Introducing Page Printer Formatting Aid
Page Printer Formatting Aid is a program that enables users of Advanced Function Presentation (AFP) products to create their own formatting resources, called form definitions and page definitions. The form definitions and page definitions are stored in libraries1 as AFP resources. Using AFP resources requires IBM® Print Services Facility (PSF) or AFP Conversion and Indexing Facility (ACIF), which merges resources with user data files. This merging creates a data stream for printing or viewing.
Using a form definition or a page definition that is created by PPFA requires you to do three steps:
- Write a set of PPFA commands that define how to position the data or handle the physical sheets.
- Run PPFA to build the specified page definition or form definition and store the output as resources in a library.
- Use your print server to submit the print file, specifying the page definition and form definition that are needed to accomplish the results you want.
- All PPFA/370 functions that are described are available on the z/OS operating system. However, because functions on PSF/VM and PSF/VSE and PPFA/370 functions for VM and VSE are not updated, some of the PPFA/370 functions that are described are not available on the VM and VSE operating systems.
- Not all functions that are provided by PPFA are supported in all printers and printer server licensed programs. Refer to the information for the printer and printer server licensed program that you are using to determine which functions are supported.
Figure 1 shows how form definition and page definition relate to PSF. In Figure 1, the area inside the broken line represents steps 1 and 2. The area outside of the broken line shows how PSF merges resources with the specified print job to form a single print stream and sends it to a page printer.
Directorywith the system-specific file organization (for example, z/OS library).