HOWTO: Control Spacing When Printing @...SAY's

ID: Q198426

The information in this article applies to:

SUMMARY

This article describes how to control the horizontal and vertical spacing of @...SAY commands when printed.

MORE INFORMATION

Although when printing an @...SAY, the coordinates are given to determine the location of the @...SAY on the printed page, the same coordinates can be in different locations depending on the font. You can use the SET PRINT FONT command to control the location of a given coordinate on a page. You should issue the SET PRINT FONT command after the SET DEVICE TO PRINTER command for it to effect the location of @...SAY coordinates. The following sample programs demonstrate this.

Run the following sample programs and note the difference in the printed output. The first sample program uses the SET PRINT FONT command to set the Print Font to Courier New, 12 point. The second program sets the Print Font to Courier New, 40 point.

Sample Program 1

   xIsVFP=.F.
   IF ! "2.6" $ VERSION()      && The code in this IF is for VFP only.
      xIsVFP=.T.
      _Screen.LockScreen = .T.
      cOldbackcolor = _Screen.BackColor
      _Screen.BackColor = RGB(255,255,255)
   ENDIF

   SET PRINTER TO
   SET DEVICE TO PRINTER
   SET PRINT FONT "Courier New", 12

   @ 1,1 SAY "Hello World" FONT "Arial",14 STYLE "B"
   @ 1,13 SAY "Goodbye World" FONT "Times New Roman", 12 STYLE "B"
   @ 5,1 SAY "Hello World" FONT "Arial", 10
   @ 6,1 SAY "Goodbye World" FONT "Times New Roman",10
   @ 7,1 SAY "No Font Clause"

   SET DEVICE TO SCREEN
   SET PRINTER TO

   IF xIsVFP
      _Screen.BackColor = cOldbackcolor
      _Screen.LockScreen = .F.
   ENDIF

Sample Program 2

   xIsVFP=.F.
   IF ! "2.6" $ VERSION()       && The code in this IF is for VFP only.
      xIsVFP=.T.
      _Screen.LockScreen = .T.
      cOldbackcolor = _Screen.BackColor
      _Screen.BackColor = RGB(255,255,255)
   ENDIF

   SET PRINTER TO
   SET DEVICE TO PRINTER
   SET PRINT FONT "Courier New", 40

   @ 1,1 SAY "Hello World" FONT "Arial",14 STYLE "B"
   @ 1,13 SAY "Goodbye World" FONT "Times New Roman", 12 STYLE "B"
   @ 5,1 SAY "Hello World" FONT "Arial", 10
   @ 6,1 SAY "Goodbye World" FONT "Times New Roman",10
   @ 7,1 SAY "No Font Clause"

   SET DEVICE TO SCREEN
   SET PRINTER TO

   IF xIsVFP
      _Screen.BackColor = cOldbackcolor
      _Screen.LockScreen = .F.
   ENDIF
The SET PRINT FONT command also determines the font that @...SAY commands use if the FONT clause is not used on the @...SAY command. This is true whether you issue the SET PRINT FONT command either before or after the SET DEVICE TO PRINTER command. Only if you issue the SET PRINT FONT command after the SET DEVICE TO PRINTER command does it control the location of the @...SAY coordinates.

NOTE: Microsoft has received unconfirmed customer reports that printer drivers can effect the spacing of @...SAY coordinates. If using the SET PRINT FONT command is not having the desired effect, try a different printer driver for your printer that is for a model that is similar or that your printer emulates.

REFERENCES

Visual FoxPro Help, version 6.0; search on: "SET DEVICE"; topic: SET DEVICE command; search on: "SET PRINTER"; topic: SET PRINTER command

For additional information, please see the following articles in the Microsoft Knowledge Base: 

   ARTICLE-ID: Q99621
   TITLE     : Changing Font Used in Print Commands in FP for Windows

   ARTICLE-ID: Q162301
   TITLE     : FIX: @ SAY Causes Error After SET DEVICE to PRINTER Command

   ARTICLE-ID: Q164374
   TITLE     : BUG: Cannot Use Printer Fonts with ? Printing in VFP 5.0

   ARTICLE-ID: Q154170
   TITLE     : BUG: @...SAY Prints Gray Background

   ARTICLE-ID: Q103829
   TITLE     : How to Right-Justify Numeric Fields with @ ... SAY

   ARTICLE-ID: Q151767
   TITLE     : BUG: 2.x @ SAY Report May Print Differently in Visual FoxPro
Additional query words: 
Keywords          : kbMAC kbPrinting kbVFp kbVFp300 kbVFp300b kbVFp500 kbVFp500a kbVFp600 kbXBase 
Version           : MACINTOSH:2.6a,3.0b; WINDOWS:2.6a,3.0,3.0b,5.0,5.0a,6.0
Platform          : MACINTOSH WINDOWS
Issue type        : kbhowto

Last Reviewed: January 7, 1999