Using AFP fonts

AFP fonts can be mapped, used on printers with different resolutions, used to produce bar codes, used as printer-resident, and captured.

Mapping FOCA fonts

Many outline fonts supplied in the AFP Font Collection, Infoprint Fonts for z/OS®, and the z/OS Font Collection have equivalent raster fonts in selected sizes. If you specify outline fonts in your print jobs and are printing on a printer that supports only raster fonts, PSF tries to use equivalent raster fonts. You can use Type Transformer to create raster fonts from Type 1 outline fonts in the sizes you need. You can obtain Type Transformer at no extra charge from the IBM® Type Transformer download web page: http://www-01.ibm.com/support/docview.wss?uid=psd1P4000840. Update PSF’s user font mapping tables with information about these fonts.

For more information about using PSF’s font mapping tables, see PSF for z/OS: Customization or contact your system programmer.

Using FOCA fonts on printers with different resolutions

Some printers are manually configured to support a single raster resolution at a time, but can be switched between two different raster resolutions. Some printers can accept multiple raster resolutions and metric technology fonts at the same time; this function is sometimes called "automatic" or "auto resolution mode". Ensure that the host font you want to use is supported by the printer. Some printers support only a single resolution. To determine which resolutions your printer supports, see the documentation provided with the printer.

Your system programmer can define multiple system font libraries (for example, 240-pel , 300-pel , and outline fonts) for switchable and auto mode printers. If the printer accepts only resources at a single resolution, PSF uses the printer’s resolution to determine which system library to use. If the printer accepts multiple resolutions, you can use one of these methods to tell PSF which resolution system library to use:

• Your system programmer can specify a format resolution by using the Printer Inventory or the Resource Exit 7.
• Format the MO:DCA-P data by using an application that includes the Font Resolution and Metric Technology triplet on the MCF2 structured field. Two applications that currently support this triplet are Document Composition Facility (DCF) and Overlay Generation Language (OGL). See your application user’s guide or to Mixed Object Document Content Architecture Reference, AFPC-0004 for more information.
• Specify the RESFMT parameter on the OUTPUT statement. RESFMT tells PSF the resolution of the raster fonts that were used to format the data. See Specifying AFP parameters in the JCL for more information about the RESFMT parameter.
• Let PSF use the default system font library.

If the format resolution is specified in multiple places, PSF uses the first non-zero value it finds in the methods previously listed.

Using FOCA fonts to produce bar codes

Just as you can use FOCA fonts to print symbols for alphanumeric characters, you can use them to print symbols for bar codes. There are many different types of bar codes. The type of bar code is defined by its coding arrangement, or symbology. Most bar codes are produced with BCOCA; however, IBM supplies an RPQ font product that prints bar codes with the Postnet symbology, 5799-DGX. This product is designed for 240-pel and 300-pel printers that support the downloading of host fonts.

Bar code fonts also can be acquired from IBM in a variety of symbologies and sizes to meet your specific application needs. For information about obtaining bar code fonts, see the AFP licensed font products web page:

http://www-03.ibm.com/systems/z/zos/printsoftware/afpfonts_ww.html

Using printer-resident fonts

You can use printer-resident fonts only if they are supported on a printer. Some AFP printers, such as the network printers, InfoPrint 4000 and the InfoPrint 60, can use either host fonts or printer-resident fonts. Some printers, such as the 64xx, use only resident symbol sets, which are stored in the printer. Some printers, such as the 382x printer, 3835 printer, and 3900-001 printer, only use host fonts that are downloaded from PSF to the printer. Other printers do not support all the possible print-direction and character-rotation combinations for resident fonts and in some cases the characters in a printer-resident font might not match the characters in the host version of the font. Your system programmer can tell you which printer-resident fonts are available on each applicable printer in your installation. For information about the fonts your printer supports, see the documentation provided with the printer.

If you are using a printer that supports only resident fonts, you are limited to printing with the font set that is stored on that printer. If you are using a printer that supports both resident and host fonts, you might want to use resident fonts instead of the equivalent host font. PSF can access the resident fonts in the printer instead of downloading them from the host font library, which saves transmission time. Your system programmer can identify or mark the host fonts by running the APSRMARK utility.

In order for a printer-resident font to be used, it must be the functional equivalent of the marked host version of the font. A host font that is marked as PUBLIC by using the APSRMARK utility is not sent to the printer if a matching printer-resident font is stored in the printer. If a font is marked as PRIVATE, PSF sends that font from the library to the printer even if a matching printer-resident font exists. If a font is not marked PUBLIC or PRIVATE, PSF assumes that the font is PRIVATE.

If you have AFP Font Collection or z/OS Font Collection, its fonts are already marked PUBLIC and you do not need to run APSRMARK to enable the printer-resident fonts. Also, the z/OS Font Collection, Font Installer for AFP Systems, or InfoPrint AFP Resource Installer enables TrueType and OpenType fonts for capture so you do not need to run APSRMARK.

If you update a font or create a new version of it by using an AFP utility, such as Type Transformer (see the IBM Type Transformer download web page: http://www-01.ibm.com/support/docview.wss?uid=psd1P4000840), the new version will not be marked PUBLIC, and it will be sent to the printer from host or user libraries. If, however, you bypass IBM utilities to directly update the resource object code for a host-resident marked font, without changing the APSRMARK stamp that marks it as PUBLIC, PSF treats it as a PUBLIC font and does not download it to the printer; instead, PSF uses the earlier, printer-resident version. If you want to use the new version, you can mark the font PRIVATE or else mark it PUBLIC with a new RRDATE and RRTIME. Some printers can capture these modified fonts and make them resident, after they are correctly marked.

Do not mark a metric-only font character set PRIVATE, and do not mark code pages used with double-byte outline fonts PRIVATE. Because a metric-only font contains no font pattern, it must be marked PUBLIC, and print jobs must use the printer-resident version of the font. For more information about the APSRMARK utility, see Using APSRMARK to mark resources.

Using captured fonts

Some printers, such as the InfoPrint 60, InfoPrint 3000, and InfoPrint 4000, can capture downloaded fonts. Captured fonts become temporary printer-resident fonts, which improves performance for future jobs that use the same fonts. Printers can capture both raster fonts and outline fonts. A font that is marked PUBLIC, contains the appropriate date and time stamp, and resides in a system library is eligible for capture. Captured fonts remain resident in the printer provided that there is sufficient storage.

Do not mark sensitive fonts, such as signatures and MICR fonts, eligible to be captured, because it is possible that an unauthorized person could access the captured font, even from another system. Improper use of font capturing might cause unpredictable results; therefore, only system administrators should handle the font capture feature. For more information about font capture, see the documentation provided with the printer.