11.1 Introduction to iPrint

iPrint is an innovative NetWare® feature that gives users access to remote printers over the Internet using the Internet Printing Protocol (IPP). When iPrint is installed, printer and other related objects are created in eDirectory™. These objects are managed using iManager and the iPrint module, which also ship with NetWare.

The iPrint module defines an iPrint Management role, which has several associated tasks, including Create Printer. Administrators use the Create Printer task to set up printers on the network. To complete this task, administrators must select a gateway type from a list of available gateways. Novell® provides the Novell LPR gateway, which always appears in this list.

Figure 11-1 The Create Printer task.

Gateways allow iPrint clients to send jobs to printers that are not IPP-aware. Gateways translate iPrint queries or commands to printer-specific language that the physical printer can use. This is possible because gateways are configured to know the specific type (make and model) of printer being used. Third-party gateways are developed by printer manufacturers to support printers attached to the network. These gateways are developed to interact with specific proprietary printers and can provide a wider array of information and offer options that are not available for the generic Novell gateway.

This section explains how to create a task to provide for the configuration of third-party gateways. You should be familiar with the concepts discussed elsewhere in this document concerning the creation of iManager tasks before you proceed.

Gateway configuration plug-ins are not installed or registered with iManager as tasks are—they “plug in” to the iPrint task. This is accomplished by creating plug-in registration files that use the <gateway‑config> tag and placing the files in special directories that are recognized by the iPrint plug-in. Except for these differences, creating a gateway configuration plug-in is just like creating an iManager task.

The following table lists the types of files used in gateway configuration plug-ins:

Table 11-1 Gateway configuration plug-in files

File type

Location

Java class files

tomcat\webapps\nps\WEB-INF\lib\jarfilename.jar

JSP files

tomcat\webapps\nps\portal\modules\iPrint\skins\default\devices\default\gatecfg

Registration files

tomcat\webapps\nps\portal\modules\iPrint\plugins\gatecfg

Resource files

tomcat\webapps\nps\WEB-INF\lib\jarfilename.jar

The gateway configuration plug-in file locations are the same as file locations for iManager tasks with the exception that the JSP and registration files are in subdirectories named “gatecfg” within the iPrint module directory hierarchy.

When you create a gateway configuration plug-in and copy the files to the appropriate directories, the name of the gateway appears in the Gateway Type drop-down list of gateways in the Create Printer task. Also, when the administrator selects the gateway and clicks the Next button, the plug-in provides a user interface that queries for configuration information required by the gateway. This user interface can gather information on a single screen or on several successive screens, if necessary. Your plug-in then writes that information to eDirectory and completes other processing, if needed.