traill@utcsri.UUCP (J. Traill) (06/02/85)
We've recently purchased dBASE III and, as we're not registered yet, Ashton-Tate doen't recognize us as "real". The problem I'm coming across is routing output to the printer: report form <filename> to print * and * set print on occasionally either: - print "^C" on the screen and dump me back to DOS - print cryptic garbage on the screen and dump me back to DOS Both instances mean I must go through the two-disk booting procedure, although I've not lost data yet. The dBASE manual mentions that the program itself doesn't handle alternate output (e.g. it's all DOS's fault), but our printer (MX-100, parallel) is never off/out of paper when the problem occurs. As I said, the problem occurs perhaps half the time. Ironically, routing ouput to the printer through "ASSIST" never seems to produce problems !! HELP ?! -- The ATHENIANS Project - Victoria College, U of T CanMail: 85 Charles Street West, Toronto, Ontario NetMail: traill@utcsri -----------------------
uevans@ecsvax.UUCP (Elizabeth A. Evans) (06/04/85)
Although I do a lot of printing from dBASE III, I haven't experienced
a problem with getting kicked out of dBASE when doing so.
However, even though I am an avowed dBASE user, I am becoming more
and more frustrated with Ashton-Tate's attitude. J. Traill mentions
in his original article under this title that A-T doesn't
recognize him as "real" because he hasn't registered his product,
yet. I **have** registered both a personal copy and a departmental
copy, and although I can get answers from their tech support people,
it almost invariably consists of "yes, we know that's a bug."
When dNews ceased publication, I asked A-T to finish out my subscription
with Tech Notes (regular price=$50 per year). I missed the first
issue (no idea why), but noticed that in the Mar and Apr issues,
an announcement was made that updates to the manual *** as announced
in the Feb issue *** would no longer be accepted. I'd love to
know how they can justify making an announcement like that **only**
to users who can afford the $50 a year, especially since the manual
is filled with syntax errors, page reference errors, and incon-
sistencies. Furthermore, all the bug announcments are -- you
guessed it -- announced in this publication. I don't mind paying
$50 a year for technical tips, helpful hints, new ways to view
problems, etc, but I think vendors should send out announcements
of known ***bugs*** to all registered users at regular intervals.
Enough griping for one day --
-- Elizabeth A. Evans
Department of Psychiatry
UNC-CH School of Medicine
Chapel Hill, NC 27514
...!{decvax,akgua}!mcnc!ecsvax!uevansroy@medstar.UUCP (Roy Talledo) (06/04/85)
> The problem I'm coming across is routing output to the printer: > > report form <filename> to print > > * and * > > set print on > > occasionally either: > > - print "^C" on the screen and dump me back to DOS > > - print cryptic garbage on the screen and dump me back to DOS > > The dBASE manual mentions that the program itself doesn't handle > alternate output ... but our printer (MX-100, parallel) is never off/out > of paper ... Ironically, routing ouput to the printer through "ASSIST" > never seems to produce problems !! I have never had any problems with either dBASE command mentioned above. The only bug that I have seen reported is when the printer if off and you try to print to it, dBASE will hang. Try looking at the command line that ASSIST generates and compare it with your command line. Also try using set device to print and set console off before issuing the report form <filename> to print command. This is what I use all of the time and have never had any problems. -- Roy Talledo Systems Research, Medical Systems Technology & Research, Atlanta, GA uucp: ..!{akgua,gatech}medstar!roy