System Administration Commands lpforms(1M)
NAME
lpforms - administer forms used with the LP print service
SYNOPSIS
lpforms -f form-name option
lpforms -f form-name -A alert-type [-P paper-name [-d]]
[-Q requests] [-W minutes]
DESCRIPTION
The lpforms command administers the use of preprinted 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 argu-
ment 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 isalerted that the form form-name must be mounted on a
printer. OPTIONS The following options are supported:-f form-name Specify a form.
The first form of lpforms requires that one of the follow-
ing options (-, -l, -F, -x) must be used:
-F pathname To add or change form form-name, as specified
by the information in pathname.- To add or change form form-name, as specified
by the information from standard input.-l To list the attributes of form form-name.
-x To delete form form-name (this option must be
used separately; it may not be used with any other option).SunOS 5.11 Last change: 3 Apr 1997 1
System Administration Commands lpforms(1M)
The second form of the lpforms command requires the -A
alert-type option. The other options are optional.
-A alert-type Defines an alert to mount the form
when there are queued jobs which need it.-P paper-name [ -d ] Specify the paper name when creating
the form. If -d is specified, this
paper is the default.-Q requests An alert will be sent when a certain
number of print requests that need the form are waiting.-W minutes An alert will be sent at intervals
specified by minutes.USAGE
Adding or Changing a FormThe -F pathname option is used to add a new form, form-
name, to the LP print service, or to change the attributes of an existing form. The form description is taken frompathname if the -F option is given, or from the standard
input if the - option is used. One of these 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
Page width: scaled-decimal-number2
Number of pages: integerLine pitch: scaled-decimal-number3
Character pitch: scaled-decimal-number4
Character set choice: character-set/print-wheel [mandatory]
Ribbon color: ribbon-color
Comment: commentAlignment pattern: [content-type]
contentThe term ``scaled-decimal-number'' refers to a non-negative
number used to indicate a unit of size. The type of unit isSunOS 5.11 Last change: 3 Apr 1997 2
System Administration Commands lpforms(1M)
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); lines, characters, lines per inch, or characters per inch. 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 beremoved when the comment is displayed. There is no case dis-
tinction among the key phrases.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, asdescribed 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 physicalprinter to handle pages scaled-decimal-number1 long, and
scaled-decimal-number2 wide using the printer type as a
key into the terminfo(4) database. 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 pagesubset of 1-integer.
SunOS 5.11 Last change: 3 Apr 1997 3
System Administration Commands lpforms(1M)
Line pitch and Character pitch Before printing the content of a print request needing this form, the interface program 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 requestneeding 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
characters-per-centimeter if a c is appended, and
characters-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 printwheel print-wheel should be used on those printers that
take print wheels. If printing with this form is to bedone 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 man-
datory is appended, a user is not allowed to select adifferent 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 ofthe 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 optionalSunOS 5.11 Last change: 3 Apr 1997 4
System Administration Commands lpforms(1M)
content-type defines the type of printer for which con-
tent 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 Deleting a FormLP print service" The -x option is used to delete the form
form-name from the LP print service.
Listing Form AttributesThe -l option is used to list the attributes of the exist-
ing form form-name. The attributes listed are those
described under Adding and Changing a Form, above. Becauseof the potentially sensitive nature of the alignment pat-
tern, only the administrator can examine the form with this command. Other people may use the lpstat(1) command toexamine the non-sensitive part of the form description.
Allowing and Denying Access to a FormThe -u option, followed by the argument allow:login-ID-list
or -u deny:login-ID-list lets you determine which users will
be allowed to specify a particular form with a printrequest. This option can be used with the -F or - option,
each of which is described above under Adding or Changing a Form.The login-ID-list argument may include any or all of the
following constructs:login-ID A user on any system
system_name!login-ID A user on system system_name
SunOS 5.11 Last change: 3 Apr 1997 5
System Administration Commands lpforms(1M)
system_name!all All users on system system_name
all!login-ID A user on all systems
all All users on all systems The LP print service keeps two lists of users for eachform: 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.)
If the allow-list is not empty, only the users in the list
are allowed access to the form, regardless of the content ofthe 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). All users can be denied accessto a form by specifying -f deny:all. All users can be
allowed access to a form by specifying -f allow:all. (This
is the default.) Setting an Alert to Mount a FormThe -f form-name option is used with the -A alert-type
option to define an alert to mount the form when there are queued jobs which need it. If this option is not used to arrange alerting for a form, no alert will be sent for that form. The method by which the alert is sent depends on the valueof the alert-type argument specified with the -A option.
The alert-types are:
mail Send the alert message using the mail com-
mand to the administrator. write Write the message, using 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.SunOS 5.11 Last change: 3 Apr 1997 6
System Administration Commands lpforms(1M)
quiet Do not send messages for the current condi-
tion. An administrator can use this optionto temporarily stop receiving further mes-
sages about a known problem. Once the formform-name has been mounted and subsequently
unmounted, messages will again be sent when the number of print requests reaches thethreshold specified by the -Q option.
showfault Attempt to execute a form alert handler on each system that has a print job for that form in the queue. The fault handler is /etc/lp/alerts/form. It is invoked withthree parameters: form_name, date,
file_name. file_name is the name of a file
containing the form alert message.none Do not send messages until the -A option is
given again with a different alert-type
(other than quiet).shell-command Run the shell-command each time the alert
needs to be sent. The shell command should expect the message in standard input. Ifthere are blank spaces embedded in the com-
mand, enclose the command in quotes. Note that the mail and write values for this option are equivalent to the values maillogin-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 command unless he or she has used the su command tochange 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 Display the type of the alert for the form on 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 (integer1 requests). integer2 print requests await this form.SunOS 5.11 Last change: 3 Apr 1997 7
System Administration Commands lpforms(1M)
Use the ribbon-color ribbon.
Use the print-wheel print wheel, if appropriate.
The printers listed are those that the administrator has specified as candidates for this form. The number integer1listed next to each printer is the number of requests eligi-
ble for the printer. The number integer2 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 alert-type defined in this command
applies to any form for which an alert has not yet beendefined. If form-name is all, the alert-type defined in this
command applies to all forms.If the -W minutes option is not given, the default pro-
cedure is that only one message will be sent per need tomount the form. Not specifying the -W option is equivalent
to specifying -W once or -W 0. If minutes is a number
greater than 0, an alert will be sent at intervals speci-
fied by minutes.If the -Q requests 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.SunOS 5.11 Last change: 3 Apr 1997 8
System Administration Commands lpforms(1M)
Listing the Current AlertThe -f option, followed by the -A option and the argument
list is used to list the alert-type that has been defined
for the specified form form-name. 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 requests requests are queued: alert withshell-
command every minutes minutes- When requests requests are queued: write to user-
name every minutes minutes- When requests requests are queued: mail to user-name
every minutes minutes- No alert
The phrase every minutes minutes is replaced with once ifminutes (-Wminutes) is 0.
Terminating an Active AlertThe -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, mes-
sages will again be sent when the number of print requests reaches the threshold requests. Removing an Alert DefinitionNo 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. Large File Behavior See largefile(5) for the description of the behavior oflpforms when encountering files greater than or equal to 2
Gbyte ( 2^31 bytes). EXIT STATUS The following exit values are returned: 0 Successful completion.SunOS 5.11 Last change: 3 Apr 1997 9
System Administration Commands lpforms(1M)
non-zero An error occurred.
FILES /etc/lp/alerts/form Fault handler for lpform.ATTRIBUTES
See attributes(5) for descriptions of the following attri-
butes:____________________________________________________________
| ATTRIBUTE TYPE | ATTRIBUTE VALUE |
|_____________________________|_____________________________|
| Availability | print/lp ||_____________________________|_____________________________|
SEE ALSO
lp(1), lpstat(1), lpadmin(1M), terminfo(4), attributes(5), largefile(5)SunOS 5.11 Last change: 3 Apr 1997 10