Updated March 2011

PRTCOPIES = <Boolean>

This switch affects the way multiple copies are printed. When the switch is OFF, A-Shell passes the copies request to the spooler and lets it generate the copies. When ON, A-Shell itself generates the copies, either submitting the print request multiple times (under UNIX) or just concatenating the copies into one combined document (Windows and aux port printing). The default is OFF for UNIX and whenever outputting to the AUXLOC: device; the default is ON for local Windows printing.

The OPTIONS=PRTCOPIES setting in miame.ini will override the PRTCOPIES=OFF option in the print init file (i.e. force it ON), except when DEVICE=AUXLOC:. So if you want the ability to control this on a printer-by-printer basis, do not include OPTIONS=PRTCOPIES in miame.ini.

The motivation for setting PRTCOPIES=ON would primarily be to avoid some kind of problem with the way that the print spooler or driver handles requests for multiple copies. Note, however, that in the case of auxiliary port printing (see DEVICE = AUXLOC:), having the server side generate the copies (i.e. sending the print file multiple times over the aux port channel) has some potential downsides:

•   the data has to be sent over the wire, potentially taking longer and/or using more shared bandwidth.

•   it may confuse the user into requesting multiple copies in the local printer dialog, thus ending up with copies on top of copies.

This is why PRTCOPIES defaults to OFF whenever DEVICE=AUXLOC:. But, in order for the remote client PC to be able to generate the copies on its end, we need a way to communicate the copies request to it. Since no such feature is included in the standard auxiliary port implementation of terminals and terminal emulators, A-Shell can only support PRTCOPIES=OFF on the server side of auxiliary port printing if the client is ATE and both the server and client versions of A-Shell/ATE are 5.1.1208 or greater. If any of those conditions is not met, the server side will revert to PRTCOPIES=TRUE and send the print file over the aux port channel multiple times. If the conditions are met, then the server will add the copies parameter to the AG_SPOOLCFG command that it sends to ATE prior to sending the data over the aux channel.

History

2011 March, A-Shell 5.1.1208:  PRTCOPIES now supported in conjunction with aux port printing. Previously the entire print file was always sent multiple times to effect the multiple copies, since there was no way to tell the client to generate the copies. See discussion of DEVICE = AUXLOC: above for more details.

2011 March, A-Shell 5.1.1208; "Tracing":  The opr:spool.log (UNIX) or ashlog.log (if Windows or the LP TRACE activated) now gives two values for copies (e.g. C=1/2), where the first number (1 in this case) indicates the number of copies processed locally by A-Shell, and the second number (2) indicates the number of copies requested to be generated by the remote agent (whether the spooler or a terminal emulator client). The LP TRACE also indicates the version edit number of the ATE client, if  applicable (e.g. "edit=1208"). Together these may help debug issues relating to how copies are handled (particularly after the copies-handling enhancement described above).

2010 July, A-Shell 5.1.1187:  PRTCOPIES statement in the printer init file now supported under A-Shell/Windows. Previously the init file setting, if any, was ignored, and the effective setting was set to OFF if the printer selection dialog was used; otherwise ON. .