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Printing to a network printer, to a port other than LPT1: or to A4 size paper:
MedARKS Printer Default Properties:
MedARKS 5 is a DOS program and cannot access any Windows® printer drivers installed on your computer. To print correctly in MedARKS, you must also install printer control codes (a printer driver) for the MedARKS program. When you install a MedARKS printer, the default behavior is to send printed reports to the LPT1: port of the computer in an 8.5 by 11-inch format. For the majority of MedARKS users, these defaults will be correct. However, when you are sending printouts to a network printer, or the printer that you want to use is connected to a port other than LPT1:, or you are printing on A4 paper, then you must edit the MedARKS printer. Changing the control codes that determine these default characteristics is not a difficult task and this document provides instructions for performing these tasks.
Printer Utilities Menu Options:
Starting at the main MedARKS menu, select System Utilities (option #9) and then Printer Utilities (option #7) to arrive at the printer utilities menu. You will have 6 or 7 options on this menu. The function of each option is discussed below.
Change Text Printer: If you have more than one printer connected to your computer or you are on a network with access to network (shared) printers, then this option will let you send your reports to one of the other printers (those printer must have already been installed in MedARKS). Choose this option and you will be presented with a list of printers. Select a printer from the list and printed reports will go to that printer until you quit MedARKS or until you switch to another printer.
Change Graphics Printer: This option only appears when you have sufficient memory available to load the graphics print driver. This graphics driver gives MedARKS the ability to print some simple graphic reports (e.g., weight versus age for a particular species). If you do attempt to print a graph, it must be to a local printer connected to the LPT1: port. The graphics driver was a commercially purchased product and does not have the ability to send output to another port or a network printer. If you are running MedARKS on a network with multiple local printers, you may need to change the graphic printer to match the printer connected to your workstation when attempting to produce a graphic report.
Add a Text Printer: You will need to use this option when you first install MedARKS, when you have purchased a new printer, or when allowing access to a number of different printers on a network.
The first information that you will need to enter is the "name" of the printer. If you only have one printer, this not very critical and you can simply enter the type of printer (e.g., HP LaserJet 4). However, if you are on a network with 3 shared printers and local printers attached to two workstations, then a more descriptive name will help you to identify the various printers (e.g., "Shared HP/Main Office" versus "Shared HP in Laboratory" versus "Local HP - Treatment Room"). When you go to send your report to a different printer, MedARKS will list the available printers using the names you have entered. Remember, the name of the printer is a description that simply lets you identify the correct printer from a list - the type of printer may not need to appear in this description (e.g., Fred's printer).
Once the name of the printer is entered, the program will ask for the type of printer and will present a full list of the printers for which MedARKS knows the control codes. Choose the appropriate make and model of your printer from the list (if your printer is not listed, select the closest match to your printer). MedARKS will then build a set of printer control codes and ask you for the size of paper to use when printing reports. Make the appropriate selection for the type of paper that you will be using.
Finally, you reach the question that gives you the opportunity to specify that this is a shared printer (on a network) or a local printer that is not attached to the LPT1: port. Answer "Yes" to this question to edit network or port information for the printer you are adding and you will be presented with the following 3 options.
Novell Netware network
Windows and other networks
Specify a port for output
The first 2 options provide the means to specify that output should be routed to a network printer. The last option allows you to send printed reports to a printer attached to another port of your local computer. You will need to provide further information about network printer queues and server information to send information to a network printer. If you are uncertain either about what type of network you are using or about information required to access a shared printer, consult with your computer department or the company that installed the network to get the necessary information before you attempt to add a network printer to MedARKS.
Novell® network: If you are using a Novell® network, two pieces of information are required to allow MedARKS to send output to a shared printer. First, you are asked for the name of the server where the desired print queue can be found. The second piece of information is the name of the print queue that services the network printer where the output should be directed. Provide these pieces of information and MedARKS should be able to redirect output to this network printer whenever you have selected this printer while using MedARKS. MedARKS will also ask a question regarding the use of the Capture/Endcapture commands for Novell. Initially, you should answer "No" to this question, but if you have difficulty printing to the network printer, edit the codes for the MedARKS printer that you are creating and specify that the Capture/Endcapture option should be used.
Windows® network: With a Windows® network, you will also need to provide some information about the shared printer. The first piece of information is the name of the workstation that hosts the shared printer. Next you will need to provide the network name for that printer. With Windows® 95 or 98, both pieces of information can be obtained from the printer properties for that network printer. Finally, you will need to specify a port on your workstation that can be used to sent output to the shared printer. In general, choose a port that is not being used by some other device. For example, if you have a local printer attached to the LPT1: port, then this port would not be a good choice, but if the LPT2: port is not being used by a local printer, then it could be used to send output to the network printer.
Note about workstation names: Some versions of Windows® allow you to include blanks in the workstation name (e.g., Lab 486 Computer) or in the shared printer name (e.g., HP LaserJet 4). However, for DOS tasks (like MedARKS) you cannot route output to a network printer that contains blanks in the address. If there is a blank in the name of the workstation hosting a shared printer or in the shared printer name itself, you will need to have the workstation and/or printer renamed to eliminate the blanks. This is a fairly simple task, but consult with your network administrator or consultant to get assistance with this task.
Output to a local printer not attached to the LPT1: port: If you are trying to access a local printer that is attached to the LPT2: (or any port other than LPT1:), then this option allows you to simply choose the appropriate port. Whenever this printer is the active printer for MedARKS, printed output will be sent to this specified port.
Remove a Text Printer: You may at some point replace an existing printer with a different model. The 'add' option (see above) is used to add the new printer to the list of MedARKS printers and the old printer can be removed from the list of printers using this option. Choose this option and the list of MedARKS printers is displayed. Select the printer to be removed and the program will confirm that you want to remove the printer.
Edit printer control codes: This is essentially the same as the "Add Text Printer" option, except that you are modifying the control codes for an existing MedARKS printer. Choose this option and the list of existing MedARKS printers will be displayed. Choose the printer that requires editing.
The "Printer Definition Window" will be displayed with the page eject code displayed for editing. You will rarely need to edit any of the codes that control text appearance, so simply press the <Ctrl><End> key combination to skip this section of the editing process (if you do need to edit these control codes and need assistance, contact MedARKS Technical Support). The remaining questions are the same as for the "Add Text Printer" option (see above).
Set a Default Text Printer: Just as Windows® has a default printer, MedARKS also has a default printer. When you start MedARKS, reports will be sent to this default printer unless you use the "change text printer" option to send the output to another printer. With multiple printers installed on MedARKS, this option will allow you to change the default printer. In addition, it is possible to configure MedARKS on a network so that each workstation can have a different default printer and then this option is used to set the default for each workstation (see Helpful Hint #17).
Print a Test Page: This option is self-explanatory. It sends a page of text to the currently select text printer.
written by J. Andrew Teare, DVM
Last update: 1.Feb.1999
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