[Gambas-user] Printing text vertically (using printing or gb.report)

[Willy Raets]

On Thu, 2014-01-16 at 11:30 +0100, Rolf-Werner Eilert wrote:
> 
> Am 16.01.2014 10:55, schrieb Willy Raets:
> > On Thu, 2014-01-16 at 10:44 +0100, Rolf-Werner Eilert wrote:
> >>
> >> Am 16.01.2014 10:30, schrieb Willy Raets:
> >>> On Tue, 2014-01-14 at 10:04 +0100, Willy Raets wrote:
> >>>> Hi all,
> >>>>
> >>>> I have a Dymo Label writer at work and need to print address labels.
> >>>> Thing is that the labels are in portrait and the text needs to be
> >>>> printed vertically instead of horizontally as it happens now.
> >>>>
> >>>> I have tried with both printing and reports but don't manage to get the
> >>>> job done. Text aways gets printed horizontal and thus the addresses
> >>>> don't fit the width or the Dymo Label.
> >>>>
> >>>> The size of the Dymo labels that need to be printed is:
> >>>> PaperWidth = 35.630555
> >>>> PaperHeight = 88.9
> >>>> Both sizes are in milimeters (mm).
> >>>>
> >>>> I used to do this with reports from MS Access and there you can simply
> >>>> set the textlabels on the report vertically instead of horizontally.
> >>>> Didn't find a manner to achieve that with gb.report. Does that exist?
> >>>>
> >>>> The project itself is a rebuilt in Gambas of MS Access clients apps
> >>>> currently used. I can't send the code because:
> >>>> a. it is too big a project
> >>>> b. it contains specific inside company information that is not meant for
> >>>> the public.
> >>>> I'll try and make a printed pdf of the result later today to show you
> >>>> what I mean.
> >>>>
> >>>> Any suggestions would be appreciated.
> >>>>
> >>>
> >>> Anyone any suggestion as I really need this to work somehow.
> >>>
> >>
> >> It should be possible to make the page (pdf painting surface) landscape:
> >
> > Are you talking gb.cairo component here as you mention a pdf painting
> > surface as I haven't had a go at that. I was playing with the printer
> > object and had a go with gb.reports.
> 
> No, not Cairo, but you can print into pdf with the printer object, too. 
> I admit, that was a bit of a wrong expression. It's what I use it for 
> exclusively: Just printing into a pdf, then using the pdf-loading 
> function to show a preview or simply copying the pdf to the printer. 
> Fast, easy...

That is not what I want end users to do, they need to print directly to
the DymoLabel Writer without even a preview.
Having them first make a pdf and reset orientation is way too much for
them (some of them are really no computer experts whatsoever) and things
need to be kept simple for them :(

I added some screenshots of how it is implemented at the moment in MS
Access. As you can see the report designer of MS Access allows for
labels to be placed vertically on the design (there is a property named
vertical for textlabels that can be set to yes, it is as simple as
that).

The second screenshot is a print preview and that is the result I would
need. As you can see the layout of the Dymo Address Label is portrait,
the text is printed vertical on the Address Label.

As I am porting this application to Gambas, I need to figure out how
this can be done in Gambas, as the Dymo Label Writer doesn't have any
other options to print this.

gb.report doesn't seem to have this possibility and neither does using
the printer object. Or maybe they can but I haven't discovered it yet.

> 
> >
> >>
> >> myPrinter.Orientation = Printer.Landscape
> >>
> >
> > This suggestion sets me to think. The Dymo labels are in portrait in the
> > Dymo label printer. So making a landscape label on a pdf surface and
> > next print this in landscape (so actually giving the landscape design a
> > twist to being printed in portrait) could do the job. I'am going to give
> > this a try as soon as I am at work.
> 
> Yes, sometimes things can be tricky :-)

I do think I will try with gb.cairo to see what I can come up with, just
curious if that would work. But having this option in gb.report would of
course be much easier :)

Thanks for the suggestions.


-- 
Kind regards,

Willy (aka gbWilly)

http://gambasshowcase.org/
http://howtogambas.org
http://gambos.org



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