Enhanced N_UP Printing

Enhanced N_UP is supported on AFP continuous forms printers. In addition to all the function of basic N_UP, enhanced N_UP includes the powerful PLACE subcommand.

Using the PLACE subcommand, you can place pages in the partitions in any sequence, specify unique overlays for each page, and rotate both the page and the overlays in the partitions. You can place multiple pages in the same partition and no pages in other partitions, and you can extend pages across partition boundaries. In short, you can place pages of any size at any location on the front or back of the sheet, in any orientation. The only limits are that the pages must not extend outside the boundaries of the physical sheet, and the pages must not exceed the total number of N_UP partitions specified for the sheet.

You use a single PLACE command to place each page of data on the sheet. You must specify the same number of PLACE commands as the number of N_UP partitions for the sheet. This is required for error recovery and restart integrity. If you do not want to place as many pages as partitions, you can specify CONSTANT on a PLACE command to indicate that no data is to be placed in the partition. You can specify the OVERLAY subcommand with the CONSTANT subcommand to place overlays without user's data. The syntax diagrams in Figure Subcommands for Enhanced N_UP Printing show the subcommands and parameters enabled with enhanced N_UP printing.

For most applications, place constant overlays before placing data on the sheet. This is because the overlay is not actually placed until the next page of data is placed. If your application changes copy groups or runs out of pages on the sheet before reaching the constant overlay PLACE subcommand, the constant overlay is not printed. However, if you do not want the overlays to print in these cases, place the constant overlay after placing the page data.

Subcommands for Enhanced N_UP Printing

FORMDEF Subcommand

[N_UP {1 | 2 | 3 | 4} [OVERLAY Subcommand… | PLACE Subcommand…]] 
[INVOKE {SHEET | NEXT | FRONT | BACK}]
COPYGROUP Subcommand
[N_UP {1 | 2 | 3 | 4} [OVERLAY Subcommand… | PLACE Subcommand…]] 
[INVOKE {SHEET | NEXT | FRONT | BACK}]
OVERLAY Subcommand
OVERLAY name [x-pos - y-pos] [PARTITION] 
[OVROTATE {0 | 90 | 180 | 270}] [PFO]
PLACE Subcommand
PLACE n [FRONT | BACK] [CONSTANT] [OFFSET x-pos y-pos]
[OVERLAY Subcommand] [ROTATION {0 | 90 | 180 | 270}] [VIEW {YES | NO}]
Note: The use of the PLACE subcommand indicates enhanced N_UP printing.

The following examples show enhanced N_UP printing. Read these examples in sequence to better understand enhanced N_UP printing.

In this section:

  1. Enhanced N_UP Example 1: Using PLACE
  2. Enhanced N_UP Example 2: Using CONSTANT and OVERLAY
  3. Enhanced N_UP Example 3: Asymmetric Pages
Parent topic: N_UP Printing