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97
CDE/Motif PST
CDEnext
X P
RINT
S
ERVICE
A
TTRIBUTES
7.1
Overview
Printing-specific attributes play a key role in the X Print Service. They provide a general-purpose mechanism for
storing information associated with printing. This information includes user print setup options and printer
capabilities.
PURPOSE
Convey capabilities of print servers and printers, and options for print jobs and documents.
DESCRIPTION
The X Print Service selects attributes in a way that is consistent with X Windows, ISO/IEC 10175 (ISO
DPA), and POSIX 1387.4 print standards (note: the X Print Service is not an implemention of the ISO
DPA or POSIX 1387.4).
Applications typically will not have to deal with these attributes. The primary use of the attributes is for
communication between the Print Dialog Manager and the printer ddx drivers. Generally, only applications
that present their own job and printer setup dialogs will need to examine attribute information.
The initial values of X Print Service attributes are specified in the X Print Configuration Files. The
configuration files are read by the X Print Server. The attributes are interpreted by each driver, and for each
printer a set of relevant attributes is maintained. The Print Dialog Manager obtains the attribute set for a
given print context and uses the values to initialize the job and printer setup dialogs. The user interacts
with the dialogs, and sets values for the printing task. The Print Dialog Manager informs the server of the
updated attribute values. When the printing task commences, the printer ddx driver reads the set of values
to determine how it will render the print documents and submit the job.
The ISO DPA defines a number of abstract objects that are managed and manipulated during the printing
process. These are known as DPA-Objects. Each DPA-Object is represented by a set of attributes which
characterize that object. Each attribute in turn is composed of an attribute-type (attribute name) and zero or
more attribute-values.
The X Print Service utilizes selected DPA-Objects, and for each of these, a subset of the associated
attributes. The DPA-Objects used are:
Server Object
Specifies attributes defined for the print server.
Job Object
Specifies attributes for a single print request as sent to the spooler.
Document Object
Specifies attributes used to define a single document within a job. If
supported by the implementation, one or more documents may be
submitted within a given job.