Network printing trouble

[Nathan Zeiset]

I recently upgraded to Version 5, with 1 full copy of A5v5 and a 10-user runtime package on my peer-to-peer network. I'm running Win2000 on the computer on which the full copy of A5 and the application resides. The rest of the computers are running WinXP and are network optimized so a shadow is on each computers' hard drive.

I have various reports, labels, etc. set to print to specific printers which are attached to the various computers. These all print fine from my Win2000 computer. However, when I network optimize a computer on the network called "ABS800", which has the label printers attached to it, I can no longer print labels. I get this error message:

Trapped error in action command: [8]
Command: Inline XBasic
Error: Driver for \\ABS800\Okidata ML 320 (Epson) not found.

I actually had this problem in v4.5 also. I would "solve" it by going into each label's properties on the shadow database on ABS800 and changing the printer to the correct one. (They were always messed up after network optimization.)

My problem is that I purchased runtime to save the costs of buying a full copy of A5 for every user, and can no longer change the label properties on that computer. Is there any way to fix this without buying full copies for every user?

I had posted a message about this before, and was told that v5 would have a method to change the printer with XBasic. (See http://msgboard.alphasoftware.com/alphaphorum/read.php3?sortby=lastreply&direction=desc&num=4&id=50418&thread=50358#MSG50358 ) Has this feature been included with v5? If so, where can I learn how to use it?

Any help will be appreciated.

Nathan

[Allen Klimeck]

RE: Network printing trouble

Nathan,
You need to look in the xbasic reference manual for Report.printer_override(). The way that I plan to implement this is to create a printer definition table and load it with the printer info for each of my work stations you will need to have the machine name in the table too. A sample might be:

Machine_name_________character_________25
Label_printer_1______character________100 this might need to be bigger
Label_printer_2______character________100
Statement_printer____character________100
Invoice_printer______character________100

and so on for all the printers your application will need

When you open your database you would find the record with the correct machine name and read the values from the printer table and load them into global variables. All that is left is to change the scripts that print your layouts to included the Report.printer_override() function:

Dim global Vlabel_printer1 as c

' over ride the current printer
old_printer = Report.printer_override(Vlabel_printer1)

' the code to print your label

' reset the printer back the to way it was before we started
Report.printer_override(old_printer)


Two other functions that will help are:

ui_printers_get() & API_GetMachineName()


Allen J Klimeck

[Selwyn Rabins]

RE: Network printing trouble

you sould look at action scripting. the action for printing a report allows you to define printer overrides. it is very easy to do. you can then look at the code that the genie generates

[Nathan Zeiset]

RE: Network printing trouble

Selwyn,

Thanks for your input. I tried your suggestion, but I get the same error. It looks like the printer override function does not allow you to dynamically change the printer path.

The computer that I'm designing the application in sees the printer path as "\\ABS800\Okidata ML 320 (Epson)". However, the computer that the printer is attached to sees it as "Okidata ML 320 (Epson) on LPT2:". Thus I get the error mentioned above when I try to print from ABS800.

It looks like I will need to try Allen's suggestions above, but that looks like a very cumbersome way to deal with a problem that probably many have to deal with.

Nathan

[debwelch]

Network Optimization Does Cause Some Printing Problems.

I am having the same problem with a particular form that goes to a specified printer. When I run network optimization for each workstation, all print functions for this form work just fine except for the workstation that is attached to the specified printer. I must go the form on this workstation and redefine the specified printer as LPT1. I must to this everytime I run network optimization.

The other area of printing problems occurs when you select the box the tells the A5V6 to "Only show layouts for current table/set." I select this option to I get the "Print Current Record" choice. The logic works fine until I network optimize it. A workstation running a shadow database gets the error message:

Print Statement@c:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Documents\A5Seashore\statements 2006.set could not find.

Of course the set is there just like every other table and set. But to make the print button work I must go to design mode on each networked optimized workstation and tab through the print layout events. I don't change ANYTHING -- just tab through the event. I save the form and voila! -- the print button works just fine.

I am running full versions of A5V6 on all 5 workstations so I don't have your problem with the runtime version.

[Raymond Lyons]

Take a look at the method I outlined in an article on Learnalpha.com. Using printer_override() in the way I outlined should deal with all network printing issues--though I never print forms myself (just reports and letters). Note however, that printer_overrides schemes do not work with win98.

Ray

[debwelch]

Thanks Ray

Ray,

Thank you for the response. I'll investigate and let you know if I make any progress.

Deb

[scoooby]

The computer that I'm designing the application in sees the printer path as "\\ABS800\Okidata ML 320 (Epson)". However, the computer that the printer is attached to sees it as "Okidata ML 320 (Epson) on LPT2:". Thus I get the error mentioned above when I try to print from ABS800.

Nathan

It sounds like the issue is related to how the printer is addressed. The printer is local to the users computer but a network printer to everyone else. Have you tried sharing the printer (I assume you have because you can print to it)? If so try adding a new network printer to the local workstation and select its own shared printer. That should make the local machine address it in the same way other computer do.

Scott

[debwelch]

Printer Address

I have tried to make this printer a network printer but Windows XP Pro keeps appending LPT1 to the printer definition on the local workstation.

I will try adding a second printer to the workstation and see what the results are.

Thanks.

Deb

[debwelch]

I tried adding a second printer to the workstation and called it the same name as the printer referenced by another workstation on the network. It doesn't work. Can't even print a test page. No matter what I call the printer, Windows XP adds "on LPT1".

Guess I'll just live with updating the printer definition of the form for this particular workstation whenever I network optimize. Not a big deal because I only have one item (of many that are printed) that uses the "specify printer" feature.

Hope this saves someone time and trouble. Deb