Matt Seeberger

Working from Home? Using IBM i Java ACS Client to Print to a Home Printer or to File

Due to COVID-19 many people are working from home, crazy times we are living in. I have worked with many customers this past week or two setting up the ability for them to print to their home printers. I wanted to share some resources to help those of you that may still need or want to setup this capability.

IBM provides an excellent support article highlighting 4 different options for Configuring a Printer Session:

  1. Configure the ACS printer session to use Host Print Transform (HPT). This is the most common configuration for PCL capable printers.
    Here is another article that IBM put together on how to configure HPT based on the printer manufacturer you are working with:
    https://www.ibm.com/support/pages/information-printers-various-manufacturers
  2. Configure the ACS printer session to use Java Print Service. This setting works really well for printers that are not listed above or as a simple option to try before fiddling with the HPT settings. NOTE: If you forget to select Best Fit when you select this option your print outs might not look right or be aligned properly.
  3. Configure the ACS printer session to use a Printer Definition Table (PDT). This gives you control over how the output is printed by allowing you to copy and modify a Printer Definition Source File (PDF) and then create your own PDT file.
  4. Configure the ACS printer session to Print to File. At times it is necessary to generate a simple text file of the SCS spooled file. Use this option to print an SCS spooled file on the IBM i to an ASCII text file on the PC.

Check out the article here: IBM i Access Client Solutions (ACS): Configuring a Printer Session

An important note that IBM highlights in their article:
NOTE: It has been found that the printer session may need to be saved (step 5 above) before it will print. If spooled files are still not printing, make the Windows print driver the Windows Default driver and test again. If using a PCL 6 printer, ensure the PCL 6 Windows print driver is backward compatible to PCL 5 or download and use a Universal Print Driver for the printer. This topic is discussed at the beginning of the document too.

What does the OUTQ look like on the IBM i?

In case you were wondering or have never configured something like this before, when you create the Printer Session it automatically creates an OUTQ on your IBM i (once the session successfully connects to the system) with the name you specify in the Workstation ID.

Here is an example:

  1. Connect to IBM i and look at OUTQs starting with the letter ‘T’
    WRKOUTQ T*
  2. In my case there are 3 OUTQs listed
  1. I configured the Printer Session using the WorkStation ID of TESTMATT
  1. After the Printer Session started and connected it created an OUTQ named TESTMATT and attached the writer
  1. Now I can assign that OUTQ to my user profile or point print jobs to use it and the print jobs will print on my home printer!
    CHGUSRPRF USRPRF(MATT) OUTQ(*LIBL/TESTMATT)
    NOTE: You can record the OUTQ assigned to your user profile by running DSPUSRPRF USRPRF(MATT) and page down until you see Output Queue listed. You will want to change this back once you are back in the office. (Mine was *WRKSTN before I assigned it to TESTMATT)

Post any comments or question you have and thanks for reading!

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