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1991-09-11
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PRODUCT : Paradox NUMBER : 787
VERSION : 2.0 & up
OS : DOS
DATE : September 11, 1991 PAGE : 1/6
TITLE : Fixing a Report that "Creeps" Vertically
Every so often, reports created in Paradox will "creep." That is
to say, text will begin printing on different lines from page to
page. While this typically happens when working with laser
printers (or printers using similar technologies), it is not
completely limited to these type of printers.
This behavior can be stopped by checking three things: the page
length of the report, the way Paradox tells the printer to eject
each page from the printer, and the actual length of the report
design. The rest of this document addresses each of these areas
in detail
1. The page length of the report should not be greater than
the number of lines the printer actually prints on any
single sheet of paper.
First, calculate the total number of lines the printer can print
on a piece of paper and make certain the report's page length is
not set to a number higher than that figure.
For example, most printers (as a default) print six (6) lines of
text per inch. Since the average piece of paper is eleven (11)
inches long, this indicates that up to 66 lines of text can be
printed on any sheet of paper. (6 lines per inch x 11 inches =
66 total lines) This is the value Paradox defaults to.
However, many laser printers do not print text along the edges of
a sheet of paper. They often reserve a margin, typically one-
half (1/2) inch along each edge for paper handling purposes. As
a result, a normal 8-1/2" x 11" sheet of paper only has an
effective printing area of 7-1/2" x 10". For Paradox reports,
this translates to a typical page length of 60. (6 lines per
inch x 10 inches)
To check (or change) the page length of an existing report,
follow these steps:
a) From the main Paradox menu, press the <Alt-F8>
key to clear the workspace.
PRODUCT : Paradox NUMBER : 787
VERSION : 2.0 & up
OS : DOS
DATE : September 11, 1991 PAGE : 2/6
TITLE : Fixing a Report that "Creeps" Vertically
b) Select {View}, type the name of the database
table containing the information that will be
sent to the printer and then press <Enter>.
c) Now, press <F10>, select {Reports} | {Change} and
press {Enter} twice. Now, highlight the number
of the report that has been "creeping" and again
press <Enter> twice.
d) Paradox should now display a message on the top
line of the screen similar to "Changing report R
for Table_Nm table", where R and Table_Nm vary
according to the specific report and table being
worked on. (Also, the word "Changing" will be
"Creating" if the report did not already exist.)
Note: If a message like the one above is not
being displayed, cancel Paradox out of
whatever it is doing, go back to the main
Paradox menu and start again with step a).
e) Press <F10>, select {Setting} | {PageLayout} |
{Length} and examine the value displayed after
"New page length:". If this value is greater
than the number of lines this printer prints on a
single piece of paper, change it to the proper
value and press <Enter>.
f) The report page length should now equal the
maximum number of lines the printer will be able
to print on each page. To save any changes,
press <F2>.
2. Paradox should be set so it uses a formfeed instead of
linefeed characters at the end of a report page.
When Paradox is done printing to a single piece of paper, it
tells the printer to push that piece of paper out of the printer
and to start printing on a new page. Typically, this is done by
moving the printer roller a line at a time until the page is
ejected or some similar action occurs, depending on the type of
printer involved.
PRODUCT : Paradox NUMBER : 787
VERSION : 2.0 & up
OS : DOS
DATE : September 11, 1991 PAGE : 3/6
TITLE : Fixing a Report that "Creeps" Vertically
In order to keep track of where the paper is in the printer,
Paradox counts the current line number and compares that to the
page length set in the report specification. (See Part 1.) This
count is increased by one (1) every time a line of text is
printed. When the line count exceeds the page length, Paradox
assumes the sheet of paper is completely out of the printer and
the top of the next sheet of paper is ready to be printed on.
In some cases, this is not necessarily true. If the page length
is set to 66 and the printer is only printing 60 lines per piece
of paper, then the paper will have "crept" six extra lines and
text will not appear at the top of the page.
This can be fixed by having Paradox tell the printer to simply
eject (or "kick out") the current sheet of paper and to move the
next sheet into place. To have Paradox do this, follow these
steps:
a) From the main Paradox menu, select {Tools} |
{More} | {Directory} and look at the value
displayed after "Directory:". Make certain this
is the directory where the Paradox .EXE files are
located; if it is not, then adjust it
accordingly, press <Enter> and then select <Ok>.
(Typically, Paradox files are located in a
directory called C:\PDOX35 or C:\PARADOX3. While
this may not directly match your installation,
these are good places to start looking if the
actual location of the .EXE files is not known.)
b) Now, select {Scripts} | {Play}, type custom and
press <Enter>. This runs the Custom
Configuration Program (CCP) script and allows you
to change many of the default values Paradox
uses. Complete details about the CCP and the
settings it changes (including the default page
length) can be found in Chapter 14 of the Paradox
User's Guide.
Note: If an error message appears, Paradox is
probably not set to the directory where
PRODUCT : Paradox NUMBER : 787
VERSION : 2.0 & up
OS : DOS
DATE : September 11, 1991 PAGE : 4/6
TITLE : Fixing a Report that "Creeps" Vertically
the .EXE files are located. Check into
this and correct it by going back to step
a).
c) Paradox will now display a "splash screen" for
the CCP and may ask about the monitor currently
connected to the PC. Type <Y> or <N> as
appropriate. (Note: not all versions of Paradox
do this.)
d) Now, select {Reports} | {FormFeed}. At this
point, Paradox displays a {LineFeeds} |
{FormFeeds} menu. Select {FormFeeds}.
Note: Earlier Paradox versions display a {No} |
{Yes} menu. Select {Yes}.
e) Next, select the {Return} menu option that now
appears on the right of the new menu and then
select the {DO-IT!} option that appears near the
right of the screen. (If a {Defaults} | {DO-IT!}
menu now appears, select {DO-IT!} again.)
f) If using a stand-alone copy of Paradox, i.e. one
that is not installed on a network, then select
{HardDisk}. Otherwise, select the appropriate
option for the location of the current private
directory and type in the full drive letter and
directory path of that directory when asked (for
example: p:\public\username). (The current
private directory can be found by selecting {Net}
| {SetPrivate} from the main CCP menu.)
g) Paradox now saves the changes made in the CCP and
drops back to the DOS prompt. Load Paradox as
normal and print the report; there should not be
any "creeping."
3. The report design itself should not exceed the page
length of the report.
PRODUCT : Paradox NUMBER : 787
VERSION : 2.0 & up
OS : DOS
DATE : September 11, 1991 PAGE : 5/6
TITLE : Fixing a Report that "Creeps" Vertically
Following Parts 1 and 2 are generally all that is necessary to
keep most reports from "creeping." In some cases though,
especially with free-form style reports, the actual report design
may be greater than the page length specified in Step 1. If this
is the case, the report will have to be redesigned until it no
longer needs more lines than the printer can fit on a piece of
paper.
Complete step-by-step instructions for this process are nearly
impossible to outline. (After all, no two reports are the same.)
But, here are some guidelines that may help:
a) To see how many lines a report design requires,
bring the report design onto the screen (see Part
1, steps a) - d) for step-by-step directions) and
press <Ctrl-V>. This displays line numbers along
the left side of the screen. Press <End> to move
to the bottom of the report and check the number
above the horizontal double line. If this number
is greater than the page length set in Step 1,
then the report must be redesigned.
b) To delete a line from the report design, move
your cursor to the far left character position
(using <Ctrl-Home>) and press <Ctrl-Y>. This
completely removes the current line from the
report. (For more information, see Chapter 3 of
the Paradox Presenting Data manual.)
c) PAGEBREAK can be used to "breakup" a large report
so it prints on more than one page. To see how
this keyword can be used, see Chapter 3 of
Presenting Data.
d) If the report design uses line squeeze, group
bands, or "word-wrapped" fields, Paradox may
reserve a few lines for "bookkeeping" purposes.
In this case, the report design should be less
than the page length; the actual number of
"reserved" lines varies according to the design
of the report. Experiment with various page
lengths until the report no longer "creeps."
PRODUCT : Paradox NUMBER : 787
VERSION : 2.0 & up
OS : DOS
DATE : September 11, 1991 PAGE : 6/6
TITLE : Fixing a Report that "Creeps" Vertically
e) Reports printed in "landscape mode" (i.e. "on
their side") should have a page length no greater
than 45 lines when printed at six lines per inch.
f) If the report cannot be redesigned to fit onto a
single sheet of paper at six lines per inch, it
may be possible to adjust the printer to print
more than lines per inch. Check the printer
manual to see if (and how) this can be done. Be
sure to change the page length accordingly.
g) Some dot-matrix and daisy-wheel printers have a
"perforation skip" setting to adjust for the edge
of a sheet of paper. This should be turned off.
Consult the printer's manual for directions on
how to do this.
h) Paradox's Presenting Data Guide is a good resource
for answers to specific report design questions.
Chapters 3, 4, and 5 are the relevant chapters to
review.
i) Compare the report output with the intended
design. In other words, "appearances may be
deceiving;" the printer may be doing some
additional formatting Paradox is not aware of.
Print the report to a file and compare that file
to the actual report output; differences may
begin to show up.
A "pure" ASCII editor (i.e. one that does not put
in format codes) is a good tool for this. The
DOS EDLIN utility is particularly useful because
it displays line numbers for each line in the
file that can be compared to the corresponding
lines of the report's output.
This document has attempted to show the three most common causes
of report "creeping" while offering some specific advice and tips
on getting reports to print correctly. If each of these
considerations is carefully examined, "creepy" reports should be
far less common.
