Configuring printers

Print commands are not normally needed for Windows platforms. Abaqus/CAE and Abaqus/Viewer automatically detect and list any installed Windows printers. If you encounter problems using the print tool in Abaqus/CAE or Abaqus/Viewer, check the installed Windows printers on your machine and remove any printers that are no longer valid.

This section describes how Abaqus uses print commands. Print commands on Linux platforms should be identical to those used for other applications.

When Abaqus/CAE or Abaqus/Viewer prints to a PostScript printer, it goes through the following steps:

Creating a temporary PostScript file

The temporary PostScript file contains all the PostScript code necessary to describe the page to be printed.

Retrieving the print command specified in the print dialog box

The command specified in the print dialog box can be any command that sends to the printer an unmodified copy of the file whose path is its last argument (some PostScript modifications such as the ones done by PostScript print managers are allowed).

To customize the default print command that is used by Abaqus/CAE or Abaqus/Viewer when it shows the print dialog box, add the following line to the abaqus_v6.env file in your home directory or in the site directory of the Abaqus release: 

def onCaeStartup():
    session.printOptions.setValues(printCommand=
    'print_command_and_arguments_here')
Appending the name of the temporary file and invoking the resulting command

The name of the previously created temporary file is appended to the print command and the PostScript file is printed.

Deleting the temporary PostScript file

If the printer that you are using does not support print spooling, the temporary PostScript file may be deleted before the file is printed. To prevent the temporary PostScript files from being deleted, add the following line to the abaqus_v6.env file in your home directory or in the site directory of the Abaqus release: 

def onCaeStartup():
    session.printOptions.setValues(deleteTemporaryFiles=False)