Re: Special char printing

->Date: Thu, 13 Jan 1994 12:42:00 -700 (MST) ->From: Con Woodall <cwoodall@vth1.vth.colostate.edu> ->Subject: Special char printing ->To: informix-list@rmy.emory.edu -> ->4gl report writing under unix-special printing to HP deskjet 500 (or ->probably any other printer). -> ->A brief appeal for some expertise from someone who has tried embedding ->printer escape sequences into character strings for special print functions. ... omitted ... -> ->Using 4gl output commands of -> print column 11, String 1, -> column 71, String_2 -> ->produces the correct information but String_2 begins at column 46. This ->is also true if "clipped" is indicated after the first command. Further ->examination of the print file shows that the file was created without ->consideration for the fact that unix will not acually print those escape ->sequences, but act on them. There is no reason for informix printing to ->know otherwise. -> ->Has anyone dealt with and overcome this problem. One possibility seems to ->be analyzing string_length and appending extra space to the "real" data ->field to make up for the characters that will not be printed. That's ->becomes rather complicated and requires that you give away a lot of line ->space on reports. -> ->Any ideas. ->-- ->Con Woodall Colorado St. U.; Veterinary Teaching Hospital; Ft. Collins As you state, Informix has no way of knowing that some of the characters you send to the report won't be printed, but will be acted upon as format info by the printer. Therefore, Informix's idea of which column any text following an escape sequence (for example) is in, is way off base. I have found two actions necessary to get satifactory results: 1. Construct the lines myself, without using column internally. 2. Set a very large value for right margin, so that Imformix does not try to line wrap lines containing these long format sequences. #2 is relatively painless, but #1 can be complicated, as you said. Regards, Alan ___________________________ ______________________| R. Alan Popiel |__________________________ \\ Internet: | Martin Marietta, SLS | / \\ alan@den.mmc.com | P.O. Box 179, M/S 3810 | Std disclaimers apply. / )Voice: | Denver, CO 80201-0179 USA | ( / 303-977-9998 |___________________________| (But you knew that!) \\ /________________________) (____________________________\\