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Specify printer in report on network Error

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    Specify printer in report on network Error

    Working on win 2000 in a Novell network. This problem existed in 4.5 and now also in V 5
    My pc has a full version of A5 where I specify a printer in a report. The report simply prints a check. The printer is a shared printer attached to a pc where the user has A5 run time. When I get the box to select the printer Alpha see it as: \\Jen\Epson FX 880 on Ne04:
    I have no idea where the Ne04: is coming from. My printer definition is simply
    \\Jen\Epson FX 880. Problem is other users have the same \\Jen\Epson FX 880 printer on their work station and Jen has the printer attached locally.
    The problem does not exist as long as I give the option to " Show printer setup on print" However doing that will require user intervention to select the printer each time if we are doing a batch check printing process.
    Bottom line of problem is how do I specify a printer that is shared by multiple users and also attached as a local printer for another user ?

    #2
    RE: Specify printer in report on network Error

    a5 stores the printer name and the port in the report definition.

    i think we can fix this, but before we start coding wildly, i would like to confirm that our theory is correct.

    it is possible that on each machine the network printer is using a different name for the port.

    if you go to the interactive window on one machine and you type: ?ui_printer_get(), you will get a list of the printers that a5 sees.

    as you see, on my machine, a5 has listed the printer name and the port name.

    ?ui_printers_get()
    = Acrobat Distiller (for Alpha 5) on Ne00:
    \\CAROL\MFC-9600 LOCAL on Ne01:
    \\THUNDER\Compaq Laser Printer LNM40 (PCL) on Ne02:

    now go to another machine and do the same thing.

    what is the printer name showing as on this machine?

    if it is not identical, then a5 will not print to that printer because as far as a5 is concerned the printer name is not the same.

    if this is indeed the case, then we can make a5 less picky about rejecting the printer name.

    can you please let me know what the printer names show up as on the machine that works, and on the machine that fails.

    NOte:
    you can code a solution to this problem yourself in xbasic using the new "printer override" features offered in V5.

    Comment


      #3
      RE: Specify printer in report on network Error

      Thanks for quick reply !

      on my pc which does work printer is \\JEN\Epson FX-880 on Ne04:
      on pc that that does not work printer is \\JEN\Epson FX-880 on Ne02:

      the pc to which the printer is attached only has a run time version so I can not get to interactive window

      Comment


        #4
        RE: Specify printer in report on network Error

        true. but you could create a sript that does

        printers = ui_get_printers()
        ui_msg_box("printers",printers)

        and have the runtime user execute this script.
        (but i think that the data you have sent me confirms our theory anyway)




        thanks.

        Comment


          #5
          RE: Specify printer in report on network Error

          This is a old thread, but...

          Was there ever a solution to this problem? I am having similar trouble. I have noticed that different versions of Windows report the printer name different.

          I am trying to specify a label to print a thermal label printer. A5 sees the name different than the name that shows in the Printer's folder. On all versions of Windows, even if you use the same printer name (i.e.:Zebra LP2844), A5 looks at the actual port information.

          On WinME the name of the printer shows as "Zebra LP2844 on \\SERVERNAME\Zebra". On WinXP the printer name shows as "Zebra LP2844 on Ne04:". With XP, it can be more complicated because different computers running XP can have different names for the same printer depending on the order that they used a network resource. So, the name can change to "Zebra LP2844 on Ne13:" on different computers running XP.

          Is there a way for A5 to see only the literal name that was given in the printers folder?

          Any help would be appreciated.

          Thanks
          Mike

          Comment


            #6
            RE: Specify printer in report on network Error

            We ran into this problem, and thanks to Steve Andrews, we got around it. There is a port definition issue with Win2K AND WinXP. Steve write a dll to retrieve the port definition for each printer known to a PC. It really does the trick.


            Selwyn,

            Steve will be at te conference. You can ask him about it.

            I have atached the dll. (This is NOT some sort of virus or worm)

            Tom

            Comment


              #7
              RE: Specify printer in report on network Error

              Now I'll attach the dll.

              Fingers are just too fast.

              Comment


                #8
                RE: Specify printer in report on network Error

                Tom:

                Thanks for the reply. Can you guide me a little on the usage of this dll? Still new to A5.

                Thanks
                Mike

                Comment


                  #9
                  RE: Specify printer in report on network Error

                  We encountered this problem in excel, actually, but the problem exists no matter what application you are using. We export a data stream from Alpha5 to excel, which prints a folder request in the file room. We used excel because the older version of Alpha didn't handle bar codes too well.


                  Per Steve Andrews:


                  "The process merely involved typing the following into a command prompt:

                  regsvr32 \\Whopper\public\system\DLLs\PortFind.dll

                  It would return a message that the registration succeeded. After doing this on the two systems mentioned above, printing worked fine."

                  You will need to place the dll into a folder someplace, then change the path in the above command to wherever you placed the dll.

                  Comment


                    #10
                    RE: Specify printer in report on network Error

                    To one and all: It might be more than you need but you might want to check out my fairly recnt article on Learnalpha.com. The system there eliminates virtually all network printing issues. All the functions and scripts needed are in the available download.

                    Ray Lyons

                    Comment


                      #11
                      RE: Specify printer in report on network Error

                      Raymond:

                      Thanks! This is a lot to digest, but at first try it did solve my problem. I will now see if I can incorporate your ideas into my needs.

                      BTW: You did a great job documenting your work!

                      Thanks again!
                      Mike

                      Comment


                        #12
                        RE: Specify printer in report on network Error

                        Mike,

                        As Tom pointed out, we actually use this DLL from an Excel spreadsheet which is called from Alpha5. In order to fully see how to use it, a few more details are needed.

                        The DLL contains a class titled "PortClass". That class contaiins a function titled "FindPort". The syntax of that function is:
                        Fullname = FINDPORT(Printername)
                        where
                        Printername is the name of the printer with no specified port (e.g. "Fileroom3") and
                        Fullname is the name of the printer complete with the port (e.g. "Fileroom3 on EN03").

                        I have not attempted to utilize this DLL from XBasic but I suppose it may could be done. The OBJ() function may could be used to create the object. Whatever, I've attached some Visual Basic code to further illustrate its usage.

                        After seeing at the great conference how easily any ActiveX or OLE component can be accessed under V6, I'm quiet sure that V6 will make such a DLL reference trivial.

                        Steve

                        Comment

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