Actions
Once a job has moved through whatever transforms a queue defines, one or more actions decide what actually happens to it. Actions run independently of each other — each receives its own copy of the transformed result, so a single job can be printed, archived, and emailed all at once, with no action depending on any other having run first or succeeded.
Three of the nine actions below require RPM Elite, and two more are available in RPM Select with an Elite-only option inside them. Anything carrying an Elite only tag needs Elite; everything unmarked works in either edition.
Also, three of the actions support shared devices, such as shared printers or shared folders:
- Text Print
- Raw Print
- Archive to Folder
Several actions include an interactive option. For this, you must specify a username and password in the action configuration, and that user needs to be logged in. Also note the Archive to Disk action which mentions “Logon as Batch Job Rights” for exactly this reason.
RPM supports nine kinds of actions:
1. Text Print
Sends the job to a Windows text printer, with RPM handling line height and character positioning automatically — this is the one case where RPM applies a transform without being explicitly configured to, since accurate text printing depends on it.
The input for text print is a home grown format we refer to as “text markup”. Think of it as similar to JSON except that ours existed years before JSON. Text printing requires precise positioning on the page; we don’t just emit a lot of text as if it were a line printer.
Text print can lay a text watermark under the job, so the text of the job overlays an image in transparent mode. That part is Elite only .
See how to setup the RPM Text Print Action
2. Raw Print
Sends the job’s data straight through to a Windows printer with no reformatting — the right choice when the job already arrives in the printer’s native language and doesn’t need RPM to reinterpret it.
Examples would include:
- sending PostScript to a PostScript-capable printer
- sending PCL-XL to a compatible printer
- sending plotter data to a plotter, or suitable forms to a 3D printer
See how to setup the RPM Raw Print Action
3. Email the Job
Delivers the processed job as an email.
- We can send the job to an address in the setup or use metadata from your print file contents
- We can send the content of the job as the email body, or as an attachment
See how to setup the RPM Email Action
4. Archive to Disk
Writes the job out to a folder on disk. Metadata plays a direct role here too — it’s what determines the output filename, so archived jobs can be named meaningfully rather than with a generic or sequential label.
RPM supports shared folders. If you don’t know how to set this up, here is your big chance to learn about Logon as Batch Job Rights. This is one of our nerdier topics.
See how to setup the RPM Archive Action
5. Run a Program (the “Filter”)
Passes the job to an external program as a command-line argument, with metadata values available to build that command line dynamically. This is the action behind RPM’s use as an integration point rather than a pure printing tool — one long-time customer uses it to inject print job data directly into a database. RPM turns that into a real integration.
See how to setup the RPM Filter Action
6. Copy to Queue
Sends a copy of the job to a different queue entirely, for further processing there. The Dynamic Queue option Elite only goes further: metadata pulled from the job itself determines which queue it’s routed to, letting a single job’s own content decide its path rather than every job on a queue following the same fixed route.
This is an excellent way to group processing, rather than laboriously reproducing the same actions in multiple queues.
See how to setup the RPM Copy to Queue Action
7. LPR Print Elite only
Forwards the job onward to another device or system over LPR — useful when RPM needs to sit in front of a printer or server that itself expects LPR input. If you need RPM to be a relay, this is one way to do it. Another likely use is for RPM to be the processing engine, and we simply use LPR to forward the results.
See how to setup the RPM LPR Print Action
8. IP Print Elite only
Sends the job directly to a network-connected printer by IP address, using a port. This is the exact counterpart to the Telnet protocol which RPM also supports.
See how to setup the RPM IP Print Action
9. Upload to FTP Server Elite only
Delivers the finished job to a remote FTP server, a common pairing with PDF conversion for customers who need processed output to land somewhere other than a local disk or printer.
This action also does a “keep alive” on the connection to the remote server, so that concurrent jobs do not connect, send, and disconnect, over and over. When we send a job we test the connection to the remote server to see if it’s still alive, and if so, we reuse it.
See how to setup the RPM FTP Printing Action