Problems with several printers

rbuser

Hello,


We have an application where users can print reports abouts their data. When
they print reports on printers like Epson or HP printers it normally works
fine. But when the printer is Lexmark, Oki or another one we have a lot of
problems.

We are talking about simple report, printed out on A4 paper sheets and we
have this reports layout must print perfectly in any printer.

We have printed out on a PDF device and afterwards we have printed out this
PDF on A4 paper sheet and it works fine.

On the other had, we have had a lot of problems with printers and
ReportBuilder compatibility since 3.x version and we are astonish with 7.x
version because we have the same problems. So we ask ourself what do we do
wrong? Where can we find any document about ReportBuilder limitations? Where
can we learn more about ReportBuilder?


Thanks in advance

Josep Sol?

I+D+I department

IPS

nardmoseley

We've used and tested Lexmark, HP, Epson, and Oki here for years.

You are not describing what issue you have?


--
Nard Moseley
Digital Metaphors Corporation
http://www.digital-metaphors.com

rbuser

Hello Nard,

I will expose you two current problems.

1. I try to print a report on A4 paper sheet and it only prints band header
and band footer, but it doesn't print detail bands. There are data in
dataset, sure. ReportBuilder 3.x

2. Printing on a Windows 98 (not second edition) with a matrix printer using
continous paper. It's too difficult adjust form feed and there are a lot of
problems with old operating systems like W'95, W'98 (SE too), W'ME. Using
Windows 2000, it's easier than old OS because I can define custom paper
layout from OS. ReportBuilder 3.x

Do you have any idea to solve this issues?

rbuser

Hi Josep,


I've had this problem before, but in my situation it was me forgetting to
link the report to the datapipeline, or forgetting to link the datapipeline
to the dataset/datasource. To me, it sounds as though the link isn't there
fully, or that their's possibly some sort of filter.

HTH

Regards

Adam.

nardmoseley

If you would like to create a simple example we can run it here and test it
using the latest release, RB 9.02. That is the version that we are actively
supporting. Please use standard components and one of the sample databases
installed with Delphi. Send in zip format to support@digital-metaphors.com.
I do not currently have access to a Win 98 machine. I can test with XP.

Custom paper sizes work very differently in Widows 9.x/Me compared to
NT/2000/XP. Internally I think the Windows architecture is quite different,
though the Windows API is the same, except for some extra work that we have
to do to support custom paper on NT/2000.XP. The printer drivers for Window
9.x/Me are 16-bit vs. 32-bit drivers for NT/2000/XP.

Below is an article about custom paper sizes....


---------------------------------------------
Article: Troubleshooting Custom Paper Sizes
---------------------------------------------


Some printers cannot handle custom paper sizes, or they
can only handle custom paper sizes within a limited
range of values.


Troubleshooting Tips:
---------------------

1. To test paper sizes you can run demo 121 in the main reports demo app.
This demo displays a printer settings dialog and is very useful for
testing printer drivers with various paper sizes.

To test a paper size:

a. Selecting the printer
b. Specify the paper size
c. press preview
d. Press print to display the print dialog.
e. From the print dialog press the Properties button to display the
printer driver's built-in dialog. You should be able to verify the
printer setting from here.

These are the values communicated by RB to the printer. If
these are set correctly then RB has done its job, the rest is up to the
printer.



2. Try printing to this same paper size using other apps such
as MS Excel and MS Word. If they cannot do it, then it is likely
a limitation of the printer.

3. Try downloading the latest printer driver from the manufacturers
web site.

4. Try testing with another printer.

If test number 1 above works properly then e-mail
support@digital-metaphors.com with the exact configuration
you are using: Delphi version, ReportBuilder version,
OS XP/2000, Win9x), and printer model.

We can download the driver and try it out here.





--
Tech Support mailto:support@digital-metaphors.com
Digital Metaphors http://www.digital-metaphors.com





--
Nard Moseley
Digital Metaphors Corporation
http://www.digital-metaphors.com

rbuser

Hi Adam,

Thanks for your aswer. But It's not an issue of datapipeline.
The application works in many computers with differents configurations. So
the same report works fine. But I don't know what is problem with this
specific computer.

Is it possible get a log from tppReport processes during printer process?

Thanks

"Adam H." escribi? en el mensaje

nardmoseley

You can trace the source code by modifying the Delphi library to include
RBuilder\Source rather than RBuilder\Lib.The code in ppPrnDev.pas is used to
render to the printer. And the code in ppPrintr.pas.

If the report works on some machines but not one or two, then the issue is
the printer driver. ReportBuilder uses standard Win API commands, it works
at higher level than the driver. It is the driver's responsibility to
properly implement the Win API

ReportBuilder <--> Windows <---> Printer Driver <--> Printer


--
Nard Moseley
Digital Metaphors Corporation
http://www.digital-metaphors.com