Following are the setup steps:
- Go to Report node property palette:
In the Object Navigator, click the Reports node, then click Property palette in the toolbar.
Double-click (the properties icon) next to the report node to display the Property Palette. or just press F4 on the report icon
Under the Report node, set the Width and Height properties as desired (e.g., 11 (or 15) width x 8.5 height for landscape or 8.5 width x 11 (or 15) height for portrait).
Under the Character Mode node:
Set Design In Character Units to Yes.
- Go to Layout model property palette:
Under header section, character mode:
Set the Report Width and Report Height to the appropriate character-mode dimensions for the report (e.g., 132 (or 180) width x 66 height for landscape or 102 width x 85 (or 116) height for portrait).
Similarly perform the same for main section and trailer section.
- Go to object navigator:
Open the property palette of system parameter - Mode
Under the Parameter node, set the Initial Value property to Character.
- Go to Layout model view:
It displays the Ruler Settings dialog box.
Set Units to Character Cells and Number of Snap Points Per Grid Spacing to 1. Click OK.
Click View in the menu bar and make sure that Snap to Grid is checked.
Choose ToolsPreferences to display the Preferences dialog box.
On the Preferences page, set Horizontal Interfield to 1 and Vertical Interfield to 0. Click OK.
Choose FormatFont, and select the font, style, and size that most closely approximates the character-mode font (e.g., Courier, Regular, 12 point).
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Convert an already existing Bitmap report to Character mode report:
Start the Reports Builder and select File->Administration->Convert.
This process creates a new character-mode version using your original bitmap
report. Your original bitmap report remains unchanged.
When the Convert Dialog box appears, set your entries as follows:
Document Type: Report
Source Type: RDF File
Source: path\filename
Destination Type: RDF File
Destination: path\filename
Next, click on the Options tab, and Select "Character" as your destination
unit. Click OK at the bottom of the Convert Dialog box to create your new
character mode report.
In the conversion process, be aware that many of your fields and text objects
may need to be resized. Also, graphical objects such as ellipses will not be
included in your newly converted report.
Character mode reports used as they have efficient printing on dot-matrix printers
