Overview

Spool-a-Matic is an IBM i based software utility that converts IBM i spooled files into industry standard file formats and places the resulting stream file into any directory in the IBM i's Integrated File System. Spooled files can be split into multiple stream files based on data found on the page. This is ideal for separating pages by branch, by customer, or by other criteria. Depending on the Integrated File System name specified, you can place the generated file in any file system known to IBM i including writing directly to Windows systems on the network, another system running IBM i, or NFS servers. With Spool-a-Matic you can make IBM i spooled output available to your users in the form best suited to them.

The product can convert spooled files to a wide variety of formats, the most popular of which is Adobe's Portable Document Format ( PDF). The PDF conversion is fully enabled for all levels of document complexity found in IBM i printed output. Print data, page segments, overlays, color, graphics, images, fonts and barcodes are accurately processed to give you PDF files that display and print like the original spooled file. The resulting PDF file is text based (not a bit image), and can be searched and indexed using Adobe's products. The PDF files can be encrypted, password protected, and compressed during the conversion to provide security and reduce storage requirements. As additional options the PDF files can be digitally signed or ISO 19005-1:2005 PDF/A compliant. Extensive bookmarking capabilities, based on DDS's indexing keywords or data on the page, allow you to generate files that are easy to navigate. Additional parameters allow you to specify the PDF document title, document subject, document open options, and font imbedding, giving fine grain control over the presentation of your data to the end user. The conversion to PDF is DBCS and unicode enabled for Chinese 中文 (简体)/中文 (繁體), Japanese 日本語, and Korean 한국어.

Features

Conversions

Spool-a-Matic supports all of the IBM i spooled file print data streams and can produce stream files in a variety of industry standard formats. Not all of the possible conversions are applicable to all spooled file print data streams. The following table shows the supported conversions:

Input
Spooled
File Print
Data Stream

Output Data Format (Click YES For Sample)
TXT PDF RTF HTML HPT NONE PS APF TIFF
*SCS YES1 YES2 YES1 YES1 YES YES - - YES
*IPDS YES1 YES2 YES1 YES1 - YES - - -
*AFPDS YES1 YES2 YES1 YES1 YES YES YES YES YES
*USERASCII - - - - - YES - - -
*LINE YES3 YES3 - - YES3 YES YES3 YES3 YES3
*AFPDSLINE YES3 YES3 - - YES3 YES YES3 YES3 YES3
Notes:
 
  1. Double byte character set ( DBCS) enabled.
  2. Double byte character set ( DBCS) enabled for Chinese/Japanese/Korean.
  3. With some work on your part. See printing nuggets for information on processing *LINE and *AFPDSLINE.
Key:
 
TXT ASCII text      NONE  Original print data stream
PDF Portable Document Format   PS PostScript
RTF Rich Text Format   APF AFP Viewer Ready
HTML  Hyper Text Markup Language   TIFF Tagged Image File Format
HPT IBM i Host Print Transform      

Product Support

Gumbo products include a range of standard features that make them easy to use, easy to manage, and easy to live with:

For additional information see: Answers to the most frequently asked general product questions.

30-Day Trial

A fully functional 30-day trial of the product is available for immediate download. There is no obligation. To receive an invoice, fill out an Invoice Request.

Prices (USD)

Gumbo offers two choices for licensing our IBM i software products, system wide licensing and partition licensing. These are mutually exclusive. A system wide license applies to a specific system serial number and processor group and is good for any and all partitions in the system. A partition license applies to a specific system serial number, partition number, and maximum processor capacity, and is not valid for a system that has not been partitioned. For the overwhelming majority of our customers, a system wide license (~ 98%) is the best choice. A partition license (~ 2%) is the best choice in very limited circumstances involving small partitions on large machines.

The system wide license prices for all of our products, with the exception of Report Designer, are tiered based on your system's processor group. You can determine your machine's processor group by running the IBM i Work with License Information (WRKLICINF) command.

The partition only license prices for all of our products, with the exception of Report Designer, are based on the maximum processor capacity configured for the partition (rounded up to the nearest tenth). You can determine your partition's maximum processor capacity by running the IBM i Start System Service Tools (STRSST) command and taking option 5 "Work with system partitions" then option 1 "Display partition information" then option 2 "Display partition processing configuration".

The one time charge includes the first  year of maintenance services. You are purchasing a permanent license to use the software subject to the terms of a license agreement and upgrade policy.

System Wide License (all partitions)
Processor Group One Time Charge Annual Maintenance
P05 $1,045 $160
P10 $1,495 $225
P20 $2,545 $385
P30 $4,195 $630
P40 $6,295 $945
P50 $8,395 $1,260
P60 $10,495 $1,575
Partition Only License (one partition)
Price Component One Time Charge Annual Maintenance
Base per partition $940 $140
Add per processor $1,050 $160
Notes:
  1. The smallest unit of processor capacity is .1 (one tenth). For example, round 1.43 up to 1.5.
  2. Example partition only license: 1 partition with 1.43 processors OTC = $1,675 = $940 + 1.5 X $1050.
  3. Run CALL PGM(QLZARCAPI) to see MAX PROCESSING CAPACITY: for a partition.
  4. Prices for other Gumbo products can be found on our current Price Sheet.
  5. Revised 2022/06/01.