Printer tray selection

When sending a document to a printer by using the Output service, you can specify the printer tray that is used. Designer distinguishes between paper (page) size and which input tray on the printer provides the requested paper. This functionality accommodates scenarios where a printer has different types of a particular paper size loaded into different input trays. This functionality allows a document to select paper from individual trays on a per-page basis.

Designer does not expose paper size and input tray selection as two distinct properties. Instead, a Designer master page can be associated with a paper type selected from a set of supported paper types defined in the Designer.xdc device profile. Within the device profile, each paper type can be configured to select paper from a particular input tray. (See Working with device profile files (XDC file).)

Designer provides duplicates of common paper types for Letter and Legal paper sizes, specifically to accommodate paper tray selection. The XDC Editor within Workbench is used to map or assign a physical input tray to a paper type. The names provided in Designer covers most tray-selection needs. The deployed device profile can be modified so that the Letter Color paper type causes the printer to select paper loaded into a secondary input tray.

The Output service matches paper types that are used in the form, by name, against paper types that are defined in the device profile deployed to the server. Only the deployed device profile is modified to ensure the appropriate input tray selection.

Although the provided paper types are adequate, it is possible to create additional paper types. Additional paper types can be used in the XDC Editor by creating a paper type name. However, it must exist in Designer to be used. To add paper types, the Designer.xdc file must be hand-edited, copying an existing entry of the correct paper size and changing the name as required.

The concept of printer trays is not applicable to PDF. That is, you cannot specify a particular printer tray when printing a PDF document. The selection at the printer is based on page size, and the first non-secured tray that matches the required page size is used. If no match to the size is found, a manual feed is requested.

For PCL documents, each master page in the XDP file (the form design created in Designer) is mapped to a paper type. The paper type is, in turn, mapped to an entry in the XDC file. It is important that you use caution because Designer may turn the literal that you view in the paper type list into a slightly different literal. Check the XML source to get the precise literal that is used in the XDC file.

In the XDC file, the paper type appears in the stock column. You can modify the entry to show the tray number that contains the paper type you want to use. However, the tray number that you see on the printer itself (for example, tray 1, tray 2, and so on) may not be the correct device number that the printer understands. Review the printer reference manual to ensure that you have the tray number correctly stated.

If the stated tray number is not valid or carries a page size that does not match the requested page size, the printer reverts to the first non-secured tray that represents the correct paper size.

For PostScript documents, the printer tray selection process is the same as for PCL documents. To select the tray by media type, keep the Input Tray Number column in the XDC file blank and enter the media type in the Input Tray Type column. It is assumed that the printer is configured to recognize the media type.

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