Output question

[Jay R. Ashworth]

On Tue, Jun 29, 2004 at 08:02:52AM -0400, Courtney wrote:
> I need to put a report out so that it can be emailed...I have used this
> method creating an Excel spreadsheet with no problems in the past...however,
> this report does not lend itself to that format because at the end of the
> report there are long lines of text...sample format:
> 
> 		Date		Code		Count		Balance
> ---------------------------------------------------------
> 		10/10/03     AA		   45	      $ 2590.97
> 		11/13/03     AD		   29		$ 1458.92
> ---------------------------------------------------------
>  						   74       $ 4049.89
> 
>  Original Placement Date On File:	 	08/10/03
> 
>  Number Of Accounts On Placement File: 	   258
> 
>  Dollar Amount On Placement File: 		$7545.56
> 
> So, putting it out in Excel wouldn't work...I tried using the -p
> /tmp/output.xx but it looks like crap with the lines, etc...since this
> report is also to be printed, I don't want to have two versions, one to
> print and one to email...

I rather suspect that your problem is that you're looking at the email
-- as so many people do -- in a browser based mail client, *in a
proportional font*.

If you are, then you are, in short, screwed.

There is no way to do what you want unless you can guarantee the reader
will look at the message in a fixed-width font, such as Courier.

Cheers,
-- jra
-- 
Jay R. Ashworth                                                jra at baylink.com
Designer                          Baylink                             RFC 2100
Ashworth & Associates        The Things I Think                        '87 e24
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                2004 Stanley Cup Champion Tampa Bay Lightning