WebSphere MQ PDF documentation availability

Answer

For the following versions of WebSphere MQ the Portable Document Format (PDF) version of the documentation is available from within the IBM Knowledge Center:

• MQ V8 PDF
• MQ V7.5 PDF
• MQ V7.1 PDF

For MQ V7.0.1 and previous versions you may still access the PDF versions of WebSphere MQ documentation but please be aware that these copies are not being updated as documented in the MQ V7.0.1 topic "What's Changed in the Documentation" :

"The Portable Document Format (PDF) versions of these documentation plugins are no longer being maintained. You can find the old ones, last updated for V7.0.0.1 from the WebSphere MQ Library web page."

There are a few different ways you may be able to access the PDF versions of the MQ documentation. The options for accessing the PDF files vary depending on the version of MQ.

• For WebSphere MQ V6 or V7.0 on AIX, HP, Windows, Solaris, Linux :
  The WebSphere MQ documentation is supplied separately on a CD-ROM alongside the product. You can either view the documents directly from CD, or you can install them on your computer (either before or after installing the WebSphere MQ product).
• For MQ V7.0.1 and all previous versions, start from the WebSphere MQ Library web page, select the version of MQ that you want to view.
• For MQ V7.0.1 or MQ V7.0.0 you will have to access the Information Center version of the documentation and then create PDF files following the directions below.
• For MQ V6.0 and previous versions, under the list of versions you can select the category of books that you want to view. For example you may select V6.0 and then select "z/OS specific books" then you will be presented with a list of available books that you may download in PDF format.

Creating PDFs from MQ Information Centers

You may convert specific topics found within the WebSphere MQ Information Center (and in a few cases the entire Information Center) by employing the following steps :

Individual pages or entire sections of the Information Center can be printed to paper, or printed to a PDF document if you install a free print2PDF application such as cutePDF

http://www.cutepdf.com/products/cutepdf/Writer.asp

This means that an entire plugin/book can be written to a PDF, or just a subsection. (This process will require a pop-up window to be opened on Mozilla browsers, and a new window on Internet Explorer). There is a default maximum of 100 subtopics that you can print to prevent excessive strain on the server.

To print a larger number of topics, you will need to download and uncompress the Information Center locally. It does not need to be installed. It can just be downloaded and uncompressed from:

• MQ Library web page http://www-01.ibm.com/software/integration/wmq/library/
  or
• FTP - public.dhe.ibm.com (login <anonymous> - password <email address>)
  Change to path /software/integration/wmq/docs/V7.0/ (download desired .zip in BINARY mode)

To print a large number of topics, change a single value in the package that you have downloaded. After you have uncompressed the Information Center, go to:

<InfoCenter_Unzip_Directory>\ibm_help\eclipse\plugins\org.eclipse.help.base_3.3.0\preferences.ini
and edit the "maxTopics" variable to a much higher number.

Then you can start the Information Center locally instead of using the online version by running:
<InfoCenter_Unzip_Directory>\ibm_help\help_start.bat
(Use help_end.bat to close it afterwards).


There are 2 ways to print, depending on which version of the Information Center you are using:

1) In the "Contents" navigation tree, select the highest level topic that you want to print (assuming you want to print it, and all the sub-topics)

2) After the topic is highlighted :
2a) If you are using the V7.0.1.X Information Center: Click on the gray circle with the black arrow that appears when you highlight a topic.
2b) If you are using the V7.0.0.X Information Center: Click on the printer icon at the top of the "Contents" window.

3) Click "Print selected topic and all subtopics" (The wording varies slightly depending on which version of Information Center is being used).

4) Select a printer, or if you have installed an application such as cutePDF, select the cutePDF printer to create a PDF file.

If you have selected a large number of files, it might take a long time to prepare the files.

Please note that it may not be possible to print more than 100 topics at a time.