Looking for alternative to Infoprint Designer

["John Taylor" <lists@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Hello,
 
Our organization is modifying a number of our forms to include bar codes and
other graphics, which requires us to generate AFP spool files instead of
SCS. Unfortunately, Code Designer has not been updated in years, and never
was able to do AFP documents. I know there is a program called Infoprint
Designer that provides a WSYWIG way of defining AFP documents, but the
product is prohibitively priced at $5000 U.S. per workstation, plus
additional fees for the server component. At that price, Infoprint Designer
is just another nail in the coffin of the iSeries around here.
 
I realize that we can hand craft the DDS, but that's very time consuming and
error prone. It's just not something that I'm willing to waste my time doing
for the sole purpose of keeping the printing on the iSeries. Our choices
boil down to either finding a reasonably priced iSeries alternative to
Designer, or moving our printing onto the PC platform. I'm writing the list
to see if anyone knows of an alternative to Designer. If you have something
that you're currently using and happy with, I'd love to hear about it.
Vendors are welcome to reply directly to my email address.
 
Just a thought... but shouldn't Designer have been rolled into WDSC anyway?
Business applications tend to require forms printing. Why don't we have a
modern forms designer included in our development toolset?
 
Regards,
 
John Taylor