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Greetings from the FormSprint helpdesk!
Well, it looks like summer is almost over. Vacations are ending and it's back to school and back to work. We thought this might be a good time to share a tidbit of FormSprint technical information to help get you thinking. We have also included a great story about one of our long standing customers and how FormSprint has been of value to them. I thought I would also share some pictures and words about my summer adventure. Enjoy!
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Page Types 
Spool file pages can come in many formats. Often, these different formats require different
Flash coding and different Spool Mapper processing. Take for example, an AP check which might be followed by multiple remittance overflow pages. Normally, FormSprint would process each of the input spool pages to each of the form pages, but this wouldn't work with our spool file that contains check type pages and overflow remittance type pages.
FormSprint is designed to recognize special coding (&&n - where n is the page TYPE) in line one of the spool file, or loaded to buffer one in the form Spool Mapper. This coding will tell the program to process ONLY the page requested, instead of processing each spool page against each form page.
More often than not, we cannot change the input spool file. In this case, we would want to add the special coding to buffer one. Buffer one is used to communicate special processing information to FormSprint. We've included a couple of form examples for you to download from our website (www.formsprint.com/html/spoolmapperexamples.htm) to give you an idea of how this is done. In the first form example, we default buffer one to request a page one type (&&1) this might be the check type page. Then, we interrogate the spool file to see if it is not our type one page and if not, we replace buffer one with &&2 to call our overflow page type.
There are times when the &&n coding will not be the appropriate approach. For example, if our AP check form requires both the original MICR encoded check, a non-negotiable copy, an original
remittance overflow, and a copy of the remittance overflow. To accomplish this, we use distributed printing, turning on or off "switches" to distribute or not to distribute. The coding to handle this is shown in our second page type form example.
Some of our customers have taken this ability to great heights, combining cover letters, return remittance coupons, detail transaction pages, and terms and condition pages all in the same document. If you think you have an application that might benefit by using page types, why not give us a call and let's talk about it.
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User Profile: TEEX
 ICS introduced FormSprint in 1992. Since then we've enhanced FormSprint to meet customer requirements and keep pace with technological changes as the AS/400 morphed into the IBM i. One of our earliest users is the Texas Engineering Extension Service or TEEX (teex.com) which began using FormSprint in early 1993. TEEX, part of the Texas A&M University System, offers hands-on, customized training solutions impacting the homeland security and the occupational and economic development of Texas and beyond. Each year, TEEX serves nearly 200,000 people representing all 50 states and U.S. territories as well as 56 countries worldwide.
TEEX Director of Technology Joan Westfall has been involved in the use of FormSprint for the last two decades. "We moved from an IBM S/36 to an AS/400 in 1992 and that same year we decided to get rid of preprinted forms and dot matrix printers," she remembers. "It was quite a technical challenge and a cultural shift for our end users."
According to Ms. Westfall they initially converted invoices, purchase vouchers and purchase requisitions and found laser forms generation to be much more cost-effective than their preprinted forms. "We were able to quickly accommodate changes to wording, signature and logos." When TEEX moved to a new physical address, FormSprint made it simple to change the address on their forms.
As time went by student certificates, student registrations, and student history prints were added to their laser forms. "Then we got really adventurous and converted to electronic checks," Ms. Westfall said. "That was a major step and we finally got rid of the last dot matrix printer and an old IBM console that was used to control the print alignment!"
Their latest change is to incorporate FormSprint's PDF conversion module. This step greatly increased their user satisfaction. "Users are able to review documents before actually printing them. They can email documents and store them electronically - all without printing a piece of paper," Ms. Westfall said.
She went on to say, "We have upgraded hardware and operating systems during this time and Formsprint continued to perform without problems. It is one third party product we've had that just always runs and upgrades effortlessly. We are now moving to V7R1 on an iSeries 9408 and I expect the Formsprint upgrade to i5OS V7R1 to be a non-event as always!"
We appreciate all our FormSprint users, whether they've been using FormSprint since the last century like TEEX or are new to it. |
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Building in Ecuador
This past June I had the privilege of traveling to Guayaquil, Ecuador to the barrio of Guasmo Sur to help build houses. This was part of a project started in 1999, born of the Peace Corps mission of a very special young lady. The families we lived and worked with are part of the Adopta Una Familia project which brings North Americans and South Americans together to improve the lives of those living in the barrio. We lived and worked in the community for a week, working incredibly hard but also laughing and celebrating with our Ecuadorian brothers and sisters. At the end of our week, we traveled to Otavalo, Ecuador high in the Andes. This was a time to reflect, absorb, and process the sights, sounds and events of the past week. I hope you find the pictures interesting. This was not my first trip, and God willing it won't be my last. The people of this barrio have become part of my family - they took me into their homes, fed me, laughed heartily with me, washed my (very) dirty clothes, and worked with me side by side. These are some of the most
generous, loving and grateful people I have ever met.
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