The Information Center Facility supplies a printer support service that enables your installation to set up one or more specific print formats for a physical printer. Each print format/physical printer combination is called a print definition. When users want to send information to a printer, they can select from a list of print definitions, one that prints their information in an appropriate format.

You can set up a print definition by entering information about print characteristics on Information Center Facility panels. This information is used later as parameters in the TSO/E ALLOCATE or PRINTDS commands, and in JCL OUTPUT and DD statements. Print definitions are stored in the printer support table, an ISPF table named ICQAPT10.

As an administrator, you can add a new print definition, copy, modify, delete, or test an existing print definition.

The use of the News and Course Abstract printing services requires that printers be defined to the Information Center Facility. If a user attempts to use a print service and a printer is not defined, an error message appears.