[comp.sys.mac.apps] Foxbase+ and Laserwriter II NTX output

ldb@chyde.uwasa.fi (Lieven de Bock LAKE) (12/17/90)

Hi,

I'm at the moment developing some apps with FoxBase+, for the Mac. But the important part
of apps in an administratiev environment is... reports, decent & fast.

So has any of you any experience of teaching the fo  this new trick? Right now I can send
output to the LW II NTX, but the font in which it appears is totally uncontrollable.
I Would need full possibilities that SET DEVI TO PRIN gives for the @ command (font & 
style support)

Thanx alot in advance

Regards from snowy_white Finland!

francis@wolfman.cis.ohio-state.edu (RD Francis) (12/18/90)

In article <1990Dec16.182801.16957@uwasa.fi> ldb@chyde.uwasa.fi (Lieven de Bock LAKE) writes:
   I'm at the moment developing some apps with FoxBase+, for the Mac.
   But the important part of apps in an administratiev environment is...
   reports, decent & fast.  So has any of you any experience of teaching
   the fo  this new trick? Right now I can send output to the LW II NTX,
   but the font in which it appears is totally uncontrollable.  I Would
   need full possibilities that SET DEVI TO PRIN gives for the @ command
   (font & style support)
What version of FoxBASE+/Mac are you using?  With the old version,
you've got the capabilities you're talking about.  I remember having
to construct a report in a procedural form.  It was a pain (a big,
severe, nasty pain), but it did work.  It was not terribly fast,
however.

With version 2.0 up, use the report generator.  It's evolved from a
"put this char in this column in a mono-spaced font" thing to a full
fledged report layout designer.  You can specify font, size and style
for each item in the report, along with a few other nice items (e.g.:
each item can be a calculated value, as opposed to an existing
variable/field; You can specify that any item expand to fit
overly-large chunks of data, as opposed to having to take up two lines
for every record when only 1% require using that second line; you can
have lines placed in each segment of the record adjust appropriately
when a data item expands; you can set break points based on your data;
each break point can have a special break header and/or break footer
associated with it.  If you use FoxBASE+/Mac 2.0, and haven't looked
at FoxReport, go sit down with the manual and experiment with it now;
you may kick yourself for missing out on it for this long.
--
R David Francis   francis@cis.ohio-state.edu