variable paperheight?

rbuser

I want to print to a point-of-sale printer and don't know the papger-height.
is there a way to set the paper height automatically?
when i set it to a value rb starts printing a new page. please help

thanks
christoph fritz

nicocizik

Hi Christoph,

----------------------------------------------------
Article: Printing to Continuous Paper
----------------------------------------------------

1. Layout

For continuous printing (for example a receipt) use Title/Summary and
removing the Header/Footer. Set the PrintHeight of each to phDynamic. Layout
the DetailBand to print a single line item. Set the margins to 0 or to the
smallest that the printer driver will support (some printers have an
unprintable area).

With this configuration The Report will generate a Title followed by a
variable number of Detail bands that span pages if needed, and then finally
print a Summary at the end.

2. Pagination

a. dtPrinter

Some printer drivers have a continuous paper size setting. If not then try
setting the paper size to be very small - perhaps the size of the tallest
band in the layout. Or try setting the page height to be the size of a
detail band. Note that some printer drivers will only accept page sizes
within a certain range of paper sizes.

b. dtReportTextFile

With the above layout, the report text file will generate the page breaks
properly, however the device will fill up a page with blank lines. You can
control the number of lines per page by configuring the CharacterGrid
property in the Report.BeforePrint event:

example:


procedure TForm1.ppReport1BeforePrint(Sender: TObject);
var
lDevice: TppReportTextFileDevice;
begin

if (ppReport1.FileDevice <> nil) and (ppReport1.FileDevice is
TppReportTextFileDevice)then
begin
lDevice := TppReportTextFileDevice(ppReport1.FileDevice);

{120 characters per line, 66 lines per page}
lDevice.CharacterGrid(120, 66);
end;

end;

--
Regards,

Nico Cizik
Digital Metaphors
http://www.digital-metaphors.com

rbuser

Nico Cizik (Digital Metaphors) wrote:

Sorry, but that does not work here (RB 7.04, Delphi 5). In the preview, I
get multiple pages. Or, if I set the page size too small, I get infinite
pages. Can you suggest something?

Ralf

nicocizik

Hi Ralf,

Setting the page size to a small value ensures you do not use too much paper
once the report has finished printing. This should not cause an infinite
page report unless you have components outside the page bounds or your
detail band is larger than the page height. Try printing directly to the
printer without previewing. Do you get the same behavior as you do on
screen?

--
Regards,

Nico Cizik
Digital Metaphors
http://www.digital-metaphors.com