Redirecting print output in FPW26

[gee001]

Hie all !

I have written a program using FPW26 that generates and prints two different reports and is suppose to send each report to a particular printer. (Epson $ HP 1200).

I tried redirecting the print output with the SET PRINTER TO command in the program, but both reports still end up on the default printer.

Please Help.

 

[DSummZZZ]

Open up the report file by issuing the command:

USE MyReport.FRX

Go to the first record, and empty out the following fields by doing:

REPLACE Expr WITH ''
REPLACE Tag WITH ''
REPLACE Tag2 WITH ''

Keep in mind that you will lose any printer specific settings like page orientation, paper tray, and so on.
If you need to retain these settings, rather than replacing the Expr field with '', edit the field and remove everything but the lines that have say, Orientation, Paper or whatever.
Dave S.

 

[JRB-Bldr]

Remember that, unlike DOS, Windows wants printer output to go through its own default printer driver which "lives" on a pre-defined port rather than going directly to a hardware port.

So when you "tried redirecting the print output with the SET PRINTER TO command in the program" - it is most likely being ignored by Windows. The SET PORT TO LPTn originally came out of the FP for DOS and/or Win 3.1 environment.

Use the Keyword Search tool to look how others have addressed problems like this. Many people who were changing FPD programs to print within a newer Windows environment have run into similar problems. Additionally there are postings and replies addressing the utilization of the SET PORT TO command for setting up Network printer access.

Finally, maybe as a last resort, you could always allow the user to specify which Windows printer they wanted to use prior to sending out the report by issuing a =SYS(1037).

Good Luck,
JRB-Bldr
VisionQuest Consulting
Business Analyst & CIO Consulting Services
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