>>I have a FPW 2.6 project which I have ported to VFP 5. One one of most important elements in this project is the printing of BMP's of school children onto ID Cards and certificates. For any given client (school), up to 2,500 BMP files may be included.
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>> In the 2.6 project, these files are maintained outside of the database and only referenced by it. The ID Cards are printed using @ say BITMAP code, the certificates are printed using the report writer. The name of the BMP is changed in the frx prior to printing.
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>>In converting to VFP, I would like to give my clients the ability to modify the ID card and certificate designs. The @ say BITMAP code ports over OK other than that the entire Windows screen blinks as each file is sent to the printer. The code to modify the ID card designs is not, however, very user friendly in that it requires the user to specify the size and location of each element on the card. There is no visual feedback.
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>>The report writer code also ports over OK. Unless my client is willing to install VFP (and deal with its learning curve), however, there is no way for the certificate designs to be modified.
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>>Does anyone have any thoughts as to how these problems might be solved in VFP 5? Would Foxfire,Crystal Reports, Bullseye, etc. handle any of these issues? Does anyone know how to change the name of a BMP referenced in an lbx file after each label prints?
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>>Any help would be appreciated.
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>>Alex Shoob
>Alex,
>Any bmp could be embedded/linked to a general field or while reporting could be got to a gen field. And a gen field could be printed via report writer which in turn could be modified at runtime w/o VFP installation (modify report myReport).
>Cetin

Cetin:

I think that you have pointed me in the right direction. I have not wanted to embed the BMP's in a general field as the size of the file becomes very large. If I use SQL to create a tempoary file at print time, however, embed the BMP's in it, print and then delete, I think that I will have a workable solution.

Thanks for you help.

Alex