Everyone using the computer usually shares printers. Your computer may have more than one printer, but it is unlikely users have their own. It is also true that users cannot truly share a printer without someone, or something, managing it: you would not want part of your report printed on the same page with part of another person's report. For this reason, a printer spooler is used to manage the smooth flow of reports to and from your printer. It performs the following tasks:
Acts on data written to a spooled printer by collecting all of the information needed to print a report and storing it in a special file called a spoolfile.
Keeps reports separate and keeps track of when each was submitted for printing, who submitted the report, and other information.
Supervises the orderly printing of all eligible reports and keeps track of the others.
The spooler does all of the above tasks on its own. It even gives the appearance that each user has exclusive use of the printer. You are aware of the spooler only when you want an overview of the printing process, if you are interested in the status of a specific report, or when you need to intervene and manage the printer yourself.
In this chapter, you will find the procedures to perform the following tasks:
Controlling printer activity.
Starting and stopping spooled printing.
