[Samba] Driver Download with Foomatic-PPDs: Win2K Client says "Device settings cannot be displayed" if PPD's TranslationString longer than 40 chars

[Kurt Pfeifle]

Hi, Samba list readers,

I am forwarding these mails from one of the Linuxprinting.org lists to
you (with the $SUBJECT changed by me), because surely some of you must
have been bitten by this too....

This problem is verified on W2K (but not yet for NT/ME/XP/9x).

Cheers,
Kurt



#################  problem description by Elena Khan  ####################


-------- Original Message --------
To: hp-list at linuxprinting.org
Subject: [lp.hp] ppd problem - samba - w2k - oj g95
Sender: hp-list-admin at linuxprinting.org
Date: Mon, 9 Jun 2003 20:22:48 +0000 (UTC)

Hello,

I'd like to report that the ppd for the Office Jet G95 needs to be edited
before w2k machines can use them.  I didn't see this problem mentioned in
the newsgroups, so I hope that (1) I'm not reposting a known problem and
(2) this is the right place to report it.

Here's the history:
We've got a cups/samba setup and are using the automatic driver
download/install on the samba side.
We can print successfully from the cups server (solaris) to the OfficeJet.

On the windows side, the drivers (seemed to) download fine to my w2k
machine.
After downloading, though, when I clicked the Properties option, I would
receive the  "Device settings cannot be displayed. The driver for the
specified printer is not installed ..." error message.

But, I knew that the driver was installed b/c:
(1) the cups log file (at level "debug2") showed that the client's
download was successful
(2) on the w2k machine, the entry for the printer was present in the
registry at HKLM\System\ControlSet001\Control\Print\Environments\Windows
NT x86\Drivers\Version-2\office_jet_g95 and
(3) the ppd file was present in c:\winnt\system32\spool\drivers\w32x86\2

Furthermore, I knew that the driver/ppd was the problem because when I
replaced it with the deskjet.ppd that came with cups, I no longer received
the error message (in other words, I could see the printer properties).

I found the problem in the "*OpenUI *Quality" section.  There are 8 lines
in the section whose TranslationString (the text between the backslash and
the colon) is over 40 characters long:
  1. *OpenUI *Quality/Resolution, Quality, Ink Type, Media Type: PickOne
  2. *Quality 300BestColorCMYK/300 dpi, Best, Color, Black + Color Cartr.:
  3. *Quality 300DraftColorCMYK/300 dpi, Draft, Color, Black + Color Cartr.:
  4. *Quality 300DraftGrayscaleCMYK/300 dpi, Draft, Grayscale, Black + Color Cartr.:
  5. *Quality 300PhotoCMYK/300 dpi, Photo, Black + Color Cartr., Photo Paper:
  6. *Quality 600BestColorCMYK/600 dpi, Best, Color, Black + Color Cartr.:
  7. *Quality 600PhotoCMYK/600 dpi, Photo, Black + Color Cartr., Photo Paper:
  8. *Quality 1200PhotoCMYK/1200 dpi, Photo, Black + Color Cartr., Photo Paper:

After editing the file in order to get each string at or below 40
characters, the ppd file worked (I no longer received the error message, I
could open the printer properties without problem and I could print).

It seems that this is only a problem with w2k machines (i.e., there is no
problem with our solaris server using the ppd).  I've verified this
behavior on 2 w2k machines.  I haven't tested xp/nt/98.

-Elena

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#################  Grant Taylor's answer  ###################################


ekhan at deas.harvard.edu (Elena Khan) writes:


 >> I found the problem in the "*OpenUI *Quality" section.  There are 8
 >> lines in the section whose TranslationString (the text between the
 >> backslash and the colon) is over 40 characters long:


 >>    1. *OpenUI *Quality/Resolution, Quality, Ink Type, Media Type: PickOne

[...]


 >> After editing the file in order to get each string at or below 40
 >> characters, the ppd file worked (I no longer received the error
 >> message, I could open the printer properties without problem and I
 >> could print).


 >> It seems that this is only a problem with w2k machines (i.e., there
 >> is no problem with our solaris server using the ppd).  I've verified
 >> this behavior on 2 w2k machines.  I haven't tested xp/nt/98.


Hrm.  The PPD spec quite specifically states that Option and several
other flavors of string are no more than 40 chars.  It does not,
however, appear to specify a maximum length for Translation strings
(aside from the line max of 255, I guess).

Respinning those strings in <= 40 bytes will be unpleasant.  Till and
I will have to smoke this one over when he gets back...

-- Grant Taylor