Printing complex line drawlings nicely

rbuser

I have an object that draws a complex thing (well actually the night sky) on
a TCanvas. Using a bitmap "buffer" this is displayed on forms. I now need
to print/preview the things drawn as part of a report.

What is the best approach to doing this that will also allow for the higher
ppi resolution that most printers have? That is, a simple bitmap capture of
what is on the form will not do, even stretched it is ugly and too course.

I have ideas of drawing on a TMetafileCanvas (with printer resolution) and
playing that to a ppImage etc., but I was wondering if I have missed
something obvious. Would creating a printer 'equivalent' bitmap be a better
way to go? Could I somehow use the printer canvas itself?

Basically, what is the best way to use ReportBuilder with high quality line
drawings??

Thanks

Sarah

digitalmetaphors

You can create TppDrawLine objects on a each page. The draw command
positioning precision is measured in microns (thousandths of millimeters).
It should look really good on the printer with this approach.

Use the Report.OnEndPage event to add draw commands to the current page.

uses
ppDrwCmd;
..
procedure ...
var
lDrawLine: TppDrawLine
begin
lDrawLine := TppDrawLine.Create(nil);
lDrawLine.Page := ppReport1.Engine.Page;
lDrawLine.LinePosition := lpLeft;
lDrawLine.Left := ppReport1.PrinterSetup.PageDef.mmMarginLeft;
lDrawLine.Top := ppReport1.Engine.PrintPosRect.Top;
lDrawLine.Height := 50800;
end;



Cheers,

Jim Bennett
Digital Metaphors