Viewing composed AFP at a PC workstation
Starr, Alan
We would like to facilitate PC workstation users viewing mainframe-generated reports that have been composed by PSF using Formdefs / Pagedefs.
We have PSF but do not have ACIF or the Transform features (e.g. from AFP to PDF). We have VPS with a key for PCL but not PDF. There isn't any chance that either of the aforementioned features will be purchased. We have Adobe LiveCycle but I have no idea what conversion features we purchased (if any). We have CA-Deliver and CA-View, plus some workstation-based interface to CA-View called DocView (at a very old, outdated release level).
Applications Development would prefer to see the composed AFP pages converted into a .pdf file that can then be viewed at a PC using Acrobat Reader.
Failing that, it would be acceptable to somehow get the composed AFP (is that IPDS?) into a PC file that can be viewed using one of he many AFP freeware viewers. I have not been able to find a way to get PSF or VPS to output to a dataset / file rather than a printer.
Any input would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks,
Alan
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Ed Finnell
In a message dated 7/7/2010 7:52:44 P.M. Central Daylight Time,
Alan_...@CALPERS.CA.GOV writes:
can be viewed using one of he many AFP freeware viewers. I have not been
able to find a way to get PSF or VPS to output to a dataset / file rather
than a printer.
>>
Guess Infoprint Transform would be most straight forward. Think Transform
is free FMID but you have to pay for the transformer FMIDs. Another option
is something like ePrint at _www.leadtools.com_ (http://www.leadtools.com)
that will transform AFP to PDF and put it on a .pdf DOC server. The server
is Linux based and could be paid for by canceling some of your other
products?
Linda Mooney
We have DRS, another of the LRS products, and we use that daily to write datasets for several applications. It does other things too. Works great. If you have DRS, I'll be happy to share the particulars. You could also contact LRS support and explain to them what you are trying to accomplish. In my experience, they have always been very helpful.
If you don't have DRS, you could use VPS/PCL to convert and setup your output and put it back on the spool for CA View to pick up. CA support could help with the particulars for your version of View/Deliver.
HTH,
Linda
----- Original Message -----
From: "Alan Starr" <Alan_...@CALPERS.CA.GOV>
To: IBM-...@bama.ua.edu
Sent: Wednesday, July 7, 2010 5:51:28 PM GMT -08:00 US/Canada Pacific
Subject: Viewing composed AFP at a PC workstation
Hello list,
We would like to facilitate PC workstation users viewing mainframe-generated reports that have been composed by PSF using Formdefs / Pagedefs.
We have PSF but do not have ACIF or the Transform features (e.g. from AFP to PDF). We have VPS with a key for PCL but not PDF. There isn't any chance that either of the aforementioned features will be purchased. We have Adobe LiveCycle but I have no idea what conversion features we purchased (if any). We have CA-Deliver and CA-View, plus some workstation-based interface to CA-View called DocView (at a very old, outdated release level).
Applications Development would prefer to see the composed AFP pages converted into a .pdf file that can then be viewed at a PC using Acrobat Reader.
Failing that, it would be acceptable to somehow get the composed AFP (is that IPDS?) into a PC file that can be viewed using one of he many AFP freeware viewers. I have not been able to find a way to get PSF or VPS to output to a dataset / file rather than a printer.
Any input would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks,
Alan
Barkow, Eileen
most likely be PageCenter from LRS - it picks up data from VPS which can then be viewed and manipulated online.
Timothy Sipples
there are many options for other operating systems as well (starting with
#8, below). In no particular order:
1. You can view AFP files using the AFP Workbench for Windows. This is a
free, "as-is," downloadable piece of software. Here's the direct link
(watch the wrap):
ftp://ftp.software.ibm.com/printers/products/workbench/windows/service/ipsafpwb.exe
2. You can view AFP files in your Web browser using the Windows AFP Viewer
Plug-In. This plug-in also lets you view AFP files that are made available
through a Web server. For example, you can run the IBM HTTP Server for z/OS
and serve up AFP files to your PC users who can then (very conveniently)
view them and/or print them, all within their preferred Web browser. (And
optionally you can authenticate access to z/OS via the IBM HTTP Server for
z/OS and RACF/ACF2/TopSecret/etc., you can log (and audit) access, you can
encrypt the transmission of the files using HTTPS protocol, and you can
even use SSL client certificates if you like.) The Plug-In has been tested
with Windows 7 and works with Windows versions as far back as Windows 2000.
Here's the direct link:
ftp://service.software.ibm.com/printers/products/workbench/windows/service/gnsp32dm.exe
3. You can print AFP files from Microsoft Windows using the InfoPrint
Solution AFP Printer Driver for Windows. This driver could also be used in
conjunction with free and/or paid PDF print drivers (as can the other
options), to convert AFP files into PDF files on your PC. Here's the direct
link:
ftp://ftp.software.ibm.com/printers/drivers/afp/IPSAFPDrv.exe
4. BTB GmbH offers a commercial AFP Tools product here:
http://www.btbnet.de/english/products/afp-tools/afp-tools.html
5. ISIS Papyrus offers a free AFP Viewer here:
http://www.isis-papyrus.com/e10/pages/forms/2/afpviewerdlrequest.html
6. Abdio has a commercial converter called PDF Converter Pro:
http://www.pdf-converter-pro.com/pdf-converter.html
7. Zentech has a converter:
http://www.zentech.co.nz/AFP2PDF.htm
Moving on to just some of the options that are not specific to Microsoft
Windows:
8. TargetStream Technologies offers a commercial product called StreamEDP
which is an AFP to PDF converter utility (and object) written in 100% Java
(TM). It can run on any Java platform, including z/OS, Linux, and Mac OS X.
Details here:
http://www.targetstream.com/products/streamedp
9. RSD has an AFP viewer option for their EOS software, briefly mentioned
here:
http://www.rsd.com/en/press-releases/archives/press_thinclient_12500.html
10. There are many products that can generate PDF files (and other formats,
e.g. HTML) directly from z/OS output, whether or not it's starting in AFP
format. These products are specifically optimized for z/OS and z/OS-related
operations. InfoPrint Transforms for z/OS is an excellent example, and
Content Manager OnDemand for z/OS is another. Levi, Ray & Shoup (LRS) would
also very likely have some options available, and there are probably
others. In my experience these commercial products are very affordable. In
fact, they're usually substantial money savers because they help reduce or
eliminate paper printing altogether, while unfortunately the PC-based
"quick-and-dirty" stuff often does the opposite. (Fairly recently I was
talking with a company that spends over $100M per year just on printing,
and that's not uncommon. That's roughly an order of magnitude more than
their entire mainframe-related IT budget, including related payroll. Never
mind the inherent inefficiencies in many paper-based business processes.)
There are also very comprehensive security options more likely available
using this direct generation approach, including options like generation of
passport-protected PDFs, protected field PDFs, selectively redacted PDFs,
etc.
Anyway, if you pause half a second and think about these issues
holistically, you'll start to focus on business process optimization,
enhancing workflow, security-related issues, etc. -- all things that are
quite important -- rather than just a purely technical, tactical approach
that may not solve (or may even exacerbate) the real business problem(s).
Here are the relevant links:
http://www.ibm.com/systems/z/os/zos/printsoftware/ipserverhome_z_ww.html
http://www.ibm.com/software/data/ondemand/390
http://www.lrs.com
11. TallPine offers a commercial AFP to PDF converter written in Java:
http://www.tallpine.com/tallpinetech/html/afptopdf.htm
12. SnowBound offers a variety of options, including a Java applet viewer
for AFP files:
http://www.snowbound.com/image_conversion/afp_to_pdf.html
13. Oxseed offers AFP2Web:
http://www.oxseed.com/afp2web?set_language=en
....And there are probably others I missed. There's certainly no shortage
of options! Please note that I do not necessarily have experience with
particular products on this list.
- - - - -
Timothy Sipples
Resident Enterprise Architect
STG Value Creation & Complex Deals Team
IBM Growth Markets (Based in Singapore)
E-Mail: timothy...@us.ibm.com
Hunkeler Peter , KIUP 4
Let me add that -- in the absence of ACIF -- some of the options will
require
access to the AFP resources (formdefs, fonts, page segments, etc.) from
the
workstation to complete the AFP for display.
Line mode is another beast. Many viewers cannot deal with line mode
data,
so pagedefs are useless.
>Failing that, it would be acceptable to somehow get the composed
>AFP (is that IPDS?)....[snip]
No, in the sense of what AFP viewers expect, it is AFP. The output
componse by ACIF is the original AFP with all required external
resourced imbebded at the beginning of the file (resource group).
PSF transforms AFP into IPDS when sending data to an IPDS printer.
Printers understand IPDS not AFP. But (afaik) there is no viewer
that would take IPDS as input(except from printer manufacturer's
debug tools); they all expect AFP.
--
Peter Hunkeler
CREDIT SUISSE AG
Martin Packer
personally use - to make nice PDFs via Linux tools) I'm wondering if the
originator of the AFP datastream could do similarly. Probably not, but I
think it worth investigating.
Cheers, Martin
Martin Packer,
Mainframe Performance Consultant, zChampion
Worldwide Banking Center of Excellence, IBM
email: martin...@uk.ibm.com
Twitter / Facebook IDs: MartinPacker
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