[Migrated content. Thread originally posted on 21 December 2005]
All I want pleaseeeee is a simple method of taking my old cobol print programs and to be able to do a print preview, or to be able to show the report in a screen window prior to printing. The actual windows printing facilities are fine and the conversion has been simple (i.e. DOS to Windows), but the lack of real windows facilities with the printing options is very constraining.
I have looked briefly at a myriad of .pdf printer drivers but none give a simple (almost command line) to circumvent the dialogue box they all seem to insist on putting up for filename etc.
I am not keen to go to Crystal as a lot of work in changing all the native reporting programs, and without using a direct cobol data to crystal reader then i introduce the ODBC overhead.
Can anyone help here, or is Acucorp going to address this soon?
Keith
Two suggestions:
- Amyuni PDF Creator (
http://www.amyuni.com/en/products/pdf_creator/index.html). It is an ActiveX control that can create PDF's.
- ComponentOne VSVIEW ActiveX control (
http://www.componentone.com/products.aspx?TabTypeID=1&ItemType=1&PanelIndex=16&ItemID=54017&SubCategoryTypeID=0&TabMapID=73&TabID=93). This works like the Visual Basic Printer object, but has the ability to render the output as a PDF file or in its own Print Preview control.
You could change your code to use the ActiveX control for print output instead of WRITE statements.
Another alternative (one that I have used) is to continue using WRITE statements to print, but change the ASSIGN TO in the SELECT of the print file to write the output to a temporary file. Then when the printing is complete, call a program that reads the temporary file as a sequential file and feeds the lines to the ActiveX control to generate the PDF and/or print preview.
[Migrated content. Thread originally posted on 21 December 2005]
All I want pleaseeeee is a simple method of taking my old cobol print programs and to be able to do a print preview, or to be able to show the report in a screen window prior to printing. The actual windows printing facilities are fine and the conversion has been simple (i.e. DOS to Windows), but the lack of real windows facilities with the printing options is very constraining.
I have looked briefly at a myriad of .pdf printer drivers but none give a simple (almost command line) to circumvent the dialogue box they all seem to insist on putting up for filename etc.
I am not keen to go to Crystal as a lot of work in changing all the native reporting programs, and without using a direct cobol data to crystal reader then i introduce the ODBC overhead.
Can anyone help here, or is Acucorp going to address this soon?
Keith
Two suggestions:
- Amyuni PDF Creator (
http://www.amyuni.com/en/products/pdf_creator/index.html). It is an ActiveX control that can create PDF's.
- ComponentOne VSVIEW ActiveX control (
http://www.componentone.com/products.aspx?TabTypeID=1&ItemType=1&PanelIndex=16&ItemID=54017&SubCategoryTypeID=0&TabMapID=73&TabID=93). This works like the Visual Basic Printer object, but has the ability to render the output as a PDF file or in its own Print Preview control.
You could change your code to use the ActiveX control for print output instead of WRITE statements.
Another alternative (one that I have used) is to continue using WRITE statements to print, but change the ASSIGN TO in the SELECT of the print file to write the output to a temporary file. Then when the printing is complete, call a program that reads the temporary file as a sequential file and feeds the lines to the ActiveX control to generate the PDF and/or print preview.
[Migrated content. Thread originally posted on 21 December 2005]
All I want pleaseeeee is a simple method of taking my old cobol print programs and to be able to do a print preview, or to be able to show the report in a screen window prior to printing. The actual windows printing facilities are fine and the conversion has been simple (i.e. DOS to Windows), but the lack of real windows facilities with the printing options is very constraining.
I have looked briefly at a myriad of .pdf printer drivers but none give a simple (almost command line) to circumvent the dialogue box they all seem to insist on putting up for filename etc.
I am not keen to go to Crystal as a lot of work in changing all the native reporting programs, and without using a direct cobol data to crystal reader then i introduce the ODBC overhead.
Can anyone help here, or is Acucorp going to address this soon?
Keith
Thanks for that info. I am trying hard not to have to get involved with Active-X - I am not that conversant with this and was trying to leave this adventure until I get to needing connections with Excel/Word etc. which will probably mean I will have to hire someone in to get these solutions started. I was looking for a more simple solution to this printing requirement - one that seems not to exist within ACU but would seem to be a reasonably global requirement for windows printing applications.
Someone has mentioned Flexus formprint - some kind of COBOL tool/extension that might solve my issues - has anyone used this or heard of it?
[Migrated content. Thread originally posted on 21 December 2005]
All I want pleaseeeee is a simple method of taking my old cobol print programs and to be able to do a print preview, or to be able to show the report in a screen window prior to printing. The actual windows printing facilities are fine and the conversion has been simple (i.e. DOS to Windows), but the lack of real windows facilities with the printing options is very constraining.
I have looked briefly at a myriad of .pdf printer drivers but none give a simple (almost command line) to circumvent the dialogue box they all seem to insist on putting up for filename etc.
I am not keen to go to Crystal as a lot of work in changing all the native reporting programs, and without using a direct cobol data to crystal reader then i introduce the ODBC overhead.
Can anyone help here, or is Acucorp going to address this soon?
Keith
One method we use is converting the "spool" file to a rich text document and using whatever the default viewer for rich text documents whether it is MS Word, Wordpad, or whatever. This works very quickly for text based reports. 400 pages reports open quickly.
When the Cobol program executes we output "printer" to a file. After the program is done, a spooler program takes the file and sends it to a printer, fax, or in this case executes a small C program to convert the spooled file to a rich text file with the .rtf extension. We then execute "FILENAME.rtf" and the file is opened in the default rich text viewer(Windows).
[Migrated content. Thread originally posted on 21 December 2005]
All I want pleaseeeee is a simple method of taking my old cobol print programs and to be able to do a print preview, or to be able to show the report in a screen window prior to printing. The actual windows printing facilities are fine and the conversion has been simple (i.e. DOS to Windows), but the lack of real windows facilities with the printing options is very constraining.
I have looked briefly at a myriad of .pdf printer drivers but none give a simple (almost command line) to circumvent the dialogue box they all seem to insist on putting up for filename etc.
I am not keen to go to Crystal as a lot of work in changing all the native reporting programs, and without using a direct cobol data to crystal reader then i introduce the ODBC overhead.
Can anyone help here, or is Acucorp going to address this soon?
Keith
We are using a Custom PDF driver in which the only special programming required is setting some Windows Registry entries to specify the name of the file. Otherwise, it's just like printing to a printer. I'd recommend it.
http://cutepdf.com/Solutions/pdfwriter.aspRob
[Migrated content. Thread originally posted on 21 December 2005]
All I want pleaseeeee is a simple method of taking my old cobol print programs and to be able to do a print preview, or to be able to show the report in a screen window prior to printing. The actual windows printing facilities are fine and the conversion has been simple (i.e. DOS to Windows), but the lack of real windows facilities with the printing options is very constraining.
I have looked briefly at a myriad of .pdf printer drivers but none give a simple (almost command line) to circumvent the dialogue box they all seem to insist on putting up for filename etc.
I am not keen to go to Crystal as a lot of work in changing all the native reporting programs, and without using a direct cobol data to crystal reader then i introduce the ODBC overhead.
Can anyone help here, or is Acucorp going to address this soon?
Keith
We are using a Custom PDF driver in which the only special programming required is setting some Windows Registry entries to specify the name of the file. Otherwise, it's just like printing to a printer. I'd recommend it.
http://cutepdf.com/Solutions/pdfwriter.aspRob
[Migrated content. Thread originally posted on 21 December 2005]
All I want pleaseeeee is a simple method of taking my old cobol print programs and to be able to do a print preview, or to be able to show the report in a screen window prior to printing. The actual windows printing facilities are fine and the conversion has been simple (i.e. DOS to Windows), but the lack of real windows facilities with the printing options is very constraining.
I have looked briefly at a myriad of .pdf printer drivers but none give a simple (almost command line) to circumvent the dialogue box they all seem to insist on putting up for filename etc.
I am not keen to go to Crystal as a lot of work in changing all the native reporting programs, and without using a direct cobol data to crystal reader then i introduce the ODBC overhead.
Can anyone help here, or is Acucorp going to address this soon?
Keith
Thanks for that - I have looked at the desrciption of the pdf driver and it does seem to provide what i am looking for so I will get a copy and check it out.
Just to ask again- has anyone knowledge of Flexus formprint?
[Migrated content. Thread originally posted on 21 December 2005]
All I want pleaseeeee is a simple method of taking my old cobol print programs and to be able to do a print preview, or to be able to show the report in a screen window prior to printing. The actual windows printing facilities are fine and the conversion has been simple (i.e. DOS to Windows), but the lack of real windows facilities with the printing options is very constraining.
I have looked briefly at a myriad of .pdf printer drivers but none give a simple (almost command line) to circumvent the dialogue box they all seem to insist on putting up for filename etc.
I am not keen to go to Crystal as a lot of work in changing all the native reporting programs, and without using a direct cobol data to crystal reader then i introduce the ODBC overhead.
Can anyone help here, or is Acucorp going to address this soon?
Keith
Hi
Micr35180,
We used FormPrint version 1.5.89 until yesterday :-)
The program had been advised from our retailer (Acucorp Italia) who supplied us also the attendance.
Now we prefer to use win$printer on printing pdf (we install pdf camp) and previewing with Acrobate Reader.
[Migrated content. Thread originally posted on 21 December 2005]
All I want pleaseeeee is a simple method of taking my old cobol print programs and to be able to do a print preview, or to be able to show the report in a screen window prior to printing. The actual windows printing facilities are fine and the conversion has been simple (i.e. DOS to Windows), but the lack of real windows facilities with the printing options is very constraining.
I have looked briefly at a myriad of .pdf printer drivers but none give a simple (almost command line) to circumvent the dialogue box they all seem to insist on putting up for filename etc.
I am not keen to go to Crystal as a lot of work in changing all the native reporting programs, and without using a direct cobol data to crystal reader then i introduce the ODBC overhead.
Can anyone help here, or is Acucorp going to address this soon?
Keith
Mauro
What is pdf camp?
regards
Keith
[Migrated content. Thread originally posted on 21 December 2005]
All I want pleaseeeee is a simple method of taking my old cobol print programs and to be able to do a print preview, or to be able to show the report in a screen window prior to printing. The actual windows printing facilities are fine and the conversion has been simple (i.e. DOS to Windows), but the lack of real windows facilities with the printing options is very constraining.
I have looked briefly at a myriad of .pdf printer drivers but none give a simple (almost command line) to circumvent the dialogue box they all seem to insist on putting up for filename etc.
I am not keen to go to Crystal as a lot of work in changing all the native reporting programs, and without using a direct cobol data to crystal reader then i introduce the ODBC overhead.
Can anyone help here, or is Acucorp going to address this soon?
Keith
Mauro
What is pdf camp?
regards
Keith
[Migrated content. Thread originally posted on 21 December 2005]
All I want pleaseeeee is a simple method of taking my old cobol print programs and to be able to do a print preview, or to be able to show the report in a screen window prior to printing. The actual windows printing facilities are fine and the conversion has been simple (i.e. DOS to Windows), but the lack of real windows facilities with the printing options is very constraining.
I have looked briefly at a myriad of .pdf printer drivers but none give a simple (almost command line) to circumvent the dialogue box they all seem to insist on putting up for filename etc.
I am not keen to go to Crystal as a lot of work in changing all the native reporting programs, and without using a direct cobol data to crystal reader then i introduce the ODBC overhead.
Can anyone help here, or is Acucorp going to address this soon?
Keith
It's a virtual printer (like pdf995).
Mauro
[Migrated content. Thread originally posted on 21 December 2005]
All I want pleaseeeee is a simple method of taking my old cobol print programs and to be able to do a print preview, or to be able to show the report in a screen window prior to printing. The actual windows printing facilities are fine and the conversion has been simple (i.e. DOS to Windows), but the lack of real windows facilities with the printing options is very constraining.
I have looked briefly at a myriad of .pdf printer drivers but none give a simple (almost command line) to circumvent the dialogue box they all seem to insist on putting up for filename etc.
I am not keen to go to Crystal as a lot of work in changing all the native reporting programs, and without using a direct cobol data to crystal reader then i introduce the ODBC overhead.
Can anyone help here, or is Acucorp going to address this soon?
Keith
I recently ported all my applications from character based RM-COBOL to graphical AcuGT running on windows, and as a part of that I created print preview capabilities for all my reports (some 95-100 reports). It is relatively easy using a DLL provided by Acucorp as part of its report-creation facility in Acubench. You simply format your reports surrounded by some HTML tags, then you pass the report file name to a small viewing program that you write which calls the PREVIEW function of the DLL. It is really pretty slick and all the routines can be standardized to drop into your report programs. My customers love it. The only things that are not formatted this way are my check printing programs, but even POs, Invoices, Statements, Pick Tickets etc are done this way.
I cooked this all up myself using the documentation, but I would be happy to share what I know if you are interested.
[Migrated content. Thread originally posted on 21 December 2005]
All I want pleaseeeee is a simple method of taking my old cobol print programs and to be able to do a print preview, or to be able to show the report in a screen window prior to printing. The actual windows printing facilities are fine and the conversion has been simple (i.e. DOS to Windows), but the lack of real windows facilities with the printing options is very constraining.
I have looked briefly at a myriad of .pdf printer drivers but none give a simple (almost command line) to circumvent the dialogue box they all seem to insist on putting up for filename etc.
I am not keen to go to Crystal as a lot of work in changing all the native reporting programs, and without using a direct cobol data to crystal reader then i introduce the ODBC overhead.
Can anyone help here, or is Acucorp going to address this soon?
Keith
Hi mpc
That sounds just perfect - are you willing to share this with me - samples of the course to produce the report and to view it would solve my problem I think.
Keith
[Migrated content. Thread originally posted on 21 December 2005]
All I want pleaseeeee is a simple method of taking my old cobol print programs and to be able to do a print preview, or to be able to show the report in a screen window prior to printing. The actual windows printing facilities are fine and the conversion has been simple (i.e. DOS to Windows), but the lack of real windows facilities with the printing options is very constraining.
I have looked briefly at a myriad of .pdf printer drivers but none give a simple (almost command line) to circumvent the dialogue box they all seem to insist on putting up for filename etc.
I am not keen to go to Crystal as a lot of work in changing all the native reporting programs, and without using a direct cobol data to crystal reader then i introduce the ODBC overhead.
Can anyone help here, or is Acucorp going to address this soon?
Keith
Hi mpc
That sounds just perfect - are you willing to share this with me - samples of the course to produce the report and to view it would solve my problem I think.
Keith
[Migrated content. Thread originally posted on 21 December 2005]
All I want pleaseeeee is a simple method of taking my old cobol print programs and to be able to do a print preview, or to be able to show the report in a screen window prior to printing. The actual windows printing facilities are fine and the conversion has been simple (i.e. DOS to Windows), but the lack of real windows facilities with the printing options is very constraining.
I have looked briefly at a myriad of .pdf printer drivers but none give a simple (almost command line) to circumvent the dialogue box they all seem to insist on putting up for filename etc.
I am not keen to go to Crystal as a lot of work in changing all the native reporting programs, and without using a direct cobol data to crystal reader then i introduce the ODBC overhead.
Can anyone help here, or is Acucorp going to address this soon?
Keith
No problem. I will be happy to e-mail you some sample programs if you like. One would be the actual "viewer" program accompanied one of my report programs, a simple listing perhaps. There may be some explanation necessary, but it really is fairly straightforward. How would you like to proceed? I am not sure of the best way to provide you the information. In any event, this is all done in COBOL and is very straightforward. Let me know how you would like to receive the information and sample programs.
[Migrated content. Thread originally posted on 21 December 2005]
All I want pleaseeeee is a simple method of taking my old cobol print programs and to be able to do a print preview, or to be able to show the report in a screen window prior to printing. The actual windows printing facilities are fine and the conversion has been simple (i.e. DOS to Windows), but the lack of real windows facilities with the printing options is very constraining.
I have looked briefly at a myriad of .pdf printer drivers but none give a simple (almost command line) to circumvent the dialogue box they all seem to insist on putting up for filename etc.
I am not keen to go to Crystal as a lot of work in changing all the native reporting programs, and without using a direct cobol data to crystal reader then i introduce the ODBC overhead.
Can anyone help here, or is Acucorp going to address this soon?
Keith
Hi mpc
I do not use ACUBENCH, so simple listings would be great - a small simple listing program and a sample viewer in full source code would be ideal - I am hopeful that I will be able to see what you have done without troubling you too much for any detailed information. I really appreciate your help. Matbe I can reciprocate in the future.
Regards
Keith
email me on
keith@h24.co.uk
[Migrated content. Thread originally posted on 21 December 2005]
All I want pleaseeeee is a simple method of taking my old cobol print programs and to be able to do a print preview, or to be able to show the report in a screen window prior to printing. The actual windows printing facilities are fine and the conversion has been simple (i.e. DOS to Windows), but the lack of real windows facilities with the printing options is very constraining.
I have looked briefly at a myriad of .pdf printer drivers but none give a simple (almost command line) to circumvent the dialogue box they all seem to insist on putting up for filename etc.
I am not keen to go to Crystal as a lot of work in changing all the native reporting programs, and without using a direct cobol data to crystal reader then i introduce the ODBC overhead.
Can anyone help here, or is Acucorp going to address this soon?
Keith
The listings and a sample output are on the way!
[Migrated content. Thread originally posted on 21 December 2005]
All I want pleaseeeee is a simple method of taking my old cobol print programs and to be able to do a print preview, or to be able to show the report in a screen window prior to printing. The actual windows printing facilities are fine and the conversion has been simple (i.e. DOS to Windows), but the lack of real windows facilities with the printing options is very constraining.
I have looked briefly at a myriad of .pdf printer drivers but none give a simple (almost command line) to circumvent the dialogue box they all seem to insist on putting up for filename etc.
I am not keen to go to Crystal as a lot of work in changing all the native reporting programs, and without using a direct cobol data to crystal reader then i introduce the ODBC overhead.
Can anyone help here, or is Acucorp going to address this soon?
Keith
The listings and a sample output are on the way!
[Migrated content. Thread originally posted on 21 December 2005]
All I want pleaseeeee is a simple method of taking my old cobol print programs and to be able to do a print preview, or to be able to show the report in a screen window prior to printing. The actual windows printing facilities are fine and the conversion has been simple (i.e. DOS to Windows), but the lack of real windows facilities with the printing options is very constraining.
I have looked briefly at a myriad of .pdf printer drivers but none give a simple (almost command line) to circumvent the dialogue box they all seem to insist on putting up for filename etc.
I am not keen to go to Crystal as a lot of work in changing all the native reporting programs, and without using a direct cobol data to crystal reader then i introduce the ODBC overhead.
Can anyone help here, or is Acucorp going to address this soon?
Keith
Hi mpc,
Your solution sounds neat and I would also be insterested in having the examples. Maybe you could zip them and attach the zip file to your reply. This way others can simply download it.
SR
[Migrated content. Thread originally posted on 21 December 2005]
All I want pleaseeeee is a simple method of taking my old cobol print programs and to be able to do a print preview, or to be able to show the report in a screen window prior to printing. The actual windows printing facilities are fine and the conversion has been simple (i.e. DOS to Windows), but the lack of real windows facilities with the printing options is very constraining.
I have looked briefly at a myriad of .pdf printer drivers but none give a simple (almost command line) to circumvent the dialogue box they all seem to insist on putting up for filename etc.
I am not keen to go to Crystal as a lot of work in changing all the native reporting programs, and without using a direct cobol data to crystal reader then i introduce the ODBC overhead.
Can anyone help here, or is Acucorp going to address this soon?
Keith
I have attached a zipped up archive containing 3 files, a full listing of a program that creates the print preview (a standard vendor listing program), the 'viewer' program that performs the actual print preview, and a sample output in HTML format of the vendor listing. I hope these are helpful.
[Migrated content. Thread originally posted on 21 December 2005]
All I want pleaseeeee is a simple method of taking my old cobol print programs and to be able to do a print preview, or to be able to show the report in a screen window prior to printing. The actual windows printing facilities are fine and the conversion has been simple (i.e. DOS to Windows), but the lack of real windows facilities with the printing options is very constraining.
I have looked briefly at a myriad of .pdf printer drivers but none give a simple (almost command line) to circumvent the dialogue box they all seem to insist on putting up for filename etc.
I am not keen to go to Crystal as a lot of work in changing all the native reporting programs, and without using a direct cobol data to crystal reader then i introduce the ODBC overhead.
Can anyone help here, or is Acucorp going to address this soon?
Keith
Thank you... notice a good deal of interest already. I downloaded it and tried to open it with winzip but it gave an error "invalid archive". Which archive routine have you used or is it damaged?
SR
[Migrated content. Thread originally posted on 21 December 2005]
All I want pleaseeeee is a simple method of taking my old cobol print programs and to be able to do a print preview, or to be able to show the report in a screen window prior to printing. The actual windows printing facilities are fine and the conversion has been simple (i.e. DOS to Windows), but the lack of real windows facilities with the printing options is very constraining.
I have looked briefly at a myriad of .pdf printer drivers but none give a simple (almost command line) to circumvent the dialogue box they all seem to insist on putting up for filename etc.
I am not keen to go to Crystal as a lot of work in changing all the native reporting programs, and without using a direct cobol data to crystal reader then i introduce the ODBC overhead.
Can anyone help here, or is Acucorp going to address this soon?
Keith
Thank you... notice a good deal of interest already. I downloaded it and tried to open it with winzip but it gave an error "invalid archive". Which archive routine have you used or is it damaged?
SR
[Migrated content. Thread originally posted on 21 December 2005]
All I want pleaseeeee is a simple method of taking my old cobol print programs and to be able to do a print preview, or to be able to show the report in a screen window prior to printing. The actual windows printing facilities are fine and the conversion has been simple (i.e. DOS to Windows), but the lack of real windows facilities with the printing options is very constraining.
I have looked briefly at a myriad of .pdf printer drivers but none give a simple (almost command line) to circumvent the dialogue box they all seem to insist on putting up for filename etc.
I am not keen to go to Crystal as a lot of work in changing all the native reporting programs, and without using a direct cobol data to crystal reader then i introduce the ODBC overhead.
Can anyone help here, or is Acucorp going to address this soon?
Keith
I use a command line product called 7zip. I also have an old copy of WINZIP. Let me try using that.
[Migrated content. Thread originally posted on 21 December 2005]
All I want pleaseeeee is a simple method of taking my old cobol print programs and to be able to do a print preview, or to be able to show the report in a screen window prior to printing. The actual windows printing facilities are fine and the conversion has been simple (i.e. DOS to Windows), but the lack of real windows facilities with the printing options is very constraining.
I have looked briefly at a myriad of .pdf printer drivers but none give a simple (almost command line) to circumvent the dialogue box they all seem to insist on putting up for filename etc.
I am not keen to go to Crystal as a lot of work in changing all the native reporting programs, and without using a direct cobol data to crystal reader then i introduce the ODBC overhead.
Can anyone help here, or is Acucorp going to address this soon?
Keith
This archive (see above) was made with good old WINZIP. it should be OK
[Migrated content. Thread originally posted on 21 December 2005]
All I want pleaseeeee is a simple method of taking my old cobol print programs and to be able to do a print preview, or to be able to show the report in a screen window prior to printing. The actual windows printing facilities are fine and the conversion has been simple (i.e. DOS to Windows), but the lack of real windows facilities with the printing options is very constraining.
I have looked briefly at a myriad of .pdf printer drivers but none give a simple (almost command line) to circumvent the dialogue box they all seem to insist on putting up for filename etc.
I am not keen to go to Crystal as a lot of work in changing all the native reporting programs, and without using a direct cobol data to crystal reader then i introduce the ODBC overhead.
Can anyone help here, or is Acucorp going to address this soon?
Keith
pprevw2 works great..
Thanks
SR
