Printing Transactions on save ??

[Themis Skiathitis]

Hi again :)

Progressing along fine here but have run into a snag.

When we enter a transaction (set with transactions, clients and stock) we need the system to print a summary that the customer can then sign on pickup of the goods.

What would be the easiest way to get the transaction to be printed when the record is saved?

The printout doesn't need to be anything fancy just something that shows the clients name, date, item traded in and item taken in exchange.

Any info would be helpful and as always thanks in advance! :)

[Tom Cone Jr]

RE: Printing Transactions on save ??


Themis,

I can imagine two alternative approaches:

1) The script that saves the record, prints a report, or pops up a simple form, and you print that one form...

or

2) You store the necessary information in a separate table, and use that table to print one report at the end of the day, beginning each transaction on a separate page.

-- tom

[Themis Skiathitis]

RE: Printing Transactions on save ??

Hi Tom, good to talk to you again!

The problem we have is that each transaction, by law here in Australia, requires us to get a signed statement from the client that he is in fact the owner of the goods being traded in.

This is part of a crackdown on the trading of second hand goods and in turn the sale of stolen property.

While all the details, ie client name, address, ID, description of goods, etc is available from the database, we have to find some way to get the client to sign the transaction notice. Obviously some way of doing this thru the system would be preferable to manually writing out each transaction.

At this stage we could in fact do this by doing a print screen (if a print sceen can be done from within A5) when the transaction is finalised as this would have all the info on the screen and we could lay out the form in such a manner as to print the way we require it.

I'll have another look thru the documentation and see if I can get a handle on what you're suggesting.

As always, thanks for your input, it's much appreciated.

[Jay Talbott]

RE: Printing Transactions on save ??

Hi,

Having been a student of Tom Cone's for a few years (even thought from afar), I remember that he discourages printing forms, so I would make a report based on the set, and using the field rules, on the OnSaveRecord event, and again on the OnChangeRecord event, to force the form to print, and then put up a dialog box asking if the form printed correctly. If so, fine, but if not, print again.

Hope this helps.

Regards,
Jay Talbott

[Themis Skiathitis]

RE: Printing Transactions on save ??

Hmmm,,, an interesting dilemma here! I have managed to get the system to print the form with the transaction, the only problem is that insists on printing every stock item in the database on the item traded out!

Get the client details, item traded in ok but when it gets to the item the client took it prints a report that is some 200 pages long!

Am I missing something here? Help please :(

[Thomas Henkel]

RE: Printing Transactions on save ??

How are you selecting the Items a client took?

Are you displaying a browse of the inventory file?

You may be better off building a "transaction out" table that would contain the client# and the items taken.

From there, print a report based on a set containing the client, Items-in, and items out as stated above.

client
||=====>items_in
||=====>items_out

then your report can look like an invoice showing all items in and out.

The advantage is that you would have a history file of all items in, where they are from, and also a history of all items out and who they went to.

Tom

[Themis Skiathitis]

RE: Printing Transactions on save ??

Hi Tom, well I've made some progress and am getting the last record printed out ok by simply pressing a button when the transaction is finished.

The problem is that the output is a print of the default form! ideally I'd like to be able to layout the form that is being printed in a fashion that only takes up a few lines rather than a whole page with fields down the left hand column.

This is what appears in the xbasic action area of the button:

dim A_FORM_CURRENT as c

range.flags = RANGE_INDEX .or. RANGE_FIRST .or. RANGE_LAST
range.index_handle = index_record_get(db_current())
range.filter = ""
range_add(db_current(), recno(), recno())
dim A_FORM_CURRENT as c

preview:
preview_form(A_FORM_CURRENT)
goto cleanup

cleanup:
range_drop(db_current())
end

Any ideas of how I can either edit the default form to a more friendly style or alternatively how to get it to use another form when printing. Any info would be helpful :)