In a VFP 6.0 system, I create and print invoices. I would like to save the invoice print image and later be able to re-print the invoice or display it on the screen. Currently, I print the report to a file and copy the file to the printer (via DOS) to print the report. I can then display a reasonable image of the report on screen by parsing the PCL in the image file. However, this is not a very satisfactory solution. Is there a better solution?
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Displaying Reports
- Thread starter EasterEgg
- Start date
Chazercise
Programmer
Why not save the data into table that can be used later to reprint the invoice.
Chazercise
Programmer
Saving the data in a table is not feasible because we have so many different invoice formats which change from time to time. If our invoices were the standard "description, quantity, price, total" invoice, then we could do something like that. Some of our invoice formats have twenty or thirty fields in the body of the invoice. And the format and headings change from time to time.<br>
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What we want is for our billing clerks to see on their screen the exact invoice that was sent to the customer some time ago. Our sales people drive the invoice format, so we never know what they are going to come up with next. <br>
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Parsing the PCL format works pretty well until we change to a printer with a different PCL. Then we scramble to retro-fit. If we talk about eliminating this display feature, the billing clerks threaten us with bodily harm or worse!<br>
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What we want is for our billing clerks to see on their screen the exact invoice that was sent to the customer some time ago. Our sales people drive the invoice format, so we never know what they are going to come up with next. <br>
<br>
Parsing the PCL format works pretty well until we change to a printer with a different PCL. Then we scramble to retro-fit. If we talk about eliminating this display feature, the billing clerks threaten us with bodily harm or worse!<br>
You might explore the possibility of using Adobe's Acrobat Writer and Reader. The writer can create exact images of your report in .PDF format and follows the MS object model to allow you access through the VFP IDE. The writer is about $215. The reader is free (therefore can be easily distributed to whoever needs it). Go to the Adobe web site for more info.<br>
Going back to saving the report to a database. <br>
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Have you tried saving it in text format to it to a memo field or graphics format to a General field??<br>
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What I do here is to:<br>
Print the report to a TIF printer and save the TIF file to a network drive and place a record in a database that contains the Drive and directory location. When needed, make a Active X call to the tif viewer.<br>
(Basicly the same as what prangster suggested without the PDF files, but without the cost of the Adobe program and Windows has a TIF viewer.)
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Have you tried saving it in text format to it to a memo field or graphics format to a General field??<br>
<br>
What I do here is to:<br>
Print the report to a TIF printer and save the TIF file to a network drive and place a record in a database that contains the Drive and directory location. When needed, make a Active X call to the tif viewer.<br>
(Basicly the same as what prangster suggested without the PDF files, but without the cost of the Adobe program and Windows has a TIF viewer.)
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