Capabilities and Limitations of Host Print Transform (HPT)

Informational APAR II13564

Informational APAR II13564 "HOST PRINT TRANSFORM RESTRICTIONS, V5R3M0 and V5R4M0" states the following:

This informational APAR is to officially document restrictions of the Host Print Transform (HPT) function of OS/400.

Host print transform does not support Graphics data. If the attributes of your spooled file indicate Graphics special requirements, it will not print via host print transform. The most common way to get Graphics data is to use the CHRSIZ DDS keyword with a DEVTYPE(*AFPDS) printer file.

Color support is available to PCL color laserjet technology printers via MFRTYPMDL values including, but not restricted to, *HPCOLORLJ, *IBM4308, and *LEXOPTRAC. However, the actual color support is limited from a customer standpoint. This color support only allows you to print color text. Color image is not supported. You cannot print color barcodes, either. HPT has never supported the printing of Graphics Object Content Architecture (GOCA) objects, so it follows that printing of color GOCA is not supported.

Even with color text, there are restrictions. Under Presentation Text Object Content Architecture (PTOCA), there are 2 types of color controls. The older PT1 Set Text Color PTOCA command is the control that HPT supports. HPT does not support the newer PT3 Set Extended Color command. If you use the BOX or LINE DDS keywords, and you specify the *COLOR subfunction with the PT1 type color, this actually generates text controls, and HPT will honor the color lines and boxes. Drawing the lines and boxes with the PT3 type color will not work. Lastly, if you use a workstation customizing object that specifies to use RASTER mode, color will not print.

Technically, this next item is not a HPT restriction, but a restriction of the various print drivers that call HPT. This includes the *IBMPJLDRV, *HPPJLDRV, *IBMSNMPDRV, Lexlink, and remote writer driver programs. When you print spooled files that specify a DEVTYPE(*AFPDS), and you start printing on a page other than page 1, the output may not be as desired. This is because information such as DUPLEX and DRAWER are referenced in a form definition at the beginning of page 1. If you don't print page 1, the form definition is not processed. For Version 5 Release 2, PTFs SI13331 and SI14747 improve this situation for the PJL driver and the SNMP drivers only.

If a spooled file is of type *AFPDS, and it contains inline font resource (*FNTRSC) objects, these objects will not be used when printing. Host print transform only uses *FNTRSC objects that reside in libraries.

If you are using a host print transform that uses raster mode, and you are using the HIGHLIGHT DDS keyword, the text will not appear bold. This is due to the font substitution used when using raster mode. To get bold text when using raster mode, you must specify a CDEFNT or FNTCHRSET that is bold by nature.

If a DEVTYPE(*AFPDS) spooled file contains an object container with a truetype font, this is not supported via host print transform. If the spooled file references a truetype font, that font must exist in the IFS according to the rules laid out in the FONTNAME discussion of the DDS Reference manual.

When using a double byte character set (DBCS) transform, and printing a DBCS spooled file, PAGRTT(*AUTO) will not work the same as when using a single byte character set transform (SBCS). Examples of DBCS transforms use *HPDBCS, *IBMPAGES, *ESCPDBCS, *CANLIPS3, and *NECPCPR201, among others. When using a DBCS transform, and PAGRTT(*AUTO) is specified in the spooled file attributes, the output will be printed as if PAGRTT(0) was specified. PAGRTT(90) will print landscape. PAGRTT(*COR) will print landscape, but only SBCS data is reduced, DBCS data and grid lines are not reduced, which could cause misalignment of data.

Prior to Version 5, Release 4, Host Print Transform does not support the Font Horizontal Scaling Factor triplet that is in the *AFPDS architecture. This allows you to widen or narrow the characters when using a scalable font. If this exists in the spooled file, the font will not be scaled horizontally as requested. Infoprint Designer, for example, is a product that allows you to specify a horizontal scaling factor when adding text data.

Host Print Transform does not support the stapling function that is offered via the printer file, or with a form definition.

Host Print Transform does not support the use of .otf fonts with the FONTNAME DDS keyword.

Host print transform does not support the Include Object AFPDS structured field. This control is the one that uses X'D3AFC3' as an identifier. This AFPDS control is most commonly used when specifying to rotate or size a page segment using the DDS support.

Rotation of overlays via the OVERLAY DDS keyword is not supported.

Rotation or sizing of page segments via the PAGSEG DDS keyword is not supported.

When you create a spooled file that specifies DEVTYPE(*AFPDS) PAGRTT(90, 180, or 270), and includes an overlay, the position of the overlay when printed through host print transform could differ than on a real IPDS printer. This is because the point of rotation origin differs between IPDS and PCL. To get similar results you must specify the proper page size in your spooled file attributes. For example, if you are printing with PAGRTT(90), on Letter size paper, specify a width of 11 inches and a length of 8.5 inches, as those are the dimensions of the page after rotation. This is just a guideline, the printers' unprintable border may also cause slight differences.

Even if you are not using DEVTYPE(*AFPDS), it is very important that you specify the proper page size in your spooled file attributes if you specify PAGRTT of 90, 180, or 270. This is because the point of origin in rotation differs between IPDS printers and host print transform printers. The best way to get HPT output and IPDS output to print similar is to specify the page size which matches the paper size you are actually using.

The use of the AFPRSC DDS keyword is not supported by Host Print Transform (HPT) until IBM i 7.2. As with Transform Services, Host Print Transform supports both TIFF and JFIF (JPG or JPEG), but does not support PDF, PCL, BCOCA, GOCA, or IOCA.

Note: Host Print Transform (HPT) does not support AFP overlays or AFP page segments with color image, but does support color TIFF or JFIF (JPG or JPEG) images starting in 7.2 i5/OS.

It is possible to perform landscape printing on an IPDS AFP capable printer by using a form definition that was created for a cut sheet printer which specifies a Medium Descriptor containing a Orientation of landscape. Host print transform does not honor this type of landscape printing.

If a form definition is specified that specifies a Page Origin Position, it will be ignored by host print transform.

Host print transform does not support the Medium Descriptor (MDD) MODCA structured field that exists in some form definitions.

If performing WSCST programming, only the first 128 bytes of data in the INITPRT tag will be sent to the printer. You can put more in the WSCST source, but only the first 128 bytes will be used.