Running the PrintBatch

This task describes how to use the Print Batch in order to print documents without running Version 5. 
These documents may be Version 5 files (such as .CATProduct, .CATPart documents, etc.), raster files (bmp, tiff, etc.), vector files (CGM, HPGL, HPGL2) and Version 4 models.
  This scenario explains how to:
  Provided that you have a graphic board (on Windows) or an X server (on UNIX), the rendering style (i.e. "Shading", "Shading with Edges", etc.) can be taken into account when printing in batch mode. To do so, you need to set the following variable as shown below:

set PRINT_BATCH_WITH_GRAPHIC_CARD=1  (on Windows)

or

export PRINT_BATCH_WITH_GRAPHIC_CARD=1  (on UNIX).
 

Accessing the batch interface from the command line

  1. Open an MS-DOS Window.

  2. Access the following folder:

    C:\Program Files\Dassault Systemes\Bn\intel_a\code\bin  (on Windows)

    or

    /usr/DassaultSystemes/Bn/OS_a/code/command/  (on UNIX)

    (where n is the current release number)

  3. Enter the command:

    CATUTIL -Name PrintBatch  (on Windows)

    or

    ./catstart -run "CATUTIL -Name PrintBatch"  (on UNIX)

    The Print Batch opens (click the thumbnail to enlarge the picture):

 

Accessing the batch interface from the Batch Monitor
  You can also access the print batch interface using the Batch Monitor in a Version 5 session. In that case, some additional options are available to you.

  1. Access the Batch Monitor interface, either from the command line, or from a Version 5 session.

    The Batch Monitor opens:

  2. Double-click PrintBatch from the list.

    The PrintBatch opens (click the thumbnail to enlarge the picture):
    When accessing the PrintBatch from the Batch Monitor, some additional options are available:

    Remote mode

    You can choose to run the batch locally, or on a remote computer by selecting the appropriate option:

    • Run Local: default option. When selected, the batch is run in local on your local computer

    • Run Remote: select this option then indicate the name of the remote computer on which the batch will be run. The remote computer uses the printers set up on your local computer.
      Note that:

      • when using Windows printers, you can run the batch in remote mode on Windows computers only

      • when using 3DPLM printers, you can run the batch in remote mode either on UNIX or on Windows computers.

    For more information, refer to Running Batches in Remote Mode.

    Licensing

    You also have the ability to select a license by clicking Licensing Setup....

    Getting contextual help

    The batch-specific online documentation can be accessed directly from the PrintBatch interface by clicking in the top-right corner (on Windows) or Help (on UNIX).

 

Defining the batch parameters
  In this scenario, we assume that the batch interface has been accessed from the Batch Monitor the batch parameters to define are identical when you access the batch from the command line.

  1. Select a printer using the list displayed next to Printer Name. This list lets you filter the list of printers displayed to the right. You can choose either:

    • General: default mode. All the printers you have set up are displayed in the printer list to the right

    • a printer group you defined in the Printers tab. In that case, only the printers included in the selected group are displayed in the printer list.
    You can also select the Print to file check box and enter the name of a file. Refer to Printing to a File for more information.

  2. To set up your printer, click Properties... to open the printer properties dialog box. The look of the dialog box changes according to the driver. Modify the desired parameters then click OK to validate.
    If the driver is provided by Dassault Systèmes, clicking Properties... displays the Printer Properties dialog box described in Adding a Printer.

  3. Click the Add a document button then navigate to the files you want to print then click Open to validate.

    The File Selection box lets you access your .CATDrawing documents more easily. To do so, select CATIADrawing in the Files of type box so that only .CATDrawing documents are displayed.
    Note that if you set the DLName environment as "Current" in Tools > Options > General > Document, the usual File Selection dialog box is replaced by the following one dedicated to the DLName environment:
    The DLName document environment lets you restrict the access to specific folders referenced by logical names referred to as "DLNames" (each folder is assigned a logical name).
    In this mode, the different file opening and saving commands only allow end users to access documents in directories referenced by DLNames.

    The File Selection dialog box displayed above lets you navigate to the DLName where the parameter file to be used is stored. You can also search for DLNames using a specific interface by clicking the icon. For detailed information about this dialog box, refer to Document.

    Click OK when finished selecting your documents.
    The selected file names are displayed along with their path, parameters and printer:
    When at least one file is selected in the list, some icons are activated to let you modify the printing order:
    • moves a file up in the list
    • moves a file down in the list
    • deletes a file from the list.

  4. Click Default Printing Parameters to define the parameters used by default for all printed documents in the Printing Parameters dialog box:

    The Layout tab lets you define the page orientation, the image size and position, etc. and is identical to the tab available in the Print dialog box.

  5. Click Page Setup... to open the Page Setup dialog box. However, if you select the Use image format option, note that the behavior is different when printing in batch mode:
    • If you print a document other than a .CATDrawing or .model document, selecting the Use image format option displays the printer's default paper format:
    • If you print a .CATDrawing or .model document, selecting the Use image format option displays User in the Form Name box (with a warning for the dimensions) if the format is not supported by the printer:

    Or, displays the appropriate format with the corresponding dimensions if the format is supported by the printer:

    • If you print in a document other than a Version 5 document, selecting the Use image format option displays the printer's default paper format in the Form Name box:

    • If you are in Default Printing Parameters, selecting the Use image format option always displays the printer's default paper format because no document is associated with these parameters.

  6. Click Options... to access the Options dialog box.

    The Printing Parameters dialog box also enables you to define the visualization mode used for printing by selecting the desired mode from a list in the Visualization tab:
    In non-standard scale mode (i.e. when Small Scale is selected in Tools > Options > General > Parameters and Measures > Scale), you cannot print a document with a vector rendering. The only supported rendering mode is the Shading raster mode. Therefore, when you access the Printing Parameters dialog box, the rendering mode is forced to Shading.
    If you are printing .CATDrawing documents, you can access the Multi-Documents tab:
    • In the Range area, indicate whether you want to print All sheets or only the Active sheet by selecting the appropriate option
    • Select the Clip to sheet format check box if you want the drawing representation to be clipped to the sheet format
    • Select the Print detail sheet check box if you intend to print sheets of type "detail".

  7. If you want to use parameters which are different from the default ones for a specific file, right-click the file from the list then select Parameters... to open the Parameters dialog box:

    This dialog box enables you to apply parameters other than the default one proposed by selecting another printer, another orientation and so on.
    Printing Parameters gives you access to the above-detailed Printing Parameters dialog box except for the Visualization and MultiDocuments tabs which gives you access to more parameters: 
    In the Visualization tab, you can click Layer Filter...  to open the Visualization Filters dialog box which lets you edit or create visualization filters:
    The default current filter "All visible" is applied automatically: it lets you see all the contents of the document. This filter cannot be deleted.
    Refer to Using Visualization Filters for detailed information.
    When printing .CATDrawing documents, you can print a given number/range of sheets by clicking Sheet Numbers then:
    • enter the corresponding sheet numbers in the field below
    • click Sheets... to open the Image Selection dialog box which lets you select the sheets to be printed.
    You can now use the MultiDocuments tab to print the drafting of Version 4 models.
    To do so, select Sheet Numbers then enter the numbers of the workspaces to be printed in the box below.
    You can also click Sheets... then select the desired workspaces in the Image Selection dialog box:
    By default, all the documents are selected but you can deselect the documents you do not want to print by clicking their name in the list. Reset lets you re-select all the elements displayed, if needed.

    Click OK to validate your selection and close the window.
    When the parameters have been modified, the status of the customized file changes from "Default" to "Customized" in the Parameter column and the printer name (if different from the default printer) is displayed in the Printer column.
    • You can reset the customized parameters to the default parameters by right-clicking the desired file from the list then selecting Reset Parameters. In that case, the status of the file changes from Customized to Default
    • You can preview the files to be printed by right-clicking a file from the list then selecting Preview. However, note that you will not be able to use zooming commands for .CATDrawing, .CATProduct and .CATPart documents.

  8. If you want the corresponding .CATScript file to be saved in a specific location, click CATScript Generation.... A CATScript window displaying the content of the CATScript file: click Save As... then indicate the name and location of the file before clicking Save to validate.
    By default, the .CATScript file is saved in a temporary folder.

  9. Click Run to print the selected documents then Cancel to close the PrintBatch window.

    Running a batch printing using PrintBatch generates an XML file named "BatchParameters" suffixed with the hour at which the batch was run (for instance, "BatchParameters_14.41.25.xml" to indicate that the batch was run at 14.21.25 PM) and saved in a temporary folder by default. To save this file under another name and in another location, click Save (or Print Batch Parameters Saving... if you accessed the PrintBatch from the command line)

    The generated XML file can be edited manually. Refer to Editing the XML file for more information.

  10. To display information on the batch execution, access the Processes tab in the Batch Monitor window (click the thumbnail below to enlarge the picture):

  11. To display the results of the batch execution, access the Processes tab then double-click the line corresponding to the batch you have just run (or right-click it and select Results):

  12. To read the reports generated by the batch execution, access the folder c:\temp\batchID (on Windows) or /temp/batchID (on UNIX).

 

Editing the XML file containing the batch parameters
 

You can also define your print parameters directly in the "PrintBatchParameters.xml" file using your favorite text editor.
Click the thumbnail below to see an example of XML file:
 

 

Should you need to modify the name of the printer to be used, this can be done very easily in the XML file by indicating the new printer name in the <PRINT_OUTPUT_PRINTER> parameter: 

 

 

If you are printing CATDrawing documents, you can edit the sheet name and number in <PRINT_VISU_IMAGE_NAME> and <PRINT_VISU_IMAGE_NUM> respectively: