>Walter,
>
>>>How about a system variable (preferably returning a Boolean value) to let us know if the user has printed a report from the preview window?
>>
>>Hmmm. Then I would also propose an variable to determine if a report has printed with. (WITH a TO PRINTER PROMPT clause it is handy to know if a user choose to cancel the report. I know this can be done otherwise but this seems more logic to me, to do it this way).
>
>All of this is based on my own work, so...
>
>I don't use the PROMPT clause ever. To me it's useless. All of my reports are generated from dialogs. Using the PROMPT clause simply would be aggavating to the users, since they've already made their choices (date, range, output, etc.) That doesn't mean, however, that someone else might find it useful.
>
>>What about a way to determine if the cancel button has been pressed in a SYS(1037) dialog ?
>
>Hate to be the naysayer here, but SYS(1037) (along with GETFILE(), PUTFILE(), and other calls to the Common Dialogs DLL) wouldn't be a priority to me, since I can pretty much get everything I'd need to know from the ActiveX control. Further, print operations and many user choices in the overall environment, are Windows operations. I don't really care what printer is chosen (or not chosen). If a situation arises where I need to, I use the ActiveX control.
>
>Lastly, there are some things that simply aren't going to make because that functionality (albeit in this case through an ActiveX control) already exists. There are other things that won't happen because that's not the way Windows works. For example, if someone wished for a function to determine whether or not the printer was on-line or not, that wouldn't make it. That's because Windows doesn't know (or care) until something is sent to the printer.

Hi George:

Thanx for passing along your comments. FWIW: I do find PROMPT useful in the system we have here, as our users often switch between local (Epson impact) and network (laser) printers in the same session, and they may have forgotten to change it before starting the report. Using PROMPT just allows them to catch a problem before it causes trouble (like printing a 100 pg report to the Epson instead of the laser printer...). I also try to stay away from anything non-native VFP whenever possible, unless there is a compelling reason why the alternative is so much better or not otherwise possible with native VFP. Just that much less to worry about and to register/install on the user's workstation.

If we were doing lots of more sophisticated stuff, I'd probably feel differently, but for now its just fine for our needs...

Rob