Large reports on network printers

[tkee]

This is more of a networking and printer question than VFP, but what is the optimal way to send large reports from VFP 9.0 to network printers? I have statements printed on letter-sized postcards, 4 per page. After the first 500 or so (250+ physical pages), I get a PCL XL error in the kernel. I send the report directly to the printer the user selects at the prompt. Short of using a local printer or sending it in chunks, I'm stuck. If I sent it to a file instead of the printer, would it still have the same problem, and if not, what would be the best way to send it to the printer? The Print Dialog window has no clue as to the number of pages in the report. I have completely rewritten this program written in 1987 in dBase, then converted to FoxPro for DOS to VFP 9.0 using the old data in free tables and we're pretty happy with the results so far. I'm sure this report will be much better than the old dot matrix preprinted statements that took forever, jammed constantly and made lots of noise once they get going, but I am at a crossroads and would like to do it properly instead of however I can get it to work. I am currently querying data into a cursor for the report, but may have to change that if it doesn't print properly, because it records the date the statements were sent, and VFP doesn't know where the report stopped.
Thanks for your help. I couldn't have accomplished a fraction of what I have been able to do without the resources of this forum and Hentzenwerke.

 

[dgrewe]

Have you tried spooling the job instead of sending it directly to a printer?

David W. Grewe Dave

 

[tkee]

I haved tried printing from two different computers to two different printers, both spooling. I think I may have to break up the print job or increase the RAM in one of the printers.
Thanks for your reply.

 

[Mike Lewis]

Might it not be better to turn off the spooling in this case?

Mike


__________________________________
Mike Lewis (Edinburgh, Scotland)

My Visual FoxPro site: www.ml-consult.co.uk

 

[tkee]

Thanks for your help. After much further research, I've found that this seems to be a known error with certain PCL XL printer drivers. I'm going to try a slightly older printer driver and see how that works, but I think I'll also rework my code so that it will be easier to recover from such printer problems, maybe using a temporary table instead of a cursor and prompting for posting the date. Hopefully I won't have to change spooling and buffering any since they seem to work fine with everything else.