Tech-Tip: InterForm400 vs Host Print Transform
When you e.g. are printing a simple *SCS spooled file (without InterForm400), Host Print Transform is normally transforming the spooled file into a PCL datastream, which the attached printer understands. During this transformation Host Print Transform will choose the best rotation, line height and font to make the spooled file fit within the paper size selected.
When I write ‘the best’, then I actually mean the best, that Host Print Transform can come up with. For the transformation you can create your own workstation customization object, but it can be a bit tricky and it may not even be as good as expected.
But it can be a very good idea to consider to use InterForm400 instead of Host Print Transform as this may select a font size and line height, which fits even better. Normally you select one, fixed font (e.g. font 66) and a fixed line spacing (e.g. 40 pels) in InterForm400, but if you select *INPUT for the rotation, line spacing and rotation, then InterForm400 will adapt the font size, line spacing and rotation to make the spooled file use as much of the paper as possible while still having enough space for all characters in all lines. (In the graphical designer you need to select ‘default’ instead of *INPUT).
Example:
With this setting in InterForm400 you can expect the spooled file to fit the available area even better than Host Print Transform. The result of the PCL merge in InterForm400 is a new PCL spooled file (*USERASCII), which is not using the Host Print Transform settings.
When I write ‘the best’, then I actually mean the best, that Host Print Transform can come up with. For the transformation you can create your own workstation customization object, but it can be a bit tricky and it may not even be as good as expected.
But it can be a very good idea to consider to use InterForm400 instead of Host Print Transform as this may select a font size and line height, which fits even better. Normally you select one, fixed font (e.g. font 66) and a fixed line spacing (e.g. 40 pels) in InterForm400, but if you select *INPUT for the rotation, line spacing and rotation, then InterForm400 will adapt the font size, line spacing and rotation to make the spooled file use as much of the paper as possible while still having enough space for all characters in all lines. (In the graphical designer you need to select ‘default’ instead of *INPUT).
Example:
Design InterForm 400 overlay APF300D
Overlay name INPUT Last update . . : 2014-01-27 F20=Log
Overlay text Adapt to spooled file size
Line spacing *INPUT in 1/240 of an inch (*INPUT, 1-720)
Rotation *INPUT (*INPUT, 0, 90, 180, 270)
Extra left margin
positions 0 (0-99)
Maximum number of
print positions 378 (1-378)
Extra blank lines
on top 0 (0-99)
Font *INPUT *INPUT, fontnumber F4=List
With this setting in InterForm400 you can expect the spooled file to fit the available area even better than Host Print Transform. The result of the PCL merge in InterForm400 is a new PCL spooled file (*USERASCII), which is not using the Host Print Transform settings.