Problems with XP & custom properties, and printing

[Alex Rice]

On Dec 19, 2003, at 1:10 AM, DVGlasgow at aol.com wrote:

> The reason is that I have discovered that writing software is
>
> not the hardest bit...the real headache is installation and support.
>
> OK,  OK, so that is common knowledge, but it has come as a bit of
> a shock to me, I can tell you.

Sadly it is true. I was just thinking: Sometimes people suppose that 
writing web applications will alleviate all the support problems. But 
that's not true either. With web apps you will end up debugging 
Internet connection problems and strange cross-browser dhtml and 
javascript differences. I guess supporting a Revolution app is no 
harder than supporting a web app.

> I am also disheartened by the printing problems - any advice on getting
> to the bottom of these? Printing seems to be fine on the combination 
> of OS
> and printers I have tested (admittedly limited, but covering main 
> options).

Printing is one of those things that can go wrong in several ways.

Ask the user to install the newest printer drivers for their printer.

Ask them to confirm they can print from other applications, to the same 
printer.

Ask if they can print from your app to another printer.

Wrap your print routines in a try;catch to see if there were exceptions.

Make sure you have error reporting selected in the Distribution Builder.

Make sure you have implemented errorDialog handler in your mainstack 
**not sure if this is necessary though.

The formatforprinting property mentioned by Ray is worth investigating. 
It involves printer fonts vs. screen fonts.


Alex Rice <alex at mindlube.com> | Mindlube Software | 
<http://mindlube.com>

what a waste of thumbs that are opposable
to make machines that are disposable  -Ani DiFranco