I'm having some success using PrintString() to print to my networked dot-matrix printers, but one thing is puzzling me: everything that prints is printing very darkly, as the printer is making several passes over each lime (as if I had specified bold, which I have not.  Has anyone else tackled this?

I'm using an Epson LQ-590, and here is a sample of my code:

var vMonthName as string
var vDayNumber as string
var vYearNumber as string
var vFullDate as string

vMonthName = @MONTH$(Invoice_Date)
vDayNumber = @DOM(Invoice_Date)
vYearNumber = @YEAR(Invoice_Date)
vFullDate = vMonthName + " " + vDayNumber + ", " + vYearNumber

NewPage(850,1100)
AlternateDefaultPrinter("\\MIARA_1\Invoice")
Printstring(vFullDate,550,110,0,"Courier",15,0)
Printstring(Purchase_Order_No,550,150,0,"Courier",15,0)
Printstring(Attn,550,185,0,"Courier",15,0)
Printstring(Workorder_No_1,650,210,0,"Courier",15,0)
FinishPage() 

Other than the heavy printing, it's working quite nicely, although there's probably a cleaner way to get the date to print the way I want it to.

Thanks in advance for any help.

Another question for anyone who has had dot matrix experience:  I'm using Printstring() commands of the following type:

Printstring(Purchase_Order_No, 550, 168, 0, "Courier", 15, 0) 

As you can see, I'm specifying Courier.  However, everything is printing in Arial on the Epson LQ-590.  When I print to my HP Laserjet 5P, I get Courier.  Any hints on what I may be doing wrong?  TIA.

Infinity,

Looking at the windows driver for your printer I see that it only supports three sizes of the courier font, and these are measured in CPI (not points or pixels). I suspect that, if you want to specify the size in Sesame you will have to use on of the two scalable fonts available: Roman and Sans Serif (probably this is the Arial you are seeing). These can be specified in points, given an even number from 8 to 32. It is likely you will only be able to use the other eight fonts available if you are able to convert the pixels to CPI (characters per inch) and specify a legal size. Even with the two scalable fonts, you will have to try several pixels sizes to find one that matches a point size between 8 and 32 that is an even number.

Additionally, you might try placing a space before the name of the font in the print string call:

Printstring(Purchase_Order_No, 550, 168, 0, " Roman", 15, 0)
 

Resident Fonts:
Epson Draft 10, 12, 15 cpi
Epson Roman 10, 12, 15 cpi proportional
Epson Sans Serif 10, 12, 15 cpi proportional
Epson Courier 10, 12, 15 cpi
Epson Prestige 10, 12 cpi
Epson Script 10 cpi
Epson OCRB 10 cpi
Epson Script C Proportional
Epson Orator 10 cpi
Epson Orator-S 10 cpi

Epson Roman 10.5 pt; 8-32 pt every 2 pt
Epson Sans Serif 10.5 pt; 8-32 pt every 2 pt
Epson Roman T 10.5 pt; 8-32 pt every 2 pt
Epson Sans Serif H 10.5 pt; 8-32 pt every 2 pt

BOBSCOTT wrote on Mar 13^th, 2007 at 9:46pm:


Usually the safest choice is to not change working code. If it is working for you and the fonts appears as they should - don't change anything.

Quote:

Excellent information, thanks to both you and Bob.  I've discussed the issue with my boss and we've agreed that the work involved to get Courier (which is what Q&A was using) does not justify carrying the convention forward, so we are going with the Arial (or San Serif, if that is the case).

A couple more questions: should I specify "San Serif" as my font?  "Arial" and BArial" seem to be working, as does specifying sizes of 15 and 17.  I'm curious about the requirement for an even number.  Should I be specifying 16 and 6, or something like that?  The Fontsize in the example on page 136 of the programming manual specifies 33 (which, if I used, would be enormous).

Again, mostly curiosity, as what I have now is actually working and I've got some nice looking invoices printing out.

Thanks for your help, Mark.  I changed my font specification to "SanSerif" and "BSanserif" and set my standard font size to 16 (with occasional pops up to 18 and 22, and one drop down to 10 for some teeny  tiny type at the bottom of the page, shhhh, don't tell the customer it's there) and my invoices look better than ever.  You guys are the greatest!

Infinity wrote on Mar 14^th, 2007 at 4:36pm:


I just googled the printer model name and make. It was within the first few matches.