Front-End Printing with Control Technology (Access Method G) (SAP Library

Front-End Printing with Control Technology (Access Method G)

Use

Unlike traditional front-end printing with access method F, the front-end printing with control technology and access method G, available as of SAP Web AS 6.20, provides the following advantages:

· Simplified configuration and more stable execution, especially when printing using Windows Terminal Server, since SAPlpd is no longer required as a separate process with the new type of front-end printing. The environment variable LP_CMD is also no longer required in terminal server environments.

· The printer selection is no longer displayed in the SAP system. Instead, a Microsoft Windows printer selection window is called directly from the control. The restriction on the length of printer names therefore no longer applies.

· Front-end printing is possible for non-Windows platforms with SAP GUI for Java.

This means that front-end printing with control technology (access method G) is used for all cases for front-end printing using Windows Terminal Servers and SAP GUI for Java. In the long-term, it will also replace front-end printing using SAPlpd (access method F) for printing from SAP GUI for Windows.

Integration

Technically, the new front-end printing is based on controls that have been implemented in SAP GUI for some time. Controls are DLLs that run in the process context of SAP GUI. The new print control receives the print data and forwards them to the underlying operating system print system. If you are using the SAP GUI for Windows, you can also use the device type SAPWIN to use any printer with a Microsoft Windows driver. When printing with the SAP GUI for Java on other platforms, you need to use an appropriate device type, such as PostScript.

Prerequisites

To be able to use front-end printing with control technology (access method G), you need to install the following:

Release-dependent kernel patch

Release-dependent SAP NetWeaver Support Packages

SAP GUI patch for SAP GUI for Windows

For more information, see SAP Note 821519.

You then need to use report RSPO0075 to add access method “G”. You can then create printers with the new access method “G” in the usual way. “G” is the access method for front-end printing with control technology.

If access method “G” is not yet provided in report RSPO0075, you need to import the correction instructions attached to the above SAP Note. For technical reasons, the prerequisites for the new front-end printing cannot be provided as correction instructions. Import the Support Package in any case.

We recommend that, when you are creating a printer in the SAP system, you make the entry __DEFAULT in the Host Printer field for the Host Spool Access Method. __DEFAULT calls the relevant default printer name.

Activities

If you select a printer with access method G when printing from the SAP system, under Microsoft Windows, the Microsoft Windows selection box appears, from which you can select a printer defined at your front-end (see also Front-End Printing (SAP GUI for Windows))..

If you are printing using the SAP GUI for Java, whether a printer selection window appears depends on your spool program.