I'm sure this has been answered many times but I couldn't find anything directly via searching, so i apologize in advance for the repetition.

I have been using the merge form feature for most of my printing in AREV. While I have an HP Laserjet 6P, I barely can make use of its print features, and the task of changing fonts or adding typeface features such as italics and bold are not only "clunky" but can be tedious as well.

I do own OI 3.1 but have never used it since my applications are running well under AREV and I just don't have much extra time to invest in the learning curve.

If I re-installed OI 3.1 on my computer, would I have the availability of a better merge utility that would be more "proportional space font" friendly if I attached my AREV application. In effect, I would only use OI as the report generator. Are other add on, say from Sprezzatura, more beneficial to this task? I do want to minimize any major OI work since I'm still only familiar with AREV, and I wonder how complex it will be to run specific reports via OI when I depend on AREV specific commands like Getlist, etc. If OI is the way to go, are there any pitfalls in any maintenance releases subsequent to OI 3.1?

Thanks!

Michael

S/List, our add-on product, is not really designed to do what you want to do. S/List is more a replacement for R/LIST (OpenList) than for Merge.

Revelation Reporter is more or less ideal for what you need to do. Depending on the requirements of the merge reports, you should be able to do what you want.

Reporter has the advantage of being able to layout code, like the Banded Report Writer does. From there, you should be able to set up blocks of text with input values.

Can't say I've ever really done this, and the pixel type layout of the boxes, along with various wrapping issues might make this needlessly tedious, but it is an option.

Outside of this, I can't really think of anything else, outside of rolling your own.

The Sprezzatura Group

[/i]World leaders in all things RevSoft[/i]

Michael,

I'm not adding anything new to Sprezz's response, I just wanted to affirm what they told you. Revelation has long said that all of the miscellaneous printing tools from AREV (e.g. Form, Label, Merge, R/Basic, R/List, BRW) are all combined into the Revelation Reporter.

Certainly the Reporter was designed to replace most of these methods. The only method it can't, even if the product worked as good as it should, would be coded forms/reports. But that is simply because any template based reporting tool can't be as effectively flexible as a purely coded report. Now Revelation has attempted to supplement this gap with their own extension to Basic+ with the Printer.DLL functions. Unfortunately these don't deliver the control and features that most AREV/OI programmer's would expect.

I certainly appreciate the reluctance to invest time that you already don't have in learning something new. I get that way every time I want to explore a feature in OI that I really don't need to know (at least yet.) However, when Sprezz suggested you roll out your own they were probably indirectly referring to the OIPI. If you are still considering an OI solution to your problem then I would absolutely go with the OIPI. The Reporter and Printer.DLL functions, while still buggy, were much worse in that version of OI. The latest OIPI, however, can be installed in OI v3.1 and used to create very nice custom reports or generic utilities (like a Merge replacement.)

The OIPI is pretty straightforward IMHO. In fact, I think it's as close to programming reports/forms in AREV's R/Basic as it gets.

FWIW,

dbakke@srpcs.com

SRP Computer Solutions

Thanks for the advice! While I can only speak for myself, my reluctance to jump into the OI environment has not only been due to lack of time and steep learning curve, but the expense to keep current when the deficiencies (some may call them design features ) don't fit my needs. Having seen some of the advancements made in OI and the new java interfaces, my needs seem to be in a minority.

The two areas I use Revelation for are: a medical billing program in effect since 1985 and pension/401(k)/employee benefit reports. While the billing program loves a mono spaced environment, the other reports are begging for a more eye catching look. For the latter project, Revelation has merely acted as a repository for information that is calculated in Lotus 1-2-3. I could probably export the Revelation data to a wordprocessor merge file, but then I start to question the role of Revelation for these projects.

When I was first recommended to Cosmos, the person told me that it would be a program that I would never outgrow. And for a long time, that seemed to be true, and continues to be true for the medical billing work I do. But I have to say that there have ALWAYS been glitches in the printing area from almost day one (HEADING, FOOTING, Blank Page, Last Page not printing, better printer compatability, pie charts ), and it's been a long, long time and costly pricing for upgrades not to have resolved these issues by now.

Maybe Rev and I need some marriage counseling .

Thanks again Don and Sprezz (Andrew,Aaron, etc.). You have always been a huge help, and as I said before, these issues are very small when compared to the future direction of the Revelation software.

Michael

I am struggling with the same problem. I have a very powerful system for conducting surveys/polls/exams and the like. All the reports are user defined based on the questions and answers they define for the survey. There are no basic limits in the system. However, the users wishes to have the Windows print capabilities.

We are addressing the problem by developing a Visual basic program. The AREV program will export the report as a data file with codes to indicate the type of report and the format of the report. The Visual Basic program will read the 'report' and display it according to the rules being passed. The client/user will then be able to use the Windows print capabilities to cutomize the report.

We have OI 3.7 and due to the need to incorporate various 'print' modules from various vendors to diffent vendors, the overhead and cost of this the Arev/OI option or the OI option is not practical or feasible for our application.

If you would like to check out our survey system go to our web site at www.islandnet.com/cis or email me at: mford@conwayinfo.bc.ca

Mark

RTI did ship the merge source code, so it shouldn't be that hard to move the code into OI and convert the prints into OIPI or PRINTER.DLL codes.

The Sprezzatura Group

[/i]World leaders in all things RevSoft[/i]

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