FAQ: Send plain text from the AS/400

Question: I want to receive a print job in RPM from an AS/400 without any printer control characters. Is this possible?

Answer:

For RPM 5.0:

• If your AS/400 is sending *HP4, add the "Strip PCL" transform then the "Archive to file" action
• If your AS/400 is sending *SCS:
  • add the "SCS markup" transform
  • add the "Remove text markup" transform
  • archive to disk

For RPM 4.5 and prior:

The AS/400 setup instructions show how to receive data into RPM from the AS/400. The "Manufacturer type and model" OUTQ parameter are shown as *HP4. In a "text" type queue, RPM easily and effectively removes the PCL codes and then formats the data according to RPM's queue settings. If you are printing the data to a printer, this is the preferred option.

If you will be saving the file to disk, or invoking another application with the data, you can still remove the PCL codes with the *HP4. However, there is another option. Set the following parameters, along with ones found in the AS/400 setup instructions.

You will now get the data without specific printer codes embedded in the document.