~~~~~RE: Preview of Print Wizard 4

[Bob Rasmussen]

Print Wizard will have NO PROBLEM with PCL color commands - covered that 
maybe three years ago. Color text, color line drawing, color HPGL, 
full-color photographs. Still working on color management, colorspaces, 
color profiles, in both PCL and PDF. It turns out there's more than one 
"red".

By the way, I just received yesterday an HP Laserjet 4014n with added 
input bin and duplexer. Stapler/stacker is coming today, so I can finally 
figure out how to control that thing. This looks to be a good unit for 
replacing multi-part forms. I bought paper in some pretty colors, so I can 
shoot a video soon.

One more note: current HP printers can take PDF files directly. So if you 
built a PDF on Linux, for instance, you should be able to netcat it right 
to the printer.

---Bob

On Wed, 11 Aug 2010, John Esak wrote:

> Wow, any and all of those options seem very easy.  I know people mostly just
> use the PFPOSTPRINT.  Thank you so much for taking the time to do that.  I
> hope when it comes out of beta you sell one to everyone on the list. Can't
> think of anything more important to add to filePro than this product.  
> 
> By the way, one question. Just last week, my cousin at Wyckoff Lighting went
> out and bought a printer without asking me anything. I was so afraid that
> she bought a brain dead model. Happily, by complete accident she didn't.
> But, being able to work with these other printers also seems to be a simple
> dead-on reason to get PrintWizard.  I finally ended up buying a Laserjet
> 1518ni yesterday... It is just about the nicest HP I've ever seen... And
> that includes the HP3's which were a monster 10 year printer... This thing
> does PCL5c which means I could send it color from filePro. I would guess
> your PCL5 interpreter might have trouble with the PCL5c (color sequences),
> or would they work okay?  
> 
> Anyway, thanks again. It's obvious you put some time into this, much
> appreciated.  (by the way, I'm not being picky, but assuming you're going to
> use this again, you missed 14 through 18 in your Roman Numeral counting. :-)
> I wouldn't have gotten that far...) 
> 
> John
> 
> P.S. - By the way the HP1518ni color laserjet is on sale at Staples for $250
> instead of $399.  A hell of a eal. Of course, they could give away the
> printer and still make money. A package of 3 cartridges (the color ones) is
> going to be $195 and the black cartrige is $85, so God, the toner costs more
> than the printer. They give you a set with the printer that will probably do
> 50 sheets.  I'll wait until that runs completely dry before I bite the
> bullet and actually try and find the cheapest version of these things.
> Incidetnally, I printed a full page copy of the Abby Road cover and holy
> cow, it is beautiful. The printer puts a "sheen" or gloss over the color.  I
> didn't ask for it, but it looks so good, just like the album itself.  I know
> the Oki-data color printers do or did this, too, but it was always a very
> garish gloss, overkill... This is very subtle and very effective.
> 
> Last comment. No CD came with the printer. Bah!  Had to spend a good while
> getting the drivers for Windows. On the SCO, I obviously don't need
> anything. Just pass the PCL5 through.  But I did load the PCL6 driver on
> Windows... And there was also something they now call the UPD... Which is a
> Universal PCL5 Driver.  This had a beautiful full featured installation that
> let me make a printer that was fully PCL5  ready on XP (or up through
> Windows 7), so my Windows filePro will work, too.
> 
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: Bob Rasmussen [mailto:ras at anzio.com] 
> > Sent: Wednesday, August 11, 2010 9:24 AM
> > To: John Esak
> > Cc: filepro-list at lists.celestial.com
> > Subject: Re: ~~~~~RE: Preview of Print Wizard 4
> > 
> > Thanks John, coming from you this is a high compliment.
> > 
> > Back in the day, people would ask me to "say something in 
> > COBOL". Now I 
> > guess it's "say something in filePro". Well I don't speak very good 
> > filePro, but I think I can answer the question.
> > 
> > Let's assume you already have a program (report format) that prints 
> > invoices, using a few printcodes for font control. Currently 
> > it prints on 
> > a pre-printed form on an Okidata dot matrix printer. Now we 
> > want to route 
> > that data to Print Wizard *without changing* the report design.
> > 
> > The first question is how to make the CONNECTION. You have lots of 
> > options:
> > 
> > 1) fP on Windows -> PFPOSTPRINT -> disk file -> Printwiz.exe
> > 2) fP on Linux -> spooler -> netcat -> Print Wizard listener -> 
> > printwiz.exe
> > 3) fP on Linux -> spooler -> remote printer definition -> LPD 
> > -> Print 
> > Wizard LPD -> printwiz.exe
> > 4) fP anywhere -> write to disk -> PW despooler sees file -> 
> > printwiz.exe
> > 5) fP on Linux -> PFPT passthrough print -> AnzioWin (with most Print 
> > Wizard logic built in)
> > 
> > Next is the issue of CONTENT - what's in the print data? In 
> > the scenario 
> > described, it's Okidata escape sequences. We'll soon be able 
> > to deal with 
> > those, not not yet. You have these options:
> > 
> > A) Choose a printer type that produces PCL-5 data, that lines up 
> > numerically with the one you've been using for the Okidata. 
> > Now PW will 
> > receive PCL-5 data, and it can understand and translate (use) 
> > that data.
> > 
> > B) Install the PRINTWIZ.PRT file included with Print Wizard into your 
> > filePro, and use it. Printcodes will now become Print Wizard Markup 
> > Language (PWML), which PW understands.
> > 
> > Now what about the OVERLAY (that is, the form background)? To 
> > get started, 
> > you can scan the existing paper form and save it as a .PNG file (JPG 
> > doesn't work well for forms). When you set up PW, tell it to use that 
> > file as the overlay. That's all! No messing with escape codes or hex 
> > editors. You have other options for making forms also:
> > 
> > a) Build a form in Microsoft Publisher, and export it as an EMF. 
> > 
> > b) Build it in Excel and do a print-to-file with a PCL-5 driver.
> > 
> > c) If you have an existing electronic image of the form, do 
> > print-to-file 
> > with a PCL-5 driver.
> > 
> > d) If you have a PDF, Print Wizard can now use that directly.
> > 
> > e) Scan an existing paper form into Omniform, which will 
> > recognize text, 
> > lines, boxes, etc. Clean it up. Do print-to-file with a PCL-5 
> > driver. (We 
> > offer this as a service also).
> > 
> > f) Redesign the form by hand coding it in PWML.
> > 
> > g) Print anything to Windows printer driver, and capture the 
> > spool file.
> > 
> > Put it all together, and you get your existing report output, 
> > combined 
> > with a form image, going to ANY PRINTER, even Windows-only printers.
> > 
> > BUT WAIT, THERE'S MORE! ORDER NOW AND YOU HAVE THESE OPTIONS:
> > 
> > i) Send output of PW to PDF and email it.
> > 
> > ii) Send output to fax, from faxmodem on client or on fax server.
> > 
> > iii) Use multi-page overlays (or multiple overlay files) in a 
> > sequence.
> > 
> > iv) Adjust placement of overlay and report as demonstrated in 
> > the video. 
> > Save settings for next time.
> > 
> > v) Print three copies of each invoice, pulling from three 
> > different bins 
> > on the printer, each containing a different color paper. 
> > Output can be 
> > either collated or in sets.
> > 
> > vi) Handle situation where the old approach is to line up the 
> > print head 
> > part way down the page.
> > 
> > vii) Have PW translate Okidata escape sequences (soon).
> > 
> > viii) Preview all pages to be printed.
> > 
> > ix) Hand write on preview of pages to be printed. For 
> > instance, sign a 
> > purchase order on the screen on a TabletPC.
> > 
> > x) Print boilerplate data on the BACK of each page.
> > 
> > xi) Automatically staple each invoice set.
> > 
> > xii) Archive all invoices as PDFs.
> > 
> > xiii) Add attachments (of various formats) to print output, 
> > with output 
> > pages in proper sequence.
> > 
> > xix) Add attachments inside a PDF.
> > 
> > xx) Add attachments to an email (NOT inside a PDF).
> > 
> > xxi) Add attachments to a fax.
> > 
> > xxii) Print barcodes on any output.
> > 
> > I can see now that I have more explaining to do. Sigh.
> > 
> > ---Bob
> > 
> > On Tue, 10 Aug 2010, John Esak wrote:
> > 
> > > Wow! I'm impressed... But your stuff always wows me...
> > > 
> > > Would it be possible for you to explain what you did in 
> > this demo in filePro
> > > terms?. I know how to make an overlay. But, what are you 
> > calling the report
> > > data?  That is to say, it looked like a form's worth of 
> > data. Would this
> > > represent one record's worth of data for this form overlay? 
> >   Are you saying
> > > one record's worth of data needs to be dumped into a file 
> > and then Print
> > > Wizard works with the overlay file and this file of dumped 
> > data?  Or , does
> > > Print Wizard work with the filePro output format in any 
> > way?  I'm sorry to
> > > have no previous knowledge of Print Wizard and creating 
> > overlays.  I have
> > > always done these manually with the help of Jim Asman.  We 
> > make an overlay
> > > file of say the company logo, and static form content.  Put that in
> > > something say called "form.ini" and then build a filePro 
> > format as normal,
> > > and this prints as normal with the overlay being triggered 
> > as a macro. That
> > > is downloaded to the printer ahead of the form data .  So, 
> > we are only
> > > inside filePro's report/form designer... How do we get to 
> > use the nifty
> > > graphical push and pull you show here?zxc
> > > 
> > > Did I say any of that so you could understand it Bob?  I 
> > know I didn't.  I
> > > guess what I'm asking is for you to talk me through this 
> > demo using filePro
> > > terminology if it is possible.
> > > 
> > > Thanks,
> > > 
> > > John
> > 
> > Regards,
> > ....Bob Rasmussen,   President,   Rasmussen Software, Inc.
> > 
> > personal e-mail: ras at anzio.com
> >  company e-mail: rsi at anzio.com
> >           voice: (US) 503-624-0360 (9:00-6:00 Pacific Time)
> >             fax: (US) 503-624-0760
> >             web: http://www.anzio.com
> >  street address: Rasmussen Software, Inc.
> >                  10240 SW Nimbus, Suite L9
> >                  Portland, OR  97223  USA
> > 
> 
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> 

Regards,
....Bob Rasmussen,   President,   Rasmussen Software, Inc.

personal e-mail: ras at anzio.com
 company e-mail: rsi at anzio.com
          voice: (US) 503-624-0360 (9:00-6:00 Pacific Time)
            fax: (US) 503-624-0760
            web: http://www.anzio.com
 street address: Rasmussen Software, Inc.
                 10240 SW Nimbus, Suite L9
                 Portland, OR  97223  USA