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Rich Miller
16-May-2005, 09:03 PM
We have a Dataflex 3.2 app that we are migrating from Unix to Windows.

We are trying to remap the Outfile or Direct_Output commands to reference
the windows printers. We have had success re-maping LPT# ports 2 through 9
to a shared UNC printer definition, but we would like to bypass using LPT
mappings and print directly to the defined windows printers.

Referencing the UNC printers by by printer name / share name is not working.
What are the secrets to the formats, methods and or restrictions to
referencing a windows printer definition using Direct Output?

i.e., what are we doing wrong.

Hendrik Van Neikirk

britk9
16-May-2005, 10:24 PM
Rich,

Not that familiar with Unix but by chance were you outputing your reports as
disk files to a Unix spooler?

Best Regards,
Mike


"Rich Miller" <rmiller@streamlinebiz.com> wrote in message
news:k8$RfSoWFHA.5948@dacmail.dataaccess.com...
> We have a Dataflex 3.2 app that we are migrating from Unix to Windows.
>
> We are trying to remap the Outfile or Direct_Output commands to reference
> the windows printers. We have had success re-maping LPT# ports 2 through
9
> to a shared UNC printer definition, but we would like to bypass using LPT
> mappings and print directly to the defined windows printers.
>
> Referencing the UNC printers by by printer name / share name is not
working.
> What are the secrets to the formats, methods and or restrictions to
> referencing a windows printer definition using Direct Output?
>
> i.e., what are we doing wrong.
>
> Hendrik Van Neikirk
>
>

Bill Clifford
16-May-2005, 11:33 PM
Rich Miller wrote:
If the printers will print characters (rather than raster printing)
which they probably do if you were successful with mapping to ports,
UNC name in the format \\computername\printersharename should work with
"direct_output". To print to raster printers, you would need to use
"Winlst" rather than "direct_output" but Winlst doesn't work with many
of the new printers. A workaround in that instance is to use a third
party program such as DOSPRINT (which I think Mike is working up to in
his post :-). I wrote my own Java program to print a text file as a
graphic which has got around the raster printer/Dataflex problem but
not nearly as elegantly (but much cheaper!) as Mike's solution.

Bill

> We have a Dataflex 3.2 app that we are migrating from Unix to Windows.
>
> We are trying to remap the Outfile or Direct_Output commands to
> reference the windows printers. We have had success re-maping LPT#
> ports 2 through 9 to a shared UNC printer definition, but we would
> like to bypass using LPT mappings and print directly to the defined
> windows printers.
>
> Referencing the UNC printers by by printer name / share name is not
> working. What are the secrets to the formats, methods and or
> restrictions to referencing a windows printer definition using Direct
> Output?
>
> i.e., what are we doing wrong.
>
> Hendrik Van Neikirk

britk9
17-May-2005, 09:52 PM
Bill,

Yes, you are correct, if Rich is outputing diskfiles already then I was
going to suggest a 3rd "print pre-processor".

By the way, we have actually found an even better utility than DOSPrint.
This one is called DOSPrinter and has lots more functionality including...

- runs from a command prompt or system tray
- prints PDF files
- emails with the diskfile as either an .rtf or .pdf
- prints barcodes
- prints embedded graphic links (ESC"image.bmp,200dpi")
- can run in /r (resident mode) - i.e.; acts like a print spooler monitoring
either file extensions or a directory. (Multiple /r copies permitted so you
can basically have multiple "spoolers" pointed to different printers.
- distribution license is $500USD, or single copy is $40USD.

We love it and are implementing it across the board. But then don't take my
word for it. They have a free 30 day demo at
http://www.geocities.com/DOSPrint/.

Best Regards,
Mike


"Bill Clifford" <bill.clifford@northernhealth.ca> wrote in message
news:HirvkmpWFHA.5948@dacmail.dataaccess.com...
> Rich Miller wrote:
> If the printers will print characters (rather than raster printing)
> which they probably do if you were successful with mapping to ports,
> UNC name in the format \\computername\printersharename should work with
> "direct_output". To print to raster printers, you would need to use
> "Winlst" rather than "direct_output" but Winlst doesn't work with many
> of the new printers. A workaround in that instance is to use a third
> party program such as DOSPRINT (which I think Mike is working up to in
> his post :-). I wrote my own Java program to print a text file as a
> graphic which has got around the raster printer/Dataflex problem but
> not nearly as elegantly (but much cheaper!) as Mike's solution.
>
> Bill
>
> > We have a Dataflex 3.2 app that we are migrating from Unix to Windows.
> >
> > We are trying to remap the Outfile or Direct_Output commands to
> > reference the windows printers. We have had success re-maping LPT#
> > ports 2 through 9 to a shared UNC printer definition, but we would
> > like to bypass using LPT mappings and print directly to the defined
> > windows printers.
> >
> > Referencing the UNC printers by by printer name / share name is not
> > working. What are the secrets to the formats, methods and or
> > restrictions to referencing a windows printer definition using Direct
> > Output?
> >
> > i.e., what are we doing wrong.
> >
> > Hendrik Van Neikirk
>