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Setting printer orientation. |
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dynamic
Senior Member Joined: June 28 2007 Status: Offline Points: 188 |
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Posted: June 28 2007 at 6:34am |
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Hi, I'm a noob evaluating AccuTerm for mvBase. A large complaint we have from our end users is having to print text documents to dot matrix printers. So far, AccuTerm has been able to print everything I have sent as a slave.
First, I was wondering if there is a way to have the software set printer orientation in graphics mode. I would like to be able to switch between a 80 column document (portrait) and a 132 character report without asking the end user to go into the tools. On the same topic, is there a way to get a printer selection dialog, similar to the windows printer dialog when you hit File - Print in WORD? Thanks for your help. I'll probably have more questions as I play with the software. So far, I like what I see. Andy |
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bneylon
Senior Member Joined: March 03 2004 Location: United States Status: Offline Points: 103 |
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I "borrowed" some code from this post
http://www.asent.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=1018 That'll give you a start on scripting, too. Bruce |
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dynamic
Senior Member Joined: June 28 2007 Status: Offline Points: 188 |
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Thanks Bruce! I'll give it a try this weekend.
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PSchellenbach
Admin Group Moderator Joined: December 15 2003 Location: United States Status: Offline Points: 2150 |
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Hi Andy -
The new release of AccuTerm 2K2 (5.3c - just out this week) has a new feature that might be helpful to you. We have added a feature called "print adapters", which are scripts that handle slave printer jobs. We are including two scripts that will send slave print jobs to a product called PrintWizard (www.anzio.com). One of the scripts will pop up the PrintWizard user interface where you can choose a printer, print to PDF, send PDF as email, etc. To use this with PrintWizard, you need to purchase PrintWizard. BTW: one of the benifits of using PrintWizard is the ability to send PCL-formatted forms and reports to pretty much any printer. Thanks, Pete |
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dynamic
Senior Member Joined: June 28 2007 Status: Offline Points: 188 |
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Thanks Pete. I have that version of AccuTerm and I downloaded an evaluation of PrintWizard. I haven't been able to get it to work yet (the printer tab in settings says PrintWizard is not installed.) But that's what Saturdays are for. No phones to bother me.
Andy ETA: I got it to aloow me to set it up in the printers tab. I didn't load PrintWizard in it's default location. But when I print to it, it creates a tmp file. Like I said...Saturday. |
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PSchellenbach
Admin Group Moderator Joined: December 15 2003 Location: United States Status: Offline Points: 2150 |
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Hi Andy -
The Print Wizard adapter script looks for the printwiz.exe in the default location (C:\program files\printwiz30) and disables the choice if its not found. I think your best bet for working with a non-standard location is to make a copy of the two PrintWizard scripts, then modify them to look in the location where you have it installed. Also, return a different description so you can tell which one you are selecting. Here's an example (changes shown in red):
Thanks, Pete |
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dynamic
Senior Member Joined: June 28 2007 Status: Offline Points: 188 |
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Hi Pete, Thanks for the info. I had already uninstalled and reinstalled PrintWizard. My problem now is that I am completely lost with this stuff. Before I went with PrintWizard, I was able to slave stuff to the default printer. I then used Bruce's help above to change printers and settings. When I went the next step to send stuff to PrintWizard, I got messed up. All I did was check PrintWizard user interface on the printers tab of settings. The PrintWizard UI pops up, but it has a tmp file in the box and won't do anything. Do I need to add code to my program? Am I supposed to call a program? I've read Accuterm and PrintWizard manuals and FAQs. I thought I needed to add tags to the printout, but that didn't work. I'm not getting anywhere. Any help is appreciated.
Thanks,
Andy
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PSchellenbach
Admin Group Moderator Joined: December 15 2003 Location: United States Status: Offline Points: 2150 |
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Hi Andy -
First, I had trouble with the PrintWizard UI when I first started working on this feature, and Rasmussen created a new version of pwui.exe that does work correctly. The problem was that pwui.exe would just print the job if a printer name was specified in the command. Now there is a command-line option that keeps the UI open and lets the user select printer options, pdf, email, etc. The version of the pwui.exe file that has the fixes is 3.0.60.1. The post that Bruce is referring to is using graphics mode for the slave printer. The properties for setting orientation, paper size, etc. are only available in graphics mode. The Print Wizard adapter is its own "mode". PrintWizardPCL is mode 11, and PrintWizardUI is mode 12 (INITSESSION.SLAVEPRINTMODE = 12 in Peter G's sample code). On my D3/Linux machine, I can use the Print Wizard UI by doing the following: 1) Make sure the slave printer is set to use the Print Wizard UI adapter in the Printer tab of the Settings. 2) In D3, at TCL, type SP-ASSIGN AS 3) Print a report (e.g. LISTU LPTR) 4) The Print Wizard UI should pop up about 5 seconds after the report finishes (you can adjust this timeout in the Printer tab). 5) To print the report on the printer selected in AccuTerm's printer tab, click the Printer icon from the Print Wizard UI toolbar. To open the printer dialog and choose a different printer or select printer options, use File->Print from the Print Wizard menu. 6) To send the report as a pdf attached to an email, click the Email icon on the Print Wizard toolbar. 7) To fax the report, click the Fax icon on the Print Wizard toolbar. 8) To save the report as a pdf file, click the PDF icon on the Print Wizard toolbar. 9) The temporary file holding the print job will be deleted when you close your AccuTerm session. Thanks, Pete |
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dynamic
Senior Member Joined: June 28 2007 Status: Offline Points: 188 |
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In mvBase we do: AUX-ON
LISTPTR (P
If I do this with my printer setting set to Graphic, it prints a page to my default. If I do it with the setting set to Print Wizard User Interface, the UI pops up, but all the functions are greyed out. The file in the box is:
C:\DOCUME~1\asw\LOCALS~1\Temp\atwA68_000002.tmp
The number increases with each attempt. I have not loaded any Accusoft programs on to my mvBase system. Is that my problem? Or do I need to tell PrintWizard how to handle .tmp files? I'm guessing now.
Sorry about all of the questions. I really want to get this working. It could save me a huge rewrite onto a new platform. Thanks again for your help.
Andy
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PSchellenbach
Admin Group Moderator Joined: December 15 2003 Location: United States Status: Offline Points: 2150 |
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Hi Andy -
Can you check the file version of the pwui.exe program? Use Windows Explorer to navigate to the C:\Program Files\Printwiz30 folder and right-click on pwui.exe, then choose Properties from the popup menu. Click on the Version tab. If the version is earlier than 3.0.60.1 contact Rasmussen and see if they will get you an updated version. If its higher than 3.0.60.1 let me know and I'll get an update from Rasmussen and check if something is broken in the newer version. Thanks, Pete |
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dynamic
Senior Member Joined: June 28 2007 Status: Offline Points: 188 |
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Pete,
It's Version 3.0.58.0. I hope that's my problem. I spent hours playing with this thing. I didn't think it was THAT complicated. I'll let you know what I find. Again, thanks.
Andy
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dynamic
Senior Member Joined: June 28 2007 Status: Offline Points: 188 |
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Hi Pete,
Rasmussen quickly got me 3.0.60.1, but I'm still having problems. I am still getting a .TMP file in the UI dialog box. The options under File are now active. If I try Print, Preview, or Generate a PDF, I get a message box that says Print by file type failed for file... and it shows the same file path. The email does work, but it sends the .TMP file. Do I need to set something in AccuTerm or mvBase that will change the file created to something other than a .TMP? Thanks again. Andy eta: It is not deleting the temporary files either. |
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PSchellenbach
Admin Group Moderator Joined: December 15 2003 Location: United States Status: Offline Points: 2150 |
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Hi Andy -
When working with Rasmussen on this feature, they told me that the Print Preview does not work with all files. The .tmp file is basically a .prn file which AccuTerm creates to store the contents of the print job. Everything that the host sent after the AUX-ON and before the AUX-OFF should be stored in that file, including all control characters & escape sequences. You might want to zip up one of the .tmp files and send it to Rasmussen to see if they can tell you why its not working as you expect. The only reason the .tmp files would not be deleted when you close AccuTerm is if some other program had them open. Maybe pwui.exe was still running and had the file open? Thanks, Pete |
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dynamic
Senior Member Joined: June 28 2007 Status: Offline Points: 188 |
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Pete,
I didn't realize it was AccuTerm that deleted the file. I thought it was WinPrint. I emailed a copy of the file to Rasmussen. I really hope I get this thing working. I'll get a lot of pressure off of me. Andy |
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dynamic
Senior Member Joined: June 28 2007 Status: Offline Points: 188 |
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Hi again, Pete. Rasmussen got me going. I had to uncheck "Smart Print" in the Edit menu of the UI. The option only appeared when I opened the UI from the Window's program menu. Bobby at Rasmussen said that they may need to tell WinPrint how to handle .tmp files. He also suggested that AccuTerm create a .txt file since WinPrint knows that file.
I think we have something here. Thanks for your help. Andy |
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PSchellenbach
Admin Group Moderator Joined: December 15 2003 Location: United States Status: Offline Points: 2150 |
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Hi Andy -
I have been corresponding with Rasmussen about this, and they recommend adding a switch to the pwui.exe command to disable SmartPrint. If you want to add this switch you can open the PrintWizardUI.atsc script file in the AccuTerm Script window, then near the bottom of the script, change this line:
to this:
Save the modified script. Thanks, Pete |
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dynamic
Senior Member Joined: June 28 2007 Status: Offline Points: 188 |
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Pete,
Your help has been invaluable. Once I get my reports (about 200 of them) updated to work with this, I can see a bunch of our end users buying AccuTerm and PrintWizard. If I could just get it to print a barcode I'd be all set. (I can dream can't I?). Anyway, thanks for everything. Andy |
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PSchellenbach
Admin Group Moderator Joined: December 15 2003 Location: United States Status: Offline Points: 2150 |
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You never know - PrintWizard might do bar codes too!
Pete |
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