PC Access for Windows Reference Guide

for PC Access for Windows 4.30.158

Add/Edit Printer window: Printable Height (Master Only)

Some Master systems print reports consisting only of a long sequence of text lines. (For example, your host's version of the Tax Information command, INTAX, may print address labels this way.) Unfortunately, these label reports contain no form feed commands to tell PC Access where to eject the current page and begin printing on a new page. PC Access attempts to handle this problem by maintaining an internal value: the printable page height. (PC Access reserves areas above and below the printable area for your page headers and footer, if any.)

When you are online with a Master system and print a host report, PC Access keeps track of the vertical print position. When the host sends a new line of text for PC Access to print, PC Access calculates the vertical print position for that new line by adding the current text line height to the vertical print position of the previous line of text. If the new vertical print position exceeds the printable page height, PC Access automatically ejects the current page and prints the new line at the top of the printable area on the next page.

Different printers may position text slightly differently. This means that for the same value of printable page height, PC Access may not print exactly the same number of text lines in the printable area on two different printers. You may notice this when a Master system address label report prints correctly on one printer (for example, a laser printer) and incorrectly on another printer (for example, a dot matrix printer).

To fix this problem, you must add a special printer to the PC Access printer list for printing address labels, and adjust its printable page height (you may also need to adjust the Print Offsets):

1. On the Printer Setup window, click the Add button to open the Add Printer window.
   
   
2. In the Name: field, identify this printer as the correct choice for printing the problematic reports. For example, you might name this printer: Address Label Printer.
   
   
3. Select the Printer: on which you want to print your label reports. Note: one of the best choices for address label printing is the Windows Generic/Text Only printer. This printer eliminates many printer-specific positioning problems.
   
   
4. Select the remaining options on the Add Printer window as you did originally for this particular printer. You may benefit from adjusting the Print Offsets in addition to the Printable Height.
   
   
5. If the problematic report happens to be an address label report, be sure to check the Turn Off Page Headers and Turn Off Page Footer boxes.
   
   
6. On the Add Printer window, check the Override Default box in the Printable Height (Master Systems Only) group.
   
   
7. When you check the Override Default box, the Inches field becomes editable. The Inches field displays the current value of the printable page height PC Access maintains for this printer. Edit this value and click the OK button to save your new printer in the PC Access printer list. Close the Printer Setup window and try printing the problematic report again.
   
   
8. To test the printer you added in step (1) with the problematic report, log in to your MLS as you normally do (for example, by clicking the Call MLS button). When the Terminal window opens, click the Select a Printer button, and select the printer you added in step (1).

Tips for adjusting the printable page height:

· Make small adjustments. The default value in the Inches field is usually close to the value that would enable PC Access to print a label report correctly on your printer. Often the error is only one line per page. If PC Access prints one too many lines per page, try reducing the value in the Inches field by a small amount (0.1 inches). If PC Access prints one too few lines per page, try increasing the value in the Inches field by a similarly small amount. If your first adjustment does not fix the problem, continue adjusting by the same amount and try printing the report again.

· Consider testing with a comdebug file. If you find yourself needing to make multiple adjustments to get a particular printer to work, or you have several printers to fix, you may wish to record an example of the problematic report in a comdebug file and print it offline.

· Test initially on plain paper. Address label forms are more expensive than plain paper. When you are testing an adjustment to the printable page height, try it first on plain paper. When you think your labels are printing correctly, try printing them on your label forms.

Setup item classification:

· Parent window: Add/Edit Printer

· Setup item type: Advanced

· Who specifies: You

· Importance: Optional

Last modification date: Friday, January 17, 2003 00:58:49