>>I am converting some reports from an old DOS Clipper app to VFP 6.0. They print on a dot matrix in a mixture of draft 10cpi and condensed mode.
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>>The reports were created procedurally in Clipper so to save time I am just copying the code with minimal changes into the click event of a print button. My problem is this:
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>>One of the reports uses 10cpi and condensed mode on the same line of the report. Under VFP I am getting different results with sometimes the Condensed mode resetting itself before it is supposed to and vice versa with the draft 10cpi. Any ideas?
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>>TIA, Peter Renton
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>Hi Peter:
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>I suspect you are running into the usual 'windows takes control of your entire existence' problem... It is virtually impossible to send output directly to the printer using the windows printer drivers. If you really don't want to convert your hard-coded reports to FRXs, you might try the following: Direct your output to a text file (with the embedded printer control codes) and then send it directly out the printer port using either Ed Rauh's Copy_File() API (see FAQ under 'sending output directly to a printer' (or something like that), or using the RAWPRINT.FLL or RAWPRINT.VCX found in the Files section. These all bypass Windows to just squirt your stuff directly to the printer port, and are really easy to use. If your output is not exactly 8-1/2 x 11 inch pages, you will probably need to do printer setup on the dot matrix printer icon to use a custom page size as well.
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>For more info, there have been a number of recent threads in the last couple of months on this sort of problem. Good Luck.
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>HTH
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>Rob

Rob, Thanks alot for your help. After a couple more hours playing around with this problem I decided to chuck it in. Printing on the dot matrix was too much effort so we are now sending the report to the laser printer. The .FRX file took about 30 minutes to create and works like a charm.

Peter