When the Enable Group File option is selected, Black Ice printer drivers create group files at the end of each print job. Group files contain information specific to the print job that was just processed, including the name of the generated output file(s), any errors that occurred during printing, and specifics about the print job. Since the group files are standard text files, they can be opened by common applications, such as Notepad. A sample Group file can be found below:
[Black Ice PDF]
Image Format=Portable Document Format (PDF)
Append Image Enabled=Yes
Bits Per Pixel=8
Print status=Printing finished successfully
Document name=MarchNewsletter.pub
Number of Copies=2
Total number of pages=4
[Page 1]
FileName=D:\Documents and Settings\User\My Documents\Newsletters\March\AAA4C.PDF
Orientation=Portrait
[Page 2]
FileName=D:\Documents and Settings\User\My Documents\Newsletters\March\AAA4C.PDF
Orientation=Portrait
Group files are particularly useful to application developers for gathering information about printing jobs and passing that information on to their application.
The group file name can be passed on the command line to an application started by the Black Ice printer driver.
The "Output Filename" sample launched by the demo driver receives the group file name in the command line and displays the name of the generated image files listed in the group file. The resource toolkit contains the full source for the "Output Filename".
The group file can be used to retrieve the name(s) of the generated images. First, the developed application should check for the print status, to see if the document was successfully printed. Next, read the number of total pages from the “Total number of pages=” value. The name of each image is saved to the “FileName” value in the section reserved for the actual page (section [Page 1] for the first page, etc.)
The name of the Group file follows the output filename generation method, but the extension is .grp. For example, if a TEST.DOC is converted with the printer driver, the group file name is TEST.GRP. If the conversion happens more than once or to different file formats, the printer driver does not overwrite the previous group files, instead it appends a number to the filename, for example, TEST (1).GRP, TEST (2).GRP, and so on. In this case, from the group file name it might not be obvious which group file belongs to which conversion. However, the group file itself contains all the necessary information.
When the Enable Group File option is selected, the Printer Driver generates a group file for each completed print job. To enable group file generation, open Printing Preferences, navigate to the Filename Generation tab, and select the Enable Group File checkbox.
Group files contain information related to the processed print job, including the name of the generated output file(s), any errors that occurred during conversion, and detailed parameters about the print job. Group files are saved as standard text files and can be opened with any common text editor, such as Notepad.
Each group file uses the same name as the generated output file, but with a .GRP extension, and is saved in the same output directory.
For example:
If a document named MyDocument.DOC is converted, the group file will be MyDocument.GRP.
If multiple conversions of the same document are performed or the output format differs, the Printer Driver will not overwrite previous group files. Instead, it appends a sequential number to the filename.
For example:
MyDocument.GRP
MyDocument (1).GRP
MyDocument (2).GRP
In such cases, it may not be immediately clear which group file corresponds to a specific conversion.
NOTE: Group file generation is disabled by default in the Black Ice Printer Drivers.
Group File Behavior with Other Configurations
When the Upload to FTP, Upload to SharePoint, Upload to Web, Upload to Database, or Upload to M-Files feature is used, the Printer Driver automatically enables the Enable Group File option. This ensures that a group file is generated for each uploaded document, containing details about the upload process and the associated print job.
When any of the above features are used with the Upload through memory option, the Printer Driver uploads the printed document directly from memory without writing the output file to the local disk. In this case, the Enable Group File option is automatically disabled, and no group file is generated.
To generate group files even when using the Upload through memory option, please navigate to the Printing Preferences > Filename Generation tab and manually enable the Enable Group File option. In this case, the group file will be generated in the directory specified in the Output Directory field.