Printing Process

When a printing mission is activated manually or automatically, the printing mission creates an index of all reports that are ready to print and that were specified to be printed by this particular printing mission. This index can be viewed and controlled online using the Print Control option (P) in the Active Missions screen. The bundle is then prepared for printing.

Control‑D searches for an available printer that was defined in parameter PRINTER of the printing mission definition. If parameter PRINTER has not been specified, Control‑D searches for any available printer that was defined in installation parameter PRINTER.

If a printer was defined as CLOSE, an operator command is required to OPEN the printer. For details, see Opening and Closing Printers. If a printer was defined as OPEN or if an operator command was issued to "open" it, Control‑D sends the bundle to the spool for printing.

When using the One‑Chunk method, the full bundle is created on the spool and waits in queue to print (along with any other output that may be on the spool—that is, non‑Control‑D output).

When using the Multi‑Chunk method, it is recommended that you send only Control‑D bundles to the printer at a specified time. If the printer is not assigned exclusively to Control‑D when using the Multi‑Chunk method, non‑Control‑D output may be printed in a Control‑D bundle. After the bundles finish printing, the printer can be assigned to print non‑Control‑D output.

Bundle printing can be interrupted using the Print Control option in the Active Missions Status screen. This may be required to immediately print an important non‑Control‑D output, to change priority of a report printed by Control‑D, or to perform any other desired action during the printing process. For a description of this option, see the online facilities chapter in the Control‑D and Control‑V User Guide.