I'm going to assume a Microsoft Windows PC initially, but bear in mind there are many options for other operating systems as well (starting with #8, below). In no particular order:
1. You can view AFP files using the AFP Workbench for Windows. This is a free, "as-is," downloadable piece of software. Here's the direct link (watch the wrap): ftp://ftp.software.ibm.com/printers/products/workbench/windows/service/ipsafpwb.exe 2. You can view AFP files in your Web browser using the Windows AFP Viewer Plug-In. This plug-in also lets you view AFP files that are made available through a Web server. For example, you can run the IBM HTTP Server for z/OS and serve up AFP files to your PC users who can then (very conveniently) view them and/or print them, all within their preferred Web browser. (And optionally you can authenticate access to z/OS via the IBM HTTP Server for z/OS and RACF/ACF2/TopSecret/etc., you can log (and audit) access, you can encrypt the transmission of the files using HTTPS protocol, and you can even use SSL client certificates if you like.) The Plug-In has been tested with Windows 7 and works with Windows versions as far back as Windows 2000. Here's the direct link: ftp://service.software.ibm.com/printers/products/workbench/windows/service/gnsp32dm.exe 3. You can print AFP files from Microsoft Windows using the InfoPrint Solution AFP Printer Driver for Windows. This driver could also be used in conjunction with free and/or paid PDF print drivers (as can the other options), to convert AFP files into PDF files on your PC. Here's the direct link: ftp://ftp.software.ibm.com/printers/drivers/afp/IPSAFPDrv.exe 4. BTB GmbH offers a commercial AFP Tools product here: http://www.btbnet.de/english/products/afp-tools/afp-tools.html 5. ISIS Papyrus offers a free AFP Viewer here: http://www.isis-papyrus.com/e10/pages/forms/2/afpviewerdlrequest.html 6. Abdio has a commercial converter called PDF Converter Pro: http://www.pdf-converter-pro.com/pdf-converter.html 7. Zentech has a converter: http://www.zentech.co.nz/AFP2PDF.htm Moving on to just some of the options that are not specific to Microsoft Windows: 8. TargetStream Technologies offers a commercial product called StreamEDP which is an AFP to PDF converter utility (and object) written in 100% Java (TM). It can run on any Java platform, including z/OS, Linux, and Mac OS X. Details here: http://www.targetstream.com/products/streamedp 9. RSD has an AFP viewer option for their EOS software, briefly mentioned here: http://www.rsd.com/en/press-releases/archives/press_thinclient_12500.html 10. There are many products that can generate PDF files (and other formats, e.g. HTML) directly from z/OS output, whether or not it's starting in AFP format. These products are specifically optimized for z/OS and z/OS-related operations. InfoPrint Transforms for z/OS is an excellent example, and Content Manager OnDemand for z/OS is another. Levi, Ray & Shoup (LRS) would also very likely have some options available, and there are probably others. In my experience these commercial products are very affordable. In fact, they're usually substantial money savers because they help reduce or eliminate paper printing altogether, while unfortunately the PC-based "quick-and-dirty" stuff often does the opposite. (Fairly recently I was talking with a company that spends over $100M per year just on printing, and that's not uncommon. That's roughly an order of magnitude more than their entire mainframe-related IT budget, including related payroll. Never mind the inherent inefficiencies in many paper-based business processes.) There are also very comprehensive security options more likely available using this direct generation approach, including options like generation of passport-protected PDFs, protected field PDFs, selectively redacted PDFs, etc. Anyway, if you pause half a second and think about these issues holistically, you'll start to focus on business process optimization, enhancing workflow, security-related issues, etc. -- all things that are quite important -- rather than just a purely technical, tactical approach that may not solve (or may even exacerbate) the real business problem(s). Here are the relevant links: http://www.ibm.com/systems/z/os/zos/printsoftware/ipserverhome_z_ww.html http://www.ibm.com/software/data/ondemand/390 http://www.lrs.com 11. TallPine offers a commercial AFP to PDF converter written in Java: http://www.tallpine.com/tallpinetech/html/afptopdf.htm 12. SnowBound offers a variety of options, including a Java applet viewer for AFP files: http://www.snowbound.com/image_conversion/afp_to_pdf.html 13. Oxseed offers AFP2Web: http://www.oxseed.com/afp2web?set_language=en ....And there are probably others I missed. There's certainly no shortage of options! Please note that I do not necessarily have experience with particular products on this list. - - - - - Timothy Sipples Resident Enterprise Architect STG Value Creation & Complex Deals Team IBM Growth Markets (Based in Singapore) E-Mail: [email protected] ---------------------------------------------------------------------- For IBM-MAIN subscribe / signoff / archive access instructions, send email to [email protected] with the message: GET IBM-MAIN INFO Search the archives at http://bama.ua.edu/archives/ibm-main.html
