Publishing Reports to the Web - Downloads - Oracle

5
Printing on UNIX with Oracle Reports
Oracle Reports provides a rich set of features out of the box for printing on various
platforms. Printing on UNIX requires some setup and configuration to create the
proper printing environment. This chapter provides information about printing on
UNIX with Oracle Reports. In particular, it covers:
■ UNIX Printing Overview
■ Setting Up a Printer on UNIX
■ Configuring the Printing Environment
■ Printer-Related Files
■ NLS Support
■ Debugging Options
■ Frequently Asked Questions
5.1 UNIX Printing Overview
This section explains how to print from Oracle Reports on UNIX and highlights the
key differences between the UNIX and Windows platforms. It also explains the
operating system requirements for any application to print successfully.
■ General Printing Mechanism
■ Oracle Reports Printing Mechanism on UNIX and Windows
■ Printing Support
5.1.1 General Printing Mechanism
In trying to understand how printing works for Oracle Reports on UNIX, it is useful to
have the Microsoft Windows printing mechanism as a reference point. Microsoft
Windows provides an application level API that supports different types of printers
based on the installed printer drivers. Applications can interact with various printer
drivers through these standard APIs. For example, to change the paper margin, an
application needs to call the appropriate Microsoft Windows API method, which
conveys the desired changes to the printer driver. On Microsoft Windows, printer
drivers are printer specific, i.e., you need to install a specific printer driver for a
printer. These printer drivers know how to communicate to the printer and provide
services to applications that need to send output to the printer. Applications can access
the printer properties, change their properties, and perform printing through these
standard APIs.
Printing on UNIX with Oracle Reports 5-1