Re: 4gl and MS Word

Thanks Rick ,Colin, Rick , there are wordperfect templates and variable data in templates are mergecodes. 4gl fills these mergecodes at runtime. Colin - That was a very interesting solution. Can you tell me where I should start with it ? What are PCL Overlays and what do I need to get there ? Also by lot of time , do you mean the time taken to print a document or the time to implement it ? Any detail would be great help. Thanks "Colin Bull" <c.bull@videonetworks.com> wrote in message news:<bafful$6mj$1@terabinaries.xmission.com>... > If you have got plenty of time no problem. This is the best way to go > if you do not want scalability and robustness. > > My suggestion is forget mail merge of any kind and use PCL overlays on > a laser printer. No need to complicate things with an additional > complication, > use 4gl direct to a networked printer. > > Colin Bull > c.bull@videonetworks.com > > > -----Original Message----- > > From: owner-informix-list@iiug.org > > [mailto:owner-informix-list@iiug.org]On Behalf Of aspiring immigrant > > Sent: 20 May 2003 20:44 > > To: informix-list@iiug.org > > Subject: 4gl and MS Word > > > > > > Hi Guru's > > I am exploring the idea of trying to print letters to MS Word instead > > of WordPerfect for Unix.I know its kinda weird to ask this question as > > the operating systems itself is different for each. However...Has > > anyone tried the same. > > Present system generates from the Informix application and 4gl merges > > data and template at runtime and prints the letter using Wordperfect > > for Unix. > > Anyways to print it in MS WORD ? > > > > Thanks in Adv. > >

aspiring immigrant wrote: > What are PCL Overlays Overlays are a feature of version 5 of HP's Page Control Language. They are supported in HP laser printers but not in HP inkjet printers (which ISTR typically support PCL4). They are a bit like macros. There are escape sequences you send to the printer before and after a chunk of data you want to define as an overlay. This is then stored in the printers memory for future re-use. There are escape sequences to tell the printer to print the overlay on every subsequent page or only when explicitly referenced. You can assign an identifying number to the overlay, this allows you to store several for different purposes. In subsequent print jobs there is an escape sequence you can include to invoke a stored overlay. > and what do I need to get there ? I first tried out PCL overlays using a text editor, you can use Notepad if you can work out a way of cutting and pasting the escape character into notepad. On a Windows box you can send the file to the printer using a command such as copy /b filename.pcl /lpt1: copy /b filename.pcl //servername/printername It is important to bypass Windows printer drivers. I set up a desktop icon as a target for drag & drop printing of PCL or Postscript files. Assuming you don't wish to leanr PCL or HPGL, to create a graphics overlay you can edit the "print to file" output of any application (word, powerpoint, photoshop, etc). You need a good editor to handle files with control characters and arbitrarily long lines. You have to chop out the bits you don't need and add the macro definition sequences. Of course, its all a *lot* easier of you purchase one of the commercial programs for automating the creation of overlays. -- Ian Wilson