Hi Hilmar,
Thanks for replying! The problem I am having is that the GDI printers ignore the printer codes. They print everything in the standard format-no condensed printing, etc. If I understand GDI printers, they MUST go through the windows GDI to print and you cannot send printer codes directly to the printer using ???, correct? The reports work as is using ??? or @...say to standard printers (HP Lasers, Okidata Dot Matrixes, etc), but not to the GDI printers.

Tracy

>Converting all reports to the report writer may cause some problems. Specifically, printing in any font like Courier, etc., will print everything in graphics mode - very slow on an Epson, for instance.
>
>If you want to continue supporting these printers with a reasonable speed, I recommend you continue preparing a text-file with "??" or "@...say", and send both printer-codes and the generated text-file to the printer with "???", similar to what you seem to be doing.
>
>For printer codes, you should use variables which - for the case of some odd printer - should be editable by the end-user: bold on, bold off, reset all, condensed on, etc.
>
>I don't know, however, if this concept can easily be extended to support both dot-matrix and laser printers. Personally, I would very much dislike to have two versions of each report (text-mode, and using the report writer).
>
>Hilmar.
>
>>We have a huge app that is in the process of being completely converted to VFP7. In the meantime, while hundreds of reports have been redone using the report writer, there are still hundreds of reports that are printed via either ?? or @...say and of course condensed printing is set using ??? in those cases. In almost all cases, these reports still print. However, some of our customers now have low-end GDI printers like the Epson C40UX or Lexmark Z43 color inkjet that came with their new pcs when they upgraded. Is there anyway (quickly) to get these reports to still print while we continue the process of converting them? It will take some time to complete the process, but the customers still need to print the remaining reports as is. Any ideas? The reports are scattered amongst hundreds of prgs so the process is slow and time-consuming converting each one.
>>
>>Tracy