Environment
iPrint (any version)
Canon ImageRunner Multifuction device
IR PCL6 driver (Canon PCL6 driver)
Novell iPrint for NetWare Novell NetWare 6.5 Support Pack 5 Print Manager
Novell iPrint for NetWare Novell NetWare 6.5 Support Pack 4 Print Manager
Novell iPrint for NetWare Novell NetWare 6.5 Support Pack 3 Print Manager
3rd Party Operating Systems and Products
Canon ImageRunner Multifuction device
IR PCL6 driver (Canon PCL6 driver)
Novell iPrint for NetWare Novell NetWare 6.5 Support Pack 5 Print Manager
Novell iPrint for NetWare Novell NetWare 6.5 Support Pack 4 Print Manager
Novell iPrint for NetWare Novell NetWare 6.5 Support Pack 3 Print Manager
3rd Party Operating Systems and Products
Situation
With iPrint Auditing enabled for Canon ImageRunner printers, the'Page Count' column of the AUDIT.CSV file is blank when using
Canon's PCL6 driver.
-When using Canon's PCL5x driver the 'Page Count' is displayed, but the number is incorrect. The page count is +2 pages of the true page count.
-When using Canon's PCL5x driver the 'Page Count' is displayed, but the number is incorrect. The page count is +2 pages of the true page count.
Resolution
Use the Postscript driver for the applicable Canon Multifunction
device.
Additional Information
PCL6 driver:
Canon's PCL6 driver set will attach proprietary command information
intended to tell the machine what function to perform (i.e.
printing, faxing, etc.) at the beginning of each print job
sent. This is a non-standard behavior that makes it
impossible for iPrint to parse the 'Page Count' information.
PCL5 driver: The PCL5x driver set adheres to a different standard which explains the difference in behavior between the PCL6 and PCL5 drivers. This being the case, Canon still prepends the machine command information to each print job sent. With PCL5 , the additional command information does not fully prevent us from parsing the job for 'Page Count' information, but it does add additional ESC characters that iPrint recognizes as new page(s) - thus we see inaccurate information displayed in the 'Page Count' field of the iPrint audit report.
PostScript (PS): The Post-Script driver set is the only set of Canon Multi-function device drivers that iPrint is able to parse and yield accurate page count information from. While the prepended information is still attached to each job, iPrint is able to bypass the prepended information in the PostScript scenario and therefore yield an accurate page count for each job.
*The benefits and drawbacks to using a PostScript rather than a PCL driver are as follows:
Drawbacks: PostScript jobs will tend to be larger than jobs created using a PCL driver. As such they will generate heavier network traffic, although traffic and performance in a typical LAN environment will display no noticeable effect.
Benefits: PostScript drivers will provide higher quality print output for graphics and/or presentations. (Standard text printing will generally not display any noticeable difference in quality)
**Standard PCL6, PCL5, and PS (Postscript) are the only printer description languages (PDL's) supported by iPrint for Auditing.
PCL5 driver: The PCL5x driver set adheres to a different standard which explains the difference in behavior between the PCL6 and PCL5 drivers. This being the case, Canon still prepends the machine command information to each print job sent. With PCL5 , the additional command information does not fully prevent us from parsing the job for 'Page Count' information, but it does add additional ESC characters that iPrint recognizes as new page(s) - thus we see inaccurate information displayed in the 'Page Count' field of the iPrint audit report.
PostScript (PS): The Post-Script driver set is the only set of Canon Multi-function device drivers that iPrint is able to parse and yield accurate page count information from. While the prepended information is still attached to each job, iPrint is able to bypass the prepended information in the PostScript scenario and therefore yield an accurate page count for each job.
*The benefits and drawbacks to using a PostScript rather than a PCL driver are as follows:
Drawbacks: PostScript jobs will tend to be larger than jobs created using a PCL driver. As such they will generate heavier network traffic, although traffic and performance in a typical LAN environment will display no noticeable effect.
Benefits: PostScript drivers will provide higher quality print output for graphics and/or presentations. (Standard text printing will generally not display any noticeable difference in quality)
**Standard PCL6, PCL5, and PS (Postscript) are the only printer description languages (PDL's) supported by iPrint for Auditing.