• Resolved issues with RPM installing and running on Windows 2000
• Resolved a display issue where folder paths were shown with a slash instead of a backslash
• Fixed a issue which occurred when queues were sorted alphabetically
• Fixed more issues when on importing configuration from previous versions
• Removed blank pages from the beginning of ASA converted documents when saving to PDF, PCL, or HTML
• Added validation when multiple email addresses are used. You can now use commas and semicolons
• Fixed issue with interactive filter programs when a remote share is used as the working directory
• Added the ability to suppress blank pages in PDF, PCL, and HTML as well as the text printing action
• Fixed minor issues PCL output
• Added feature to force RPM to use a UNC path when browsing through a mapped drive
• Cleaned up some log messages
• RPM now uses the credentials specified when running on Windows 2000
• Fixed issues with the code page transform
• Fixed UI issue where the job archive options were not preserved or displayed properly
• Fixed issue where the service could not access the database on startup
• Fixed issue where the raw printer action did not print the specified number of copies from some LPR print clients
• Fixed issue with file naming where the the LPR/LPD class value was not used properly
• Resolved issue where the last job archived would print again after changing certain actions
• Can now add ports greater than 32767. Valid values are 1-65535. Configured ports that are in use by other programs show up as well and you can start/stop ports too.
• Fixed issue with jobs that were run in the wrong order
• Fixed licensing issue
• Resolved error when trying to export configuration when no queues existed
• Fixed Windows 2000 issue when canceling filter programs in use
• Fixed Windows 2000 issue that causes high CPU usage when waiting for filter programs to end
• Brooks License Manager shows the correct number of printers after the RPM license is unlocked
• Added character set option to text markup action
• Resolved issue with job deletion settings

Note that this beta version does not run on Windows 2000 but that we do plan to support Windows 2000 with the final release.

• Fixed issue with the text banner transform. You can now clear the optional banner file.
• Updated device window with more relevant information. The window now refreshes automatically.
• Fixed text markup issue with ignoring form feeds in certain instances
• Fixed issue with running a filter program when that program requires input from an interactive user
• Added support for filter programs that require standard in (stdin) and standard out (stdout). This could be used for programs that cannot take an input filename as an argument.
• Added the ability to run the text or raw printing actions interactively
• RPM adds logon as a batch job user right automatically after prompting the user for permission.
• Redesigned the work flow for configuring text markup options
• Fixed issue where the filter action did not run the configured filter program as the correct user
• Resolved issue with job deletion
• The job and queue lists can now be sorted
• Cleaned up some log messages
• Added a new transform to convert from one code page to another
• Added the ability to specify the orientation in the text markup settings.
• Fixed crashing issue when RPM is processing jobs during shutdown.
• Fixed PDF conversion issue when incoming documents had a really long line.
• Worked on line wrap issue in PDF output. May still wrap too soon, in which case you should set a right margin of zero.
• Added the ability to relay emails through and SMTP server rather than emailing directly.
• Cleaned up the PCL banner transform.
• String translation transform now allows the replace field to be blank (to remove a string).

The new version of RPM receives print documents exceptionally faster than previous versions.

Auto COR (One queue that will automatically support Portrait or Landscape orientation dependent upon print document line length)

Complete SCS formatting conversion supported. Including SKIPTO, Underlining, Overprinting, etc

Broadcast one spool file to many resources. This is great functionality if you want a soft copy and a hard copy of the AS/400 print document. With this new broadcast feature, you can print to a printer and to a folder at the same time in different formats.

The new RPM gives you more types/formats to convert the SCS data. Now your SCS data be easily converted to PDF, HTML, or PCL with RPM.

You will now be able to email your files when received with the new RPM. RPM will receive the file from the AS/400 and email them, print them, and archive the file… or just email if needed.

Within the NEW RPM 5.0, we have:

• Reorganized /Re-categorized menu options to make things more intuitive and easier to use
• More intelligent configuration import gives better feedback on the status of an import
• Updated format of the export configuration file
• Removed Queue Styles, and replaced it with the ability to copy and paste queue configuration
• Added the ability to archive print jobs
• In addition to holding print jobs you can now reprint and cancel print jobs
• Added the ability to view the contents of a print job
• Performance has been improved for both receiving and printing of print jobs
• Updated printing workflow so that a print job can be printed, emailed, saved to disk, sent to a program, or another queue at the same time. This means a queue can now be a filter, raw and text queue at the same time; instead of just a text queue or just a raw queue or just a filter queue
• Supports files larger than 2GB
• Ability to store thousands more print jobs than previous versions, previous versions were restricted by capacity of the Windows Registry
• RPM startup issues with shared printers have been resolved
• Unicode support
• Simplified host access settings; same great security yet easier to configure
• User interface displays read-only view to standard users, configurable interface to administrators
• Ability to export log to CSV file for easier manipulation with spreadsheet
• Ability to copy individual log entries to the Windows Clipboard

Transformations and Actions for each Queue

Instead of setting up a filter queue (or text and raw queue), you’ll simply set up a print queue within the new RPM. Then you’ll set up the transformations, then actions. Each queue can perform multiple transformations and multiple actions.

RPM first needs to know what you want to do to the incoming print job. What transformations do you need to happen before RPM sends the print job to the desired location. Do you need a string translation? Do you need to remove or append bytes?

Translations: UTF-8, String translation, Unix to DOS

Removal: Remove null characters, Remove PCL, Remove bytes, Remove text markup

Insert/Append: Insert bytes, Insert file, Append bytes, Append file, Break lines, Text banner, PCL banner

Transform: ASA to text markup, SCS to text markup, Text markup, Apply COR to Text Markup

Output: Text markup to HTML, Text markup to PCL, Text markup to PDF

The second part of the new RPM 5.0 print queue is the action. An action is where you want RPM to send your print jobs. RPM 5.0 can perform many of the previous “actions” plus many new and enhanced actions. An example of an action with RPM is: copy queue, archive folder, text printer, raw printer, filter, and email.

Answer: If you configured your AS/400 OUTQ using our current setup instructions to get a decent PDF file, you should run these transforms in this order:

1. Remove PCL
2. Text Markup
3. (optional)Apply COR to Text Markup
4. Text Markup to PDF

Note that, from an AS/400, RPM supports converting standard SCS files to PDF. To see whether the files are SCS or another format, open the Attributes of the spool file. The Printer Device Type attribute shows the type. It can be SCS, AFPDS, IPDS, or USERASCII.

RPM can receive AFPDS files after they have been converted to a printer language by host print tranform, but this conversion creates complex print data that RPM cannot convert to PDF. This goes for most 3rd party applications as well, especially any that create graphics or bar codes.

RPM does not support IPDS files. For IPDS, check our ExcelliPrint.

USERASCII files do not fall into any of the above categories. Spool files of this type are simply not known by the AS/400.

There are a few differences with the new RPM and the older versions while using the AS/400. Please check out the differences and changes when printing with the AS/400.

• Fixed refresh issue with job count
• Added feature to export log
• Added feature to copy selected log messages to clipboard
• Standard users are now able to view settings, but cannot modify or remove items
• Fixed issue where the UI would not display the license manager on Vista
• When printing fails to the text printing action, job is no longer removed
• Added source file without extension to the list of file naming options
• Fixed issue where occasionally jobs were not cleaned up/deleted properly
• Fixed handle leak
• Fixed log display issue
• Devices view updated to display more relevant information
• The UI provides better feedback on potentially long-running operations (deleting multiple jobs)

We are very interested in your feedback. Please post your comments or send us an email if you run into any issues.

The manual is also available for preliminary download as stated in a previous post. If you find any inaccuracies in the manual, or information that should be included, please let us know.

Please click here to download the RPM 5.0 BETA Manual (PDF). You can always download the manual without having to visit this page by clicking on the link to the left. As updates are added to the manual, we’ll post the new version.

Things you should know before installing RPM 5.0 BETA

1. Most importantly, this is a beta and SHOULD NOT be installed in a production environment.
2. Things may crash. If you are prompted to send an error report to Microsoft, please do so.
   This will help cut down the development time required to resolve certain issues.
3. If you run into other issues, or something that just doesn’t do as expected, please gather as much information as possible and contact technical support so we can resolve the issue in a timely manner.
4. Things are different and we hope you like the changes. Keep in mind there is no guarantee the RPM beta version will behave exactly as previous versions.
5. Let us know what you think of the changes. Your feedback provides
   valuable information and ultimately makes the product better.
6. We may follow up asking questions about your beta experience. If you don’t respond to our inquiries, you may not receive updated beta versions.
7. The beta will automatically upgrade existing versions of RPM Select 4.0 and higher and cannot coexist on the same computer at the same time as previous versions.

We realize a lot has changed with this new version and our documentation hasn’t caught up with the features yet. Please be patient with us. In lieu of good documentation, our technical support is available anytime during normal business hours to provide training.

Here is the link to Download RPM 5.0 BETA. You can also reach the download at any time from any page clicking on the link to the left.

User Interface

• Drag and drop files into RPM queues
• Drag and drop print jobs between queues
• Easily duplicate queues with copy and paste operations
• Import queue configuration from any RPM version
• Select multiple queues or jobs simultaneously
• View contents of print files with included hexadecimal viewer
• More intuitive host access configuration
• Improved log window with sortable columns
• Better file naming options
  • More intuitive configuration
  • The append to file feature can create new files yearly, monthly, daily, and hourly

Service

• Improved LPD support:
  • Better handling of multiple print jobs on a single connection
  • Increased speed while receiving print jobs
  • Support for a wider variety of print clients
• Page count estimate is displayed on incoming print jobs
• Multi-threaded output
• Security: each action can have its own user credentials, no longer need to run the server as a privileged user
• Fully customizable print job workflow
• Improvements to existing actions: text, raw, filter, and archive
• The text printing action fully supports UTF-8
• Specify number of copies when raw printing
• Added ability to email print jobs
• Added the ability to perform multiple actions on incoming print jobs (save and print, broadcast print)
• Print job archiving
• Reprint jobs
• Added a number of data filtering options
• Supports PDF, PCL, and HTML output
• PDF supports international character sets including Asian languages
• String translations
• Supports variety of custom banner pages
• Character Output Reduction (COR) adds the ability to automatically rotate from portrait to landscape and scale the font size
• Added support for more SNA Character Set (SCS) commands
• Supports a wider variety of code pages, including double-byte character sets (DBCS)
• Added support to break lines at a configurable width
• Specify page range on each queue
  • Limit the maximum number of pages on incoming print jobs
  • Eliminate banner pages created on the host system
• Customize the location of the Spool folder