[Migrated content. Thread originally posted on 10 July 2003]
I am a new ISV currently converting my accounting systems from RM to Acucobol, and taking them graphic at the same time. I want to give my users the ability to view all reports before printing, and all the reports are currently character based. I thought to create a "viewer" program using the RichTextBox Active X control, but having difficulty understanding how to get the text formatted properly without the user having to select it, and also having trouble determining exactly how to make the control print.
Any ideas? Also, is there a better way to create a viewer without having to completely rewrite 350 report programs?
Thanks!
Is rich text format needed? Are you changing fonts or text format?
One thought is to output the report data to an html file with
tags and open it with the default web browser, which has it's own print ability.
There is also a useful component for built-in word processing here: http://www.textcontrol.com/
An inexpensive print preview control is available here: http://www.ppreview.net/Products/PrintPreview.htm
I have not used these controls myself, but their features appear impressive.
[Migrated content. Thread originally posted on 10 July 2003]
I am a new ISV currently converting my accounting systems from RM to Acucobol, and taking them graphic at the same time. I want to give my users the ability to view all reports before printing, and all the reports are currently character based. I thought to create a "viewer" program using the RichTextBox Active X control, but having difficulty understanding how to get the text formatted properly without the user having to select it, and also having trouble determining exactly how to make the control print.
Any ideas? Also, is there a better way to create a viewer without having to completely rewrite 350 report programs?
Thanks!
Is rich text format needed? Are you changing fonts or text format?
One thought is to output the report data to an html file with
tags and open it with the default web browser, which has it's own print ability.
There is also a useful component for built-in word processing here: http://www.textcontrol.com/
An inexpensive print preview control is available here: http://www.ppreview.net/Products/PrintPreview.htm
I have not used these controls myself, but their features appear impressive.
[Migrated content. Thread originally posted on 10 July 2003]
I am a new ISV currently converting my accounting systems from RM to Acucobol, and taking them graphic at the same time. I want to give my users the ability to view all reports before printing, and all the reports are currently character based. I thought to create a "viewer" program using the RichTextBox Active X control, but having difficulty understanding how to get the text formatted properly without the user having to select it, and also having trouble determining exactly how to make the control print.
Any ideas? Also, is there a better way to create a viewer without having to completely rewrite 350 report programs?
Thanks!
Hi,
another simple way to preview the report is to create a
Web-browser control on a screen, and open the report file as
an url.
Infact Web-browser control is IE based, and it can handle a lot of
file types.
Look at this sample that shows also the SCREEN-LAYOUT manager
functionality, and try to insert a Url like:
file://c:\\autoexec.bat
or something else.
http://www.acucorp.it/eventi/doc seminario 60/esempi/LayoutManager.zipHope this helps
ciao
Luca
[Migrated content. Thread originally posted on 10 July 2003]
I am a new ISV currently converting my accounting systems from RM to Acucobol, and taking them graphic at the same time. I want to give my users the ability to view all reports before printing, and all the reports are currently character based. I thought to create a "viewer" program using the RichTextBox Active X control, but having difficulty understanding how to get the text formatted properly without the user having to select it, and also having trouble determining exactly how to make the control print.
Any ideas? Also, is there a better way to create a viewer without having to completely rewrite 350 report programs?
Thanks!
Thanks for all of your assistance. I was able to create exactly what i needed using the browser approach. My customers will be able to view all their reports before printing. All it took was modifying the report programs to paste in a few simple HTML tags before and after the body of the report!
Thanks again!!
[Migrated content. Thread originally posted on 10 July 2003]
I am a new ISV currently converting my accounting systems from RM to Acucobol, and taking them graphic at the same time. I want to give my users the ability to view all reports before printing, and all the reports are currently character based. I thought to create a "viewer" program using the RichTextBox Active X control, but having difficulty understanding how to get the text formatted properly without the user having to select it, and also having trouble determining exactly how to make the control print.
Any ideas? Also, is there a better way to create a viewer without having to completely rewrite 350 report programs?
Thanks!
That's good to hear. One thought, if you ever want to jazz up the look of the reports a bit, you can wrap your data in some extra HTML, like a table with rows and cells and larger, bold fonts in the headers, etc. Even insert images and use colors, etc.
It can be quite a bit of fun actually! :D
[Migrated content. Thread originally posted on 10 July 2003]
I am a new ISV currently converting my accounting systems from RM to Acucobol, and taking them graphic at the same time. I want to give my users the ability to view all reports before printing, and all the reports are currently character based. I thought to create a "viewer" program using the RichTextBox Active X control, but having difficulty understanding how to get the text formatted properly without the user having to select it, and also having trouble determining exactly how to make the control print.
Any ideas? Also, is there a better way to create a viewer without having to completely rewrite 350 report programs?
Thanks!
That's good to hear. One thought, if you ever want to jazz up the look of the reports a bit, you can wrap your data in some extra HTML, like a table with rows and cells and larger, bold fonts in the headers, etc. Even insert images and use colors, etc.
It can be quite a bit of fun actually! :D
[Migrated content. Thread originally posted on 10 July 2003]
I am a new ISV currently converting my accounting systems from RM to Acucobol, and taking them graphic at the same time. I want to give my users the ability to view all reports before printing, and all the reports are currently character based. I thought to create a "viewer" program using the RichTextBox Active X control, but having difficulty understanding how to get the text formatted properly without the user having to select it, and also having trouble determining exactly how to make the control print.
Any ideas? Also, is there a better way to create a viewer without having to completely rewrite 350 report programs?
Thanks!
Having been a RM/COBOL user for the last zillion years, it is mind-boggling to have all the options that are available in Acucobol. Thanks for your suggestion about jazzing up the reports, I am already fiddling with some ways my users can spruce up their reports with watermarks and borders and things like that, as well as variable fonts.
Thanks again!:)
[Migrated content. Thread originally posted on 10 July 2003]
I am a new ISV currently converting my accounting systems from RM to Acucobol, and taking them graphic at the same time. I want to give my users the ability to view all reports before printing, and all the reports are currently character based. I thought to create a "viewer" program using the RichTextBox Active X control, but having difficulty understanding how to get the text formatted properly without the user having to select it, and also having trouble determining exactly how to make the control print.
Any ideas? Also, is there a better way to create a viewer without having to completely rewrite 350 report programs?
Thanks!
Originally posted by DanM
Is rich text format needed? Are you changing fonts or text format?
One thought is to output the report data to an html file with tags and open it with the default web browser, which has it's own print ability.
There is also a useful component for built-in word processing here: http://www.textcontrol.com/
An inexpensive print preview control is available here: http://www.ppreview.net/Products/PrintPreview.htm
I have not used these controls myself, but their features appear impressive.
Do you have some example for print-preview?
[Migrated content. Thread originally posted on 10 July 2003]
I am a new ISV currently converting my accounting systems from RM to Acucobol, and taking them graphic at the same time. I want to give my users the ability to view all reports before printing, and all the reports are currently character based. I thought to create a "viewer" program using the RichTextBox Active X control, but having difficulty understanding how to get the text formatted properly without the user having to select it, and also having trouble determining exactly how to make the control print.
Any ideas? Also, is there a better way to create a viewer without having to completely rewrite 350 report programs?
Thanks!
Hi there!:
I have my report viewer working pretty much as you have described. I format the output iusing HTML tags, call a browser and display my report. No fuss and no mess.
Thanks for your suggestions.
Matt Cantillon
[Migrated content. Thread originally posted on 10 July 2003]
I am a new ISV currently converting my accounting systems from RM to Acucobol, and taking them graphic at the same time. I want to give my users the ability to view all reports before printing, and all the reports are currently character based. I thought to create a "viewer" program using the RichTextBox Active X control, but having difficulty understanding how to get the text formatted properly without the user having to select it, and also having trouble determining exactly how to make the control print.
Any ideas? Also, is there a better way to create a viewer without having to completely rewrite 350 report programs?
Thanks!
Hi there!:
I have my report viewer working pretty much as you have described. I format the output iusing HTML tags, call a browser and display my report. No fuss and no mess.
Thanks for your suggestions.
Matt Cantillon
[Migrated content. Thread originally posted on 10 July 2003]
I am a new ISV currently converting my accounting systems from RM to Acucobol, and taking them graphic at the same time. I want to give my users the ability to view all reports before printing, and all the reports are currently character based. I thought to create a "viewer" program using the RichTextBox Active X control, but having difficulty understanding how to get the text formatted properly without the user having to select it, and also having trouble determining exactly how to make the control print.
Any ideas? Also, is there a better way to create a viewer without having to completely rewrite 350 report programs?
Thanks!
Do your report have a bitmap like a blank invoiced and text over the bitmap?
[Migrated content. Thread originally posted on 10 July 2003]
I am a new ISV currently converting my accounting systems from RM to Acucobol, and taking them graphic at the same time. I want to give my users the ability to view all reports before printing, and all the reports are currently character based. I thought to create a "viewer" program using the RichTextBox Active X control, but having difficulty understanding how to get the text formatted properly without the user having to select it, and also having trouble determining exactly how to make the control print.
Any ideas? Also, is there a better way to create a viewer without having to completely rewrite 350 report programs?
Thanks!
No, these are fairly basic financial reports, in terms of format. Financial statements, payroll reports and such, which must be formatted in tabular fashion for readability.
Using this scenario, however, you can put bitmaps on, use watermarks and so forth. Anything you can print on a page, you can format to be viewed by the browser control.
I have been porting my applications over to AcuGT from RM-COBOL, which never had this capability at all. So I suspect I will evolve my reports and forms into more sophiticated formats as time passes.
Matt Cantillon
[Migrated content. Thread originally posted on 10 July 2003]
I am a new ISV currently converting my accounting systems from RM to Acucobol, and taking them graphic at the same time. I want to give my users the ability to view all reports before printing, and all the reports are currently character based. I thought to create a "viewer" program using the RichTextBox Active X control, but having difficulty understanding how to get the text formatted properly without the user having to select it, and also having trouble determining exactly how to make the control print.
Any ideas? Also, is there a better way to create a viewer without having to completely rewrite 350 report programs?
Thanks!
We don't have preview capability, but what other features is it that we do not have?
[Migrated content. Thread originally posted on 10 July 2003]
I am a new ISV currently converting my accounting systems from RM to Acucobol, and taking them graphic at the same time. I want to give my users the ability to view all reports before printing, and all the reports are currently character based. I thought to create a "viewer" program using the RichTextBox Active X control, but having difficulty understanding how to get the text formatted properly without the user having to select it, and also having trouble determining exactly how to make the control print.
Any ideas? Also, is there a better way to create a viewer without having to completely rewrite 350 report programs?
Thanks!
We don't have preview capability, but what other features is it that we do not have?
[Migrated content. Thread originally posted on 10 July 2003]
I am a new ISV currently converting my accounting systems from RM to Acucobol, and taking them graphic at the same time. I want to give my users the ability to view all reports before printing, and all the reports are currently character based. I thought to create a "viewer" program using the RichTextBox Active X control, but having difficulty understanding how to get the text formatted properly without the user having to select it, and also having trouble determining exactly how to make the control print.
Any ideas? Also, is there a better way to create a viewer without having to completely rewrite 350 report programs?
Thanks!
Dear Gisle:
I was referring to RM-COBOL missing capabilities, not AcuGT. AcuGT has every capability (including preview if you just write a few lines of code) that I, as a business software developer could ever want, and probably a few thousand more as well.
Hope you are well.
Regards,
Matt Cantillon
[Migrated content. Thread originally posted on 10 July 2003]
I am a new ISV currently converting my accounting systems from RM to Acucobol, and taking them graphic at the same time. I want to give my users the ability to view all reports before printing, and all the reports are currently character based. I thought to create a "viewer" program using the RichTextBox Active X control, but having difficulty understanding how to get the text formatted properly without the user having to select it, and also having trouble determining exactly how to make the control print.
Any ideas? Also, is there a better way to create a viewer without having to completely rewrite 350 report programs?
Thanks!
Although the browser solution is an option, with the required extra coding, I tend to find it as a workaround for a built-in print preview that many people are used to seeing in business applications. I still vote for the convenience of a built-in print preview in runtime. Imagine having a simple op-code or setting for win$printer that sends print output to preview instead of printer? Would be very convenient.
[Migrated content. Thread originally posted on 10 July 2003]
I am a new ISV currently converting my accounting systems from RM to Acucobol, and taking them graphic at the same time. I want to give my users the ability to view all reports before printing, and all the reports are currently character based. I thought to create a "viewer" program using the RichTextBox Active X control, but having difficulty understanding how to get the text formatted properly without the user having to select it, and also having trouble determining exactly how to make the control print.
Any ideas? Also, is there a better way to create a viewer without having to completely rewrite 350 report programs?
Thanks!
Dear Dan:
I agree that an inherent preview function would be nice. My perspective, however, is still like that of a kid in a candy store, after decades of using RM, where you really dare not dream of any capabilities at all. So please bear with me if I seem overly delighted with AcuGT's capabilities
Regards,
Matt Cantillon
[Migrated content. Thread originally posted on 10 July 2003]
I am a new ISV currently converting my accounting systems from RM to Acucobol, and taking them graphic at the same time. I want to give my users the ability to view all reports before printing, and all the reports are currently character based. I thought to create a "viewer" program using the RichTextBox Active X control, but having difficulty understanding how to get the text formatted properly without the user having to select it, and also having trouble determining exactly how to make the control print.
Any ideas? Also, is there a better way to create a viewer without having to completely rewrite 350 report programs?
Thanks!
Dear Dan:
I agree that an inherent preview function would be nice. My perspective, however, is still like that of a kid in a candy store, after decades of using RM, where you really dare not dream of any capabilities at all. So please bear with me if I seem overly delighted with AcuGT's capabilities
Regards,
Matt Cantillon
[Migrated content. Thread originally posted on 10 July 2003]
I am a new ISV currently converting my accounting systems from RM to Acucobol, and taking them graphic at the same time. I want to give my users the ability to view all reports before printing, and all the reports are currently character based. I thought to create a "viewer" program using the RichTextBox Active X control, but having difficulty understanding how to get the text formatted properly without the user having to select it, and also having trouble determining exactly how to make the control print.
Any ideas? Also, is there a better way to create a viewer without having to completely rewrite 350 report programs?
Thanks!
Your delight is a breath of fresh of air. Appreciate you sharing the excitement.
I guess you could say I come from a different perspective, an acucobol user since 1991, so 14 years now. I'm also in a software market where the competitors use the latest and greatest technology(.NET, Java, etc) in their products, and with acucobol we tend to be a step behind. With that said however, our investment in COBOL has been wonderfully preserved with Acucorp, so we're loyal customers who look forward to Acuobol taking us to the next level so we can compete better. We're definately getting closer. ActiveX controls are a big help, as is thin-client, Acu4GL and when full .NET control support comes out, it will take use even further!
[Migrated content. Thread originally posted on 10 July 2003]
I am a new ISV currently converting my accounting systems from RM to Acucobol, and taking them graphic at the same time. I want to give my users the ability to view all reports before printing, and all the reports are currently character based. I thought to create a "viewer" program using the RichTextBox Active X control, but having difficulty understanding how to get the text formatted properly without the user having to select it, and also having trouble determining exactly how to make the control print.
Any ideas? Also, is there a better way to create a viewer without having to completely rewrite 350 report programs?
Thanks!
Dan:
Thanks for sharing your perspective. I am just a small (really small) ISV, and my apps have been on the market since 1984. My average customer has been with me for 14 years, and the longest term one has been around since before I started this business in 1984. But be that as it may, I want to stay as up-to-date and modern as possible, and aim to please the fussiest of my users.
The best part for me of being in the ACUGT world now, is that although I am a one man company, I no longer feel so isolated professionally, as evidenced by this dialog we are having.
Thanks for your input, and as I note you are not all that far away (I am in eastern MA), perhaps we can get together sometime and talk shop.
Regards,
Matt Cantillon
mpcsoft
[Migrated content. Thread originally posted on 10 July 2003]
I am a new ISV currently converting my accounting systems from RM to Acucobol, and taking them graphic at the same time. I want to give my users the ability to view all reports before printing, and all the reports are currently character based. I thought to create a "viewer" program using the RichTextBox Active X control, but having difficulty understanding how to get the text formatted properly without the user having to select it, and also having trouble determining exactly how to make the control print.
Any ideas? Also, is there a better way to create a viewer without having to completely rewrite 350 report programs?
Thanks!
Originally posted by mpcsoft
The best part for me of being in the ACUGT world now, is that although I am a one man company, I no longer feel so isolated professionally, as evidenced by this dialog we are having.
That's awesome to hear Matt. For many years I hoped for an Acucobol community to begin, similiar to the Visual Basic and C#/.NET Framework communities I tap into occasionally. It's great to see the forum growing and all the contributions being made.
[Migrated content. Thread originally posted on 10 July 2003]
I am a new ISV currently converting my accounting systems from RM to Acucobol, and taking them graphic at the same time. I want to give my users the ability to view all reports before printing, and all the reports are currently character based. I thought to create a "viewer" program using the RichTextBox Active X control, but having difficulty understanding how to get the text formatted properly without the user having to select it, and also having trouble determining exactly how to make the control print.
Any ideas? Also, is there a better way to create a viewer without having to completely rewrite 350 report programs?
Thanks!
Originally posted by mpcsoft
The best part for me of being in the ACUGT world now, is that although I am a one man company, I no longer feel so isolated professionally, as evidenced by this dialog we are having.
That's awesome to hear Matt. For many years I hoped for an Acucobol community to begin, similiar to the Visual Basic and C#/.NET Framework communities I tap into occasionally. It's great to see the forum growing and all the contributions being made.
[Migrated content. Thread originally posted on 10 July 2003]
I am a new ISV currently converting my accounting systems from RM to Acucobol, and taking them graphic at the same time. I want to give my users the ability to view all reports before printing, and all the reports are currently character based. I thought to create a "viewer" program using the RichTextBox Active X control, but having difficulty understanding how to get the text formatted properly without the user having to select it, and also having trouble determining exactly how to make the control print.
Any ideas? Also, is there a better way to create a viewer without having to completely rewrite 350 report programs?
Thanks!
I am not missing .net very much. windows.forms, which would be a competing technology to AcuBench style development, was rushed out and is missing several key features...it's barely on par with AcuBench and far inferior to Delphi for RAD development. On the web side, things are different, asp.net is great, but after a careful evaulation of .net we decided it's not worth looking at for native applciation development until 2.0 (whidbey) comes out later this year. ado.net, btw, is a very different way of looking at data then the typical ISAM developer would.
That said, with an eye to the future, keep an eye on emerging web technologies. Web based apps as a rule are easier to test, write, and deploy than traditional native apps. Ultimately (although it may take years or decades), web apps will push native apps (including windows.forms) completely out of the business application space.
To guard against future developments, I'd make the following suggestions:
1. Get your apps running on SQL server. My first choice would be PostgreSQL which you can utilize via the 4GL ODBC driver. Second choice would be MS SQL server.
2. Gradually move key business logic into the SQL server as stored procedures. This will confer numerous beneifts to the app.
Merlin
[Migrated content. Thread originally posted on 10 July 2003]
I am a new ISV currently converting my accounting systems from RM to Acucobol, and taking them graphic at the same time. I want to give my users the ability to view all reports before printing, and all the reports are currently character based. I thought to create a "viewer" program using the RichTextBox Active X control, but having difficulty understanding how to get the text formatted properly without the user having to select it, and also having trouble determining exactly how to make the control print.
Any ideas? Also, is there a better way to create a viewer without having to completely rewrite 350 report programs?
Thanks!
Merlin,
Sorry we're getting off topic here, supposed to be talking about reports. ;)
But I've been in the ".NET" world for three years now, so I'll share a few things I've learned.
We use .NET for both WinForms and ASP.NET applications and we are very happy with both. There is a rich, growing base of .NET components on the market that surpass ActiveX/COM features in terms of look and feel, security and deployability. Besides that, ActiveX/COM is a "dead" technology, no longer being enhanced by Microsoft, that will eventually, in time, be replaced by .NET. This will not be a quick transition because ActiveX/COM still has alot invested in it by the marketplace, including Microsoft themselves.
It would be wise to be ready for the .NET transition when it comes. And it will come for instance in future Windows O/S releases as the default programming API. Win32/64 API will continue of course, but will be more difficult, error prone and less secure than a .NET API. .NET will also continue to grow in SQL Server and in upcoming releases of MS Office. That's the key for MS to reach it's .NET vision, which is to make it the glue that eventually binds all their products(and the devices that use them). We'll see how long that takes.
Interestingly, .NET has made an impact on some who would like to offer cross-platform capabilities to the very large legion of MS developers out there as well as *nix developers, in ways that java has not. This effort(one amongst several) is called the mono project(
http://www.mono-project.com). It will take some time for it to be 100% compatable with the MS .NET framework, but it's getting there. The idea of offering cross-platform .NET is that now you pick from many .NET languages and deploy on many operating systems natively, without the need for "unreliable" byte-code converters, etc.
[Migrated content. Thread originally posted on 10 July 2003]
I am a new ISV currently converting my accounting systems from RM to Acucobol, and taking them graphic at the same time. I want to give my users the ability to view all reports before printing, and all the reports are currently character based. I thought to create a "viewer" program using the RichTextBox Active X control, but having difficulty understanding how to get the text formatted properly without the user having to select it, and also having trouble determining exactly how to make the control print.
Any ideas? Also, is there a better way to create a viewer without having to completely rewrite 350 report programs?
Thanks!
Interesting comments Dan, feel free to start a thread showing the participants a "Hello world" ACUCOBOL-GT and .net and tell us your experiences. That would be great.
