LPFORMS(ADM) UNIX System V
Name
lpforms - administer forms used with the print service
Syntax
/usr/lib/lpforms -f form-name option
/usr/lib/lpforms -f form-name -A alert-type [-Q integer ]
[-W integer ] 1
2
/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. The first variation of the lpforms
command 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
variation of lpforms is used to establish the method by
which the administrator is alerted that a form must be
mounted on a printer. The third variation is used to list
the current alerting methods assigned to forms. The form is
specified by the form-name given with the lpforms command.
Users may request this form by form-name [see lp(C)]. The
fourth variation of lpforms is to terminate an active alert.
The fifth form is used to remove an alert.
With the first variation of the lpforms command, 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
- 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
This option must be used separately; it cannot be
used with any other option.
-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
given. One of the two options must be given 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-number
Page width: scaled-decimal-number 1
Number of pages: integer 2
Line pitch: scaled-decimal-number
Character pitch: scaled-decimal-n3
umber
Character set choice: character-set/pr4
int-wheel,[mandatory]
Ribbon color: ribbon-color
Comment:
comment
Alignment pattern: [content-type]
content
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.
Upon issuing this command, the form named in 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-number long,
and scaled-decimal-number wide using the printe1
r type
as a key into the te2
rminfo(F) 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 entimeters. 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
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(F) 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 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(C)].
Alignment pattern
When mounting this form an administrator can ask that
the content be repeatedly printed, 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)
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(C) 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 variation of the lpforms command is used to
arrange for the alerting to mount forms on a printer.
When integer1 print requests needing the preprinted form
form-name become queued up because no printer satisfying all
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
option.
The method for sending the alert depends on the value of the
-A option.
write
The message is sent via write(C) 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 chosen arbitrarily.
mail The message is sent via mail 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-list (integer3 requests)
integer4 print request awaits 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 printer list 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
given in the form description. The last line in the message
is given 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.
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 is 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 is the default), only one message is sent
when the queue size exceeds integer1.
Listing the Current Alert
The third variation of lpforms 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.
When integer are queued: alert with shell-command every
integer minutes
When integer are queued: write to user-name every integer
minutes
When integer are queued: mail to user-name every integer
minutes
No alert
The phrase every integer minutes is replaced with once if
integer2 (the -W integer2 ) is 0.
Terminating an Active Alert
The 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 until the none option is given
again with a different alert-type. This can be used to
permanently stop further messages from being sent.
See Also
lp(C), lpadmin(ADM), terminfo(F)
Authorization
The use of this utility is governed by assignment of the lp
authorization, which is usually reserved for system
administrators.
(printed 9/14/89) LPFORMS(ADM)