IBM i Access for Windows: Printing Spooled Files in Portrait Using PC5250

Resolving The Problem

Important Note: This document discusses IBM i Access for Windows, as well as older versions of "Client Access" including System i Access for Windows, iSeries Access for Windows and Client Access Express. These names essentially refer to the same product; however, the functionality and name changed over the last several releases. For the purposes of this document, the terms System i Access, iSeries Access and Client Access Express may be used interchangeably. Where a difference is important, the version of the product is used to identify the differences.

This document provides instructions for printing operating system spooled files in portrait through a PC5250 printer session that is configured to use the printer driver without Host Print Transform (HPT) or a Printer Definition Table (PDT) file. This document applies to 7.1 and 6.1 IBM i Access for Windows; 5.4 (V5R4M0), V5R3M0, and V5R2M0 iSeries Access for Windows; as well as V4R4M0, V4R5M0 and V5R1M0 Client Access Express for Windows.

This document was last updated on 4 April 2014.


Related Software Knowledgebase Documents

Instructions for printing in portrait using HPT or a PDT file are available in the following documents:

N1010170, Forcing Spooled Files to Print in Portrait Rather Than COR Using Host Print Transform (HPT):
N1010085, Printing 132 Characters in Portrait Using Printer Definition File (PDT):


Configure the PC5250 Printer Session to Use the Windows Printer Driver without Host Print Transform (HPT) or a Printer Definition Table (PDT) File

Because these instructions are for printing operating system spooled files in portrait through a PC5250 printer session that is configured to use the printer driver, we must first ensure that it is not configured to use either Host Print Transform (HPT) or a Printer Definition Table (PDT) file.

1.	Select Communication > Configure on the menu bar.
2.	Verify that the Type of emulation is set to Printer, and click on the Setup button.
3.	Verify that Transform print data to ASCII on AS/400 is turned off, so the PC5250 printer session will NOT use Host Print Transform (HPT).
4.	Click OK to exit the PC5250 Printer Emulation Setup panel.
5.	Click OK to exit the Configure PC5250 panel.
6.	You may see a PC5250 dialog box that displays message, PCSCC041 - Because you have changed the configuration, communication will be terminated if you proceed. Are you sure?. Click OK. This causes PC5250 to disconnect the display session and reconnect as a printer session using the workstation ID that you specified.
7.	Select File > Printer Setup on the menu bar. If Use PDT is turned off, click Cancel to exit the Printer Setup panel. If Use PDT is turned on, first turn if off, then click Setup to go to the printer driver's settings, click OK to exit the printer driver settings, and then click OK to exit the Printer Setup panel.
8.	Select File > Save on the menu bar to save the changes to the PC5250 printer session profile.

Configuring the PC5250 Printer Session to Print in Portrait

At this point, the PC5250 printer session should be configured to use the printer driver without using either Host Print Transform (HPT) or a Printer Definition Table (PDT) file.

1.	From the PC5250 printer session, select File > Page Setup on the menu bar.
2.	Turn off Automatic page orientation, set the Drawer-1 orientation to Portrait, and set the Drawer-2 orientation to Portrait. Leave Use best fit scaling on to have PC5250 compress the font to fit the page, or turn off Use best fit scaling to have PC5250 print at the Characters per Inch (CPI) value specified in the operating system spooled file.
3.	Click OK to exit the latest Page Setup panel.
4.	Select File > Save on the menu bar to save the changes to the PC5250 printer session profile.