I use Report Builder Pro to do Barcode labels on a variety of stock with
success. Typical time to implement a new label design is ten minutes. Think
I'm slow though. I really should implement the end user designer so the
customer can do this. This is for a specialised barcode printer.
Dunno if this is what you want to hear though?
-----Original Message-----
From: Patrick Dunford <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: Multiple recipients of list delphi <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Date: Thursday, 16 September 1999 7:39 PM
Subject: RE: [DUG]: PRINTER - Setting Page Length
> -----Original Message-----
> From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]]On
> Behalf Of Rohit Gupta
> Sent: Thursday, 16 September 1999 15:15
> To: Multiple recipients of list delphi
> Subject: Re: [DUG]: PRINTER - Setting Page Length
>
>
> On 16 Sep 99 at 14:16, [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:
>
> > Quoting Rohit Gupta <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>:
> >
> > > Has anyone succeeded in setting the page length on the printer to a
> > > non-standard value for printing things like labels ?
> > >
> >
> > Would that be possible by setting custom paper size - using
> something like
> > EDSPrint?
>
>
> Umm... what is edsprint ?
Sorry, the correct name for this (and for the other answer I gave the other
day) is the TPrintSet component. Here is some blurb from the help file:
EDSPrint(Set) Component v3.6
(c) Copyright 1995-1998, Eminent Domain Software
Formerly known as the PrintObj unit, EDSPrint enables the Delphi developer
to programmatically set several printer properties including page size (i.e.
Legal, Letter), printer resolution, and more. The unit is now published as
a component which can be dropped onto a form as you would any other
component.
Why do you need EDSPrint?
EDSPrint resolves several problems inherent in the Delphi environment.
Inconsistent Text Sizing
The first problem involves text sizing. Depending on your setup (well, your
computers setup) you will notice that your application may print its text at
varying sizes at different times. Try printing on your default printer,
then, without leaving your program, select a different printer of a
different resolution. You might notice that the size of the text on the two
pages is different. The problem is due to the fact that Delphi does not
change the Printer.Canvas.Font.PixelsPerInch property when a change of
printer has been made. To overcome this oversight, we have included a
routine called SetPixelsPerInch.
Printer Dialogs Quit Working
>From time to time, the PrintDialog and PrinterSetupDialog seem to
mysteriously quit working. Try this in your Delphi application:
1) Run the PrintDialog1.Execute
2) Select the Setup button
3) Select Ok
4) Select Cancel
5) Do this one more time
The PrintDialog will no longer work (at all).
This is just one way of getting them to quit working. There are many. To
overcome this, we have included a method called ResetPrinterDialogs.
No Way To Change Paper Sizes
Windows maintains a stucture which contains the current page settings
(TDevMode). Unfortunately, the Delphi VCL does not provide a
straightforward way of accessing and modifying the values in the TDevMode
structure. So there is no way for you to make sure that your application
defaults to a letter size page. There is also no way of setting up your
printer to print on custom paper sizes (for checks or labels). That's where
the TPrintSet component comes in. We have also included a simple routine
for setting up custom page sizes, CustomPageSetup.
No Simple Way To Save/Restore Printer Information
EDSPrint allows you to save and restore printer settings. This allows you
to give your users a way of setting up alternate printers for printing
alternate reports. For example, let's say you have a database program that
allows you to print a customer label. Unfortunately, you can't (or
shouldn't) assume that the current printer is the label printer. You also
can't reliably save the Printer.PrinterIndex property to an INI file to
restore the proper printer either (what if the user adds or deletes a
printer from his/her printer list - the PrinterIndex is no longer valid).
EDSPrint provides to simple routines, SaveToIniFile and ReadFromIniFile,
which allow you to save and restore the current printer and its settings.
http://www.onedomain.com/
============================================
Patrick Dunford, Christchurch, NZ
http://patrick.dunford.com/
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Website: http://www.delphi.org.nz
