Topic: Report Generator Printing Extra Page and/or Skipping Lines

Technote 133 Date: December 1996 Product: All SmartCAM Applications  Version: v9.x

Problem:

The Report Generator either prints a blank page out after printing a report and/or skips lines of text at the page breaks.

 

Solution:

1.

Make sure you are using the correct printer driver and correct size sheet of paper.

2.

The blank page printing at the end of a report is sometimes caused by the newpage command in the default .FMT file. You need to delete the line containing the newpage command.

3.

Version 9.2 Only:

The problem of text being dropped at page breaks has been fixed in version 9.2. Also added are 2 lines in your application .ini file to help customize form feed settings:

"UseFormFeed = "

If set to 1 (the default value) then pages of a report are seperated by a form feed character. If set to 0 there is no seperation between pages of a report. (The number of lines in your report must be set perfectly for this option to work.)

"UseFinalFF = "

This setting is for a final Form Feed character. If "UseFormFeed" is set to 0, then this has no effect.

If "UseFormFeed" is set to 1 (the default) and so is "UseFinalFF", a form feed character will end the report; if "UseFinalFF" is set to 0, the final form feed for the report is not generated. To correct the "blank last page" problem, set this option to 0.

 

Version 9.0 and 9.1:

The blank page problem and the problem of lines of text not printing near page breaks can also be due to incorrect page length and width values in your application .ini files. Upon opening this file you will find sections near the bottom of the file for each kind of report. One section for the Step Report, Job Report, and Tool Report.

        Example:

        [JobReport]

        FormatFile=E:\SM9\MILL\JOSRPT\moldrpt.fmt

        OutputFile=E:\SM9\MILL\JOSRPT\TEST.TXT

        OutputDevice=1

        PageWidth=80

        PageLength=64

You need to change the value of the PageLength variable to match that of your printer. Most often you will need to make this value smaller so that you can fit more information onto your size of paper.

        Example:

        PageLength=60

Note:

When troubleshooting printing problems, always make use of the Diagnostics Utility in version 9.x. It will often tell you the exact line of the .fmt file that has an error. Also make sure to back up any files before altering them.