On Fri, 8 Jul 2005 15:03:45 -0500, Thomas Bartkus <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> "gov" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote in message
> news:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
>> Hi,
>>
>> I've just started to learn programming and was told this was a good
>> place to ask questions :)
>>
>> Where I work, we receive large quantities of data which is currently
>> all printed on large, obsolete, dot matrix printers. This is a problem
>> because the replacement parts will not be available for much longer.
>>
>> So I'm trying to create a program which will capture the fixed width
>> text file data and convert as well as sort the data (there are several
>> different report types) into a different format which would allow it to
>> be printed normally, or viewed on a computer.
>
> Text file data has no concept of "fixed width". Somewhere in your system,
> text file data is being thrown at your dot matrix printer. It would seem a
> trivial exercise to simply plug in a newer and probably inexpensive
> replacement printer.
>
> What am I missing here?
I was just wondering the same thing.
Until/unless we don't get an answer: here's two hypotheses:
- The text file is too wide for modern-day laser printers to print properly,
or the printer isn't configured to accept plain text (accented characters,
line feeds and so on).
-> feed it through 'enscript' or a similar utility, which can
scale it down and manipulate it in various ways into a Postscript
file, and print that one
- The text file isn't really a text file, but full of escape codes for
the matrix printer (boldfacing and so on).
-> attempt to clean it with a utility like the standard unix 'col' command
-> ... and/or write custom code to do it. Python is a good choice.
In general, this is an area where it's wise to use existing software.
The hard part is to know what's available!
/Jorgen
--
// Jorgen Grahn <jgrahn@ Ph'nglui mglw'nafh Cthulhu
\X/ algonet.se> R'lyeh wgah'nagl fhtagn!
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