Configuring Host Print Transform May Cause an Extra Form Feed (181132)

SYMPTOMS

AS/400 print jobs that had been printing properly with SNA Server 3.0 and 3.0 Service Pack 1, may produce an extra Form Feed after applying SNA Server 3.0 Service Pack 2 and configuring AS/400 print sessions to use Host Print Transform (HPT). This problem is not easily reproduced and rarely occurs.

CAUSE

Print jobs printed over sessions configured with HPT enabled are printed as transparent print jobs since the job is rendered by print drivers on the AS/400. Print Server does not know that it is receiving a transparent job until it receives the x'03' byte at the start of the HPT data. Before receiving this byte, Print Server had made a call to StartDoc() to begin GDI printing. Transparent jobs are not printed through the GDI. When the print service realizes this is a transparent job, it calls CancelDoc() to end the previous StartDoc() call. The GDI always produces a a Form Feed when CancelDoc() is called and it is this Form Feed that causes the problem.

WORKAROUND

Configure the print sessions to use a PDF file since this indicates that the job will be transparent, therefore the Print Server will not call StartDoc().

STATUS

Microsoft has confirmed this to be a problem in SNA Server versions 3.0 SP2 and 4.0.

This problem was corrected in the latest SNA Server versions 3.0 and 4.0 U.S. Service Packs. For information on obtaining these Service Packs, query on the following word in the Microsoft Knowledge Base (without the spaces):

S E R V P A C K

MORE INFORMATION

Print Server now recognizes when HPT has been configured in the printer session properties, and will internally generate a blank PDT file to use. This has the effect of informing Print Server to use the transparent printer interface and, will not result in any unwanted PCL sequences being sent to the printer.

NOTE: For this fix to work, you must configure HPT in your print session properties.