Advanced Function Presentation

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Advanced Function Presentation (AFP) is an IBM architecture and family of associated printer software and hardware that provides document and information presentation control independent of specific applications and devices.

Using AFP, users can control formatting, the form of paper output, whether a document is to be printed or viewed online, and manage document storage and access in a distributed network across multiple operating system platforms. AFP is primarily used in large enterprises with printer rooms and expensive high-speed printers.

AFP applications allow users or print room operators to distribute print jobs among a group of printers and to designate backup printers when one fails. IBM considers AFP to be a "cornerstone" of EDM applications such as print-and-view, archive and retrieval, and Computer Output to Laser Disk (COLD).

AFP consists of

MO:DCA-P (Mixed Object:Document Content Architecture-Presentation), the Page Description Language fileformat that describes the text and graphics on a page. The 'Mixed Object' moniker refers to the fact that AFPDS can contain multiple types of objects, including text, images and even objects marked as 'barcodes'. An application can simply include a string of digits marked as a specific type of barcode, and the rendering of bars will be done on the output platform (physical printer hardware or software emulation). AFPDS is comparable to PDF or PostScript, though PostScript can also include job specific information that drives printer options such as input tray selection.

IPDS Intelligent Printer Data Stream. This is the bi-directional protocol used between the host and the printer. It is used to send the pagelevel data (AFPDS) and to signal errors and completion of jobs, as well as to query a printers available resources (e.g. available memory, input trays, etc.) It's comparable to protocols like Internet Printing Protocol.

MO:DCA-P is sometimes called AFPDS (AFP Data Stream). Some MO:DCA-P "objects" are IOCA, GOCA and BCOCA; Image-, Graphics- and Bar Code- Object Content Architecture.