printing labels with Rave in code

[Ray Porter]

Hi,
I've run into my first problem since switching from QR to Rave. I have an
application that prints a wide variety of label-like forms (mailing labels,
nametags, tickets, etc.). Most are on pre-printed, 2-up stock. I need to
be able to control the data printed and the exact position of the data on
the form at runtime, based on input from the user. I've googled these
groups but haven't been able to find an answer.

This is a pretty basic business functions so I'm sure someone must have
tackled this already. Any help will be greatly appreciated. I'm currently
on D7 Pro with the latest Rave BE edition upgrade for that environment.

Thanks in advance,
=================================
Ray Porter
Information Technology Services, Enterprise Applications
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Phone: [phone]
Fax: [phone]
***@unc.edu
http://www.unc.edu/~dragon

Meddle not in the affairs of dragons for thou
art crunchy and taste good with ketchup

[L. S. Lichtmann]

The general answer to your question (so general that you may need to come
back at me for specifics) is "use RANT to reach into the report design at
runtime and tweek the position of things". If you can be a little more
specific about what you mean by controlling "the exact position of the data
on the form at runtime" I can probably be more helpful with suggestions
about precisely what to do.

Post by Ray Porter
Hi,
I've run into my first problem since switching from QR to Rave. I have an
application that prints a wide variety of label-like forms (mailing
labels, nametags, tickets, etc.). Most are on pre-printed, 2-up stock. I
need to be able to control the data printed and the exact position of the
data on the form at runtime, based on input from the user. I've googled
these groups but haven't been able to find an answer.
This is a pretty basic business functions so I'm sure someone must have
tackled this already. Any help will be greatly appreciated. I'm
currently on D7 Pro with the latest Rave BE edition upgrade for that
environment.
Thanks in advance,
=================================
Ray Porter
Information Technology Services, Enterprise Applications
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Phone: [phone]
Fax: [phone]
http://www.unc.edu/~dragon
Meddle not in the affairs of dragons for thou
art crunchy and taste good with ketchup

[Ray Porter]

Thanks for the offer.

Okay, here goes. What I'm actually printing is a mix of name tags, tickets
and mailing labels. For the name tags, some elements are printed in
different fonts, others either are present or not depending on parameters
set by the user at runtime. For example, with the name tags, the user can
elect to print the participant's first name in an extra large font (38pt) or
the "standard" 26 pt font. Other elements on the name tag print in 18 or 12
pt font. Some elements (like city/state or membership status) can either be
printed or not, again by elections the user makes on a print control screen
at runtime. When elements are not printed, the following elements need to
move upward to fill in the now blank space. For mailing labels, the
elements are all in the same font but some elements may not be present in
the database. For example, if there is no secondary address line, the
city/state line needs to move upwards to fill in the blank space. All of
this was fairly easy to accomplish via QuickReports by using the BeforePrint
and AfterPrint events.

The newest report requested for this application is a compound report with
several different types of "reports" printing on the same nametag stock
(2-up, 8 labels per page, 22 lines per label at 8 lines per inch). The
first items printed will be name tags for attendees and their guests.
Following the name tags but potentially on the same page (and certainly in
the same print job and on the same 2-up form) will be admission tickets for
whatever events the participant is registered for. The application is an
event tracking system for a major university alumni association. One of the
membership officers saw a similar report at some conference she attended and
wants us to do the same thing.

I don't think the visual designer can handle this sort of complexity within
the same report. In fact, I haven't been overly impressed with Rave's
visual designer so I've generally junked it in all cases in favor of code
based reports. That's given me a considerable degree of control of the
print process but this is the first time I've had to work on this
application since switching to Rave.

Thanks,
Ray Porter

Post by L. S. Lichtmann
The general answer to your question (so general that you may need to come
back at me for specifics) is "use RANT to reach into the report design at
runtime and tweek the position of things". If you can be a little more
specific about what you mean by controlling "the exact position of the
data on the form at runtime" I can probably be more helpful with
suggestions about precisely what to do.

Post by Ray Porter
Hi,
I've run into my first problem since switching from QR to Rave. I have
an application that prints a wide variety of label-like forms (mailing
labels, nametags, tickets, etc.). Most are on pre-printed, 2-up stock.
I need to be able to control the data printed and the exact position of
the data on the form at runtime, based on input from the user. I've
googled these groups but haven't been able to find an answer.
This is a pretty basic business functions so I'm sure someone must have
tackled this already. Any help will be greatly appreciated. I'm
currently on D7 Pro with the latest Rave BE edition upgrade for that
environment.
Thanks in advance,
=================================
Ray Porter
Information Technology Services, Enterprise Applications
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Phone: [phone]
Fax: [phone]
http://www.unc.edu/~dragon
Meddle not in the affairs of dragons for thou
art crunchy and taste good with ketchup

[Thomas Pfister]

Ray,

in the BEX-version (not the BE!) is a label-component for printing labels in
code; it works great.
beside the source, more code-based component and techsupport from Nevrona
you'll get the version 7 of Rave BEX for Delphi7....


:-) thomas

Post by Ray Porter
Hi,
I've run into my first problem since switching from QR to Rave. I have an
application that prints a wide variety of label-like forms (mailing
labels, nametags, tickets, etc.). Most are on pre-printed, 2-up stock. I
need to be able to control the data printed and the exact position of the
data on the form at runtime, based on input from the user. I've googled
these groups but haven't been able to find an answer.
This is a pretty basic business functions so I'm sure someone must have
tackled this already. Any help will be greatly appreciated. I'm
currently on D7 Pro with the latest Rave BE edition upgrade for that
environment.
Thanks in advance,
=================================
Ray Porter
Information Technology Services, Enterprise Applications
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Phone: [phone]
Fax: [phone]
http://www.unc.edu/~dragon
Meddle not in the affairs of dragons for thou
art crunchy and taste good with ketchup