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No printer configured (AGAIN!)

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    No printer configured (AGAIN!)

    I've searched the many submissions on this subject, and I've already experience (and corrected) the traditional manifestation of the problem.

    But, what do I do when everything works fine on a laptop while it's connected to the network (and thence to a printer), but when removed (so that my hard-working client can manage his business while travelling) he is unable to see previews of reports. He doesn't expect to print them without a printer, obviously, but surely there's a way to display them on-screen?

    Please tell me we're not asking for the impossible.

    Thanks,

    Martin.

    #2
    RE: No printer configured (AGAIN!)

    Martin, I haven't searched the other threads you mention, but if it were me I would verify that a particular printer is not defined in the report layout. Use current default. Then, on the laptop assure that at least one printer is defined as default. If you need the flexibility to have both options, define two copies of the report layout, giving one the network printer definition, giving the other 'use current default printer'. --tom

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      #3
      RE: No printer configured (AGAIN!)

      To add to Tom's suggestion, go to the control panel on the laptop and see what printers are installed and what is the default. Usually the operating system installs the driver for a printer on the laptop. If there are no printers installed, install one.
      Cole Custom Programming - Terrell, Texas
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      ____________________
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        #4
        RE: No printer configured (AGAIN!)

        All my reports are configured to print via the default printer, and the laptop has a default printer defined. But as soon as the computer is disconnected from the network, it will not preview reports.

        I can't believe this is common (I'm sure more people would be aware of it) but I can't see how to overcome it, other than to carry around a printer with the laptop!

        Martin.

        Comment


          #5
          RE: No printer configured (AGAIN!)

          Martin,

          Let me ask a few basic questions. If the laptop is detached from the network, how is it going to be able to connect to any of the data on your server? You must have made some arrangements for the data on the server to be copied into local tables on the laptop, right? Are the dictionaries copied into the local database folder, too? Is the user starting the app with a different shortcut, one that's pointing to the local copy of the data?

          -- tom

          Comment


            #6
            RE: No printer configured (AGAIN!)

            And...

            please tell us that on the server all the data files are in the same folder as the database dictionarites themselves, right ?

            -- tom

            Comment


              #7
              RE: No printer configured (AGAIN!)

              Tom,

              AlphaFive and the application are on the laptop only (A5 in one forlder, all the app. files in another). The only reason I mentioned a network is that reports are printed, in the office, via a network printer. When the laptop is removed from the network, A5 and the application runs perfectly, except that reports cannot be printed. Obviously we do not expect reports to be printed when the computer is not connected to a physical printer, but it seems to check for the presence of a printer before it will even preview a report.

              I will try setting up a dummy (non physical) printer, e.g. to text file, and ask the user to change the Windows default printer to that, whenever the computer is not connected (whether or not via a network) to an actual printer. This will have to be reversed when the computer is returned to the office. I can anticipate the user, understandably, forgetting to do this until he tries to produce a report.

              As approx. 75% of reports in this application (wherever the computer is being used) never get as far as a hard copy, all I really wanted to know was, is there any way to stop Alpha testing for the presence of a physical printer before displaying a print preview on screen?

              It would seem probably not, in which case I'll have to settle for the default printer reset in Windows option, as above (if it works!)

              Thanks for your time, Tom.

              Comment


                #8
                RE: No printer configured (AGAIN!)

                Martin,

                Let us know how it turns out.

                -- tom

                ps. If your user is running XP, he's set compatibility mode to Win2000, right?

                Comment


                  #9
                  RE: No printer configured (AGAIN!)

                  Hi Tom, yes it IS XP, and compatibility is set to Win2000. I'll let you know if anything further transpires.

                  Martin.

                  Comment


                    #10
                    RE: No printer configured (AGAIN!)

                    Martin, I wonder what shows up when you click on Printer Setup on the File menu from the Control Panel in Alpha Five? It seems to me that the laptop should be configured for a local printer when travelling, and a network printer when connected.

                    -- tom

                    Comment


                      #11
                      RE: No printer configured (AGAIN!)

                      Interesting...

                      I've tried that on a laptop (not the client's) with a similar set up, and, if disconnected from the printer, NOTHING shows up when I click on Printer Setup from the Control Panel (i.e. no printer selection at all).

                      I agreen that the laptop, in theory, SHOULD be configured to a local printer when travelling, but, as no printer ever accompanies the laptop on its travels, my client may need convincing of the logic of this.

                      Thanks again.

                      Comment


                        #12
                        RE: No printer configured (AGAIN!)

                        Martin

                        Have you tried setting up a default printer on the laptop and pausing the queue so nothing actually tries to print, but Alpha has a deault printer to use.

                        I typically add a printer (like an hplj4 - pretty generic and all os's have the driver) to lpt1 and then pause the queue.
                        Al Buchholz
                        Bookwood Systems, LTD
                        Weekly QReportBuilder Webinars Thursday 1 pm CST

                        Occam's Razor - KISS
                        Normalize till it hurts - De-normalize till it works.
                        Advice offered and questions asked in the spirit of learning how to fish is better than someone giving you a fish.
                        When we triage a problem it is much easier to read sample systems than to read a mind.
                        "Make it as simple as possible, but not simpler."
                        Albert Einstein

                        http://www.iadn.com/images/media/iadn_member.png

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                          #13
                          RE: No printer configured (AGAIN!)

                          I think the issue must be that Alpha must need to communicate with some printer driver to decide what features are available. It must know whether it is communicating with a printer capable of handling ledger size paper, color, landscape mode, pcl or postscript, among many possible options.

                          These would be necessary to image the output for a print preview if not an actual page print.
                          There can be only one.

                          Comment


                            #14
                            RE: No printer configured (AGAIN!)

                            Thanks Al,

                            I'll try that, but I suspect it may be an even more complicated option for the user than changing the default printer (when out of the office) to a file, as suggested above.

                            Martin.

                            Comment


                              #15
                              RE: No printer configured (AGAIN!)

                              Yes, Stan, I think you're right. Would there be a "fool-proof" way, then, of displaying selected, scrollable data on screen? A browse would only give, well, a browse without (sub) totals, etc. and a form would only (without some funny programming) give one record at a time...

                              (Having asked this semi-hypothetical question, I'm sure that the simplest solution is to re-define the default printer to a file, or something, as above.)

                              Martin.

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