How To Print Concurrent Requests in PDF Format

Subject:	How To Print Concurrent Requests in PDF Format
	Doc ID:	Note:333504.1	Type:	HOWTO
	Last Revision Date:	05-JUL-2006	Status:	PUBLISHED

In this Document
  Goal
  Solution
  References

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Applies to:

Oracle Application Object Library - Version: 11.5.1 to 11.5
Pasta - Version: 11.5.1 to 11.5.10
Information in this document applies to any platform.
FNDPSTAX, PDF, pasta.cfg

Goal

How to print or reprint concurrent request reports in PDF format directly from the concurrent manager?

Solution

Printing or reprinting concurrent request reports in PDF format directly from the concurrent manager is not supported for the following reasons:

1. Virtually, no or few printers understand the raw PDF format. The Adobe Acrobat Reader converts the PDF file to another format before sending the file to a printer (RTF / Postscript). This conversion process is not available or present in Oracle Applications.

2. As per Bug 1243042, Oracle Applications supports PDF output for viewing only, "This is the way the Applications are designed and implemented... anything beyond this would be more of an enhancement request.". That is, printing PDF directly from the concurrent manager is not supported. This concurrent manager limitation is also present in release 11.5.

3. Oracle Applications seeded reports are designed as "Character" (ASCII text) reports. Reports designed in Character mode have a different scaling than reports designed in Bitmap mode (Postscript / PDF/ PCL, etc.), inches rather than points. Although you can change or convert a seeded Character report to another format, these seeded reports were not designed for another format; therefore, the layout of the seeded reports may or may not print properly--customization of the reports and/or drivers may be required.

NOTE 1:  The option to change the output format of report programs is present in order to extend and customize Oracle Applications. That is, the option is there in order to build and add custom reports to Oracle Applications in various formats. Some customization, specific to a particular business need, may require the assistance of Oracle Consulting or a third party consulting group.

 

Limitations:

4. If the character set of your installation is UTF8, generating any report in PDF format (with or without printing) is not supported. PDF under a UTF8 character set environment, and other non-Latin 1 character sets, is not supported. As per Note 189708.1 "Oracle Reports 6i Setup Guide for Oracle Applications 11i":

"Oracle Reports 6i cannot generate PDF output with multi-byte characters even with the settings described in this section...In Oracle Applications 11i with Oracle Reports 6i, PDF output is supported for only Latin-1 character sets such as US7ASCII, WE8ISO8859P1 or WE8MSWIN1252. Any other single-byte, multi-byte or Unicode character set such as UTF8 or WE8ISO8859P15 is not supported."

NOTE 2: Under UTF8, generating PDF via the XML Publisher product is supported; however, printing of XML Publisher generated PDF files is accomplished by third party software and Apps seeded drivers--see step 8 of Note 316447.1 About Oracle XML Publisher Release 5.5. 

 

5. If the character set of your installation is UTF8, Pasta is required for all of your printing, regardless of the output format being used. The printing chapter of the Oracle Applications System Administrator's Guide states, "In order to print reports with the UFT8 character set, you 'must' configure PASTA".

NOTE 3: Older printers do not fully support the Unicode (UTF8) character set; therefore, it is essential to use Pasta to convert the output file to a format or character set that older printers do fully support. The main or common problem is poor interpretation of extended characters such as accent marks, Euro symbol, or umlauts. 

 

Workarounds:

6. From Oracle Applications via the Adobe Acrobat Reader, a PDF output file can be viewed and printed.

7. Although, it may be possible to create a custom print driver or print program using the Adobe Acrobat Distiller, viable instructions on how to perform such a custom setup is very scarce, see Note 262657.1--intended for Latin 1 character set environments.

8. Use Pasta, an Oracle post printing program, to change a copy of the report output file to the desired or printable output format. Please reference via Metalink the Pasta User's Guide Release 3.0 for additional information on Pasta. In this type of setup, you will need to determine what third party product and what OS concatenated commands are needed to covert the output file to the desired format and submit the print job. Place the needed concatenated commands in the pasta.cfg file as printCommand=command...arguments. Another approach is to used a third party file conversion program with the Pasta preprocessing command,  preprocess=command...arguments (i.e. preprocess=pdf2ps {infile} {outfile} ). See the examples in the end of the Pasta User's Guide under "Preprocessing Command".

9. Lastly, use another format like Postscript, that is fully supported for viewing and printing.

 

NOTE 4:  Please keep in mind, Applications Support is not structured to support in-depth customization issues; that is, the knowledge is distributed across several groups, such assistance is very limited. Please reference WebIV Note 122452.1 "Oracle Support Services Policy Regarding Customizations".

References

Note 189708.1 - Oracle Reports 6i Setup Guide for Oracle Applications 11i
Note 240864.1 - Activating and Configuring IX Library
Note 99495.1 - Oracle Applications Postscript Printing