Lines in OI Reports (OpenInsight Specific)
At 20 DEC 1999 04:50:59PM sn wrote:
We have been trying to find a way to format our reports so that the
lines and underlines are solid and presentable. Has anyone found a
good font or a better answer to this formating problem?
At 21 DEC 1999 01:08AM Don Bakke wrote:
How are you generating your reports? All the main reporting options offer line features and the ability to select the underline version of any font. All of the regular fonts print underlines pretty good. Please elaborate.
At 30 DEC 1999 04:29PM sn wrote:
When we create tables, all of the lines are coming out as dashed lines. I am not the programmer, so I am not sure what type of information you are looking for. We have been using AREV for years and are converting into OI. Most of it has been going smoothly, except for the line issue. Would this be a font problem?
At 31 DEC 1999 09:37AM Don Bakke wrote:
Based on the little information you have given me it appears that your programmers are attempting to use characters, like the dash or underscore, to look like solid lines. While this may work well in AREV it won't necessarily work well in OI because of the fonts. Since I don't know what tool they are using to duplicate these reports in OI I can't advise you how to resolve this.
However, I will say that I suggest they bite the bullet and NOT try to simply convert AREV style reports into OI. Many people approach Windows/OI development as just AREV for Windows, thereby making screens, reports, etc., as simple and plain looking as DOS but with a Window's veneer. This is called "putting lipstick on the bulldog", that is, for all practical purposes maintaining the original character based system (AREV) and simply dropping it into a different toolset (OI) but not changing the philosophy of the application very much. In many cases this actually creates a less appealing and less functional application. Many DOS/AREV programmers aren't accustomed to having to be as precision oriented in their UI design. In AREV they only had to contend with 80 columns by 25 rows. In OI they now have to work with 640x480, 800x600, or higher resolution. Control placement and alignment is significantly more challenging and hence is the one issue that is most often neglected.
I don't advocate trying to make Windows/OI application as fancy or graphical as possible. This approach often makes the UI look too busy and hard to understand. A nice clean and well balanced interface (including reports) is all that is required. Take advantage of minor graphical enhancements (e.g. line and box tools for reports, group boxes and graphical pushbuttons for screens) so the system can really appear like a well designed Windows application.
FWIW,
At 04 JAN 2000 05:10PM sn wrote:
If this will help, I got a little more clarification of our problem. We are currently trying to use the IBM Graphics Character Set for our reports. The character set includes horizontal lines, vertical lines, corners, etc. However, we want to find a font that includes the IBM Graphics Character Set AND that will work in OI. I hope that
is a little clearer explanation of our problem.