1.  It will be a while before I'll be using PrintString, but as a general guide for designing my forms, how many lines can be printed on a standard 8.5" x 11" sheet of paper?  I'll be using Epson LQ-590 dot matrix printers.

2.  If I import a data record from Q&A into Sesame (via standard ASCII) and the record already exists in the Sesame database, will it be overwritten or duplicated?

3.  Is it possible to do a lookup from one database into another, retreive the value in an external field, and have it appear in a message box which the user has to acknowledge and dismiss, without having the retreived value "saved" anywhere in the current database?  If so, a nudge in the right direction would be helpful, and I'll try to experiment.

Thanks for your help.

Infinity wrote on Sep 22^nd, 2006 at 3:52pm:


Could you explain some more on what you mean by how many lines can be printed on a sheet of paper?

-Ray

Quote:

Here's my situation:  Our invoices are printed on pre-printed forms with areas (boxes) for the data to go in.    The top 5" of the form holds the Customer info and the description of the job.  The bottom 5.5" is an open expanse for line item descriptions of the charges.  With Q&A I had to limit myself to, I think, 66 lines on the page, total.  As a result a lot of different charges got jammed in areas of the page where I would prefer them not to be (for example, sometimes we had to print a transportation charge on a line which would normally hold an equipment charge).

Sesame's forms free me up from the on-screen page confines that Q&A has; I can now create a field that will hold equipment charges only, because I can make a different field for the transportation charges.  But I'm not sure if the extra lines will all fit on the page, in the pre-defined box (7" wide by 5.5" tall).

Hope that helps.  Thanks for your assistance.

Infinity,

I use the code below to print a 8.5 x 11 page prior to laying out forms with PrintString. It will give you a quick roadmap as to were to place your data. You can stick the code on any temporary command button and run it. The code is set for aerial 12 but you can easily change it to what ever you like. It is best to print on graph paper so you can easily figure coordinates.

This may be a low tech way to figure your forms out, but it saves me lots of time, frustration and paper.

Good luck and keep us posted



Newpage(850,1100) // sets page size


     PrintString("100 over 25 down", 100 , 25, 0, "Arial", 12, 0)
     PrintString("200 over 25 down", 200 , 25, 0, "Arial", 12, 0)
     PrintString("300 over 25 down", 300 , 25, 0, "Arial", 12, 0)
     PrintString("400 over 25 down", 400 , 25, 0, "Arial", 12, 0)
     PrintString("500 over 25 down", 500 , 25, 0, "Arial", 12, 0)
     PrintString("600 over 25 down", 600 , 25, 0, "Arial", 12, 0)
     PrintString("700 over 25 down", 700 , 25, 0, "Arial", 12, 0)


     PrintString("100 over 50 down", 100 , 50, 0, "Arial", 12, 0)
     PrintString("200 over 100 down", 200 , 100, 0, "Arial", 12, 0)
     PrintString("300 over 200 down", 300 , 200, 0, "Arial", 12, 0)
     PrintString("400 over 300 down", 400 , 300, 0, "Arial", 12, 0)
     PrintString("500 over 400 down", 500 , 400, 0, "Arial", 12, 0)
     PrintString("600 over 500 down", 600 , 500, 0, "Arial", 12, 0)
     PrintString("700 over 600 down", 700 , 600, 0, "Arial", 12, 0)
     PrintString("400 over 700 down", 400 , 700, 0, "Arial", 12, 0)
     PrintString("500 over 800 down", 500 , 800, 0, "Arial", 12, 0)
     PrintString("600 over 900 down", 600 , 900, 0, "Arial", 12, 0)
     PrintString("700 over 1000 down", 700 , 1000, 0, "Arial", 12, 0)


// Sends page to printer

     FinishPage()

Hey Bob, thanks, that looks like just what I need.  And Ray, thanks for the info on font size, I'll play with it.

And, of course, Ben thanks for your help with the lookup and message box.  After a few false starts I got this to work perfectly:

var vBillingNotes as string

vBillingNotes = @XLookup(@FN, Bill_To_Code, "CUSTOMER!CODE", "Billing_Notes")
If Not @Error Then
	{
	@MSGBOX(vBillingNotes, "", "")
	}