🚀 go-pugleaf

In article <3nfjgc$8hp@omega.gmd.de>, Holger Veit <veit@borneo.gmd.de> wrote:
>In article <3nef9c$580@cpcug.org>, kbennett@cpcug.org (Keith Bennett) writes:
>|> This question pertains to the use of device monitors used to intercept and
>|> divert printer output.
>|> Why is use of these functions discouraged?  Are there other better
>|> ways to accomplish what we need to do?  The reason we need to use a
>|> printer monitor is this: We need to receive data from a mainframe.
>|> Using Comm Mgr, we can tell the mainframe that we have a printer
>|> connected to LPT1.  Then the mainframe "prints" to it.  We intercept
>|> the data and process it.  My understanding is that this approach was
>|> used to minimize or eliminate software development on the mainframe
>|> side.
>The functions are discouraged, because IBM wants to remove old 16 bit API
>functions, as they won't be supported for future (PowerPC) 32 bit only
>architectures (same holds for 16 bit segments, in particular the well-known
>IOPL segment, BTW).

>If you are aiming at writing portable software, you should avoid this IMHO 
>hack to intercept interfaces that surely won't be available any longer in
>the future, even if it looks much easier to use them than alternatives.
>Regarding your problem, it would be certainly more portable to write a
>simple NetBIOS server that accepts data from the net and redirects it
>to its destination. There is sample code for doing this in the 
>book Orfali et al. 'Client/Server Programming with OS/2'; the CM/2
>programming kit should also have similar stuff.

Dr. Veit -

I am interested in your suggestions.

The NetBIOS server - I'm not the one who got the Comm Mgr to mainframe 
link working, so I don't know much about the connection.  I don't believe 
it's on a NetBIOS network, however.  (I could be wrong about this, I'll 
find out later today.)

Using the CM/2 Programming Kit - Are we assuming here that we could still 
use the current method of having the mainframe print to the printer?  If 
so, are there functions in the CM API that would allow intercepting this 
printer output?

Thanks for any help.
- Keith

-- 
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Keith Bennett                             Bennett Business Solutions, Inc.
Silver Spring, MD USA                     OS/2 & DOS Software Development
kbennett@cpcug.org                        (301) 871-7696