PRB: Position of @...SAYs Incorrect When Printing in Raw Mode

ID: Q156032

The information in this article applies to:

Microsoft Visual FoxPro for Windows, versions 3.0, 3.0b
Microsoft FoxPro for Windows, version 2.6a

SYMPTOMS

In both FoxPro for Windows and Visual FoxPro for Windows, when attempting to use raw mode printing with @...SAYs that changes the formatting of a word or words on the same line of output, the printed words following the format changes will not print in the expected position. The text after the escape codes will be moved to the left one column for each escape code that is inserted in the @...SAY.

CAUSE

When FoxPro executes a series of @...SAYs, it determines the output column of the first @...SAY, determines the length of the output text, and then pads the remaining columns with spaces up to the next @...SAY command.

Therefore, when FoxPro calculates the column position of the @...SAY of the next word in the line of output, it includes the escape codes as viable columns. However, when the output is sent to the printer, the printer removes these escape codes from the line and executes the command. Since escape codes are printer commands, they are essentially treated as null characters and the following text is moved to the left one column for each escape code the printer uses.

WORKAROUND

There are two ways to work around this behavior. Use one of the following methods:

Method 1

With this method, the second @...SAY command must take into account the number of escape codes entered, and the column number must be incremented accordingly. For example, if the name needs to be printed in column 35, the code would appear as follows:


   @1,1 SAY CHR(27)+ '(s3B' + 'Pay to the order of:'  &&BOLD on
   @1,40 SAY CHR(27)+ '(s30' + 'John Doe'       &&BOLD off

Note that the second @...SAY has incremented the column count by five to offset the five escape codes.

Method 2

This method requires the ability to move the printer head to an exact column position with an escape code. If this is possible, then the two text portions of the @...SAY are concatenated along with the escape code that moves the second text to an exact column number. The following example demonstrates printing the name in column 35 on a Hewlett-Packard LaserJet:


   * Escape code CHR(27)+'&35C' starts the name in column 35
   @1,1 SAY CHR(27)+ '(s3B' + 'Pay to the order of:;
      '+CHR(27)+'(s0B'+CHR(27)+'&a35C'+'Jack Doe'

STATUS

This behavior is by design.

MORE INFORMATION

Sometimes it is desirable to use raw mode printing in FoxPro for Windows 2.6 or Visual FoxPro for Windows 3.0 to obtain output that may not be possible using the Report Writer. This works as expected when using escape codes to change an entire line of output to bold or italic, for example. The problem occurs when performing in-line formatting changes of a word or group of words. When attempting to change the word formatting in this manner, FoxPro will interpret the escape codes as a part of the output character string and will not print the next word in the correct column even though it is told in the @...SAY to start printing at an explicit column number. Therefore, for every escape code entered, the actual column in which the following word will print will be one less than the actual column number in the @...SAY.

For example, if the desired output is to be formatted like this:


   Column number:
   1                                 35
   Pay to the order of:              John Doe

the code would appear as follows for an HP LaserJet printer:


   @1,1 SAY CHR(27)+ '(s3B' + 'Pay to the order of:'    &&[ASCII 146](s3B'= BOLD on
   @1,35 SAY CHR(27)+ '(s30' + 'John Doe'               &&[ASCII 146](s30'= Bold off

where 'Pay to the order of:' is bold and the name is non-bold text. The printer would move the name five columns to the left. This occurs because the printer requires five escape codes, 'CHR(27)'+'('+'s'+'3' +'0', to turn off bold formatting. The actual printer output would look like the following:


   Column number:
   1                            30
   Pay to the order of:         John Doe

Steps to Reproduce Behavior


   * Start of code example
   SET DEVICE TO PRINTER
   ???""
   @1,1 SAY '1        10        20        30'          &&Column    numbers
   @2,1 SAY CHR(27)+ '(s3B' + 'Pay to the order of:'   &&Turn bold    on
   @2,35 SAY CHR(27)+ '(s0B' + 'John Doe'              &&Turn bold off
   SET DEVICE TO SCREEN
   SET PRINTER TO                                      &&Flush print job
   * end of code

Additional query words: kbdsd VFoxWin

Keywords : FxprintRaw
Version : WINDOWS:2.6a,3.0,3.0b
Platform : WINDOWS
Issue type :