A couple of business partners have asked me during the last month to help customers in the process of converting from an AFP/IPDS setup into using InterForm400. I am afraid, that AFP overlays are totally different from InterForm400 overlays and the conversion is not that easy. As a workaround I have suggested to help to convert the AFP overlays into TIF files. This will handle the simple fixed overlays adding simple graphics to the print out.

The way I do it is by overriding a printer file changing these parameters:
1) The size: Making that that there is enough room for the AFP overlay.
2) The device type: Changing it to *AFPDS
3) The front overlay: Refer to the AFP overlay in question

Then I copy a blank record in a PF onto the overridden printer file. That creates an empty spooled file with the attached overlay. The next step is to convert the AFPDS spooled file (with AFP overlay) into a *USERASCII PCL spooled file. That is done simply by printing the spooled file via a remote writer back onto the same System i (Host Print Transform will do the conversion). I work with the spooled files on the receiving output queue via the InterForm400 command: APF3812/APFWRKOUTQ and use option 5=Display for the *USERASCII spooled file. This will open Swiftview and show the spooled file. Now I click 'Convert' to copy a part of the page into a TIF file with Fax 4 compression and that creates a TIF file ready for use in InterForm400.