NAME

lpforms − administer forms used with the LP print service

SYNOPSIS

/usr/lib/lpforms −f form-name option

/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.  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(1)].  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−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

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−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 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(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 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 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 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 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 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(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 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 orinteger1 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 orinteger2 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(1), lpadmin(1M).  terminfo(4) in the INTERACTIVE SDS Guide and Programmer’s Reference Manual. 

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