Bringing AFP Back from the Dead

by Alex Woodie

AFP, or Advanced Function Printing, is a proprietary EBCDIC-based architecture developed by IBM for storing and printing graphical-intensive documents on the AS/400 and, now, the iSeries. Like its ASCII- based compatriots--Hewlett-Packard's PCL and Adobe's PostScript and PDF--AFP handles the management and routing of text, fonts, graphics, and overlays from the computer to the printer.

When coupled with IBM's own print data stream, Intelligent Printer Data Stream, AFP provided AS/400 and iSeries shops with the control necessary to ensure a solid print output mechanism befitting the world's most popular business application server. Over the years, however, many AS/400 and iSeries shops, especially small and midsize shops, have standardized on ASCII printers, which are generally more prevalent and less expensive than high-speed IPDS printers.

Now, with the release of these two products, IBM is trying to give its users a reason to move back to a centralized AFP print environment or, for users that haven't yet made the switch, to stick with it and extend their users' AFP capabilities to electronic forms, using the Internet.

Distilling Infoprint Server

There are many features of Infoprint Server for iSeries Version 1.01, but when you boil it down, the utility has two main functions. First, it provides data conversion programs to transform PCL, PostScript, and PDF application data, as well as graphical formats, into OS/400's native AFP document format. Second, the utility provides a hub for developing electronic output distribution systems, relying heavily on the PDF document format. Let's tackle the data stream conversions first.

One of the five main components of Infoprint Server for iSeries is called the Transform Manager. When a user submits a print job, Image Print Transform, a component of OS/400, automatically detects the output data stream used by that particular application. Transform Manager then uses the appropriate converter to change the PostScript Level 3, PCL5e, or PDF 1.2 data into AFP data stream at runtime. After transformation, the print job is submitted to Print Service Facility, another OS/400 component, for routing to the printer. AFP data stream converters are also available for JPEG, GIF, and TIFF (not BMP) formats. (For a complete list of conversions available, read IBM's sales presentation on the product.)

IBM says that keeping documents in the AFP format provides several advantages, not the least of which is the fact that the AS/400 and iSeries were designed to use it. By enabling users on a LAN to print their ASCII-based documents and reports through the iSeries, Infoprint Server keeps the iSeries as the central point of control and provides error recovery and job logging. Using AFP also provides returns at the high- end of the spectrum, where investments in high-speed IPDS printers capable of printing in the 50-to-2,000- page-per-minute range begin to pay off. Needless to say, IBM also allows printing to PCL printers with this utility.

Electronic Document Distribution

Now let's take a look at the utility's PDF capabilities. Infoprint Server's PDF Transform component, also referred to as the PDF subsystem, is a "virtual printer" that allows users to create PDF documents out of any file that can be submitted to Print Service Facility for printing and e-mailing, archiving on the OS/400 Integrated File System, or posting to the Web. Formats supported natively by Print Service Facility include AFP, SNA Character Stream, IPDS, line data, and OfficeVision/400 documents, and PCL and PostScript documents by extension via the Transform Manager.

IBM is keen to emphasize Infoprint Server's PDF subsystem creates text-based, non-image ASCII PDFs. Text-based PDFs take up less network bandwidth than fully "bitmapped" PDFs, IBM says, and they retain their indexing and navigation characteristics.

Infoprint Server builds on some nifty facilities in OS/400 that allow users to place triggers on output data in order to break up and customize massive PDF mailings. The utility acts on these triggers and creates separate PDF files for each logical segment, which, for example, could be defined as a certain geographic region.

The utility also includes a separate component for electronic distribution of AFP documents. The component is called CRTAFPDTA, which is short for Create AFP Data, or, in the vernacular, "Web AFP." Web AFP enables users to send AFP documents to other users over the Web by encapsulating all the AFP elements such as data, fonts, graphics, and overlay data--which are often stored in different physical locations in the traditional use--into one file. The person receiving the document opens it using an AFP viewer, which is available as a download for the Netscape Navigator Web browser.

Faxing is a sticky issue for Infoprint Server. While other integrated forms management packages commonly include a fax server as an option, Infoprint Server does not. IBM's answer for Infoprint users who want fax capabilities along with their e-mail, Web, and print capabilities: Buy Lotus Domino and use the Domino fax server.

Infoprint Server is a PASE (compiled AIX binary) application, requires OS/400 V5R1, and is tier-based in price, ranging from $500 to $6,500. The utility doesn't require users to change their application code, although recompiling portions having to do with printing may make it run faster, IBM sources said. (For more information on the product, read IBM's product overview.)

Infoprint Designer for iSeries

Infoprint Designer for iSeries Version 1.01 is a Windows-based program that provides a graphical document composition interface to the iSeries printing system. It allows users to create customized business forms in the AFP format, including graphical elements such as images, fonts, and barcodes. It can be used with or without the Infoprint Server, to build new output applications or rebuild existing ones.

The utility consists of three components: the Overlay Editor, the Image Editor, and the Layout Editor. The Overlay Editor is used to design electronic AFP form overlays and features a selection of AFP fonts, shading controls, and "scan and trace" functions for digitizing existing preprinted forms. The Image Editor assists users in designing the graphical elements of a form, including converting existing TIFF images into the AFP image standard and "touching up" and resizing the images. It all comes together in the Layout Editor, where the user puts the elements together to create the final report and prepare it for uploading to the OS/400 server.

Like Infoprint Server, Infoprint Designer works using iSeries page definitions and does not involve using DDS. The utility runs on Windows 95/98/NT/2000 PCs and requires OS/400 V4R5 or higher and IBM's Client Access. It is available for a flat rate of $6,000. For a good summary of Infoprint Designer, read the IBM sales presentation.