spear@druco.ATT.COM (SpearmanS) (01/09/91)
Under Simultask 3.0, I get lots of complaints from users that their DOS programs don't fully print out until they exit DOS. There is the 'flush' command from the DOS command line to flush the buffer and cause printing to finish, but it requires leaving the application package often. The best I've come up with is running a TSR that can pop up a DOS prompt and let me 'flush' the print queue. Is there any other way to get an automatic (perhaps timed) flush so that a print occurs fairly normally from a DOS user's perspective? Thanks Steve Spearman spear@druco.att.com
mike@bria.UUCP (Michael Stefanik) (01/10/91)
In article <7138@drutx.ATT.COM> druco.ATT.COM!spear (SpearmanS) writes: >Under Simultask 3.0, I get lots of complaints from users >that their DOS programs don't fully print out until they >exit DOS. There is the 'flush' command from the DOS command >line to flush the buffer and cause printing to finish, but >it requires leaving the application package often. > I had some customers with the same problem; my solution was to write a program that reads stdin and popen()'s lp, and flushing in between. You set it up as the program that is execexuted on that LPT in the vpix config file. If you want a copy, send me mail. -- Michael Stefanik, Systems Engineer (JOAT), Briareus Corporation UUCP: ...!uunet!bria!mike -- technoignorami (tek'no-ig'no-ram`i) a group of individuals that are constantly found to be saying things like "Well, it works on my DOS machine ..."
rudolf@curano.acadch.com (Rudolf Kuenzli) (01/12/91)
In <1674@svin02.info.win.tue.nl> debra@svin02.info.win.tue.nl (Paul de Bra) writes: >What about the standard menu you get by hitting ALT-SYSREQ m >and then selecting the item for flushing the print buffer? >I don't see any use in developing a tsr to be activated when at >the dos prompt as this menu item seems to work just fine. >(it's in tfm) Yes it is in the manual indeed. Anyway using ALT-SYSREQ and then flushing the printer by hitting 'P' hase some undesired results sometimes on my system. After flushing I lowercase characters show up in UPPERCASE and vice versa. Sometimes it can be fixed just with SHIFT DDDD. Sometimes it doesn't I have to leave vpix. Running MS-WORD I am then not capable to save the stuff, so I learned to save before... -- Don Curano The Magician In real life: Rudolf Kuenzli uucp: ...uunet!autodesk!adeskch!rudolf Internet: rudolf@curano.acadch.com ...chx400!adeskch!rudolf rudolf@adeskch.uu.ch
les@chinet.chi.il.us (Leslie Mikesell) (01/18/91)
In article <2502@westmark.WESTMARK.COM> dave@westmark.WESTMARK.COM (Dave Levenson) writes: >In article <7138@drutx.ATT.COM>, spear@druco.ATT.COM (SpearmanS) writes: >> Under Simultask 3.0, I get lots of complaints from users >> that their DOS programs don't fully print out until they >> exit DOS. >The problem is that the system generally doesn't know when the >MS-DOS application has ended. Dos applications generally don't >close the printer file, because they think it's a device. Without >the close, your TSR wouldn't know whether the stuff that's been >written to the printer is complete. Even when your application >ends, UNIX can't tell - there's no UNIX process that ends at that >point. Whether MS-DOS is running the command.com or your program, >it's still one process to UNIX. Don't be so kind to VP/ix. Many MS-DOS programs DO close the printer device and reasonable network redirectors detect the close and respond correctly by flushing to the print spooler. Many other programs that don't close the default printer device can be configured to write to a file named LPT1: instead, and will then close it properly. In any case, exiting the application should always force the close and be detected by the redirector. This problem and the fact that multi-user access to files is allowed without netbios style file locking makes VP/ix unusable in a production environment. And, of course the fact that it won't run the most popular DOS word processor (WP) unless everything is on a DOS partition or virtual disk sort of indicates that no one cares if it is usable or not. >This is why VP/ix requires that the >operator take some action to flush the print queue. The operator >knows when a complete listing is ready for printing. On the contrary - with modern DOS programs that provide background printing internally, the operater generally doesn't know, but network-aware programs will close the device to inform the redirector. >OS-Merge, as I recall (it's been a year or more) uses a timer >algorithm. If the MS-DOS process has written something to the >printer, and has not written any more for N seconds (N is locally >administerable, but I think it defaults to 10) then it flushes the >queue. This is reasonable as long as it can be configured per-user and disabled if necessary. Les Mikesell les@chinet.chi.il.us