PRINTDIR

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gtisdale
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Joined: Sun Jun 07, 2009 7:54 am
Location: Concord, Massachusetts
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PRINTDIR

Post by gtisdale »

As outlined in the release notes, BR has had a feature called PRINTDIR that can be configured in the WBCONFIG.SYS file, or configured with an EXECUTE STATEMENT.

The parameter for the PRINTDIR feature is a directory path into which work copies of print jobs are placed simultaneously with their transmission to the printer. Prior to about September 2013 the file name that was created was the program name that created the file followed by the channel number used to print the file. Starting in about September 2013 the file name has changed to contain the program name as before, but with a number of optonal additions, such as the logon name of the user (see release notes for details) followed by ".prt".

These files can be very useful in determning why a print job does not work exactly right, or in creating an archive copy of the report.

What was missing was an easy way to access these files, modify them, print them. Gordon asked me a few weeks ago if I could come up with a way to do this easily.

I have created a program PRINTDIR.br that will display a directory of the files in the PRINTDIR directory that you specify and allow you to send the report to a printer again (PREVIEW:, WIN:, PDF: or DIRECT:) and also load the file into a text editor so that you can not only see what the underlying file looks like, but make minor changes to the file, save it, and then reprint the saved file to see what effect your changes have made, without having to rerun the program that created the file in the first place. I have used EDITPADPRO to make the changes, if you happento prefer a different text editor you will need to modify the line that calls the editor.

All of the files needed to run the program are located on the BR_FTP site in the BRG_PUB\PRINT_DIR directory. The program assumes all of these program and data files are located in the vol002 directory immediately beneath your WB directory.

The program queries your CONFIG STATUS to determine the location of PRINTDIR directory, so you could have a different directory for each instance of BR if you so choose.

Please let me know if you experience any difficulties with this utility.

FNGeorge
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