Well, here we go again. Seems like every time I post a question, it’s because I can’t make Visual FoxPro do something printing wise that I want it to. The latest episode is a client of ours who has one user with an Okidata ML520 dot matrix printer. This user prints several lengthy internal reports so we are trying to find a way to make VFP print to the Okidata in high speed draft mode.

Here’s the list of some of the things we’ve tried:
1. Saved the report format with the Okidata as the design printer and with the Okidata properties set to draft.
2. Selected the printer in Windows and set the print quality property to draft just before printing the report.
3. Experimented with different fonts, including some such as Courier 17 and Quick Condensed that are somewhat specific to the 520 (these acutally made the problem worse.
4. Hacked the frx and played with different settings for the PRINTQUALITY= line, including removing it altogether.
5. Checked and double-checked to make sure we have the latest drivers.

It seems that no matter what we try, the report comes out near letter quality and takes about 3 minutes to print a page. With some of the options above, the front panel lights on the printer remain on draft while with others they go to NLQ, but the resulting output and speed doesn’t change.

I’ve been forced to tell the client that, apparently, it is a VFP thing because I can go to WordPad or most anything and get high speed draft mode to function as it should with no problem.

Any thoughts or suggestions would be greatly appreciated.