>>Tony,
>>I recall posting a message some time back asking about overlaying an image such as an insurance form onto a laser printed report. I'm pretty sure it was you that responded with a couple of programs to look at that converted images to PCL or something along those lines. I think it was from another VFP forum, because I couldn't find my original question when I searched for it in the UT. Is this at all familiar to you, and could you help me out again with that info.?
>>
>
>The easiest way to do this is to create a laser macro that is pre-loaded to the lser printer; I used an older package called FormWorx to create the layout; WordPerfect's (now Corel's) InForms does much the same thing, and has the benefit of being a still sold and supported product. You create the form in the package, and then output it to a file with PCL macro formatting, assigning it a macro ID. Every time the laser is powered on or off (assuming that you make it a permanent macro, temporary macros only stay around until the printer receives a reset code) you need to reload the form macros. Whenever you want to use a particular overlay, you send the escape code for the desired macro direct to the printer (use the ??? command to avoid bad things happening with reinterpretation of printer codes.)
>
>I've used this mechanism for a number of years with some FPD and FPW based purchase order and invoicing apps, and it works well, with the additional benefit that things print VERY quickly, since you just send the macro code rather than the entire graphical stream each time you want to overlay the current page with a form.
>
>>Thanks,
>>Marcus.

I've been trying to do this off an on for over a year. I have a client who prints 2,000 to 5,000 claim forms (UB92's and HCFA's) a day and I would LOVE to be able to create overlays for these forms. As it works now, I use a VFP 5.0 report form that completely duplicates the claim form, and of course all the grid lines, boilerplate etc. has to be sent down the line for every claim.

I've tried embedding the overlay macro escape sequences in the report forms, calling functions from within report forms that call ??? commands, and nothing seems to work.

Would it be too much to ask you to post the code you're using to do the following:

1. Load/Reload the PCL file as a permanent macro (??? command I assume)

2. Load / unload the overlay. (This is the part I've had the most trouble with, and I know now most of my problem has been that I have not used permanent macros.) Is it something like

??? Load Macro Command
REPORT FORM UB92 TO PRINT NOCON (PROMPT?)
??? Unload Macro Command

Of course I just realized that maybe you're not using REPORT FORM and are printing using ?,?? and ???, if so, has anyone succeeded in using PCL overlay macros in conjunction with REPORT FORM?

Thanks.