Better Print Preview Class??

[taysys]

Using VFP 7 and Codemine 7.1 framework.

I need to add some options to the print preview which will go to report too. I am looking for page jumps, scanning for particular keywords, etc. I didn't want to invent the wheel if there was a class already available.

Thanks to all.

Bob Taylor

 

[Mike Lewis]

Bob,

You might want to take a look at the Minds Eye Reporting Engine (

http://mindseye.inc).

It seems to do everything you want, plus a lot more. Doug Hennig wrote a review of it in the May 2003 FoxTalk.

A more drastic solution would be to switch to Crystal Reports, which has a fully programmamble viewer. The advantage of Minds Eye is that it will work with your existing FRX files, which CR won't.

Mike


Mike Lewis
Edinburgh, Scotland

http://www.ml-consult.demon.co.uk

 

[Mike Gagnon]

taysys

FAQ184-3503
Shows you how to use the internet explorer's preview mode for a table.
1. The possibility to preview more than 1 page at a time (I tested up to nine but you can do more)
2. Zoom factor up to 500%
3. You can change your pagesetup right in the preview mode.
4. Automatic pagecount.


Mike Gagnon

If you want to get the best response to a question, please check out FAQ184-2483 first.

 

[FoxKid]

Mike,
can you please explain how to use it with the .frx file we have already made. i.e if I am having podetail.frx then how can I get preview it in this internet mode.

Please explain...

 

[Mike Gagnon]

FoxKid

The suggestion I made does not require an actual report file, but rather an HTML file. Unfortunately all the solutions I can think of would require you to move away from the native Foxpro report to something else, except maybe generating a PDF document from your FRX and sending it to Adobe Acrobat reader or using Mike Lewis' suggestion. But either solutions are attached to a cost (Although there are ways to generate a PDF for free as in faq184-2143), but the contorsions you need to do might not be worth the result.

Mike Gagnon

If you want to get the best response to a question, please check out FAQ184-2483 first.

 

[ChrisRChamberlain]

FoxKid

If you follow the suggestion that Mike made concerning generating a PDF document from your report, the current Adobe Reader 6.0, (Acrobat has now been dropped from the title), offers a zoom factor from 8.33% to 6400%, which should cover most users requirements!

FAQ184-2483 - the answer to getting answered.​

Chris

http://www.pdfcommander.co.uk

 

[Mike Gagnon]

Chris

I noticed you make a reference to your pdf commander in your signature...is it ready for market? If you so would this be a solution for Foxkid?

Mike Gagnon

If you want to get the best response to a question, please check out FAQ184-2483 first.

 

[ChrisRChamberlain]

Mike

Unfortunately, it's not yet ready but would provide an answer to FoxKid's requirements.

It features a preview facility for reports from any Windows application as a .pdf. It also allows report output to be programatically named and saved as a .pdf from within the application without user intervention.

FAQ184-2483 - the answer to getting answered.​

Chris

http://www.pdfcommander.co.uk

 

[FoxKid]

Chris,
Can you give me an example of it?

Thanks

 

[ChrisRChamberlain]

FoxKid

As the site rules forbid promoting and selling, I can't answer your question in this forum.

What I can explain is how, as a developer, you 'communicate' with PDFcommander, and the code that follows could be simplified and modified for use in your own application.

SET TEXTMERGE ON TO C:\temp\reportname.txt NOSHOW
\\Preview
SET TEXTMERGE TO
SET TEXTMERGE TO

That code determines whether or not you want to simply preview the output from your report. Your application 'reads' the textfile - the word preview triggers a routine whereby your application creates the preview.pdf, displays it in the Adobe Reader and then deletes preview.pdf when Adobe Reader is closed.

SET TEXTMERGE ON TO C:\temp\reportname.txt NOSHOW
\\D:\My Application\Report output.pdf
SET TEXTMERGE OFF
SET TEXTMERGE TO

That code determines the name of the .pdf file, which is hard coded for this example. Change the string to <<variable>>, <<ALLT(TABLENAME.filename>>, or <<aMyArray[1]>> and you can change the name programatically.

faq184-2143 would get you started.

FAQ184-2483 - the answer to getting answered.​

Chris

http://www.pdfcommander.co.uk

 

[ChrisRChamberlain]

Beware typos!!

SET TEXTMERGE ON TO C:\temp\reportname.txt NOSHOW
\\Preview
SET TEXTMERGE OFF
SET TEXTMERGE TO

FAQ184-2483 - the answer to getting answered.​

Chris

http://www.pdfcommander.co.uk

 

[Mike Gagnon]

Chris

As the site rules forbid promoting and selling, I can't answer your question in this forum.

Classy move...


Mike Gagnon

If you want to get the best response to a question, please check out FAQ184-2483 first.