N_UP Compared to Multiple-Up

With the addition of the N_UP capability, AFP now provides two methods to format multiple application pages on a single sheet:

• N_UP as defined in a form definition
• Multiple-up as defined in a page definition

The multiple-up function has long been available for line-format data printed on AFP printers. Multiple-up achieves the appearance of multiple pages on a sheet by formatting multiple groups of print lines as a single AFP page. The output is still a single AFP page on a side of a sheet, and the entire output is formatted by a single page format. If the application pages within that sheet require different print layouts, you must design a different page format for all possible arrangements of data. For example, if one side of a 2-up sheet has ten different print layouts, you need 100 different page formats to cover all the possible combinations.

In contrast, N_UP enables you, for the first time in AFP, to place multiple AFP pages on a side of a sheet. This means that each of the N_UP pages can be formatted using a different page format. You can change page formats between each N_UP page without ejecting to a new side of the sheet. For the same example with N_UP, you need only ten page formats for a 2-up sheet with ten different print layouts.

N_UP also means you can place multiple pages of fully-composed AFP data (or MO:DCA data) on a single sheet. This was not possible using the multiple-up function defined in the page definition, because AFP data does not use a page definition.