Print Multiple Copies

[wayman.cockrell]

I'm building a network application. I want the end user to print multiple copies of a form (etc: Invoice)

I know I can do it using Action Scripting, but when I do it changes the default printer, which I don't want to do

How do I do it with the end user using their own printer, which would be the default.


Wayman Cockrell

[Keith Hubert]

RE: Print Multiple Copies

Wayman,

When you say "print multiple copies of a form" do you mean form or Report? Do you have the same problem if you print a Report? Also you say "it changes the default printer" to what?

Regards

Keith Hubert

Guild Member
London.

[wayman.cockrell]

RE: Print Multiple Copies

The form is in the letter format. It is an invoice that I have created and I want to send the customer 2 copies and for me to have a hard copy.

With the action scripting it says that you can change the default printer setting.

I go into those options I have to specific a printer and change the settings.

Problem is that not everybody has the same printer that I have. I have created this on the system at my office. To test it out I use it on my system at my home, which has a different printer.

The script won't work because it is set for the office sytem.


I have not tried it in reports

Wayman Cockrell

[martinwcole]

RE: Print Multiple Copies

don't change the default printer - print it to the default printer whcih is unique to every computer - but if you have the option anywhere, check "show printer setup on print" so they have the option to print to a different printer from their default printer, as a network printer instead of a local printer

[Jim Chapman]

RE: Print Multiple Copies

Hello Wayman,

I posted an answer to a similar question over on the v5 board:
http://msgboard.alphasoftware.com/alphaphorum/read.php3?sortby=lastreply&direction=desc&num=11&id=76978&thread=76951

Here is my post, hope it helps:

Jim
******************
Hello Paul,

This is fairly straight forward, Alpha will do most of it for you. There are two steps, and a little editing. Go into design mode of the form (I am assuming you are going to print from the form), and put a button on your form. For this button's actions, choose Action Scripting. First you need to set a variable to the value of your Sale_Qty field. I assume you are familiar with how to do this, but if not, don't worry it is very simple. Now I will assume that you have named this variable 'vCopies'. In Action Scripting Alpha will take your variable name and concatenate it with the name of the field, so you should end up with a variable named: "vCopies_Sale_Qty".

Now start a second action in the Action Scripting editor. Choose the Reports category and the 'Print a layout' action, you are given a dialog to pick the layout (and I agree most whole heartedly with Al's comments on using report rather than forms). There is an option tab on this dialog, click it and you will see that you have the ability to override the printer settings. Do this and check the "Copies" choice and enter any value greater than 1 (lets assume 2 for the sake of this post)for the number of copies that you want to print. Finish the Action Script and then convert it to Xbasic (under the Code menu choice).

Now you will see the actual code to do what you want. At this point you need to make a simple change. Here is the code you need to find in the converted Action Script:

options.dummy = 1
options_text = ""%str%
"copies=2"

Now for the change, you will change on the "options_text =" line:

options_text = ""copies=" + alltrim(str(vCopies_Sale_Qty))+"""


That's it, your quantity will be inserted into this printer override statement and it will print out the number of copies indicated in your field.

Action Scripting is a tremendous tool. Not necessarily because it does everything, but because it builds a framework that you can easily modify once you get a little familiar with it and Xbasic.

Good luck,
Jim