root / pykota / branches / specialauth / docs / pkbanner.sgml @ 3273

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<chapter>
  <title>Generate banners with pkbanner</title>
  <para>Last modified on $Date$</para>
  
  <para>
    <application>CUPS</application> integrated bannering facility sucks because banners can only
    be static PostScript files, even if they can include a few dynamic datas. Also it is possible
    to have several banners and jobs mixed in an unexpected way because of the way <application>CUPS</application>
    works.
  </para>  
  
  <para>
    To fix this problem for good, <application>PyKota</application> can use its own banners, which can be :
    <itemizedlist>
      <listitem>
        <para>
          Any static file, not only PostScript ones.
        </para>
      </listitem>
      <listitem>
        <para>
          The output of any executable command of your choice, launched at printing time, 
          and to which are made available a bunch of environment variables which can help
          your command create a purely dynamic banner on the fly. In particular your 
          command knows all about the status of the current user's print quota information.
        </para>
      </listitem>
    </itemizedlist>
  </para>
  
  <para>
    Although you can use any command to generate banners for you, you can also use
    the <command>pkbanner</command> command line tool which is included in <application>PyKota</application>.
    It was designed for ease of use, without any compromise on its flexibility.
  </para>
  
  <para>
    For example <command>pkbanner</command> allows you to specify a particular logo and url to be
    printed on the banner pages, as well as define a transparency factor to save toner while 
    printing banners. You can also choose a particular page size to use, as well as include
    additionnal textual information on the banner page.
  </para>
  
  <para>
    <command>pkbanner</command> generates PostScript code, but <application>PyKota</application>
    accepts that you pipe its output into any other command if you ever need to use
    another file format for your printer.
  </para>
  
  <para>
    <command>pkbanner</command> is not meant to be launched from the command line though, 
    but only through the <literal>startingbanner</literal> and <literal>endingbanner</literal>
    directives in <filename>pykota.conf</filename>.
  </para>
  
  <sect1>
    <title>Reference</title>
    <para>
      <cmdsynopsis>
        <command>pkbanner</command>
        <group choice="opt"><arg>-v</arg><arg>--version</arg></group>
        <group choice="opt"><arg>-h</arg><arg>--help</arg></group>
        <group choice="opt">
          <arg>-l <replaceable>image</replaceable></arg>
          <arg>--logo <replaceable>image</replaceable></arg>
        </group>  
        <group choice="opt">
          <arg>-p <replaceable>size</replaceable></arg>
          <arg>--pagesize <replaceable>size</replaceable></arg>
        </group>  
        <group choice="opt">
          <arg>-s <replaceable>luminosity</replaceable></arg>
          <arg>--savetoner <replaceable>luminosity</replaceable></arg>
        </group>  
        <group choice="opt">
          <arg>-u <replaceable>link</replaceable></arg>
          <arg>--url <replaceable>link</replaceable></arg>
        </group>  
        <group choice="opt">
          <arg><replaceable>additionnal info</replaceable></arg>
        </group>
      </cmdsynopsis>
    </para>
  </sect1>
</chapter>