FORMDEFs and N-Up Processing

AFP printing allows the print software to perform multiple-up processing by setting up two or three partitions (or logical pages) on the real physical page. These partitions act as physical pages so that a page-eject control (in AFP line data or AFPDS) simply moves printing to the next partition. IBM refers to this process as N-Up processing. N-Up processing requires changes to the FORMDEF resource to establish the partitions. You can only specify two or three partitions on each side of a physical page and each partition must be of equal size. Enrichment processes this type of data as single-up because the data is single-up—the print resources perform the multiple-up processing.

An extension to N-Up processing extends the partition concept so that partitions can vary in different size and there can be a different number of partitions on the front and back of a duplex page. This capability is limited to particular printers that have an enhanced hardware controller. IBM refers to this type of processing as Enhanced N-Up or power-positioning. Enrichment processes Enhanced N-Up as single-up since the data is single-up. You can use insert records controlled by PAGE: rules to add data to a new partition (such as an off-page barcode partition).