Print key use

If you want to print a display containing double-byte data by pressing the Print key, make sure that the associated display file or printer file is a DBCS file. If neither is a DBCS file, the display will not print properly.

One way to make sure that either the display or printer file is a DBCS file is to override the file using the OVRDSPF or the OVRPRTF command. For example, to override the system-supplied default printer file (the printer file used to print displays that are printed by pressing the Print key), enter: 

OVRPRTF FILE(QSYSPRT) IGCDTA(*YES)
Notes:
  1. If you do not plan to use double-byte data, do not change the printer file QSYSPRT to a DBCS file with a CHGPRTF command. This printer file is used to print a variety of system data, including alphanumeric data. A system performance degradation results if QSYSPRT is a DBCS file and it is processing only alphanumeric data.
  2. If the Print key is used to print the image of a display containing DBCS-graphic data type fields, the system inserts shift-out and shift-in (SO/SI) characters around the graphic data. Depending on the IGCSOSI printer file value, the SO/SI characters could print as blanks, causing the printed alignment to be different from what was displayed.

Refer to Printer file overrides for more information on overrides.