Network Printing Problem

rbuser

Hello All:

I have an application built using RB6.0 and D5Pro SP1 under Win2K SP2. It
seems that whenever the user attempts to print to a network printer, the
document prints but the application freezes at that point. Simply previewing
the report and closing it does not cause this problem, neither is printing
to one of the local printers. (The user has a Win98 machine).

The network printer is a Canon CLC 700. The driver set is: Colour Pass
S900-950 V. Any suggestions ? Should I be checking the Canon website for
driver updates, etc ? BTW: There are legacy reports designed and working in
Crystal Reports and there seems to be no problem with this.

-Mark

rbuser

Hello,
i have some other problems with 6.01, but networkprinting does function.
i have Win2k SP2 with D5 RB 6.01, the printer is an HP Laserjet 4050N with
networkinterface in Postcriptmode.

chris

digitalmetaphors

Try getting the latest printer driver.

There was a small leak found and fixed which existed in the previewer (the
icons for the buttons were the problem). This could be something to
consider.

Put a breakpoint after the call to Report.Print. Does the app execute past
this method or does it hang in RB?

Other applications may be able to print just fine, such as Word and Excel...
However, some printer drivers don't support all of the windows API calls
that could be made to the printer, very well. This is why we suggest
updating the printer drivers if at all possible:)

Cheers,

Jim Bennett
Digital Metaphors

rbuser

Hi Jim:

The report was designed and tested with (preview only) with a different
printer and driver set. Is printer specific information saved with the
report definition ?

-Mark

digitalmetaphors

I would make sure to test the report on the printer when designing it,
instead of only in the previewer. Sometimes the printed output doesn't
match the preview, because RB generates using the printer canvas.

The report's printer setup is stored in the report definition. However,
printer specific information is not stored in the report definition.
ReportBuilder loads only the necessary printer information from the driver
when the report initializes, and then when Report.Print is called, it will
load any other information that it needs in order to print.

We have two choices when we create a preview - compose for the screen, or
compose for the printer. Most programs such as MS Word compose to the screen
when they create a preview. This makes for attractive previews but they tend
to be inaccurate. And it means that they then compose again for the printer
when you print the document. Most of the time things will print effectively
similar to the preview, but we have seen many times when the printed output
was different - a word wrapped to the next line, or some such problem. If
you use a program meant for accurate page layout, such as PageMaker, you
will notice that the Page Setup dialog asks you for which printer you wish
to compose. When PageMaker displays a page, it may not look exactly how you
think it should, but you do get a preview where the element placement is
guaranteed to match the printed output's element placement. We have chosen
to follow this second model.

Note that when we say element placement, we are referring to X and Y
placement and not height and width. While the X and Y placement of our
previews will be accurate, the height and width of text elements may vary
based on zoom percentage. This is a normal artifact of composing for the
printer and not for the screen.

Your preview cannot match your printed output. It will differ in one of two
ways:

1- It can look good on the screen, but items on the page may not display in
the same location they will when printed.
or
2- It can be less attractive, but items will display on the preview exactly
where they will when printed.

We give you the second because it is more accurate and more reliable. Not to
mention more in keeping with professional page layout products.


Cheers,

Jim Bennett
Digital Metaphors

rbuser

I also think that this is the right way. The developers of pagemaker had
maked a very good job.
but i dont know why, but the preview sometimes looks so diffrent when made
on "looking at printer output", that i feel that there is a little bit more.

if i look at the preview i see 1/4 of a page is free (sometimes), but when i
go to zoom 100 or 200% then i see it fits to end of the page.

chris

rbuser

Hello Jim:

Calling Report.Print is not the problem since the default destination device
is the screen. I am using the default preview window, so to print to the
printer the user clicks the button with the Printer icon on it, clicks Ok
in the printer set up dialog and then waits for the job to end. It is then
that the application "freezes."

-Mark

rbuser

Hello:

I spoke with the user today and got a different picture of what was taking
place. The problem is that the print preview window ends up behind the
application window when the print process is complete (i.e. after the job is
sent to the printer). Since the preview window is modal, the window has to
be closed before control is returned to the application. This is better
news. Now, back to the drawing board for design.

Thank you for your help.

-Mark