Printer-PCL Compatibility

[Nancy Palmquist]

Chris,

When we started changing over our MOS package to handle laser printers - 
(It was originally all designed with 66/60 line reports. )  This means 
filePro sent 66 lines no matter what to the printer. The new "fangled" 
laser printers generally print 60 lines per page and then page feed.  I 
had customers that needed both and I did not want to have to manage two 
sets of reports, since filepro did not give you a good way to change the 
basic page length of a report via programming.

So since laser printers are smarter than line printers, our solution was 
as follows and worked great.  Change the line spacing from 6 lines per 
inch to 7 or 8 to fit the same size report into the smaller space 
allowed by the printer.

For example at 6 lines per inch, 66 lines takes 11 inches.  If the 
printer will only print 10.5 inches then to fit 66 lines you have to 
make the height of each line shorter.  Every laser type printer I have 
ever used has settings smaller than 6 lines per inch.  So what I did was 
changed the initialization to the printer to make the report fit into 
the printable area the printer allows.

So you could print 8 lines per inch with 66 lines per page takes 8.25 
in, 7 lines per inch with 66 lines takes 9.43 inches. You need to fill 
10 inches with margins is your 11 inches).  This fits one filepro page 
on each sheet of paper if you mess with the top margin (by adding a line 
or so)  until it is centered nice.  Pitch 12 works best with the shorter 
line height.

Of course, you might find that the defaults set on the new printers do 
not match the defaults set on the working printers.  If that is the 
case, add codes to the initialization string to force the right settings 
on the mobile printers so they match.  That might be enough to make it work.

Sorry - I am in a mood to try to avoid finishing my taxes and this long 
response was just the ticket.

Nancy

On 3/31/2015 11:18 AM, Chris Sellitto wrote:
> Hello all,
>
> FilePro® 5.0.13
> Windows 7/8
>
> We have field reps that use the HP OfficeJet 100 Mobile printer.  They have been experiencing alignment issues with a few of their reports/forms.  If a report contains a lot of records (several hundred), it will gradually go out of alignment, where the headers start lower on each subsequent page.  Sometimes it will even start the report over after printing a couple of pages.  We have our printers defined as follows.
>
>                     ┌───────────────────────────────────────┐
>                     │ P R I N T E R   M A I N T E N A N C E │
>                     └───────────────────────────────────────┘
>
>
>       --Name--  --Type--  --Destination File---  ------------Comment------------
>     1         ◄         ◄                      ◄                                ◄
>     2         ◄         ◄                      ◄                                ◄
> *  3 hplaser4◄ hplaser4◄ win:hpdeskjet        ◄                                ◄
>     4 hp-500  ◄ hp-500  ◄ win:hpdeskjet        ◄ For 222 Forms                  ◄
>     5         ◄         ◄                      ◄                                ◄
>     6         ◄         ◄                      ◄                                ◄
>     7         ◄         ◄                      ◄                                ◄
>     8         ◄         ◄                      ◄                                ◄
>     9         ◄         ◄                      ◄                                ◄
>
> The output formats are defined with the hplaser4, and hp-500 where applicable.  The 222 Form is a preprinted document that has not changed its format for over 10 years.
>
> We used to use the hp-500 printers (many years ago without issue), and since the personnel had changed for ordering equipment, they started ordering the OfficeJet 100 Mobile printer without our knowledge. This is when our issues started.  I notice that on HP's web page, the 100 Mobile uses HP PCL 3 GUI.  My question is, is filePro® compatible with the HP PCL 3 GUI version of the printer control language?  If not, does anyone know of a good, reliable mobile printer, available now that plays nice with filePro®?
>
> I hope I have included enough information.
>
> Thank you in advance
> Chris Sellitto
> _______________________________________________
> Filepro-list mailing list
> Filepro-list at lists.celestial.com
> Subscribe/Unsubscribe/Subscription Changes
> http://mailman.celestial.com/mailman/listinfo/filepro-list

-- 
Nancy Palmquist         MOS & filePro Training Available
Virtual Software Systems    Web Based Training and Consulting
PHONE: (412) 835-9417           Web site:  http://www.vss3.com