To print a job directly from a Windows front-end application, you should use a Named Pipe input channel. Before you can do this, you must first create a print queue to the Named Pipe input channel on your Windows Server. You will also need to share this queue on your network.
To complete this procedure, you need your printer's and oemsetup.inf files.
1 Make sure that the Apogee System is running.
2 Open the Control Panel on the machine on which the Apogee System is running.
3 Select Printers.
4 Double-click Add Printer.
The Add Printer Wizard is started.
5 Click Next.
6 Choose Local Printer, deselect Auto Detect, and click Next.
7 Click Create a New Port.
8 Select Local Port from the Type list, and click Next.
The Port Name dialog box is displayed.
9 Enter the Named Pipe name, preceded by \\.\pipe.
For example: \\.\pipe\Apogee
10 Click the OK button.
The Named Pipe name is defined in the settings of the Named Pipe component. The default name is “Apogee“. You should type this string exactly as shown above, since the text is case-sensitive.
NOTE: The Apogee System must be running before you can create this port. Otherwise, you will get an “invalid port name” error message.
The Printer Ports dialog is displayed again.
11 Click Close.
The Apogee Named Pipe channel should now appear in the list of ports.
12 Select the Named Pipe channel, and click Next.
A list of printer manufacturers and models is displayed.
13 Click Have Disk.
NOTE: To select your printer manufacturer and model, you need both your printer's oemsetup.inf file and the printer's file. These files should both be located in the same folder.
14 Browse to the folder which contains your printer's oemsetup.inf and PPD files.
15 Select the Oemprint.inf file, and click Open.
16 Click OK.
The following dialog indicates the name of the printer associated with the selected PPD file.
17 Select the printer, and click Next.
18 Enter a name for your printer.
19 If you want this to be the default printer for your Apogee System, click 'Yes', and then click Next.
To allow users working on other network workstations to access the printer, it must be shared on the network.
20 Click 'Shared', enter a Share Name, and click Next.
The Share Name can be the same as the printer name.
21 If you want to print a test page, click 'Yes', and then click Finish.
The Wizard starts to install the necessary printer files.
To create the printer, Windows needs the PSCRIPT.DLL file.
22 Insert your Windows 2003 CD, and browse to the I386 folder.
23 Select the Pscript.dll_ file, and click Open.
24 Click OK.
The Installer finishes, and the new printer appears in the Printer window.
1 Start from your front-end application.
2 Select the Named Pipe or printer you created earlier.
3 For a spooled queue, set up the printer with the Apogee.PPD.
NOTE: The Apogee.PPD is copied to the shared Apogee SupportFiles folder during installation of the Apogee System.
4 In your page layout program, select the Apogee.PPD.
5 Turn Background Spooling on or off (depending on whether or not you set up spooling for this channel).
6 Ensure that and registration are turned off.
7 Locate the document(s) that you want to input.
8 Print the document(s).
9 If you want to monitor the process, open the Activity window.
10 When your documents have been processed, either open or switch to the Jobs window to view them. For further information, see
“The Job List”.