ID Number: Q62362
2.00
MS-DOS
Summary:
There are many different methods a program can use to print to a
network printer. Some applications are more "network aware" than
others. Many MS-DOS applications assume that they are printing
"directly" to the output port and, therefore, do not follow up the
print job with an end-of-job marker. When a print job is sent to a
network printer, the network spooler has no way of knowing when to
quit receiving data for the job and send the spooled file to the print
device unless it receives this end-of-job marker.
Therefore, if a "non-network aware" MS-DOS application sends a data
stream to the printer port (which happens to be redirected to the
network spooler) without an end-of-job marker, the data will be held
in the server print queue as an UNFINISHED job in SPOOLING status, and
consequently, the job will never be sent to the printer.
A properly implemented network aware application provides some way
during the installation of the software to designate a printer as a
"network printer," as opposed to a "local" printer. When the
application prints a job to a so-designated printer, the application
follows the print data with an end-of-job marker. In addition, many
applications also allow the user to specify whether or not a form feed
should be sent following the print job (for laser printers and other
"page printing" devices).
WordPerfect is an example of a network aware application. As a printer
is being installed, WordPerfect asks if the printer being installed is
a "network" printer. Please note that this prompt defaults to NO. If
YES is selected, WordPerfect asks if you want to suppress the linefeed
after the job has finished printing. If the printer is installed
properly in WordPerfect as a network printer, there should be no
problem with the job printing correctly.
Note: The "Job Size" value reported on the NET ADMIN NIF screen will
show "0" (zero) until the end-of-job marker is received. It then
changes to reflect the actual size of the job.
For non-network aware applications, DOS LAN Manager provides a 4K TSR
(terminate-and-stay-resident) utility named PRTSC.EXE (in the \NETPROG
subdirectory) that can be loaded via the AUTOEXEC.BAT file at boot
time. This utility allows the user to press CTRL+ALT+PRINT SCREEN, at
which time PRTSC will send the end-of-job marker to the print spooler.
The CTRL+ALT+PRINT SCREEN keystroke sequence should not be employed
until the application has indicated that it has finished sending the
job to the printer.
Additional reference words: 2.00 2.0