Labels being 'scaled down' issue

rbuser

Greetings:

I have a commercial application that's installed in about 20 locations, and
I have not had any problems with any included labels. I now have one client
for whom the labels appear to be scaled down to about 93 or 94% of the
normal size, so that they don't align on the labels properly. Thinking that
it might have been their printer drive, I had them download an Avery
template. Using Word, it prints fine and lines up perfectly. (They're
running Windows XP with a Lexmark printer). I can rule out the template
file, because I had them email it to me, and when printing any labels on my
system they're scaled properly and line up fine.

The client tells me that any of the 'non-label' reports pirnt fine, but of
course, alignment with those isn't so critical and just may not be ovious.
Thinking that perhaps they were sending the labels to the screen and then
printing them (which might have been a cause of rescaling) they tell me that
they're sending their print jobs straignt to the printer.

I'm using ReportBuilder 7.01 with Delphi 6. Has anyone encountered this
problem, and is there a workaround? Since printing labels is a critical
function, they're getting annoyed!

Philip Frank
MealService Software

nicocizik

Hi Phil,

This is not a known issue with ReportBuilder. The fact that all of your
clients except one including yourself are unable to recreate this issue
leads me to believe that it has something to do with your client's setup.
If you can, try downloading and installing the Lexmark printer driver they
are using and see if you can get the behavior they speak of. Perhaps there
is an option they have checked in the driver software that is causing this.

--
Regards,

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

rbuser

Nico:


The group with the labels that are being scaled improperly made a huge
discovery... immediately after restarting the computer the first set of
labels print properly Any (label) print jobs after the first one the labels
don't line up. Typically they send three jobs in a row. I haven't confirmed
this, but I think each successive print job may be scaled smaller and
smaller. It sounds like the printer isn't being reset properly. I doubt that
this is ReportBuilder's issue, but I'm hoping that you can tell me how to
reset the printer after a print job. I want to do an explicit reset to see
if this resolves the situation.

I don't see 'Reset' in any documentation. I see Refresh, which might serve
the same purpose. Do you have any quick pointers on how to guarantee that
the printer is reset to all of its defaults before starating another print
job?

For what it's worth, the labels are a template that I'm loading before
calling Report.Print. Is there a method that I can call to force the report
component's settings to their defaults before loading the template?

Phil Frank

nicocizik

Hi Phil,

Does this occur when printing copies of the same report or when calling
Report.Print numerous times? Calling ppPrinter.Refresh may help but I do
not see how the ppPrinter properties are being altered. You might try
taking a look at the PrinterSetup after you print a report and see which
options have been altered.

--
Regards,

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

rbuser

> Does this occur when printing copies of the same report or when calling

Apparently neither, necessarily. I'm still trying to pin down the scenario.
Immediately after turning their computer on in the morning, one day the
labels will print fine and the next they'll all be off. I thought that it
had to do with sending print jobs in succession, but that's not the case. I
haven't been able to convince them to try turning the printer off so that
it's reset before printing any labels. Clearly, some print job is setting
the printer and not leaving it in a virgin state. This morning, for example,
I'm told the labels were off. The prior print job, last night, was a Word
document. That's why I thought sending a 'printer reset' (if there even is
such a thing) might do the trick.

Phil Frank



Calling ppPrinter.Refresh may help but I do

nicocizik

Hi Phil,

Out of curiosity, what type of printer are they using? I want to be sure
never to buy it .

You may check the documentation of the printer they are using. There may be
a control code (esc code) that can be sent before running your app that will
reset all the default values.

There is also a ResetPrinter function in the Windows API that you may be
able to use. See the ResetPrinter topic in the Windows SDK help for more
information.

--
Regards,

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

rbuser

> Out of curiosity, what type of printer are they using? I want to be sure

It's a Lexmark E232. I'm with you, I'll be steering clear of that model.


Yup. Already done that. I may try that, if I have to. But you can also reset
the printer from its control panel, so I'm going to try and train them to do
that and see if that helps.


Thanks. After thinking about the issue I realized that, since Windows
controls the printer, it would be a Windows issue for sending the reset.