Cross-Platform Printing ?

[Leatherpriest]

Seems that in FMP3 & 4 printing cross-platform reports harmoniously required dual page/print setups for printing scripts. Is this also true for version 5? If so, are there any workarounds for such a situation? I'm designing the db on a Mac, and many of the users of the solution are going to be Windows users, and I suspect they may also have several different printers.

[LiveOak]

It's probably exactly the same in FM 5 because it is a function of the printer/driver software an not under FM's control. The best you can do is to leave a lot of white space around the edges. There are other problems too. A lot of inkjet (read HP) printers/drivers don't display the page breaks properly in layout mode (even when setup and run only on a PC). In general, WYSIWYG seems to be of lower fidelity on the PC. -bd

[Leatherpriest]

Thanks for your response -

Have you any suggestions regarding the "white space" , such as top/bottom and left/right fixed margins ??

I have about 40 reports, all which print in Portrait , but I can't seem to settle on the sizing.

[BobWeaver]

A technique that I have found somewhat useful is to select "Fixed page Margins" in the Layout setup and set them all to zero. This allows the entire page (not just the printable area) to be displayed in layout mode. Positioning of your fields within the printable area is then your responsibility. My experience has been that there is less printer confusion when the margin issue is removed.

[Kurt Knippel]

quote:

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Originally posted by Leatherpriest:

Thanks for your response -

Have you any suggestions regarding the "white space" , such as top/bottom and left/right fixed margins ??

I have about 40 reports, all which print in Portrait , but I can't seem to settle on the sizing.

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There is not a good way to do this since different printers require radically different settings and the previews in Mac and Windows are very different.

Generally I standardize on a particular printer type (i.e. HP Laserjets) and format all reports for that type of printer, partially ignoring what appears on the screen in favor of what prints out.

Otherwise you will need different layouts for each printer and OS type.

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Kurt Knippel

Consultant

Database Resources

mailto:[email protected]

http://www.database-resources.com

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[DykstrL]

We have been developing cross-platform solutions for over 9 years - even distributed solutions on CD to over 4000 users. Here is what we have found to work quite well:

Develop on the Windows side - this is because the MAC platform is more forgiving.

Use only Arial and Times New Roman fonts. Just stretch the text blocks a little to allow for kerning differences and avoid text wrap.

Set printer page margins to .5 all around. This will allow decent printing on virtually any printer, including older ink jet models.

Hope this helps.