Customizing the view

Spool Window

The columns on the Spool Window display document and printer attributes. The same attribute columns display for the spool printer and document lists. The column display offers control of the document sort order and provides information about spool documents and printers. You can customize the view of the documents by filtering on values and sorting the columns. This is useful when trying to quickly find documents in the Spool Window. You can also change the attribute columns and the order in which the columns display. Your display choices can be saved to a settings file. If you want to switch between views, you can specify which settings file to use.

See also:


Adding columns

Complete the following steps to add columns to the Spool Window.

  1. Open the Spool Window.

  2. On the menu bar, select View | Format Columns. The Format Columns dialog box displays.

    Format Columns Dialog Box

  3. From the Available sections list, select the section that contains the fields you want to add. The fields for the selected section display in the Available columns list.

  4. Select a field in the Available columns list, and click the arrow (>) to add it to the Visible columns list. You can also add fields by double-clicking entries in the Available columns list.

  1. When you finish adding and arranging columns, click OK to return to the Spool Window.

Removing columns

Complete the following steps to remove columns from the Spool Window display.

  1. Open the Spool Window.

  2. On the menu bar, select View | Format Columns. The Format Columns dialog box displays.

    Format Columns Dialog Box

  3. Select a field in the Visible columns list and click the arrow (<) to remove the field from the display and return it to the Available columns list.

  4. When you finish removing and arranging columns, click OK to return to the Spool Window.

Changing the column order

Columns in the window display from left to right. To move a column to the left in the window, you need to move it up in the Visible columns list. To move a column to the right in the window, you need to move it down in the Visible columns list. To change the column order, complete the following steps.

  1. Open the Spool Window.

  2. On the menu bar, select View | Format Columns. The Format Columns dialog box displays.

    Format Columns Dialog Box

  3. In the Visible columns list, select a field

  4. Click Move Up to move it up in the list (to the left in the window). Click Move Down to move it down in the list (to the right in the window). Each click shifts the field by one column position.

  5. When you have finished selecting and arranging columns, click OK to return to the Spool Window.

Renaming columns

You can rename the column headings that appear in the Spool Window. Usually, the field description displays as the column heading in the Spool Window. If a field does not have a description, the field name displays as the column heading. Complete the following steps to rename columns.

  1. Open the Spool Window.

  2. On the menu bar, select View | Format Columns to display the Format Columns dialog box.

    Format Columns Dialog Box

  3. Select a field in the Visible columns list.

  4. Click Rename. Removing the column from the Visible columns list will restore the default column name.

  5. When you finish renaming columns, click OK to return to the Spool Window.

Restoring window settings

You can restore the Spool Window settings to the default settings or the most recently saved settings.

To restore default settings

You can reapply the default settings or use them as the starting point for creating new column settings. This procedure removes new columns and clears the view sort order and any filters. The settings file (.bsp) will be closed. You will be prompted to save any changes to the settings file.

  1. Open the Spool Window.

  2. On the menu bar, select View | Clear Settings.

To restore saved settings

While making changes to your column settings, you can abandon your changes and revert to the most recently saved settings.

  1. Open the Spool Window.

  2. On the menu bar, select View | Revert Settings.

To restore the display

You can remove the viewing sort order and the applied filters. This will restore the view to the current sort order defined by the Add Sort Criteria Wizard. If a custom sort order has not been defined the default order will be restored. Restoring the display does not affect the settings file or which columns display. Use one of the following methods to restore the display.

Saving window settings

You can save your Spool Window display settings to a file. This file contains custom settings such as the sort order, filters, column names, column order, etc. If you want to switch between views, you can specify which settings file to use. If you exit the Spool Window, the next time you display the window, your settings will be restored.

You can match the Retain Window settings to the Spool Window settings.

The steps you perform to save your settings depend on whether you are writing to a new file or updating an existing file.

You must be granted the Configure - Spool Window user access right to use this option. See the Using the User Rights Configuration utility topic for more information.

To save new settings

Complete the following steps to save your current column settings to a new file.

  1. Open the Spool Window.

  2. On the menu bar, select View | Save Settings As.

  3. Specify the file name and file folder. You cannot save the spool settings to the \\Program Files\Barr\Spooler\Exe folder. The default location is \\Program Files\Barr\Spooler\Settings, unless an alternate path was specified during installation. The file will be saved as a Spool Window settings (.bsp) file.

  1. Click Save.

To save changes to existing settings

Complete the following steps to update a previously saved file with your changes.

  1. Open the Spool Window.

  2. On the menu bar, select View | Save Settings. The default file location is \\Program Files\Barr\Spooler\Settings,unless an alternate path was specified during installation.

Opening window settings

Complete the following steps to open an existing settings (.bsp) file. Default .bsp files are created during installation with settings specific to Barr Enterprise Print Server modules. You can select any of the following files: Default.bsp, LPD.bsp, NJE.bsp, NJE+LPD.bsp, PRTCHAN.bsp, PRTCHAN+LPD.bsp, RJE.bsp, or RJE+LPD.bsp.

  1. Open the Spool Window.

  2. On the menu bar, select View | Open Settings.

  3. Select the appropriate settings file. The default files are stored in the \\Program Files\Barr\Spooler\Settings folder, unless an alternate path was specified during installation.

  4. Click Open.

Filtering documents from the window

You can customize the view of the documents by filtering on values. This is useful when trying to quickly find documents in the Spool Window. You must restore the view for normal operation.

You can use filters to view only the documents that meet conditions you specify. You can filter documents based on the column and column value. For example, if you filter the Class column on value A and select to include this value in the view, only documents with a class value of A will display in the Spool Window. All of the other documents still exist and can be seen again by removing the filter. You can apply an unlimited number of filters to the view. To remove the filter and restore the view, click the Clear Custom View toolbar button.

When filtering is used, data sets do not appear in the window until the data set is fully received. This can cause a slight delay before large jobs are visible in the window. Also, when filtering is used in conjunction with the Print Directly to the Printer setting, the document can begin printing before it appears in the window.

To filter on value

Right-click a value in the document list, and select Filter on Value. This will filter the view on the selected column and value. You can apply multiple filters by repeating this action.

To use custom filtering

Complete the following steps to use custom filters.

  1. On the menu bar, select Document | Custom Filter. The Custom Filter dialog box displays.

    Custom Filter Dialog Box

  2. From the Column name drop-down list, select the column you want filtered.

  3. Under Value, select a value from the list or type a value in the box. You can use wildcard characters (? and *) to filter values. For example, if you filter the Data set copies column on value 2??, all documents with a 3 digit copy count beginning with the number 2 will be filtered.

  1. Click the arrow (>) to add the column and value to the Filters list. To remove a filter, select the filter in the Filters list and click the arrow (<). You can also add and remove filters by double-clicking entries in the Value and Filters lists.

  1. Select if the documents matching the filter should display in the view by right-clicking the filter in the Filters list and selecting Include or Exclude. By default, the filter will be included in the view.

  2. When you finish creating your filters list, click OK to apply the filters and return to the Spool Window. A blue arrow appears on the document column heading for each filtered column, and the status bar displays the word Filtered.

Changing the viewing order

This will only affect the viewing sort order. You must use the Add Sort Criteria Wizard to modify the printing sort order.

You can customize the view of the documents by sorting the document columns. This is useful when trying to quickly find documents in the Spool Window. You must restore the view for normal operation.

To change the order in which documents display in the Spool Window, click the column heading. A yellow box with a number and arrow will appear to indicate the sort order and if the documents are being displayed in ascending or descending order. Click the column heading again to change the ascending descending order. You can sort on up to 15 columns. By default, the BARR_FOLDER field (Job's Folder column) is designated as the last sort criteria for the viewing sort order. This is necessary to keep multiple data sets with their associated print job. All data sets will be grouped together with its print job except under these circumstances:

If the viewing sort order includes the Size column, documents will appear out of order when they are received in the Spool Window. To update the viewing sort order, double-click any of the previously sorted column headings. This will refresh your viewing sort order.

SYSIN jobs:
When sorting, all SYSIN jobs will stay intact and in sequential order, and the sort criteria is based only on the first data set in the job.

To remove individual sorting criteria, press the SHIFT key and click the appropriate column heading. To remove the viewing sort order entirely, click the Clear Custom View toolbar button.

Showing or hiding spool printers

From the Spool Window, you can show or hide designated printers. Printers that can be hidden will display a darker shade of gray in the Printer column of the Spool Window. If a document is being routed to or is intended to be routed to a hidden printer, the Printer column for the document will also appear in a darker gray shading. When printers are hidden from the view, the status bar displays a message that gives the number of hidden printers.

You can only hide printers that have the Printer can be hidden option enabled on the Configuration Utility's Advanced Printer Options dialog box. To perform these tasks, you must be assigned the Printer - Show All user access rights.

Use the following methods to show or hide printers.

To hide the designated printers

To display all printers