Moving forms from one VMS server to another VMS server

[Jorge Cocomess]

Greetings,

I have tons of forms from one VMS server that I would like to migrate them over to another VMS server. I would like to know how I can do this?

Thank you in advance.

Jorge

[Peter Zeiszler]

Forms as in dcps printing forms or something else?

[Jorge Cocomess]

When you type "show que/form" command and they system list out all of the forms. These are the forms that I would like to migrate them to another VMS server. Can this be done??

~ Many thanks

[Bill Hall · Accepted solution]

Jorge,

I have attached a DCL procedure that I got off of DSNlink many years ago. I believe it should work for you.

Remember, the procedure will only generate a procedure to replicate your form definitions. You will have to merge the form definitions and form numbers on the new system yourself. You will also have to move any device control libraries and/or the individual setup modules your forms require.

Bill

[Phil.Howell]

the form definitions live in a device control library (usually sysdevctl.tlb)
This is a text library, you can extract the definitions as .txt using the LIB command,
then copy to the target system and reload again using LIB
You have to restart print symbionts or services for them to access new forms.
Phil

[Art Wiens]

Phil, the modules that have the actual codes called by the /setup switch on the form are in device control libraries, but I think Jorge wants to know if the actual definitions can be moved over "easily" eg. he doesn't want to :

$ define/form name number /all_the_characteristics

a thousand times.

My only suggestion would be to show all your forms to a file and then use keyboard macros in your favorite editor to create a command procedure which will do the defining. The form displays are fairly uniform and a keyboard learn sequence on one, should be able to do the rest.

Cheers,
Art

[Jorge Cocomess]

Ok, I have this form 'A' with these attributes:
Form name Number Description
--------- ------ -----------
A 2 GREEN BAR
/LENGTH=66 /MARGIN=(BOTTOM=6) /STOCK=A /TRUNCATE /WIDTH=180


How I go about setting it up the old fashion manual way?

Thank you everyone -

Jorge

[Art Wiens]

As a start:

$ help define /form ;-)

$ define/form A 2 /DESCRIPTION="GREEN BAR" /LENGTH=66 /MARGIN=(BOTTOM=6) /STOCK=A /TRUNCATE /WIDTH=180

Have a look at the DCL command procedure provided by Bill, looks like it will do all this for you ... I just tried it on a test system and it all looks correct. Redirect the output to a file and your done. Thanks Bill, this will come in handy!

And as Bill mentioned, don't forget to move all the libraries over. If you show your queues/full, the files referenced by /LIBRARY= should all be in SYS$LIBRARY by default unless otherwise noted.

Cheers,
Art

[Jorge Cocomess]

There is a 'Forms.Lis' file in SYS$LIBRARY on the original system - I should just be able to use this forms.lis file, right?

Jorge

[Art Wiens]

I would suspect that FORMS.LIS is something some put there. Forms libraries have a .TLB extension (Text LiBrary).

Run the command procedure Bill provided. It creates a command procedure which will do all the forms definitions. Either copy/paste the output into an empty file and call it whatever you like or execute Bill's procedure with /out=define_forms.com (or whatever you want to call it). Copy this command procedure to your new system and execute it. Done (with the exception of copying over your libraries).

Art

[Jorge Cocomess]

Art - I get an error when I tried to run Bill's com procedure as this;
%DCL-W-EXPSYN, invalid expression syntax - check operators and operands
%DCL-W-IVVERB, unrecognized command verb - check validity and spelling
\"freeze_context"\

Any ideas?

[Art Wiens]

??? I just tried it again on a v5.5-2H4 VAX system ... works fine.

Perhaps you made some sort of copy/paste error, or the paste wrapped a line when it shouldn't have. There are no lines that are wrapped in the original so look for lines in you new procedure that don't start with a $ sign.

Art

[Bill Hall]

Jorge,

Sorry I haven't had time to follow this thread very closely today, I do have a real job with challenges of my own ;-).

Art is probably correct in his assumption that a line wrapped when you transferred the dcl. I tend to work in 132 column mode no matter what terminal or emulator I'm using. Actually, I rather dislike 80 column mode, even in dcl procedures.

Bill

[Jorge Cocomess]

I will take a closer look at the com procedure and see if I can find anything. In the meantime, I've created quick couple of forms for the users to print so that I can have more time to look at the script.

Thanks guys for all your time.

Jorge

[Robert Gezelter]

Jorge,

A few followup suggestions:

- if one finds a list file in a directory, it may be of historical interest, but I would never recommend that it be trusted as a true reflection of the current state

- on a related note, I always recommend that clients DO maintain a .COM file that creates all of their forms from scratch. In the rare event that it become necessary to recreate the queue files from scratch, such a file is a vital part of the process.

One important cultural strength of OpenVMS is that the culture is to create the command files, and then (frequently) run them at system startup. This practice forces a minimum level of documentation, and also ensures that it is possible to recreate system state in the event of a problem.

- Bob Gezelter, http://www.rlgsc.com

[Jorge Cocomess]

Bob - That's a great advise.

Thank you.

Jorge

[Dean McGorrill]

Hi Jorge,
trying saving bills procedure instead
of cut and paste. I just did that and ftp'd
it to my alpha and it runs beautifully. (nice tool to have bill!)

Dean

[Martin Vorlaender]

Dean,

Bill's procedure was one of four that generates DCL for queue characteristics, definitions, forms, and jobs.

I use a concatenation of all four to save the queue database.

cu,
Martin

[Jorge Cocomess]

Hi Guys,

I am having a little trouble with the characters a bit bigger than I would like. I have managed to set the bottom=6, right=3, left=3 - The report prints just fine, but I wish the character more condensed or truncate a bit more.

Here's the info on the form type that I setup:
Form name Number Description
--------- ------ -----------
HP9W (stock=SIDEWAYS) 1255 Landscape HP9050 Acct
/LENGTH=66 /MARGIN=(BOTTOM=6,RIGHT=3) /SETUP=(HP9W) /STOCK=SIDEWAYS
/TRUNCATE /WIDTH=180

Where did I go wrong??

Thanks,
Jorge

[Phil.Howell]

have a look at the setup module HP9W
this is probably in sysdevctl.tlb
it will contain PCL code that is sent to the printer at the start of the print job
this may include page orientation, and symbol set, spacing and pitch
just change it to what you want, then you can use print /setup to test
Phil
see
http://h20000.www2.hp.com/bc/docs/support/SupportManual/bpl13205/bpl13205.pdf

[Art Wiens]

Which library the module specified by /SETUP=(HP9W) is queue dependant. On your original system where it works, SHOW QUEUE/ALL/FULL queue_where_it_works and note what it says for /LIBRARY=. Find this library, should be in SYS$LIBRARY: (note root or common depending on which node the queue executes on). Copy this library to the new system's SYS$LIBRARY: directory (again noting root or common subtleties).

STOP/QUEUE/RESET the new queue and then START it.

Should be good.

Art

[Jorge Cocomess]

Gents,

Here's the info on the print queue:

Printer queue HP9000_ACC, idle, on RAVEN::"HP9000_ACC:9100", mounted form A
/BASE_PRIORITY=4 /DEFAULT=(FLAG=ONE,FORM=DEFAULT,TRAILER) /LIBRARY=HP
Lowercase /OWNER=[SYSTEM] /PROCESSOR=TCPIP$TELNETSYM
/PROTECTION=(S:M,O:D,G:R,W:S) /SEPARATE=(RESET=(HP_RESET))

Jorge

[Jorge Cocomess]

How do I go about changing the PCL codes to the way that I want for this new form??

Thanks,
Jorge

[Phil.Howell]

This a setup module for landscape printing
you will have to read the pcl guide mentioned earlier for more details of what each line does

E
&l26A
&l1O
&l12D
&k4S
(s0T

use LIB /EXTRACT to extract the module to a .txt file
use your favourite text editor to change it
use the LIB /REPLACE to replace the module
shutdown and startup telnetsym

Phil

[Martin Vorlaender]

Jorge,

>>>
How do I go about changing the PCL codes to the way that I want for this new form??
<<<

1. Extract the module from the library:

$ LIBRARY/EXTRACT=(HP9W)/OUTPUT=HP9W.TXT SYS$LIBRARY:HP.TLB

2. Edit HP9W.TXT. IMHO, EDT is better suited for such a task than TPU.

3. Put the module back into the library:

$ LIBRARY/REPLACE SYS$LIBRARY:HP.TLB HP9W.TXT

HTH,
Martin