Alpha Software Mobile Development Tools:   Alpha Anywhere    |   Alpha TransForm subscribe to our YouTube Channel  Follow Us on LinkedIn  Follow Us on Twitter  Follow Us on Facebook

Announcement

Collapse

The Alpha Software Forum Participation Guidelines

The Alpha Software Forum is a free forum created for Alpha Software Developer Community to ask for help, exchange ideas, and share solutions. Alpha Software strives to create an environment where all members of the community can feel safe to participate. In order to ensure the Alpha Software Forum is a place where all feel welcome, forum participants are expected to behave as follows:
  • Be professional in your conduct
  • Be kind to others
  • Be constructive when giving feedback
  • Be open to new ideas and suggestions
  • Stay on topic


Be sure all comments and threads you post are respectful. Posts that contain any of the following content will be considered a violation of your agreement as a member of the Alpha Software Forum Community and will be moderated:
  • Spam.
  • Vulgar language.
  • Quotes from private conversations without permission, including pricing and other sales related discussions.
  • Personal attacks, insults, or subtle put-downs.
  • Harassment, bullying, threatening, mocking, shaming, or deriding anyone.
  • Sexist, racist, homophobic, transphobic, ableist, or otherwise discriminatory jokes and language.
  • Sexually explicit or violent material, links, or language.
  • Pirated, hacked, or copyright-infringing material.
  • Encouraging of others to engage in the above behaviors.


If a thread or post is found to contain any of the content outlined above, a moderator may choose to take one of the following actions:
  • Remove the Post or Thread - the content is removed from the forum.
  • Place the User in Moderation - all posts and new threads must be approved by a moderator before they are posted.
  • Temporarily Ban the User - user is banned from forum for a period of time.
  • Permanently Ban the User - user is permanently banned from the forum.


Moderators may also rename posts and threads if they are too generic or do not property reflect the content.

Moderators may move threads if they have been posted in the incorrect forum.

Threads/Posts questioning specific moderator decisions or actions (such as "why was a user banned?") are not allowed and will be removed.

The owners of Alpha Software Corporation (Forum Owner) reserve the right to remove, edit, move, or close any thread for any reason; or ban any forum member without notice, reason, or explanation.

Community members are encouraged to click the "Report Post" icon in the lower left of a given post if they feel the post is in violation of the rules. This will alert the Moderators to take a look.

Alpha Software Corporation may amend the guidelines from time to time and may also vary the procedures it sets out where appropriate in a particular case. Your agreement to comply with the guidelines will be deemed agreement to any changes to it.



Bonus TIPS for Successful Posting

Try a Search First
It is highly recommended that a Search be done on your topic before posting, as many questions have been answered in prior posts. As with any search engine, the shorter the search term, the more "hits" will be returned, but the more specific the search term is, the greater the relevance of those "hits". Searching for "table" might well return every message on the board while "tablesum" would greatly restrict the number of messages returned.

When you do post
First, make sure you are posting your question in the correct forum. For example, if you post an issue regarding Desktop applications on the Mobile & Browser Applications board , not only will your question not be seen by the appropriate audience, it may also be removed or relocated.

The more detail you provide about your problem or question, the more likely someone is to understand your request and be able to help. A sample database with a minimum of records (and its support files, zipped together) will make it much easier to diagnose issues with your application. Screen shots of error messages are especially helpful.

When explaining how to reproduce your problem, please be as detailed as possible. Describe every step, click-by-click and keypress-by-keypress. Otherwise when others try to duplicate your problem, they may do something slightly different and end up with different results.

A note about attachments
You may only attach one file to each message. Attachment file size is limited to 2MB. If you need to include several files, you may do so by zipping them into a single archive.

If you forgot to attach your files to your post, please do NOT create a new thread. Instead, reply to your original message and attach the file there.

When attaching screen shots, it is best to attach an image file (.BMP, .JPG, .GIF, .PNG, etc.) or a zip file of several images, as opposed to a Word document containing the screen shots. Because Word documents are prone to viruses, many message board users will not open your Word file, therefore limiting their ability to help you.

Similarly, if you are uploading a zipped archive, you should simply create a .ZIP file and not a self-extracting .EXE as many users will not run your EXE file.
See more
See less

Can't get into "compressed" mode

Collapse
X
 
  • Filter
  • Time
  • Show
Clear All
new posts

    Can't get into "compressed" mode

    I am having a print problem using Alpha Four, Version Eight. I can not
    get it into "compressed" mode.

    I am using Windows XP, Media Edition, using either the HP 1100 (MS)
    or the Brother 5250 host-oriented printer driver (with corresponding
    HP or Brother hardware).

    I am using a4.exe, as opposed to a4v8.exe. I have specified Windows
    95 compatibility mode in the shortcut. I have increased the FILES=
    parameter in CONFIG.NT from FILES=40 to FILES=175.

    One or more print lines is too long for the printer in "normal" mode,
    so I am trying either to put the printer into "compressed" mode, or
    to select a smaller font size.

    Questions come up while I am trying to "configure" the printer:

    a) When I "create" the printer configuration, what is the difference
    between "DOS driver" and "Windows driver"? Which one is
    appropriate?
    b) What is the difference between STANDARD and TYPESET? Which
    one should I use?
    c) Should I change the number of columns in the "characters per
    inch" setting? What should I be doing when I am attempting
    to "configure a printer" so that the number of characters on a
    print line will allow me to see a complete print line?

    #2
    Re: Can't get into "compressed" mode

    I use compressed mode with an HP 2230 and other HP printers OK.

    I use the DOS printer driver selection, Standard Mode.

    I'll try to paste in the stuff from the alpha4 printer setup screen here;
    Your specific HP Printer may require different codes or maybe this is pretty generic for HP printers? Note the "compressed on" and "Compressed off" codes at the bottom.

    I may be overlooking somethings but this is working here.


    P r i n t e r C o n f i g u r a t

    Description : HP DESKJET (880c)
    Printer left margin [0-40] : 0
    Top of form delay [0-99] : 0
    ▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄ Printer Port ▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄
    Printer port : LPT1:

    Page Advance by : Formfeed
    Lines per page [1-99] : 59
    ▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄ Printer Initialization
    Set-up codes :
    Close-out codes : 12
    ▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄ Print Styles ▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄
    Normal codes : 27 40 115 48 66 27 40 115 48 83
    Bold codes : 27 40 115 51 66
    Italic codes : 27 40 115 49 83
    Uline on codes : 27 38 100 48 68
    Uline off codes : 27 38 100 64
    ▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄ Print Density ▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄
    Compressed on : 27 40 115 49 54 46 54 72_____________
    Compressed off : 27 40 115 49 48 72

    Comment


      #3
      Re: Can't get into "compressed" mode

      TJ,

      As we programmers like to say, "Thanks 1.0E+06" ("thanks a million").

      I came up with a similar solution!

      From literature on the Brother website (re: HL-5250DN), I got the advice
      to install it as a DOS printer, as a HP LJ I/II/III/IV. Going to the
      printer configuration screen in A4 (V8), I found the escape sequence for
      putting the 5250 into compressed mode as (hex): 1B 26 6B 32 53.

      I tested this by using the tried and true "debug" DOS utility to create a file
      called x.txt which was nothing but these hex values (debug allows
      you to (e)nter hex bytes). Then you can write the file. Just remember
      to have the original x.txt file the proper length (at least 5 bytes) so that the
      (w) write will re-write (at least) the proper number of bytes.

      Well, I'm over-explaining. I just created:

      x.txt 1B 26 6B 32 53 (Compressed mode ON)

      and sent it to the printer:

      type x.txt > lpt1 (should send printer into compressed
      mode).

      It worked.

      A dir > lpt1 printed a directory in compressed mode. Powering the printer
      OFF then ON, restores the normal mode.

      OK... we've verified the escape sequence will work on this printer. (If it
      didn't, we'd have more debugging to do before we went on with the
      printer configuration in Alpha.)

      Now how to get Alpha Four to print the report?

      Well, just as TJ pointed out. Make sure the printered, configured to
      the report, is:

      * A DOS printer
      * Set up as a HP LaserJet I/II/III/IV (or something else as reasonable)
      * STANDARD (as opposed to TYPESET)
      * Compressed: ON

      I apologize for over-explaining. I tend to do that. (I'm a pompous ass!)
      But if I had seen a posting explaining not only the settings, but the principals behind them, and how to test intermediate steps, I might have figured it out in fifteen minutes, rather than three days. And naturally someone (Thanks,
      TJ) pointed me in the right direction, immediately after I solved it, and
      went to post my solution.

      Well, at least I know to an excruciating level of detail, how printers
      work in the Alpha software.

      And thank you for actually replying top a call for help. I really
      appreciate the effort.

      Comment

      Working...
      X