Services are programs that "watch" for events to happen. In the case of Print Wizard, this involves watching either for a print job to show up in a specific directory (despooling), or watching for a job to arrive over a network port.

Print Wizard supports two types of services, Print Wizard Services and Windows Services.

Print Wizard Services are those that are run by a specific user, when logged in, watching for print jobs to appear. This does require the user to log in and start the Print Wizard Service. Alternately you could add the service to the Windows Startup folder and it would run in the background whenever the user logged in.
Windows Services for Print Wizard are run from the Windows registry whenever the machine is actually booted up (you do not need to log a user in). These services are available for all users and will receive remote print jobs even if there is no user logged in. They normally run as a "Local System" user with very little permissions.

Both services are managed through the Print Wizard user interface. Refer to the Print Wizard manual for more information.

What are the differences between PWLPD version 2.7 and 3.0?

Two different methods can be used to set up the printing for a print queue, a) through a profile or b) direct through the command line option.

Through A Profile:

A Print Wizard "profile" is a textual file defining how a print job should behave and what settings to use, including the init file. When you set up a print queue, you can specify a profile name to use for a specific queue. These "profiles" are set up via the User Interface and the Tools menu for "Setup profile" and the Properties:Print Wizard tab. You can then associate a Print Wizard "profile" with your queue (see the Queue Properties).

Direct:

Through the User Interface, go to the Tools : Setup Services : Properties dialog, select your queue and go to its Properties. Under the Queue Properties and the "Action to take" tab, you can actually specify the job to run for this queue (the 'Default program or script...'). Here you can add the init file direct to the executable line for Print Wizard:

C:\printwiz3\printwiz.exe /q /minimize /vdocname=PWS /vinit=abc.init

(check the path of course....).

Those are the two ways. The objective in this version is to provide more flexibility and this does make things a little more complicated, but the general features are still the same.

How do I create a PDF?

The Print Wizard engine allows you to convert any printable file into a PDF file by simply printing it with the appropriate switch settings:

Printwiz.exe /pdf /fFilename.pdf myfilename
Printwiz.exe /fpdf:// myfilename
Printwiz.exe /fpdf://myfilename myfilename

You can also generate PDF files through the user interface menu items.

What types of overlays does Print Wizard support?

Print Wizard supports several overlay files. The possible formats are a PWML file, a SPL file, an EMF file, a PCL file or a graphics file (TIFF, JPG, GIF, WMF or BMP).

Can Print Wizard print graphics files?

Print Wizard supports several graphics file formats, including the option to print them at true size or at full page, stretching as needed. The possible formats are TIFF, JPG, GIF, WMF or BMP.

Why are PDF files so large?

At present, we are developing and working on compression methods to reduce the size of the files. When we generate a PDF file, one of the issues may be the number of font changes and characters that are loaded into the file, and whether they require bitmap character representations. Another determining factor is the number of graphics that are included.

How do I create a PCL file?

The simplest way is to lay out your print document and print to a PCL 5 or earlier printer driver. When you do this, go into the printer driver and select "Print to file". It should ask you for a file name that can then be saved off for future use.

Even if you do not have a PCL printer, you can install a PCL printer driver to generate print files from. Do an "Add printer" and select an H/P printer that supports the level of PCL you want. Then set the "Print to file" flag and use it to print through. The PCL file can then be used for subsequent printing, for overlays or for other reasons.

How do I create a SPL (spool) file?

This is not as easy as creating a PCL file. A SPL file is created when a print job spools out what is called EMF files to the printer spooler.

First locate the spool directory, usually "\windows\system32\spool\printers". Under Windows NT, it may instead be "\winnt\system32\spool\printers" or "\winnt\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Print\Printers". On some versions you can configure Windows to use a different directory for all printers, or for a specific printer.

To find your PC's general spool directory:

Go to the Control Panel
Click on "Printers" or "Printers and Faxes"
In the File menu, click on "Server Properties"
Click on "Advanced"
Note what is in "Spool folder".

If in the steps below you fail to find a particular spool file, you may want to check the Windows Registry, under one of the following areas:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Print\Printers\DefaultSpoolDirectory
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Print\Printers\specific printer name\SpoolDirectory

Now capture the SPL file.

Open the Control Panel's "Printers" or "Printers and Faxes" applet.
Double-click the icon for the printer in question. Ideally, there will be no print jobs showing.
From the Printer menu, choose "Pause printing".
Print the document you want to capture, on the chosen printer, using whatever Windows software is appropriate. You should see the print job show up in the printer window on your screen.
Look in the spooler directory as identified previously. You should find a file with a ".SPL" extension (hopefully only one). Copy this file to some other location on your computer.
In the printer's window, cancel the print job.

I want to start my label printing on a different label.

If you first bring up your print file with Print Wizard engine and the Preview command-line switch set (or do it through the user interface), you can then reselect the starting label.

Refer to the Print Wizard manual for more information.

How can I print a normal text file in columns or on labels?

Check out our examples and you will find one that shows printing text in columns by adding just a few lines of PWML code. By adding something like this to the top of the file or to print "init" file, you can force the page size to represent columns:

I am getting a printer error.

Printer errors, especially those in the 5000 range, usually indicate that we are sending data to the printer that the printer cannot understand. A good example would be sending PCL codes to a non-PCL printer or sending Okidata escape sequences to an H/P Laserjet, or sending raw data to a Windows-only-printer.

By default, the Print Wizard engine will determine if the file contains printer-specific escape sequences and then try to send the data in either spooler or raw print level. Many Windows-only printers cannot accept raw data and this will cause a printer error.

Likewise, if Print Wizard determines the file has Okidata escape sequences in the data stream, and you try to print it on an H/P Laserjet, the printer driver will generate an error.

Can I run Print Wizard from my own application?

The Print Wizard engine is designed to be fully functional through the use of print profiles and command-line switches.

You can run Print Wizard through a shell execute or Exec command. With the "/q" command-line switch to prevent any dialogs from appearing and will return error codes to the hosting application.
You can run Print Wizard from a file association by specifying a specific extension as being printed with Print Wizard (see the Print Wizard manual on setting it up as a File Association). Then you simply start the file through a shell execute or Exec command.
You can include Print Wizard in a script that runs from your program, returning an error code if the print job should fail.
You can run the Print Wizard DLL, calling the various methods exposed to allow Print Wizard to handle all your printing needs.
You can run the Print Wizard ActiveX module from your program. WePO exposes a subset of the Print Wizard calls, allowing you to use it in your .NET or Windows application.

At present, Print Wizard does not support COM or DDE directly. We are working on this for the future. If you have any need let us know.

What are Print Wizard profiles?

Print Wizard version 3.0 introduced a new concept of 'print profiles'. Print profiles are settings that will be applied for each subsequent print job that includes that profile as a parameter.

Print profiles include information such as the printer to use, the various printer settings, number of copies to print, whether to print it, fax it, email it, etc. These can all be set up in the user interface by settings things the way you want and then saving your current settings, or by creating a profile from default settings and saving it.

What is the difference between Personal Edition and Service Edition?

Print Wizard Personal Edition includes the basic of the user interface, the Print Wizard engine and the Print Wizard DLL. It does not support any remote or despool Print Wizard or Windows services.

The Service Edition is designed for those PCs that will be receiving print jobs from remote locations or despooling print jobs from a specific remote or local directory. Print Wizard Service Edition supports the Despool, FTPDespool, Listen and LPD protocols.

The demo version of Print Wizard includes all capabilities. If you have been working with the demo version and are ready to order, and you're wondering which version you need, the test is simple: if you're running a service, you need Service Edition.

How do I setup a drop shortcut to print?

There are two methods available.

By default, the desktop shortcut set up to the Print Wizard installer will cause the file dropped on it to print with the default Print Wizard settings including auto-fit, auto-margins, etc.

For more advanced printing needs, you can go through the Print Wizard User Interface program (PWUI) and define a "profile". These profiles determine what to do when processing a job with a profile, including the ability to print with specific options set.When you define the profile, PWUI will ask if you want to create a desktop shortcut. If you answer yes, you will end up with a desktop icon that you can drag and drop files on.

If you want to manually set up a shortcut, you can do so by including the profile name on the command line, or target line, for the shortcut:

C:\Program Files\Printwiz30\printwiz.exe /profile=myprofile.profile

You can take this further by setting up the drag/drop profile to do one of the following:

Always fax to a specific number
Include specific fax information, such as the subject, notes line and attachments
Always ask where to fax to

You can then open up your Windows Explorer or other file applications and drag a file from there and drop it on this shortcut to email as you need.

What are bang commands?

"bang" commands are commands that can be included in a data stream that will change the behavior of Print Wizard in printing a portion of a file. Bang commands are discussed in detail in the Print Wizard manual.

You can split your data into multiple sections to be processed separate from other sections by including bang commands directly in the data stream. As an example, if I wanted to create a PDF of part of a file, fax another part of a file and email another part of a file, I could do this within one print job with bang commands.

!PDF /fmypdf.pdf
Line 1 of data
Line 2 of data
Line 3 of data
!fax /x5036240760
Line 1 to fax
Line 2 to fax
Line 3 to fax
!email /eabc@def.com
Line 1 to email
Line 2 to email
Line 3 to email

How can I not have the WePO button appear?

As mentioned above, WēPO is usually called by a specific class object from a web page. If you do not want the object button component to show, simpl make its width and height as 0 and then you can locate the class object anywhere:

<OBJECT classid="clsid:659D3554-54CD-46BC-B0F1-D88C4CCFD10C"
codebase="http://www.mysite.com/controls/printwizocx.cab#version=2,7,0,0"
width=0
height=0
align=center
hspace=0
vspace=0
ID="Pwbuttonx1" VIEWASTEXT>
<param name="mainurl" value="http://www.mysite.com/reports/myreport.txt">
<param name="caption" value="Print">
</OBJECT>

Next you need to include your java (or other script) code to call the "click" action for the WēPO control. Something like this will work:

...
<input type=button value="my print" OnClick="javascript:buttonclick();">

<script language=javascript>

</script>
<div> </div>
<a href="javascript:click();">Hello World - Click here!!!!</a>

</BODY>
</HTML>

The WePO control does not show - Windows Security

WēPO is an add-in, ActiveX module for web pages. Thus it is something that is downloaded from a web site at the time of the page being displayed. Certain browsers may never allow ActiveX modules, others may not allow the download without user intervention, others may require changes in security settings and still others may download and install but not show the control on the screen until some user interaction takes place.

Add to this all the Internet Security suite software and the various anti-virus products on the market, and the display of the ActiveX may be questionable in some environments.

Likewise, Windows Security and Internet Security suites are in a constant state of flux and hence ActiveX controls, such as WēPO tend to work one day and not the next, depending on various updates and security settings. Check your products running and know when and what updates do.

What versions of Windows will Print Wizard run on?

Print Wizard version 4 is supported on Windows XP and later, including Vista and Windows 7.

Print Wizard version 3 through 3.3 is supported on Windows XP and later. However, for Vista and Windows 7 we require you to be on the latest release of 3.3.

Print Wizard is a 32-bit program. It will run fine on either 32-bit or 64-bit versions of the above platforms.