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Text File | 1991-08-26 | 14.3 KB | 397 lines

PRODUCT : Paradox NUMBER : 787 VERSION : 2.0 & up OS : DOS DATE : August 26, 1991 PAGE : 1/6 TITLE : Fixing a Report that "Creeps" Vertically Every so often, reports created in Paradox will "creep." That is to say, text will begin printing on different lines from page to page. While this typically happens when working with laser printers (or printers using similar technologies), it is not completely limited to these type of printers. This behavior can be stopped by checking three things: the page length of the report, the way Paradox tells the printer to eject each page from the printer, and the actual length of the report design. The rest of this document addresses each of these areas in detail 1. The page length of the report should not be greater than the number of lines the printer actually prints on any single sheet of paper. First, calculate the total number of lines the printer can print on a piece of paper and make certain the report's page length is not set to a number higher than that figure. For example, most printers (as a default) print six (6) lines of text per inch. Since the average piece of paper is eleven (11) inches long, this indicates that up to 66 lines of text can be printed on any sheet of paper. (6 lines per inch x 11 inches = 66 total lines) This is the value Paradox defaults to. However, many laser printers do not print text along the edges of a sheet of paper. They often reserve a margin, typically one- half (1/2) inch along each edge for paper handling purposes. As a result, a normal 8-1/2" x 11" sheet of paper only has an effective printing area of 7-1/2" x 10". For Paradox reports, this translates to a typical page length of 60. (6 lines per inch x 10 inches) To check (or change) the page length of an existing report, follow these steps: a) From the main Paradox menu, press the <Alt-F8> key to clear the workspace. PRODUCT : Paradox NUMBER : 787 VERSION : 2.0 & up OS : DOS DATE : August 26, 1991 PAGE : 2/6 TITLE : Fixing a Report that "Creeps" Vertically b) Select {View}, type the name of the database table containing the information that will be sent to the printer and then press <Enter>. c) Now, press <F10>, select {Reports} | {Change} and press {Enter} twice. Now, highlight the number of the report that has been "creeping" and again press <Enter> twice. d) Paradox should now display a message on the top line of the screen similar to "Changing report R for Table_Nm table", where R and Table_Nm vary according to the specific report and table being worked on. (Also, the word "Changing" will be "Creating" if the report did not already exist.) Note: If a message like the one above is not being displayed, cancel Paradox out of whatever it is doing, go back to the main Paradox menu and start again with step a). e) Press <F10>, select {Setting} | {PageLayout} | {Length} and examine the value displayed after "New page length:". If this value is greater than the number of lines this printer prints on a single piece of paper, change it to the proper value and press <Enter>. f) The report page length should now equal the maximum number of lines the printer will be able to print on each page. To save any changes, press <F2>. 2. Paradox should be set so it uses a formfeed instead of linefeed characters at the end of a report page. When Paradox is done printing to a single piece of paper, it tells the printer to push that piece of paper out of the printer and to start printing on a new page. Typically, this is done by moving the printer roller a line at a time until the page is ejected or some similar action occurs, depending on the type of printer involved. PRODUCT : Paradox NUMBER : 787 VERSION : 2.0 & up OS : DOS DATE : August 26, 1991 PAGE : 3/6 TITLE : Fixing a Report that "Creeps" Vertically In order to keep track of where the paper is in the printer, Paradox counts the current line number and compares that to the page length set in the report specification. (See Part 1.) This count is increased by one (1) every time a line of text is printed. When the line count exceeds the page length, Paradox assumes the sheet of paper is completely out of the printer and the top of the next sheet of paper is ready to be printed on. In some cases, this is not necessarily true. If the page length is set to 66 and the printer is only printing 60 lines per piece of paper, then the paper will have "crept" six extra lines and text will not appear at the top of the page. This can be fixed by having Paradox tell the printer to simply eject (or "kick out") the current sheet of paper and to move the next sheet into place. To have Paradox do this, follow these steps: a) From the main Paradox menu, select {Tools} | {More} | {Directory} and look at the value displayed after "Directory:". Make certain this is the directory where the Paradox .EXE files are located; if it is not, then adjust it accordingly, press <Enter> and then select <Ok>. (Typically, Paradox files are located in a directory called C:\PDOX35 or C:\PARADOX3. While this may not directly match your installation, these are good places to start looking if the actual location of the .EXE files is not known.) b) Now, select {Scripts} | {Play}, type custom and press <Enter>. This runs the Custom Configuration Program (CCP) script and allows you to change many of the default values Paradox uses. Complete details about the CCP and the settings it changes (including the default page length) can be found in Chapter 14 of the Paradox User's Guide. Note: If an error message appears, Paradox is probably not set to the directory where PRODUCT : Paradox NUMBER : 787 VERSION : 2.0 & up OS : DOS DATE : August 26, 1991 PAGE : 4/6 TITLE : Fixing a Report that "Creeps" Vertically the .EXE files are located. Check into this and correct it by going back to step a). c) Paradox will now display a "splash screen" for the CCP and may ask about the monitor currently connected to the PC. Type <Y> or <N> as appropriate. (Note: not all versions of Paradox do this.) d) Now, select {Reports} | {FormFeed}. At this point, Paradox displays a {LineFeeds} | {FormFeeds} menu. Select {FormFeeds}. Note: Earlier Paradox versions display a {No} | {Yes} menu. Select {Yes}. e) Next, select the {Return} menu option that now appears on the right of the new menu and then select the {DO-IT!} option that appears near the right of the screen. (If a {Defaults} | {DO-IT!} menu now appears, select {DO-IT!} again.) f) If using a stand-alone copy of Paradox, i.e. one that is not installed on a network, then select {HardDisk}. Otherwise, select the appropriate option for the location of the current private directory and type in the full drive letter and directory path of that directory when asked (for example: p:\public\username). (The current private directory can be found by selecting {Net} | {SetPrivate} from the main CCP menu.) g) Paradox now saves the changes made in the CCP and drops back to the DOS prompt. Load Paradox as normal and print the report; there should not be any "creeping." 3. The report design itself should not exceed the page length of the report. PRODUCT : Paradox NUMBER : 787 VERSION : 2.0 & up OS : DOS DATE : August 26, 1991 PAGE : 5/6 TITLE : Fixing a Report that "Creeps" Vertically Following Parts 1 and 2 are generally all that is necessary to keep most reports from "creeping." In some cases though, especially with free-form style reports, the actual report design may be greater than the page length specified in Step 1. If this is the case, the report will have to be redesigned until it no longer needs more lines than the printer can fit on a piece of paper. Complete step-by-step instructions for this process are nearly impossible to outline. (After all, no two reports are the same.) But, here are some guidelines that may help: a) To see how many lines a report design requires, bring the report design onto the screen (see Part 1, steps a) - d) for step-by-step directions) and press <Ctrl-V>. This displays line numbers along the left side of the screen. Press <End> to move to the bottom of the report and check the number above the horizontal double line. If this number is greater than the page length set in Step 1, then the report must be redesigned. b) To delete a line from the report design, move your cursor to the far left character position (using <Ctrl-Home>) and press <Ctrl-Y>. This completely removes the current line from the report. (For more information, see Chapter 3 of the Paradox Presenting Data manual.) c) PAGEBREAK can be used to "breakup" a large report so it prints on more than one page. To see how this keyword can be used, see Chapter 3 of Presenting Data. d) If the report design uses line squeeze, group bands, or "word-wrapped" fields, Paradox may reserve a few lines for "bookkeeping" purposes. In this case, the report design should be less than the page length; the actual number of "reserved" lines varies according to the design of the report. Experiment with various page lengths until the report no longer "creeps." PRODUCT : Paradox NUMBER : 787 VERSION : 2.0 & up OS : DOS DATE : August 26, 1991 PAGE : 6/6 TITLE : Fixing a Report that "Creeps" Vertically e) Reports printed in "landscape mode" (i.e. "on their side") should have a page length no greater than 45 lines when printed at six lines per inch. f) If the report cannot be redesigned to fit onto a single sheet of paper at six lines per inch, it may be possible to adjust the printer to print more than lines per inch. Check the printer manual to see if (and how) this can be done. Be sure to change the page length accordingly. g) Some dot-matrix and daisy-wheel printers have a "perforation skip" setting to adjust for the edge of a sheet of paper. This should be turned off. Consult the printer's manual for directions on how to do this. h) Paradox's Presenting Data Guide is a good resource for answers to specific report design questions. Chapters 3, 4, and 5 are the relevant chapters to review. i) Compare the report output with the intended design. In other words, "appearances may be deceiving;" the printer may be doing some additional formatting Paradox is not aware of. Print the report to a file and compare that file to the actual report output; differences may begin to show up. A "pure" ASCII editor (i.e. one that does not put in format codes) is a good tool for this. The DOS EDLIN utility is particularly useful because it displays line numbers for each line in the file that can be compared to the corresponding lines of the report's output. This document has attempted to show the three most common causes of report "creeping" while offering some specific advice and tips on getting reports to print correctly. If each of these considerations is carefully examined, "creepy" reports should be far less common.