Mike, The conversion uses a Courier New (mono spaced) font at 11 pitch. It maintains the character spacing and field sizes based on that font and pitch size. The v6.5++/v7.x conversion does not maintain field size correctly and does not use a mono space font.
Generally my reports used 10 or 12 pitch font size (Elite or Pica in typewriter terms) and were printed on Brother and HP laser printers using PCL (printer control codes) imbedded in the report.. I did not used and PCL code to control field placement only font name and items such as bold, italic, bold italic. spacing. Virtually all of my reports are driven by views. Alignment within your preprinted form should be a matter of a possible global change to your desired point size and perhaps a pass or two nudging the location of the fields to match form alignment. Should be way easier that going the v6.5++/v7.x conversion The basic placement of fields in the DOS version used a 10 pitch style (ten char per inch "pica" spacing with 6 lines per inch ). The conversion routing uses an 11 pitch spacing which is a good compromise between 11 and 12 pitch. If you have many reports which need an exact 10 or 12 pitch perhaps you could request an enhancement to the conversion routing where by parameter you could request a 10 or 12 pitch spacing. At the moment I am reviewing the views and reports to identify where I have created a computed expression in the view which encodes as a NOTE data type. In some cases I have made/used a name name from a table with a different data type. I want to correct this problem before conversion as I can manipulate the SYS_REPORT code by editing it directly. Also, at the moment the conversion process uses LABEL objects for constant information, dblabel or varlabel for data objects. If you report has fields set to wrap you need to redefine the as dbmemo or varmemo fields in order to use the stretch option to make the fields wrap . I am considering requesting an enhancement to the conversion process to have the conversion program do this automatically. Jim Bentley American Celiac Society [email protected] tel: 1-504-737-3293 >________________________________ > From: Michael Sinclair <[email protected]> >To: RBASE-L Mailing List <[email protected]> >Sent: Thursday, February 16, 2012 10:43 AM >Subject: [RBASE-L] - Re: From The Edge: Upgrading Legacy Databases to R:BASE >eXtreme 9.1 > > >Hi Jim, >I have some reports in Rbase for Dos where spacing and alignment is critical. >The reports have to be printed on preprinted documents. How close is the >spacing after conversion? Got any tips? >Mike > > > > >On Feb 16, 2012, at 11:28 AM, James Bentley <[email protected]> wrote: > > > >> >>Razzak, >> >> >>Nice documentation. As a beta tester of v9.5 for windows I would recommend >>that any one desiring to convert DOS to Windows forms/reports/labels >> >>choose to become a beta tester for v9.5. The DOS to Windows conversion is way >>better than what is outlined in this documentation. You do not need to use >>v6.5++ as an >> >>intermediate step in the conversion process. Also, the alignment of fields is >>WAY BETTER and WAY EASIER. >> >> >> >>I have done a preliminary conversion and am now testing the reports. The last >>update fixed problems reported in my initial conversion. Thanks for the great >>support. >> >>Jim Bentley >>American Celiac Society >>[email protected] >>tel: 1-504-737-3293 >> >> >>>________________________________ >>> From: A. Razzak Memon <[email protected]> >>>To: RBASE-L Mailing List <[email protected]> >>>Sent: Thursday, February 16, 2012 1:47 AM >>>Subject: [RBASE-L] - From The Edge: Upgrading Legacy Databases to R:BASE >>>eXtreme 9.1 >>> >>>Thursday, February 16, 2012 >>> >>>To R:BASE Community, >>> >>>From The Edge: Upgrading Legacy Databases to R:BASE eXtreme 9.1 >>>Section: Database/Application Conversion >>>Version: R:BASE eXtreme 9.1 (32/64) for Windows >>> >>>From The Edge: http://www.razzak.com/fte >>> >>>Topic: Upgrading to R:BASE eXtreme 9.1 - Database Conversion Guide >>> >>>This technical document provides detailed information regarding the >>>conversion of legacy databases and applications, including: >>> >>>· Converting from R:BASE 4.0 and Lower Versions >>>· Converting from R:BASE 4.5 through 6.5 Versions >>>· Converting from R:BASE 6.5++ >>>· Converting from R:BASE 7.x (7.6, 7.5, 7.1, 7.0) Versions >>>· Converting from R:BASE Turbo V-8 >>> >>>Very Best R:egards, >>> >>>Razzak. >>> >>>www.rbase.com >>>www.Razzak.com >>>www.RazzakMemon.com >>> >>> >>> >>> >>> > >
