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Functional specification
13
CDE/Motif PST
CDEnext
1.2.1
Advanced Utilization of the X Print Service
To aid an application in printer selection and generic setup, and as a hook into the functionality provided by the Dt
Print Dialog Manager, a primary or top-level X Print Service GUI (see figure point C) (contrib component) is
provided in the library:
x
libDtPrint
From the top-level GUI, a printer selection mechanism is provided that helps the user select from the available
printers and their associated X Print Servers (e.g. toms_laser is available on phub.hp.com:6), though the X Print
Server specification (e.g phub.hp.com:6) is by default hidden so that the more traditional printer-name based
selection mechanism is presented. The top-level GUI also presents generic print setup options (e.g. copies) that can
be modified once a printer is selected. Application specific options can also be embedded in this dialog, giving the
appearance of a single unified print GUI.
For additional configuration, the Dt Print Dialog Manager (PDM) provides a second level of printer specific GUIs.
An application could take on the task of printer configuration, or can easily offload the task to the Dt PDM. The
executable is:
x
dtpdm
The dtpdm is a standalone program that listens to and potentially serves applications attached to the X Print Server
(see figure point E), and can be highly configured to the capabilities of each printer attached the X Print Server.
To give the appearance that the Dt Print Dialog Manager GUIs are also an integral part of the application, they are
posted as transient windows (see figure point D) off the application. A typical service that the Dt Print Dialog
Manager can provide is page size selection and resolution selection (e.g. select 8-1/2"x11" paper at 300dpi).
Using libXp API calls to the X Print Server, the application and Dt Print Dialog Manager can exchange
configuration and option information. In some cases, the Dt Print Dialog Manager may work in close association
with the X Print Server DDX Driver (e.g. X to PCL) to deliver higher level functionality and potentially tighter
integration with the print spooler. For savy applications, it is possible to tie into the flow of configuration and option
information, and make runtime changes.
1.3
The End User's View
The end user is the person who will be using an X application that uses the X Print Service.
From the user's perspective in a typical application, printing is done through a series of dialogs, the first one being
initiated by selecting, for example, the pulldown menu <File><Print...>. The first dialog (contained in the
application itself), will allow the user to select generic print options - such as the number of copies - as well as
options specific to the application - such as page range. This initial print dialog will be comprised of two sections:
generic print options, and application specific print options. The generic print options portion of the dialog will look
and function identically across all applications. The application specific portion contains any options the application
wishes to present in addition to the generic options.