PRINTING ISSUES

If you will be printing from the programs, the info to be printed is sent to a printer via the normal line printer port (LPT1).

So, have your printer connected to port LPT1.

If that is not the case with your printer you probably will have a printing problem. Some printers, when they are installed, install to a different port by design, and some use a USB port.

I have an HP 1012 laser printer. It installed automatically to a port named DOT4_001. The result was that I could not print from the programs, as they send the info to be printed to LPT1 as mentioned above.

There is a fix for use with Windows XP, but not for Vista as of early 2009.

There is "net-working" or "sharing" command that can be used to tell your computer to accept info that is sent by the program to LPT1, and send it to a printer that may be connected to a different port.

In the command, you need to specify the LPT1 port, your computer's name, and your printers name.

That command then can be put into a small .bat file which can be run when you start a program.

You can use Wordpad or any text editing program to make the small command file needed. Name it print.bat using lower case letters, and add it to the Directory where the program is installed.

Here's how to get the info needed for the small command file.

Go to the Command Prompt.

Type and enter: net help

You will see a listing of commands that can be used in networking. One of them is "net config workstation". It can be used to get the name of your computer.

Type and enter: net config workstation

Write down the computer name as shown. The name of mine is: \\your-kh1evxo6. Use all lower case letters.

Then type and enter: net share

Under the column "Share name", find your printer, and write down the name as shown - mine is: hplaserj. Again use all lower case letters.

Next, type and enter the following command line using the name of your computer and printer in place of my info:

net use lpt1: \\your-kh1evxo6\hplaserj /persistent:yes

If you are successful, the computer will tell you so.

To double check, type and enter: net use

The computer should say OK.

To rescind it, all you have to do is type and enter: net use lpt1: /delete

You can type and enter either command from DOS, or by use of a separate click on Start Button.

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Start a new file in your text editor, and type in the "net use" command line using the names of your computer and your printer. Save the text file as print.bat in the directory where the program is installed (C:\.....).

The .bat file can be run from DOS, by going to the command prompt and type and enter C:\....\print.bat.

To add a click on start button to the desktop, use Windows Explorer and use the browse feature to locate your new .bat file. Click on it and drag it to the Desktop. When you are going to use the program, double click on it to enter your command from DOS. I found out that since it is a .bat file, I was not allowed to pin it to the Start Menu.

The "net use" command can be rescinded whenever you wish. That does not require the name of a computer or printer. The command is: net use lpt1: /delete You can enter the command from the Command Prompt or via the use of another .bat file and the use of a start button. A possible name for the .bat file would be enduse.bat. It could also be added to the directory in where the program is installed.

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After some successful printing, another problem came up with the HP printer. It was an error message that said "Unsupported Personality: PCL."

In looking for a fix via Google on the net, I was advised that just shutting off the printer and restarting it, would solve the problem.

Another answer said it had to do with the HP software. So, I went to the HP site, downloaded their software driver stuff and reinstalled the printer driver.

This prings up the point that YOU SHOULD BE SURE THAT A PROGRAM WORKS WITH YOUR PRINTER. I DON'T AND CAN NOT guarantee that these programs will work all the time with all of them. If a program works good for you, that's good. If not, not.

When I wrote the programs, I tried to use basic and simple printing commands so that the programs would run/print with run of the mill printers.

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PRINTING DELAYS

Per the internet, with Windows 2000 and XP, Microsoft made a change that delays DOS print jobs by 15 seconds by default. That is unsatisfactory for retail invoicing.

Printing can be accelerated by changing the 15 second default to a smaller number. And that can be done by making a change in what is called the "registry" in Windows.

To do that, you need to do the following:

Click on Run on the start menu.

Type and enter: regedit

Single or double click on HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE to get a display of that item and its sub folders.

Scroll down to CurrentControlSet -> Control -> WOW

Click on WOW.

That will bring up a window on the right.

Double click on LPT_timeout.

Change the value to 3 and click OK.

Exit the Registry Editor by clicking on the top X.

According to the info I found, if you have more than one computer on a net, you will have to make that change on each one.

Registry editing can cause problems if it is not done just so. If you mess up somehow, you can try to recover, by using the System Restore feature that can be accessed by clicking on the Help and Support option on the Start Menu.

With XP, your computer automatically sets up restore points that can be used undo changes, by going back in time and restoring the computer settings in use at the prior time.