Report on Preprinted Form

[55plus]

Access 2000 - Win 2K Professional

I have a meal ticket report currently in production that uses a true type font (Courier New) and goes thru an Okidata print driver. It also uses a special form (5.75 x 8.5) that is defined in the printer server properties. Everything works perfectly.

However, the client has decided that he would like the report to print faster and asked us to look into using the generic text driver. The report has Page Header, Detail and Report Footer sections. The number of detail lines is variable. In testing the use of the generic driver, of course the true type font makes no difference. All fields print in 12 point courier regardless of how the control is defined in the report.

My problem is one of page length. The preprinted form is 8.5 inches long but after one page prints, I am unable to get the page positioned properly for the next page. It is too short and nothing I have tried will make the length any longer. When I stretch the Report Footer, the report becomes too long and overflows.

I'm not certain if this can even be done using the generic driver and I would appreciate any guidance on this issue.

TIA.

 

[ghost807]

i am sorry i don't have any help on your current issue. the reason i am responding is that i have a form of simmilar size 5.5 and i have tried to get the report to be only that size when it prints out but to no luck.

Can you please tell me how you managed to get the printer to print on your special form.
i am using an okidata ml 320 turbo printer.

thank you for your time.


Dave Jr.

 

[55plus]

First, I created a new form called "Meal Ticket" in the Windows 2000 printserver properties of the Okidata printer. I set its dimensions to 5.75 x 8.5 inches (That is my form size). I think that you need to be using Win 2000, XP or NT (??) as your operating system as these support the use of printserver properties for printers.

Next, I opened the report in design mode and clicked on File | Page Setup. On the Page (middle) tab, I clicked on the size dropdown list and selected "Meal Ticket" as the size. I then set all four margins to 0, although they did not all stay at 0. Some of them were reset to the minimum value allowed by the Okidata driver.

That's about it. Your report should be resized to reflect the dimensions of the form you create.

HTH.

Carol

 

[ghost807]

thanx for your reply that sort of helped, the problem that i found was that i had to setup the form on the computer the printer is attached too. not the one printing from otherwise the printer never shows that as one of the options. stupid mistake but you pointed me to it in minutes. i've been working on it for a couple of days now and was completely stumped.

thanx once again.

 

[55plus]

Glad to help.

Yes, you're absolutely right -- The form needs to be set up on the computer that "owns" the printer (ie the one to which it is local). My client's configuration is similar.

Carol