Printing works in v5 but not in v8

[mf]

Hi,

I have been converting/rewritting a complex application from version 5 to version 8. Many challenges along the way but this one really stomps me: the printing is totally messed up.

Comparing the two systems, printing to the same printer, from the same machine, all is fine up until the print preview: everything looks the same, then when printing, in version 8 the text is double spaced, the font size is larger, things get truncated,...

I thought maybe I should try creating a PDF instead and it does print much better (and I won't have to worry about users using different printers). It looks better but now the PDF has wider margins, everyting fits but it is somewhat squeezed in.

Should I try to sort out the PDF or figure out the printing? I read the other thread (PDFs) and it looks like a whole set of problems (I also have crashed FM a few times with it). Aside from allowing to be independent from the printer type, I don't really need to save PDFs once they are printed...

Am I missing something very obvious here? Why is the print preview so different from the end-result? Why is the printing behaving differently from version 5 to version 8?

I am working with Windows XP. I have tried different printers (IBM, Xerox, HP) with the same bad results...

Any insights would be appreciated. Thanks!

MF

[stanley]

MF:

Before you pull your hair out, make sure that your FMP8 is patched to the latest version.

-Stanley

[mf]

I am not too worried about my hair, just my sanity: I do have 8.0v2

[Genx]

is your text justified?

[mf]

It is a sign printing application where multiple records/signs get printed on one page: it goes from one sign per page up to 21 small signs (we use perforated paper). There are over 30 different layout possibilities, each varying from just a product name and price to including text (not justified), points, tables, images.

As you probably guessed, it took a while to make all that fit, so I am not very keen in having to mess around with margins and fonts.

All the fonts used are TrueType. The printers are using Postscript drivers.

As I said before, the PDF seem to give the best results so far (although not quite right) but I was wondering why the direct printing would be so messy (while it works just fine in version 5).

I have read some warnings about using certain fonts with PDFs but I don't know why direct printing would be such an issue.

[mf]

I have just tested one layout by changing all its fonts to Arial. It now respects the size, sliding and spacing...

So now I am going to take a closer look at those fonts...

later... I contacted FM Tech Support and they referred me to article 5545, it does not apply to my problems (printer out of memory error, with Mac). Other suggestions from them are: use Recover, use different fonts (but they could not tell me why the ones I have would not work, nor could they tell me which ones would work and why) and recreate the layouts...

I was having fun with FM8 up to now...

Edited February 22, 2006 by Guest