Within the Workplace Shell, each possible print object is represented as a separate printer icon. The print object is composed of the printer queue and the ports serviced by that queue. However, the joint nature of the printer object is not apparent to the end user, who sees only the printer object, both when installing and when using a printer. This removes a major source of confusion with previous versions of OS/2.
Each printer object has an object name and is represented on the desktop by an icon. A user may direct objects to be printed by dragging and dropping the required object over the printer object.
A printer object may be opened, and displays a window containing the name and status of each print job currently in the queue, as shown in Figure "Job List View of Print Object". The user may select any job and view information on that job, hold or release the job in the queue, or discard the job from the queue. A printer object may be accessed for drag and drop operations when opened, as well as in its closed icon state.
The printer object window includes a menu with items allowing the user to view and alter properties of the printer object. Selecting an option from this menu causes a notebook control to be displayed, allowing the following items to be viewed or altered:
In order to create a new printer object, a user may select the Copy option which creates a new printer object identical to the current printer object. The desired properties may then be altered and the new object renamed to reflect the changes. For example, the original may print "portrait," but the copy can be changed to print "landscape" on the same printer.
For more information on printing, refer to OS/2 Version 2.0 - Volume 5: Print Subsystem.