-r retention_period

Specifies the amount of time a server should keep a job in the retained state before deleting the job.

-s style_name

Determines the style (format) in which output is written to standard output.

-t job_name

Assigns a name to a new print job.

-w when_time

Specifies when you want the server to shut down.

-x extended-attribute-string

Identifies one or more attribute_type=valuepairs to be used by the utility.

-X attribute_filename

Identifies a file that contains attribute_type=value pairs to be used by the utility.

1.2.3    Option Arguments

Many options require arguments. Where applicable, the argument provides the specifics for a given switch. For example, -c queue specifies that the object to be manipulated is a queue rather than the system default for the operation.

As shown in Table 1-4, not every option requires an argument.

1.2.4    Attributes

The -x and the -r arguments include attributes. An object attribute is a property or characteristic of a print object. Client attributes specify parameters for the operation of CLI commands. This manual refers to two types of attributes:

1.2.4.1    Object Attributes

Each print object is defined by a set of object attributes. The characteristics of each print object can be changed by setting the values of its attributes. For example:

Attributes can be applied to a print object in one or all of the following ways:

1.2.4.2    Command Attributes

Command attributes specify parameters for the operation of CLI commands and provide additional capabilities to the user. Command attributes can be used to:

1.2.4.3    Attribute Representation

The representation for both object and command attributes is the following:

For example,

When creating a new printer the administrator sets the following attribute to identify the physical location of the printer:

 "printer-locations = 'Lab A, Bldg. 21'"

1.2.4.4    Attribute Value String Syntax

Most of the CLI utility commands accept the -x option followed by a list of attributes and their values. This list is called an attribute value string. The following list defines the special quoting rules required when the -x option is used:

1.2.4.5    Abbreviating Attributes and Values

You can abbreviate attributes and standard identifier values by using only a few letters of each word in the name or value. For example, you can use the abbreviation j-s for the job-sheets attribute, j-c-s for the job-copy-start value, and specify the attribute=value pair as j-s=j-c-s.

The system accepts only unambiguous abbreviations. For example, abbreviating job-owner as j-o is not valid because it might be confused with job-originator. You need to specify enough of the attribute or value name such that it is unique. If you specify an ambiguous abbreviation, the command is rejected.

Examples of valid abbreviations are j-ow for job-owner, j-or for job-originator, and i-a3-w for iso-a3-white.

You cannot abbreviate name values that are not standard identifiers, such as site-specific media or tray names.

1.2.4.5.1    Delta Time Syntax

When requesting attributes values that are epxressed in delta time, set all three of the attribute fields. Consider the following examples:

  1. Retain job 2002 for 35 seconds before deleting it from spooler server casper.

    pdrm —r 00:00:35 casper:2002

    The value for minutes is a number 0 through 59. A number greater than 59 is invalid.

  2. Retain job 346 for 4 minutes before deleting it from spooler server cheerio.

    pdrm —r 00:04:00 cheerio:346

  3. Retain job 663 for 1 hour before deleting is from spooler server waffles.

    pdrm —r 01:00:00 waffles:663

Time value formats are locale-dependent and may vary from locale to locale. For example, a period (.) may be used rather than a colon (:) to separate the attribute fields on the command line.

1.2.4.6    Attribute Modification Operations

You can include an operator with attribute=value pairs to indicate the type of modification to be done to the specified attribute. The three modification operators are:

1.2.4.7    Attribute Files

An attribute file is a user-written file that contains multiple attribute type=value pairs. You use a text editor to create an attribute file. The following rules apply to the use of attribute files:

1.2.5    Operand

The operand identifies the object on which the command is to be executed. For example; pdpr -p wiley cli.doc means to submit the file called cli.doc to the logical printer called Wiley. In this manual the operand is referred to as the object_instance.

The syntax and conditions of the object_instance are as follows:

[server_name:]object_name

Table 1-5:  Object Classes

Object Class Definition

server

The name of the server the operation is affecting.

printer

The name of the printer the operation is affecting.

queue

The name of the queue the operation is affecting.

job

The system-assigned number that uniquely identifies the job the operation is affecting.

document

The system-assigned number that uniquely identifies the job, and the number that identifies the position of the specific document within the job, that the operation is affecting.

initial value job

The name of the specific initial-value-job the operation is affecting.

initial value document

The name of the specific initial-value-document the operation is affecting.

1.3    Environment Variables

You can use environment variables to hold information specific to your system and site configuration. For example, you can use environment variables to set defaults, determine paths to locate files, provide numeric, character, and date and time format information, and the language to be used.

The CLI utilities use the current value of an environment value as the default, unless you specifies a different value in a command line operation. Table 1-6 lists four environment variables that, based on their value, may affect the operation of the CLI.

Table 1-6:  Environment Variables that Affect CLI Operations

Variable Description

NLSPATH

The value of this variable becomes the path for CLI message files if the files are not stored in the standard directory.

PDPATH

The value of this variable consists of a colon-separated list of directories (the path) that are successively tried for the file that is named in the -X attributes_filename option.

PDPRINTER

The value of this variable is used as the default printer by the print client when the attribute printer-name-requested or the option -p printer_name is not included in the command line operation.

This variable is also used to select a server for operations when a server is not specified since the server that contains this printer is viewed as the default server.