Subject Re: Random form feed
From Russ Fisher <rfisher@ccnintl.com>
Date Thu, 27 Feb 2020 17:17:19 -0500
Newsgroups dbase.getting-started

Jamie Hemmerle Wrote:

> I have a very old dbase program that works well for our company (written in the 1980's). But when we use dbDos so we can use the newer computer and printers I am getting random form feeds when my program is sorting through our data file to print out a list of invoices for the day. I even took out all the form feeds from the program! Does anyone have an suggestion to fix this?

Hi Jamie,

Without actually seeing your application run, my initial guess is that the printer is timing out while your program is processing records.  If memory serves, I think the default is something like 5 seconds, so if your program prints a line, then "thinks" past the timeout value before the next line is printed, the printer assumes the job is done and issues its own formfeed.

Even though we have a few licenses of dbDos, we've switched to using vDosPlus (see my post here http://news.dbase.com/newsgroups.php?art_group=dbase.getting-started&article_id=25595).

It has been a while since I've configured dbDos, but there may be a way to either extend or completely remove the timeout value.  That is where I would start looking first.

We have vDosPlus configured so that every report creates a PDF file that automatically pops up in a PDF viewer (we like Sumatra).  From there, you can save it, print it or discard it (handy if you just need a single piece of information from a report, but not the whole thing.)

Hope this helps.

Russ