Re: AFP PARSER ?

tkl@e-mail.com wrote:
: Hi - has anyone written a parser for AFP ... that they are willing to
: share ??? (AFP = Advanced Function Printing/Presentation)
: [Never heard of AFP. -John]


For those like our moderator, here's a hint.


AFP is IBM's protocol for describing page layouts to printers. It is
used in much the same way PostScript is used on 'normal' machines. AFP
was desgin before PS (as far as I know) so the duplication is
understandable. However the standard is not defined as a language (as
far as I recall) - no BNF etc. PostScript should be easier to parse
as it is based reverse-polish notation.


AFP is used in conjunction with something call Intelligent Printer
Data Stream which is used by the computer to talk to printers - and
allows such things as two-way communication (with error results from
the printer). The page itself is described in AFP.


I have these suggestions:
1. Post to bit.listserv.ibm-main - the IBM mainframe discussion gorup.
Try comp.periph.printers (or a name like it) for data on printers and
printer command languages.
2. Tell us in more detail what you need to do - perhaps someone can think
of a way which eliminates the need to parse AFP.
3. Ask your IBM rep. to look around IBM for a language definition of AFP.
If one exist it may be easier to parse the thing.


Good luck!
--
Ehud Lamm mslamm@pluto.mscc.huji.ac.il
--

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