How to specify "Print page 1 thru 1" (not Page 1 thru 9999") 1

[JenNiles]

I am VERY much a beginner, and this is my first post. Can anyone tell me where (or if) I could permanently specify "Print Page 1 thru 1". Right now when I am printing a page of labels that my previous programmer set up for us, and I hit the PRINT button that he put in, I get the familiar Print Dialog Box that comes up for all our other programs, but if I forget to specify only to print the first page, well it just prints & prints & prints many pages really fast. We then have to try and get it out of the print queue and/or shut down the printer in order to stop it. The other users in my company are very busy and it's likely that they, too, will forget to specify only to print the first page....how can I get this to be a permanent setting for when we print this label page?

I'm thinking this is possible because I know that my programmer DID make certain other features "permanent" in other areas of our system (for example some of our reports always default to landscape). But I just have not yet found WHERE this is done.

Thanks for any assistance!

[LiveOak]

The communication between FM and the printer drivers is far from complete. Such things as portrait or landscape can be saved in a script. This is done by the Page Setup (restore) command. It remembers the settings in place when the script was created or the settings in effect when you exit a script in script editor and select the option to replace the print settings in the dialog box presented.

As to such settings as the number of copies and the page range, these are not set in the communication between FM and the print driver. The only way I can think of to print a page range is to use some application such as QuickKeys to perform the print operation. The only other way would be to play a trick in FM. Whether or not this is possible will depend upon your layout and record structure. For instance, in the special case where you are printing one record per page, you could print just the records corresponding to the pages you want.

-bd

[DykstrL]

Sorry, LiveOak, but I don't think you are totally correct on this one.

If you define the print script, then manually do the print you want to produce in the script, then go in and 're-edit' the script replacing the print setup, it will also retain the pages to print and the number of copies.

We have several server based systems (accessed by both Windows and MACs) that have 'specialized' print setups that include printing from different trays such as envelopes, letterhead, and printing 2 to 4 copies. You just have to manually do the print, then re-save the script - on both platforms.

[LiveOak]

I think this may depend upon the exact print driver used. I know the restoring of these selections is not universal (I just did an experiment with my laser printer which does not restore tray, page range or number of copies). Sometimes tray selects key on paper size and are not direct selections, etc. A lot of print drivers also offer the ability to save a setup within the driver, which can emulate part of this restore.

-bd

[bobsmith]

Do Print Current Record the update your script. This will not require the print driver from selecting the pages to print.

[tmanning]

I am in a similar situation that is having severe printing problems. Sometimes FM should print one page and sometimes it should print all pages. Sometimes it should print an envelope and sometimes on letterhead and sometimes on white paper. I have printed and saved and reset the script countless times and it never seems to help. My program is used by 5 different analysts who all use the same comptuer / printer setup and I still cannot get it to remember settings. A small part of the program, used to collect data for the analysts is bound and sent out to hundreds of users... "fugget aboud it". Each printer driver reads the instructions differently. The largest part of the calls that I get are about printing problems.

One solution that I have found that helps some is breaking different reports off into different scripts that each have their own print setup (which is the obvious answer) and when this doesn't work, I sometimes break it off into a completely separate file and call the print function from a central script (such as exporting addresses to a separate file formatted especially just for printing envelopes). This seems to help on some things but not for others.

Good news is, even when the programming job is completed, they will still have to call me in every Monday to get their printers to re-remember which trays to pull from.

[BobWeaver]

If you are on a Mac, you may be able to use J Cooper's method described here:

http://www.fmforums.com/threads/showflat.php?Cat=&Board=UBB31&Number=54737&page=4&view=collapsed&sb=5&o=365&fpart=1

It involves Applescript and allows you to save and restore any of the settings that can be saved with the Save Settings.. button in the Laserwriter print dialog. It may work with other printer drivers too. As for Windows, there may be a similar technique with Winbatch.

[Dan-A]

Anybody ever try Bob's idea of using Winbatch??

--Dan