Multiple pass pipe/filter date stream processing mechanism

1. An article of manufacture comprising a non-transitory machine-readable medium including data that, when accessed by a machine, cause the machine to perform operations comprising:

each filter within a chain of filters of a pipes and filters architectural pattern declaring a pass requirement to indicate a number of times the filter is to be processed to produce final form data; and

processing a stream of data at each filter within the chain of filters to produce the final form data, by:

determining whether a first filter requires two or more passes to process the stream of data;

determining whether the first filter has run for the declared number of passes; and

determining whether a second filter requires two or more passes to process the stream of data if the first filter has run for the declared number of passes.

2. The article of manufacture of claim 1 wherein processing the stream of data further comprises:

processing the stream of data at a first subcomponent of the chain of filters; and

informing the first filter of a current pass number on which the first filter is operating.

3. The article of manufacture of claim 2 wherein the first subcomponent comprises a partial chain of the filters up to and including the first filter.

4. The article of manufacture of claim 2 wherein processing the stream of data comprises:

reprocessing the stream of data at the first subcomponent if the first filter has not run for the declared number of passes.

5. The article of manufacture of claim 1 wherein processing the stream of data further comprises:

processing the stream of data at a second subcomponent of the chain of filters; and

informing the second filter of a current pass number on which the second filter is operating.

6. The article of manufacture of claim 5 wherein the second subcomponent comprises a partial chain of the filters up to and including the second filter.

7. The article of manufacture of claim 1 wherein the stream of data is an Advanced Function Presentation (AFP) data stream.

8. The article of manufacture of claim 7 wherein the chain of filters process structured fields within the AFP data stream.

9. A print server comprising:

a non-transitory storage device to store a printing software product that includes a pipes and filters architectural pattern having chain of filters, wherein each filter within a chain of filters of a pipes and filters architectural pattern: and

a processor to execute the printing software product to:

declare a pass requirement to indicate a number of times the filter is to be processed to produce final form data; and

process a stream of data to produce the final form data, by:

determining whether a first filter requires two or more passes to process the stream of data,

determining whether the first filter has run for the declared number of passes and

determining whether a second filter requires two or more passes to process the stream of data if the first filter has run for the declared number of passes.

10. The print server of claim 9 wherein the printing software product processes the stream of data by processing the stream of data at a first subcomponent of the chain of filters and informing the first filter of a current pass number on which the first filter is operating.

11. The print server of claim 10 wherein the first subcomponent comprises a partial chain of the filters up to and including the first filter.

12. The print server of claim 10 wherein the printing software product processes the stream of data by reprocessing the stream of data at the first subcomponent if the first filter has not run for the declared number of passes.

13. The print server of claim 9 wherein the printing software product processes the stream of data by processing the stream of data at a second subcomponent of the chain of filters and informing the second filter of a current pass number on which the second filter is operating.

14. The print server of claim 13 wherein the second subcomponent comprises a partial chain of the filters up to and including the second filter.

15. The print server of claim 9 wherein the stream of data is an Advanced Function Presentation (AFP) data stream.

16. The print server of claim 15 wherein the chain of filters process structured fields within the AFP data stream.