Printfil Manual - Customizing the deployment

Chapter 13 - Customizing the deployment

This chapter explains how to customize the running behaviour on the client computers, in order to simplify installation and usage of the software.

Customizing the menu

The Printfil's menu appear by right clicking the trayed icon.

You may want to disable the top entries on it to avoid the end user clicking them by mistake.

• You can disable the Language menu entry, so that the Printfil's interface will be avalable only in the currently selected language.
  To do so, enter the Printfil directory (usually c:\Program Files\Printfil) and delete all .MSG files.
  
  
• It's also possible to disable the Configuration, Redo Last Print and Registration entries, so that the user cannot change the local configurations, nor reprint the last jobs without using the source application.
  To disable those menu entries you have to start Printfil with the NOMENU parameter, as described in the next section.
  
  
• Alternatively, you can leave just the Configuration, and Close entries, by starting Printfil with the CONFMENU parameter, as described in the next section.

Printfil Command Line Parameters

This parameters can be used to change the running behaviour of Printfil.

If you start Printfil by a batch file of your own, simply add them after PRINTFIL.EXE, otherwise you'll have to manually change the shortcut used to start it. If you haven't unticked the options when installing Printfil, you've one on the desktop and one at Start -> Program Files -> Startup, that makes Printfil starting automatically at the PC boot-up.

You can use only one of the following parameters at a time.

• NOMENU
  This parameter is used to disable the top menu entries: Configuration, Redo Last Print and Registration, as described in the previous section.
  
  
• CONFMENU
  This parameter is used to disable all the menu entries, BUT Configuration and Close, as described in the previous section.
  
  
• CLOSE
  By running "Printfil CLOSE" you can automatically close all the Printfil copies which are in execution on the machine.
  It's useful when Printfil is run by a batch file, to avoid having multiple copies running simultaneously.
  For example:
  
  

  C:\> EDIT START.BAT START.BAT @echo off c: cd \"Program Files"\Printfil start Printfil.exe cd \My_Dir My_App.Exe cd \"Program Files"\Printfil start Printfil.exe CLOSE

  If \"Program Files"\Printfil doesn't work, please try "\Program Files\Printfil" or "\Program Files (x86)\Printfil" (different Windows versions work differently)

  
  
• DOSBox [LPTx / COMx]
  By running "Printfil DOSBox LPT1:" you can automatically set up the supported DOSBox emulator's variants (DOSBox MegaBuild 6, DOSBox SVN Daum, dbDOS PRO, dbDOSv, vDos, vDosPlus, and DOSBox-X, because the Standard DOSBox 0.74 version doesn't support printing) to capture serial and parallel ports and send the DOS prints to Printfil.
  You can specify LPT1: , LPT2: , LPT3: , COM1: , COM2: , COM3: or COM4: for DOSBox MegaBuild 6, DOSBox SVN Daum and dbDOS PRO and even LPT4: , LPT5: , LPT6: , LPT7: , LPT8: , LPT9: , COM5: , COM6: , COM7: , COM8: and COM9: for dbDOSv, vDos, vDosPlus, and DOSBox-X.
  In any other case the port is assumed to be LPT1:
  
  
• File-to-print.PRN/PDF/PCL/PS [printer] [engine]
  You can print a PRN file, a PDF, PCL or PostScript file to any printer installed in the Windows Control Panel just by adding its name after "Printfil.exe" (please see the previous chapter for further info about this kind of files).
  If you'll specify even a printer, the file will be sent there (or the default one, if it doesn't exist), otherwise, you will be asked on the screen.
  If you'll specify even a specific printing engine, Printfil will use that one, otherwise, it's possible you're asked on the screen, in some cases.
  For example:
  PRINTFIL.EXE File-to-print.pdf "Canon MX490 series Printer" - directly prints the PDF to the Canon printer.
  PRINTFIL.EXE File-to-print.pcl "Canon MX490 series Printer" PCL - directly prints the file to the Canon printer by using the PCL printing engine.
  PRINTFIL.EXE File-to-print.ps "Non-existent Printer" PS - directly prints the file to the default printer by using the PostScript printing engine.
  PRINTFIL.EXE File-to-print.prn "Non-existent Printer" AUTO - directly prints the file to the default printer automatically selecting the most suitable printing engine for that kind of file (with "AUTO" it doesn't show any message on the screen).
  
  
• File-name.PFL [/SILENT]
  A PFL file (Printfil Licenses File) may contain one or more Printfil licenses. It can be provided you by your Printfil Reseller at purchase time. By specifying the PFL file name after "Printfil.exe", all the licenses contained in the PFL file will be automatically imported in Printfil, without having to manually insert the codes in the registration dialog.
  A popup message on screen will confirm the import.
  By adding the optional /SILENT parameter after the PFL file name, the popup messagge above is not shown.
  
  
• REPORT
  This parameter creates a PrintfilSupport.zip file containing your local configuration, that can be manually sent to the support team if you need technical assistance and Printfil doesn't start at all.
  This is a last resort solution; normally you can contact us by the faster methods described at https://www.Printfil.com/esupp.htm.

Setup Command Line Parameters

Even the Setup program's behaviour can be affected by some parameters which may be used to simplify the installation for the end users.

The parameters below can be combined in a single line. For example: c:\> setup-pf.exe /SILENT /DIR="c:\printfil"

• /LANG
  By adding this parameter, the setup program will use the specified language without asking the end user.
  Can have the following values: ae, br, ca, cz, dk, nl, en, fi, fr, ge, gr, he, hu, ic, it, ma, no, pl, pt, ro, ru, se, sl, sp, sw, tr and ur.
  Please see Translations in chapter 17.
  
  
• /SILENT, /VERYSILENT
  Instructs Setup to be silent or very silent. When Setup is silent only the installation progress window is displayed.
  When a setup is very silent normally nothing is displayed, but eventually error messages, like "Disk Full" etc.
  
  
• /NOCANCEL
  Prevents the user from cancelling during the installation process, by disabling the Cancel button and ignoring clicks on the close button.
  
  
• /DIR="x:\dirname"
  Overrides the default directory name displayed on the Select Destination Location wizard page. A fully qualified pathname must be specified.
  
  
• /GROUP="folder name"
  Overrides the default folder name displayed on the Select Start Menu Folder wizard page.
  
  
• /TASKS="desktopicon , starticon , pflfileassoc , prnfileassoc"
  You can specify only those you WANT.
  

  desktopicon	Will create the desktop icon
  starticon	Will make Printfil starting automatically after the user logon
  pflfileassoc	Associates the PFL file extension with Printfil ( so that a PrintFil License can be installed just by double clicking a PFL file )
  prnfileassoc	Associates the PRN file extension with Printfil ( so that you can print a PRN file just by double clicking it )

  We suggest you leaving at least: /TASKS="pflfileassoc" (it may be useful to simplify licenses installation in future)
  

Sample video: How to install, configure and register Printfil with a single click, by a batch file

Running multiple Printfil copies on the same PC, with different configurations

If you haven't unticked the option at installation time, the Printfil's Setup program places a shortcut to Printfil.exe in the commonstartup Windows folder (Start -> All Programs -> Startup) so that Printfil is automatically executed each time an user login the machine.

This makes Printfil starting automatically on Client Windows OS's, at the PC bootup, while on Terminal Server environments a different Printfil instance is run for each remote user logging in the server; each one with the user's specific configuration, automatically managed by Printfil.

In some cases however, you may want to run multiple Printfil instances yourself, even on Client OS's. For example, if you want to capture multiple LPT ports and COM ports simultaneously, or if you want to print the same job to different printers in once.

In order to run different Printfil instances on the same machine with different configurations (Printfil.ini), you'll have to replace the shortcut to Printfil.exe in the commonstartup folder with a batch file, like follows:

You need to manually place a PRINTFIL.INI file in both c:\folder1 and c:\folder2 to store the specific Printfil instance's configuration. By entering (cd) the directory before starting Printfil, you'll instruct Printfil to use the specific configuration stored there rather than the default one.

Sample video: How to capture both LPT1: and LPT2: simultaneously