LPFORMS(1M) LPFORMS(1M)
NAME
lpforms - administer forms used with the LP print service
SYNOPSIS
/usr/lib/lpforms -f form-name options
/usr/lib/lpforms -f form-name -A alert-type [-Q integer1]
[-W integer2]
/usr/lib/lpforms -f form-name -A list
/usr/lib/lpforms -f form-name -A quiet
/usr/lib/lpforms -f form-name -A none
DESCRIPTION
The lpforms command is used to administer the use of
preprinted forms, such as company letterhead paper, with the
LP print service. A form is specified by the form-name
given with the lpforms command. Users may request a form by
form-name (see lp(1)). The argument all can be used instead
of form-name with any of the five lpforms command lines
shown above. The first command line allows the
administrator to add, change, and delete forms, to list the
attributes of an existing form, and to allow and deny users
access to particular forms. The second command line is used
to establish the method by which the administrator is
alerted that a form must be mounted on a printer. By using
the third command line, an administrator can list the
current alerting methods assigned to forms. The fourth
command lpforms command line is used to terminate an active
alert, and the fifth command line is used to remove an alert
definition.
With the first lpforms command line, one of the following
options must be used:
-F path-name
to add or change a form as specified by the
information in path-name
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- to add or change a form, and supply information
from standard input
-x to delete a form (this option must be used
separately; it cannot be used with any other
option)
-l to list the attributes of a form
-u allow:user-list
to allow users to request a form (this option can
be used with the -F or - option)
-u deny:user-list
to deny users access to a form (this option can
be used with the -F or - option)
Each option is explained below.
Adding or Changing a Form
The -F path-name option is used to add a new form to the LP
print service, or to change the attributes of an existing
form. The form description is taken from path-name if the
-F option is given, or the standard input if the - option is
used. One of the two options must be used to define or
change a form. path-name is the path name of a file that
contains all or any subset of the following information
about the form.
Page length: scaled-decimal-number1
Page width: scaled-decimal-number2
Number of pages: integer
Line pitch: scaled-decimal-number3
Character pitch: scaled-decimal-number4
Character set choice: character-set/print-wheel,[mandatory]
Ribbon color: ribbon-color
Comment:
comment
Alignment pattern: [content-type]
content
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Except for the last two lines, the above lines can appear in
any order. The Comment: and comment items must appear in
consecutive order but can appear before the other items, and
the Alignment pattern: and the content items must appear in
consecutive order at the end of the file. Also, the comment
item cannot contain a line that begins with any of the key
phrases above, unless the key phrase is preceded with a >
sign. Any leading > sign found in the comment will be
removed when the comment is displayed. Case distinctions in
the key phrases are ignored.
When this command is issued, the form specified by form-name
is added to the list of forms. If the form already exists,
its description is changed to reflect the new information in
the input. Once added, a form is available for use in a
print request, except where access to the form has been
restricted, as described under the -u allow: option. A form
may also be allowed to be used on certain printers only.
A description of each form attribute is below:
Page length and Page Width
Before printing the content of a print request needing
this form, the generic interface program provided with
the LP print service will initialize the physical
printer to handle pages scaled-decimal-number1 long,
and scaled-decimal-number2 wide using the printer type
as a key into the terminfo(4) database. A scaled-
decimal-number is an optionally scaled decimal number
that gives a size in lines, columns, inches, or
centimeters, as appropriate. The scale is indicated by
appending the letter "i" for inches, or the letter "c"
for centimeters. For length or width settings, an
unscaled number indicates lines or columns; for line
pitch or character pitch settings, an unscaled number
indicates lines per inch or characters per inch (the
same as a number scaled with "i"). For example,
length=66 indicates a page length of 66 lines,
length=11i indicates a page length of 11 inches, and
length=27.94c indicates a page length of 27.94
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centimeters.
The page length and page width will also be passed, if
possible, to each filter used in a request needing this
form.
Number of pages
Each time the alignment pattern is printed, the LP
print service will attempt to truncate the content to a
single form by, if possible, passing to each filter the
page subset of 1-integer.
Line pitch and
Character pitch
Before printing the content of a print request
needing this form, the interface programs provided
with the LP print service will initialize the
physical printer to handle these pitches, using the
printer type as a key into the terminfo(4) database.
Also, the pitches will be passed, if possible, to
each filter used in a request needing this form.
Scaled-decimal-number3 is in lines per centimeter if
a ``c'' is appended, and lines per inch otherwise;
similarly, scaled-decimal-number4 is in columns per
centimeter if a ``c'' is appended, and columns per
inch otherwise. The character pitch can also be
given as elite (12 characters per inch), pica (10
characters per inch), or compressed (as many
characters per inch as possible).
Character set choice
When the LP print service alerts an administrator to
mount this form, it will also mention that the print
wheel print-wheel should be used on those printers
that take print wheels. If printing with this form
is to be done on a printer that has selectable or
loadable character sets instead of print wheels, the
interface programs provided with the LP print
service will automatically select or load the
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correct character set. If mandatory is appended, a
user is not allowed to select a different character
set for use with the form; otherwise, the character
set or print wheel named is a suggestion and a
default only.
Ribbon color
When the LP print service alerts an administrator to
mount this form, it will also mention that the color
of the ribbon should be ribbon-color.
Comment The LP print service will display the comment
unaltered when a user asks about this form (see
lpstat(1)).
Alignment pattern
When mounting this form an administrator can ask for
the content to be printed repeatedly, as an aid in
correctly positioning the preprinted form. The
optional content-type defines the type of printer
for which content had been generated. If content-
type is not given, simple is assumed. Note that the
content is stored as given, and will be readable
only by the user lp.
When an existing form is changed with this command, items
missing in the new information are left as they were. When
a new form is added with this command, missing items will
get the following defaults:
Page Length: 66
Page Width: 80
Number of Pages: 1
Line Pitch: 6
Character Pitch: 10
Character Set Choice: any
Ribbon Color: any
Comment: (no default)
Alignment Pattern: (no default)
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Deleting a Form
The -x option is used to delete the form specified in form-
name from the LP print service.
Listing Form Attributes
The -l option is used to list the attributes of the existing
form specified by form-name. The attributes listed are
those described under "Adding and Changing a Form," above.
Because of the potentially sensitive nature of the alignment
pattern, only the administrator can examine the form with
this command. Other people can use the lpstat(1) command to
examine the non-sensitive part of the form description.
Allowing and Denying Access to a Form
The LP print service keeps two lists of users for each form:
an "allow-list" of people allowed to use the form, and a
"deny-list" of people denied access to the form. With the
-u allow: option, the users listed are added to the allow-
list and removed from the deny-list. With the -u deny:
option, the users listed are removed from the allow-list and
added to the deny-list.
If the allow-list is not empty, the users in the list are
allowed access to the form and all others are denied access,
regardless of the content of the deny-list. If the allow-
list is empty, but the deny-list is not, the users in the
deny-list are denied access and all others are allowed. If
both lists are empty, all users are allowed access. Access
can be denied to all users, except the LP print service
administrator, by putting any in the deny-list. To
effectively empty both lists, allowing access for everyone,
put any in the allow-list.
Alerting to Mount Forms
The second lpforms command line (shown under "Synopsis") is
used to arrange for alerts to be sent to the administrator
when forms need to be mounted on a printer.
When integer1 print requests needing the preprinted form
form-name become queued up because no printer satisfying all
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the needs of the requests has the form mounted (and for as
long as this condition remains), an alert is sent to the
administrator every integer2 minutes until the form is
mounted on a qualifying printer. If the form-name is all,
the alerting defined in this command applies to all existing
forms. No alerting is done for a backlog of print requests
needing a form if the administrator does not use this
command.
The method by which the alert is sent depends on the value
of the -A option.
write
The message is sent via write(1) to the terminal on
which the administrator is logged in when the alert
arises. If the administrator is logged in on several
terminals, one is arbitrarily chosen.
mail The message is sent via mail(1) to the administrator
who issues this command.
The message sent appears as follows:
The form form-name needs to be mounted on the printer(s)
printer (integer5 requests).
integer4 print requests await this form.
Use the ribbon-color ribbon.
Use the print-wheel print wheel, if appropriate.
The printers listed are those that the administrator had
earlier specified were candidates for this form. The number
(integer3) listed next to each printer is the number of
requests eligible for the printer. The number (integer4)
shown after the list of printers is the total number of
requests awaiting the form. It will be less than the sum of
the other numbers if some requests can be handled by more
than one printer. The ribbon-color and print-wheel are
those specified in the form description. The last line in
the message is always sent, even if none of the printers
listed use print wheels, because the administrator may
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choose to mount the form on a printer that does use a print
wheel.
Where any color ribbon or any print wheel can be used, the
statements above will read:
Use any ribbon.
Use any print-wheel.
shell-command
The shell-command is run each time the alert needs to
be sent. The shell command should expect the message
as standard input. Note that the mail and write values
for the -A command are equivalent to the values "mail
user-name" and "write user-name," respectively, where
user-name is the current name for the administrator.
This will be the login name of the person submitting
this command unless he or she has used the su command
to change to another user ID. If the su command has
been used to change the user ID, then the user-name for
the new ID is used.
If the -Q option is not given or integer1 is one or the word
any (which are both the default), a message is sent as soon
as anyone submits a print request for the form when it is
not mounted.
If the -W option is not given or integer2 is zero or the
word once (which are both the default), only one message is
sent when the queue size exceeds integer1 . If integer2 is
a non-zero number, an alert will be sent every integer2
minute(s).
Listing the Current Alert
The third lpforms command line (shown under "Synopsis") is
used to list the type of the alert for the specified form.
No change is made to the alert. If form-name is recognized
by the LP print service, one of the following lines is sent
to the standard output, depending on the type of alert for
the form.
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⊕ When integer1 are queued: alert with "shell-command"
every integer2 minutes
⊕ When integer1 are queued: write to user-name every
integer2 minutes
⊕ When integer1 are queued: mail to user-name every
integer2 minutes
⊕ No alert
The phrase every integer minutes is replaced with once if
integer2 (-W integer2) is 0.
Terminating an Active Alert
The -A quiet option is used to stop messages for the current
condition. An administrator can use this option to
temporarily stop receiving further messages about a known
problem. Once the form has been mounted and then unmounted,
messages will again be sent when the queue size reaches
integer1 pending requests.
Removing an Alert Definition
No messages will be sent after the -A none option is used
until the -A option is given again with a different alert-
type. This can be used to permanently stop further messages
from being sent as any existing alert definition for the
form will be removed.
SEE ALSO
lpadmin(1M), terminfo(4).
lp(1) in the User's Reference Manual.
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