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58 lines
2.1 KiB
Markdown
58 lines
2.1 KiB
Markdown
# Concept for Print Software
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This concept will describe the problem, the solution
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and how the software should work.
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## Problem
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Every year the OU prints an overwhelming amount
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of paper. It becomes increasingly hard to manage
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the amount and to ensure that (only) enough is printed.
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## Solution
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Our solution to this problem is a command line tool written in Python.
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It will live on the server and will make printing the needed amounts
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a lot easier.
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### Approach
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All the pdf files will be named uniquely and stored in a clearly defined
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directory structure. Every file will live in its own directory. A unique
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name could be of the following pattern:
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<year>_<identifier>_<version>.pdf
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The year is 2015 and the version follows a simple schema: V<version number>
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The identifier is unique and could contain the name of the responsible work
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group or similar. It must only contain alphanumeric characters (no spaces, dashes
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or underscores or anything else).
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In addition there should be a simple text file named version.txt in each
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of these directories. Its content should be the most recent version number.
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Now comes the real juicy stuff. There will be a configuration file, which
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defines multiple builds. Each build is roughly structured like this:
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* identifiers (the identifiers of all files that are included)
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* numbers for each identifier (how many times the file should be printed)
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* print options for each file (like collate=true, sides=one-sided)
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Alternatively a build can contain other builds (chain build). The corresponding
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structure:
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* build
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* number of prints
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The final command could look like this:
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./oe-print --printer=d116_sw <build> <number of prints>
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Internally the software will translate that into several lpr shell calls
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with the respective options. It will always use the oe user for printing
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and some standard print options like -o fit-to-page or -o fitplot which
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are always used for reasons.
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To clarify: Every time you press ENTER with a correct command entered,
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it will result in several lpr calls. Therefore don't overload the print
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system of the iRZ with dozens of prints but wait until these prints have
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finished. |