Editing Cover Sheets for Output
Requests
In all standard SAP device definitions, the cover sheet used for output requests is defined in the X_PAPER format of the device type definition. The X_PAPER cover sheet is the default, used if no cover sheet has been defined for the page format of an output request that is being output.
If the standard X_PAPER cover sheet for a particular type of device is not suitable for use at your site, then you can replace or modify it in either of these ways:
· You can change the definition of the default X_PAPER cover sheet.
· You can override the default cover sheet by defining special cover sheets for particular formats. If a format has its own cover sheet, then the spool system uses this instead of the X_PAPER cover sheet.
If you have multiple types of printers at your site, then you must customize the cover sheet for each device type separately.
Procedures: Defining or Editing a Cover Sheet
You can define or edit a cover sheet as follows:
...
1. Copy the device type: If the cover sheet is for a standard SAP device type, then copy the device type to a name that begins with Y or Z (the namespace reserved for customers).
To copy a device type, choose Administration → CCMS → Print → Spool Administration and Utilities → For device types ® Copy device type. On the next screen, in the first field enter the name of the device type that you want to copy. In the second field, enter a name for the new device type. This name must begin with a Z to avoid any conflict between your device type definition and the standard SAP definition.
If you only want to change the cover sheet, select Use references. This adds to your copy a reference to device format actions in the standard SAP device type. You can modify the cover sheet action; other actions remain current with the SAP standard even after a system upgrade.
Do not modify cover sheets in the original standard device type. If you do so, your changes may be lost when the next system upgrade or Support Package is installed.
2.
Edit the new
device type: Return to the
Spool Administration screen and choose the Device Types tab page.
Specify the name of the new device type and confirm your entry. Then choose
Formats.
Select the format for which you want to edit or create a cover sheet. Enter X_PAPER as the format if you want to modify the default cover sheet. Enter another name to create a cover sheet specifically for that format.
3. Edit the Cover Sheet Action The next two sections explain what to enter in a cover sheet action and which variables and symbols you can use to output information on the title page. The default cover sheet action is one of the X_PAPER actions. X_PAPER is used for all formats if the format does not have its own cover sheet action.
¡ First set up the printer: A cover sheet action should first output the printer commands required to set up the printer. The cover sheet action is issued before the initialization action in which the device is set up for the coming output request. This means that the cover sheet action must make all printer adjustments necessary so that the cover sheet prints correctly. (The cover sheet must come before initialization because by default the spool system uses the X_PAPER cover sheet. X_PAPER can not make the settings needed for the following print job, which may use any of many other formats. If the cover sheet followed initialization, its settings might alter settings made by the initialization. The initialization for the print job therefore comes after the cover sheet.)
If you are editing a copy of a standard SAP cover sheet action, then you can leave the initialization commands as they are. If you are creating a new cover sheet action, then use, whenever possible, a standard SAP cover sheet as a guide to the commands to be issued to a given type of printer.
For example, you may need to set all of the following printer attributes at the start of a cover sheet action:
§ The printer font and/or character set
§ Printer emulation mode
§ Page format (or page length for the SAPscript STND and STN2 line printer drivers)
§ Line spacing (lines per inch)
§ The page orientation (portrait or landscape)
¡ Then print the cover sheet: You can use two kinds of variables to insert information such as the user name, delivery address, and so on into the cover sheet.
For a list of the variables, see Variables for Printing Data on Cover Sheets.
