I recently had some printing problems, and now I am trying to understand more about the paper sizes defined in Windows. (Most of the time I had been using text-mode reports, and output to Excel, so I don't have lots of experience with the report designer.)

I understand that the EXPR field in the report includes the paper size, and that the report then uses an associated form number on the target computer.

So, here I include several questions, in a more or less random order.

Is there a range of form numbers defined for standard paper sizes, and another range of numbers for custom paper sizes?

Are the standard paper sizes the same on different computers (same number = same paper size)?

Is there a way to force a certain size without specifying the paper size - just specifying the size in inches? Word and other programs seem to do precisely that.

Is all this easier with other reporting programs, for example, the new report designer that comes with VFP 9, or Crystal Reports?

I understand that each paper size has an associated "form number", but on the "server properties" in Windows XP I can't find the associated number; I only see a short name, and the paper size. Where do I find this information? And, for creating custom paper sizes, how do I assign a specific form number?

Is this reporting system drastically different between Windows 98 and Windows XP? Is it possible to make reports compatible with both?

TIA,

Hilmar.