Submitting jobs from other applications

If your application is a document composition or a job submission tool, you can use hot folder or LPD input devices to get print jobs into RICOH ProcessDirector to be processed and printed.

If your application can use REST web services, you can use the submitFile utility to submit a file to a workflow or hot folder. See Preparing to submit jobs using web services for more detailed information about this implementation.

The key functions of input devices are to:

  • Receive jobs into the system.
  • Assign jobs to workflows.
  • Send jobs to the first step in the workflow to begin processing.

Hot folder input devices can receive a variety of print jobs, including those that are submitted with JDF job tickets. LPD input devices can receive print jobs submitted using a line printer (LPR) command.

Note: Neither type of input device returns information to the submitting application when print jobs are received. For example, if you send a print job to a hot folder input device, the hot folder does not send the job number back to the submitting application so it can monitor the progress of the job.

In this section:

  1. Hot folder input devices
    Hot folder input devices can receive print jobs that include a single file, jobs that include multiple files, and jobs that include JDF job tickets.
  2. LPD input devices
    If your application submits jobs using the lpr client or another command that uses the LPD protocol, the jobs must be sent to an LPD input device. You use the name of the input device as the name of the target printer in the command.
Parent topic: Integrating with Other Applications