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 integer1] [-W
integer2]
DESCRIPTION
The lpforms command is used to administer the use of pre-
printed 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 a form must be mounted on
a printer. The -A option can be used for various purposes,
depending on the value of the argument alert-type. Specifi-
cally, the -A option can be used to assign an alerting
method for a form, to list the current alerting methods
assigned to forms, to terminate an active alert, and to
remove an alert definition. With the first lpforms command
line, one of the following options must be used:
-F pathname
To add or change a form as specified by the
information in pathname
- To add or change a form, as specified by the
information from standard input
-x To delete a form (this option must be used
separately; it may not be used with any other
option)
-l To list the attributes of a form
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 pathname 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. Pathname 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
1
lpforms(1M) lpforms(1M)
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
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
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 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, columns,
lines per inch, or characters per inch. The page
length and page width will also be passed, if possible,
to each filter used in a request needing this form.
2
lpforms(1M) lpforms(1M)
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
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 char-
acters 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 char-
acter sets instead of print wheels, the interface pro-
grams provided with the LP print service will automati-
cally 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; other-
wise, 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
3
lpforms(1M) lpforms(1M)
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 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 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, the administrator, deter-
mine which users will be allowed to specify a particular
form with a print request. (For a list of legal constructs
that can be used in login-ID-list, see the description
below.) This option can be used with the -F or - option,
each of which is described below under Adding or Changing a
Form.
The login-ID-list argument may include any or all of the
following constructs: [I'LL ADD A LIST HERE THE WEEK OF
09/18, WHEN AVAILABLE]
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. 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 added to the deny-list and
removed from the allow-list. (Both forms of the -u option
can be run together with the -F or the - option.)
4
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). If both lists are empty
(or if you do not create allow and deny files), all users
are denied access. 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.
Setting an Alert to Mount a Form
The -f form-name option is used with the -A alert-type
option to send the alert alert-type to the administrator to
mount the form specified. If this option is not used to
arrange alerting for a form, no alert will be sent for that
form. When integer1 print requests needing the preprinted
form form-name become queued up because no printer satisfy-
ing 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 com-
mand. 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:
mail Send the alert message via the mail command to
the administrator who issues this command.
write Write the message, via the write command, to
the terminal on which the administrator is
logged in. If the administrator is logged in
on several terminals, one is arbitrarily
chosen.
quiet Do not send messages for the current condition.
An administrator can use this option to tem-
porarily stop receiving further messages about
a known problem. Once the form has been
mounted and subsequently unmounted, messages
will again be sent when the number of print
requests again exceeds the threshold.
none Do not send messages until the -A option is
given again with a different alert-type (other
than quiet).
shell-command
The shell-command is run each time the alert
needs to be sent. The shell command should
5
lpforms(1M) lpforms(1M)
expect the message as standard input. If there
are blanks embedded in the command, enclose the
command in quotes. Note that the mail and
write values for this option are equivalent to
the values mail login-ID and write login-ID
respectively, where login-ID is the current
name for the administrator. This will be the
login name of the person submitting this com-
mand unless he or she has used the su command
to change to another login-ID. If the su com-
mand has been used to change the user ID, then
the user-name for the new ID is used.
list The type of the alert for the form is displayed
on the standard output. No change is made to
the alert.
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
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.
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 a print
wheel. Not specifying the -W option is equivalent to speci-
fying -W once or -W 0. If minutes is a number greater than
0, an alert will be sent at intervals specified by minutes.
6
lpforms(1M) lpforms(1M)
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. 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 integer1 requests are queued:
alert with shell-command every integer2 minutes
- When integer1 requests are queued:
write to user-name every integer2 minutes
- When integer1 requests 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 tem-
porarily stop receiving further messages about a known prob-
lem. 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.
7