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Dialog box: "Now Printing XXX Report"?

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    #1

    Dialog box: "Now Printing XXX Report"?

    My application prints a series of reports and letters with the click of one button. It is designed so that the user does not have to go through many steps to get the end product: the printed reports and letters (which is all that he or she really cares about).

    But, the user may want to print certain letters on letterhead paper, and others on blank paper. So, I would like to tell him or her what is about to print so that a print tray change can be made.

    Is there a way to get the name of the report or letter which is about to be printed into the print dialog box?

    Or do I need to design a new dialog box of my own?

    Thanks,

    Dave
    Tags: None
    #2
    RE: Dialog box:

    Dave,

    My friend Barry Rochford is much more qualified to answer this question, as he recently created an application that tells the user how many letters are about to print and what type of paper should go into the printer. Nevertheless, I will throw in my 1� � worth.

    Before the print dialog box appears, put up a user message stating something like this:

    Notice, Letter ABC is about to print. Please insert letterhead into the printer.

    When the user clicks the OK button, the script will contiue printing.

    Good luck,

    Regards,
    Jay Talbott
    Jay Talbott
    Lexington, KY

    Comment

      #3
      RE: Dialog box:

      Jay,

      Thanks for your reply. I had a feeling that it would probably come down to something like that but was hoping there was a feature that I just hadn't stumbled across yet.....

      Comment

        #4
        RE: Dialog box:

        Just FYI, I have an app that does even more: There is a Print Options menu on which the user selects which of a bunch of jobs to print and for each the number of copies (it also records the last date each item was printed). On the network there are different printers used by different users. For this app, there is code in the print options menu specifying, for example, that job A uses letterhead. Then there is a file that is read a runtime that says for letterhead on this computer, use printer M and tray 3. A different computer could use a different printer on the network and a different tray number. I could also stop and tell them to put in a different tray, but that is not necessary as each printer for this client has a separate tray for 8.5x11 plain, letterhead and legal size plain.

        I said "FYI" above because the specifics of how all this is done is way too complex to state here in any detail (though it should be obvious to some that I use printer_override() function and some UDF functions). I have thought of putting something together on how to do all this, but it would take time I that I don't have. Plus I am not sure there is enough interest to warrant the time.

        By the way, my scheme also addresses the problem one faces when trying to use saved properties in a layout to specify a printer and a paper tray: often if the network has a mixture of workstations with different OS's, specifying a printer and a tray will work on, say, w2k, but it won't work on a win98 machine because the OS printer drivers for a particular printer are very different. Besides, some user don't want to use the printer way down the hall when they have one right beside them that prints letterhead just fine. And of course, the people way down the hall don't want to come way up here either. My scheme gives total flexibility. And yes, I know I could probably sell something like this as an add-on, but I am not exactly happy with the idea of people selling things through this board that they used to provide here for free (i.e., the classified thing). Besides, anyone really proficient with A5 could take what I have said above and re-invent my wheel (except that if my experience is any indication, it would take quite a bit of time).

        Ray Lyons

        Comment

          #5
          RE: Dialog box:

          "Plus I am not sure there is enough interest to warrant the time."

          Guess not!

          Ray Lyons

          Comment

            #6
            RE: Dialog box:

            Ray,

            Au contraire, mon Capitain !

            I'd be very interested in a tip sheet or article discussing what you've learned about printing reports on network printers when the app will reside on workstations with various (differing) operating systems. Areas of particular interest:

            1) any operating system specific format variations in the report layout specifications you've found helpful

            2) a discussion on naming conventions used for the printers themselves (i.e. how various operating systems identify shared printers over the network)

            3) suggestions for designing and debugging an app like this when you don't have access to the client's network or printers.

            Thanks

            -- tom

            Comment

              #7
              RE: Dialog box:

              Tom,

              Okay, at least one person is interested. Truth is, we are selling our house, trying to find another one, probably going to have to rent, dealing with moving and/or storing our furniture, moving my business hundreds of miles and in general going crazy. The bottom line is it will be quite a while before I'll have any time to put something on this subject together. But I would actually like to, mostly because I am sure others would have great ideas as to how I could accomplish what I am accomplishing in a more efficient manner. When I get something complicated like this to work, I tend to move on to other more pressing matters and never get around to tweaking things for efficiency and elegance.

              Ray

              Comment

                #8
                RE: Dialog box:

                Ray,

                Good luck with the move. -- tom

                Comment

                  #9
                  RE: Dialog box:

                  Raymond,
                  If you get the time, this would be a great article for the newsletter.

                  Comment

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