Tricks with spoolfile redirection
March 27, 2007
Robert Holtz writes:
We have our 911 interface running on our HP 3000 24x7. Once a week, we abort the Public Safety Systems Incorporated (PSSI) application to close out the spoolfile that the application generates. Is there a way to keep the application running and redirect the output to a new spoolfile? We are running MPE/IX 7.0 PP2 and this is on an N-Class e3000 system.
Our Homesteading Editor Gilles Schipper replies:
I think the only way you could do that would be to actually modify the application program to periodically (say, for example, every 10 pages or every 100 pages) close then re-open the print file.
Olav Kappert of IOMIT International adds:
If the program can be slightly modified, then I would suggest creating a message file as a conduit to the application. The program would do a read of the message file with the nowait option every once and awhile. If the application encounters a keyword indicating a new spoolfile, then the program would close the spoolfile and reopen it.
An alternate method would involve the application being modified to close and open the file at a particular day and time during the week.
Robert Schlosser of Global Business Systems adds:
Short of closing and reopening the after n number of pages, you could have the application read (without wait and checking status codes) a message file. It could then close and open the output file on demand and possibly even close down the application gracefully (no abort). I do not know if you have access to the source, nor do I know if you want to tinker with the innards of a working program.