Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!ncar!boulder!ccncsu!longs.LANCE.ColoState.Edu!gs940971
From: gs940971@longs.LANCE.ColoState.Edu (glen sunada f84)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.ibm.pc
Subject: Re: HELP! Using DOS print
Message-ID: <3289@ccncsu.ColoState.EDU>
Date: 29 Nov 89 04:58:08 GMT
References: <6534@brspyr1.BRS.Com>
Sender: news@ccncsu.ColoState.EDU
Reply-To: gs940971@longs.LANCE.ColoState.Edu (glen sunada f84)
Distribution: usa
Organization: Colorado State U. Center for Computer Assisted Engineering
Lines: 35

In article <6534@brspyr1.BRS.Com>, jillj@brspyr1.BRS.Com (Jill Jacomine)
writes:
> I  am  trying to execute the DOS (version 3.1) print command from within
> an executable (compliled using MSC 5.1).  The command I am using is:
> 
> 	spawnvp(P_WAIT,"print.com",args);
             [deleted stuff]
> within the program eats up about 200k of memory, and never lets  it  go.
> (I  tried  setting the device before executing the program, and it seems
> to work fine, therefore I am relativly sure  the  problem  is  with  the
> /D:prn  option).  A chkdsk before running the program shows 655360 bytes
                   [deleted stuff]
> I  have  tried  using  the  SYSTEM  function, as well as different SPAWN
> functions, but they all yield the same results.  Has  anyone  else  come
> across  this  problem,  or  can  anyone offer information as to why this
> happens and how it can be corrected.

The problem is that the DOS print command is not just a file printer but
also a siak based print sppooler and scheduler (sp?).  To correctly
spool and schedule jobs print needs to make part of its code resident. 
Print uses some mechanism to detect if it is already resident to prevent
multiple copies of the resident code.  I do not know how this is done
but one way may be to check trough the interrupt linkages and see if
print is there (I think i saw somewhere that print preempts one of the
user interrupts for communication to the resedent code but I can no
prove this).  The best solution is to write your own printout routine in
your program.  If the progam is to be used in house only then just make
sure that the print command has always been installed before running
your program.

Glen U. Sunada
gs940971@longs.LANCE.ColoState.EDU   ARPA Internet (preferred)
...!ncar!boulder!ccncsu!longs.LANCE.ColoState.EDU!gs940971 UUCP

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