If you're like me, your company uses some form
overlays for printing various electronic forms.
My company uses these overlays to print invoices
for different divisions. During an upgrade from
CISC to RISC, the license for the forms management
software was allowed to lapse, so we had no way to
change the overlays.
While searching for any solution to solve this
problem, I ran across the licensed program Advanced
Function Printing Utilities. By typing GO AFPU on
the command line, I was able to access the menu for
advanced function printing utilities. This menu has
a tutorial that walks you through creating an overlay,
as well as a page segment (used for putting graphics
on your overlay).
I was pleasantly surprised at the ease with which
I created a sample overlay. I was also surprised at
how easily I created a duplicate of the forms the company
was already using. I just printed an invoice, and used a
printer spacing ruler to determine where I needed to put
lines, boxes, text or graphics.
This licensed program was already installed on our
machine, but nobody knew of its' existence. It may be on
your machine, ready to solve some of your problems, without
spending any money for new software.
