lpforms(1M) lpforms(1M)
NAME
lpforms - administer forms used with the LP print service
SYNOPSIS
lpforms -f form-name options
lpforms -f form-name -A alert-type [-Q minutes] [-W requests]
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 its form-name.
Users may specify a form when submitting a print request [see
lp(1)]. The argument all can be used instead of form-name
with either of the 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 the form form-name must be
mounted on a printer.
With the first lpforms command line, one of the following
options must be used:
-F pathname
to add or change form form-name, as specified by
the information in pathname
- to add or change form form-name, as specified by
the information from standard input
-x to delete form form-name (this option must be used
separately; it may not be used with any other
option)
-l to list the attributes of form form-name
Adding or Changing a Form
The -F pathname option is used to add a new form, form-name,
to the LP print service, or to change the attributes of an
existing form. The form description is taken from pathname if
the -F option is given, or from the standard input if the -
option is used. One of these two options must be used to
define or change a form. Pathname is the pathname of a file
that contains all or any subset of the following information
about the form.
Copyright 1994 Novell, Inc. Page 1
lpforms(1M) lpforms(1M)
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
The term ``scaled-decimal-number'' refers to a non-negative
number used to indicate a unit of size. The type of unit is
shown by a ``trailing'' letter attached to the number. Three
types of scaled decimal numbers can be used with the LP print
service: numbers that show sizes in centimeters (marked with a
trailing c); numbers that show sizes in inches (marked with a
trailing i); and numbers that show sizes in units appropriate
to use (without a trailing letter), that is, lines,
characters, lines per inch, or characters per inch.
Except for the last two lines, the above lines may appear in
any order. The Comment: and comment items must appear in
consecutive order but may 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 may not 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.
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 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
Copyright 1994 Novell, Inc. Page 2
lpforms(1M) lpforms(1M)
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 database.
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 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
characters per centimeter if a c is appended, and
characters 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 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.
Copyright 1994 Novell, Inc. Page 3
lpforms(1M) lpforms(1M)
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
Deleting a Form
The -x option is used to delete the form form-name from the LP
print service.
Listing Form Attributes
The -l option is used to list the attributes of the existing
form form-name. The attributes listed are those described
under Adding or 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 may use the lpstat command to examine the non-
sensitive part of the form description.
Allowing and Denying Access to a Form
The -u option, followed by the argument allow:login-ID-list or
-u deny:login-ID-list lets you determine which users will be
Copyright 1994 Novell, Inc. Page 4
lpforms(1M) lpforms(1M)
allowed to specify a particular form with a print request.
This option can be used with the -F or - option, each of which
is described above under Adding or Changing a Form.
The login-ID-list argument may include any or all of the
following constructs:
login-ID a user on the local system
system-name!login-ID
a user on system system-name
system-name!all
all users on system system-name
all!login-ID a user on all systems
all all users on the local system
all!all all users on all systems
The default value of login-ID-list is all.
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 that may not use the form.
if allow-list is present and login-ID is in it, access
is allowed
if only deny-list is present and login-ID is not in it,
access is allowed
if login-ID is in deny-list, access is denied
if neither allow-list or deny-list are present, access
is denied
if both lists are present, and login-ID is in neither,
access is denied
if only allow-list is present and login-ID is not in it,
access is denied
Copyright 1994 Novell, Inc. Page 5
lpforms(1M) lpforms(1M)
If the allow-list is not empty, only the users in the list are
allowed access to the form, regardless of the contents of the
deny-list. If the allow-list is empty but the deny-list is
not, the users in the deny-list may not use the form (but all
others may use it).
All users can be denied access to a form by specifying -f
deny:all. All users can be allowed access to a form by
specifying -f allow:all. (This is the default.)
Setting an Alert to Mount a Form
The -f form-name option is used with the -A alert-type option
to define an alert to mount the form when there are queued
jobs which need it. If this option is not used to arrange
alerting for a form, no alert will be sent for that form.
The method by which the alert is sent depends on the value of
the alert-type argument specified with the -A option. The
alert-types are the same as those available with the -A option
to lpadmin: mail, write, quiet, none, shell-command, and list.
See the description of -A on lpadmin(1M) for details about
each.
The message sent appears as follows:
The form form-name needs to be mounted
on the printer(s):
printer (integer1 requests).
integer 2 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
integer1 listed next to each printer is the number of requests
eligible for the printer. The number integer2 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 choose to mount the form on a printer
that does use a print wheel.
Copyright 1994 Novell, Inc. Page 6
lpforms(1M) lpforms(1M)
Where any color ribbon or any print wheel can be used, the
statements above will read:
Use any ribbon.
Use any print-wheel.
If form-name is any, the alerting defined in this command
applies to any form for which an alert has not yet been
defined. If form-name is all, the alerting defined in this
command applies to all forms.
If the -W option is not given, the default procedure is that
only one message will be sent per need to mount the form. Not
specifying the -W option is equivalent to specifying -W once
or -W 0. If minutes is a number greater than 0, an alert will
be sent at intervals specified by minutes.
If the -Q option is also given, the alert will be sent when a
certain number (specified by the argument requests) of print
requests that need the form are waiting. If the -Q option is
not given, or the value of requests is 1 or 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.
Listing the Current Alert
The -f option, followed by the -A option and the argument list
is used to list the type of alert that has been defined for
the specified form form-name. 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.
When requests requests are queued:
alert with shell-command every minutes minutes
When requests requests are queued:
write to user-name every minutes minutes
When requests requests are queued:
mail to user-name every minutes minutes
No alert
The phrase every minutes minutes is replaced with once if
minutes (-W minutes) 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
Copyright 1994 Novell, Inc. Page 7
lpforms(1M) lpforms(1M)
problem. Once the form has been mounted and then unmounted,
messages will again be sent when the number of print requests
reaches the threshold 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.
FILES
/usr/lib/locale/locale/LC_MESSAGES/uxlp
language-specific message file [See LANG on environ(5).]
REFERENCES
lpadmin(1M), terminfo(4)
Copyright 1994 Novell, Inc. Page 8