Printer setup in fm 8.5

I'm working with a mac network, FM Server 8 Advanced and clients on FM
8.5. I have a script that loops through several hundred records, and
must use a print dialog for each record. I want the client to select
their preferred printer the first time through the loop, and then have
the print dialog suppressed for the remaining records.

Neither of the script steps, Print Setup and Print, seem to include an
option for selecting 'Default Printer' as the destination for the
print job. Is there a way to set up the script so the printer will
default to whatever the client selected for the first record?

thanks,

Lanse
FM 8.5 Advanced, Mac

Re: Printer setup in fm 8.5

In article
<3584e9fb-65f6-4116-8407-092b4c4d4f33@v29g2000hsf.googlegroups.com>,
pastover@gmail.com wrote:

> I'm working with a mac network, FM Server 8 Advanced and clients on FM
> 8.5. I have a script that loops through several hundred records, and
> must use a print dialog for each record. I want the client to select
> their preferred printer the first time through the loop, and then have
> the print dialog suppressed for the remaining records.
>
> Neither of the script steps, Print Setup and Print, seem to include an
> option for selecting 'Default Printer' as the destination for the
> print job. Is there a way to set up the script so the printer will
> default to whatever the client selected for the first record?
>
> thanks,
>
> Lanse
> FM 8.5 Advanced, Mac

FileMaker always prints to the printer set in the Operating System's
preferences - so in that sense it is using the "Default Printer".
FileMaker itself cannot change printers. There are (usually expensive)
plug-ins that allow FileMaker to change printers.

I'm not 100% positive, but I seem to vaguely recall something in
FileMaker 9 that gives a similar ability, but don't take that as a
guarantee.


Helpful Harry
Hopefully helping harassed humans happily handle handiwork hardships ;o)

Re: Printer setup in fm 8.5

In article <120120080911419666%helpful_harry@nom.de.plume.com>, Helpful
Harry wrote:

> In article
> <3584e9fb-65f6-4116-8407-092b4c4d4f33@v29g2000hsf.googlegroups.com>,
> pastover@gmail.com wrote:
>
> > I'm working with a mac network, FM Server 8 Advanced and clients on FM
> > 8.5. I have a script that loops through several hundred records, and
> > must use a print dialog for each record. I want the client to select
> > their preferred printer the first time through the loop, and then have
> > the print dialog suppressed for the remaining records.
> >
> > Neither of the script steps, Print Setup and Print, seem to include an
> > option for selecting 'Default Printer' as the destination for the
> > print job. Is there a way to set up the script so the printer will
> > default to whatever the client selected for the first record?
> >
> > thanks,
> >
> > Lanse
> > FM 8.5 Advanced, Mac
>
> FileMaker always prints to the printer set in the Operating System's
> preferences - so in that sense it is using the "Default Printer".
> FileMaker itself cannot change printers. There are (usually expensive)
> plug-ins that allow FileMaker to change printers.
>
> I'm not 100% positive, but I seem to vaguely recall something in
> FileMaker 9 that gives a similar ability, but don't take that as a
> guarantee.

There is another way that I forgot about - you can create an
AppleScript to change printers, and then run that from FileMaker.

BUT,
with all of these methods (except perhaps some plug-ins) you have no
idea which printer the user may have chosen in the first print job.

Helpful Harry
Hopefully helping harassed humans happily handle handiwork hardships ;o)

Re: Printer setup in fm 8.5

On Jan 11, 6:31=A0pm, Helpful Harry
wrote:
> In article <120120080911419666%helpful_ha...@nom.de.plume.com>, Helpful
>
>
>
> Harry wrote:
> > In article
> > <3584e9fb-65f6-4116-8407-092b4c4d4...@v29g2000hsf.googlegroups.com>,
> > pasto...@gmail.com wrote:
>
> > > I'm working with a mac network, FM Server 8 Advanced and clients on FM=

> > > 8.5. =A0I have a script that loops through several hundred records, an=
d
> > > must use a print dialog for each record. =A0I want the client to selec=
t
> > > their preferred printer the first time through the loop, and then have=

> > > the print dialog suppressed for the remaining records.
>
> > > Neither of the script steps, Print Setup and Print, seem to include an=

> > > option for selecting 'Default Printer' as the destination for the
> > > print job. =A0Is there a way to set up the script so the printer will
> > > default to whatever the client selected for the first record?
>
> > > thanks,
>
> > > Lanse
> > > FM 8.5 Advanced, Mac
>
> > FileMaker always prints to the printer set in the Operating System's
> > preferences - so in that sense it is using the "Default Printer".
> > FileMaker itself cannot change printers. There are (usually expensive)
> > plug-ins that allow FileMaker to change printers.
>
> > I'm not 100% positive, but =A0I seem to vaguely recall something in
> > FileMaker 9 that gives a similar ability, but don't take that as a
> > guarantee.
>
> There is another way that I forgot about - you can create an
> AppleScript to change printers, and then run that from FileMaker.
>
> BUT,
> with all of these methods (except perhaps some plug-ins) you have no
> idea which printer the user may have chosen in the first print job.
>
> Helpful Harry =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0
> Hopefully helping harassed humans happily handle handiwork hardships =A0;o=
)

Thanks Harry,
I was afraid that might be the answer. Printer selection seems so
primitive in the Mac OS sometimes. I remember back into the early
System 6 -> 8 days that printing was often the most unintuitive part.
Don't know if Windows is any better, but I doubt it. I would think
that scripting "select printer last used" would be a no brainer, but
I'm sure there are complexities I'm unaware of.

Thanks again!

Lanse

Re: Printer setup in fm 8.5

In article
<78372780-f863-4c0b-b574-3088912c5c4d@u10g2000prn.googlegroups.com>,
pastover@gmail.com wrote:

> On Jan 11, 6:31 pm, Helpful Harry
> wrote:
> > In article <120120080911419666%helpful_ha...@nom.de.plume.com>, Helpful
> >
> >
> >
> > Harry wrote:
> > > In article
> > > <3584e9fb-65f6-4116-8407-092b4c4d4...@v29g2000hsf.googlegroups.com>,
> > > pasto...@gmail.com wrote:
> >
> > > > I'm working with a mac network, FM Server 8 Advanced and clients on FM
> > > > 8.5.  I have a script that loops through several hundred records, and
> > > > must use a print dialog for each record.  I want the client to select
> > > > their preferred printer the first time through the loop, and then have
> > > > the print dialog suppressed for the remaining records.
> >
> > > > Neither of the script steps, Print Setup and Print, seem to include an
> > > > option for selecting 'Default Printer' as the destination for the
> > > > print job.  Is there a way to set up the script so the printer will
> > > > default to whatever the client selected for the first record?
> >
> > > > thanks,
> >
> > > > Lanse
> > > > FM 8.5 Advanced, Mac
> >
> > > FileMaker always prints to the printer set in the Operating System's
> > > preferences - so in that sense it is using the "Default Printer".
> > > FileMaker itself cannot change printers. There are (usually expensive)
> > > plug-ins that allow FileMaker to change printers.
> >
> > > I'm not 100% positive, but  I seem to vaguely recall something in
> > > FileMaker 9 that gives a similar ability, but don't take that as a
> > > guarantee.
> >
> > There is another way that I forgot about - you can create an
> > AppleScript to change printers, and then run that from FileMaker.
> >
> > BUT,
> > with all of these methods (except perhaps some plug-ins) you have no
> > idea which printer the user may have chosen in the first print job.
>
> Thanks Harry,
> I was afraid that might be the answer. Printer selection seems so
> primitive in the Mac OS sometimes. I remember back into the early
> System 6 -> 8 days that printing was often the most unintuitive part.
> Don't know if Windows is any better, but I doubt it. I would think
> that scripting "select printer last used" would be a no brainer, but
> I'm sure there are complexities I'm unaware of.
>
> Thanks again!
>
> Lanse

From memory (I'm still using Mac OS 9.2), the Mac OS X operating system
itself does have the preference to use the default printer or the last
printer used, but that's not part of FileMaker and your database
shouldn't really change the users OS settings.


Helpful Harry
Hopefully helping harassed humans happily handle handiwork hardships ;o)