Better way to arrange forms due to printing setup/orientation

[pdr1966]

1st example - I have a database for creating/printing cheques which also serves as a month end cheque register/disbursments summary.

 

I have individual layouts in this file for;

Data entry

Cheque preview (text overtop of graphic of cheque)

Disbursments summary.

 

Problem; Cheque printing is done on one printer (an HP IIIP laserjet) setup for legal size - layouts print data in the appropriate position on actual cheques.

 

However the disbursments summary NEEDS to print on a different printer which has 11x17.

 

Thus when you preview cheques or summary you have to change printers to get the views to look correct

 

Any suggestions on how to do this more elgantly, than having to change printers just to get an accurate view of a print out?

 

Pete

[AHunter3]

You'll be a happier developer once you have the opportunity to upgrade to FileMaker 8. Unfortunately, FileMaker 6 and versions prior had a much more primitive handling of Page Setup and Print commands.

 

There may be some plug-ins that will change printers for you as a script step within FileMaker 6. There are also some kludgy hacks I've used, techniques that don't require plug-ins, and other folks may know some better ones. Actually the ones I last used are pretty out-of-date for the Mac (being OS 9ish ways of going at things); on Windows I actually edited the registry on-the-fly, using Send Message to execute an exported text file that had the ".reg" file extension, and assembling the text of the text file after peering at the registry before and after switching default printers. Don't go there without backing up your computer first, if you decide to follow that lead.