Trying to merge exel print jobs
-
Hello, I'm struggeling with a bit of a problem. I got a program that prints production forms using excel. the problem is users are printing batches of 300 or more of these. The Xerox WC 3745 printer driver cant keep up with this and crashes. I'm looking for a way to merge these printer tasks. i already try'd merging the work sheets into one workbook. this didnt work to well...excel doenst like to handle more then 250 worksheets it seems. also merging all data from the worksheets into one massive worksheet doesn't work (the layout cell count ect. are not the same) anyone able to point me in a possible solution? perhaps i could catch the printer jobs and resend them as one big job? or is there a way that makes excel to do it that i just didnt find yet? following code is looped to start the print jobs in the current version:
If rbexact.Checked Then
workbook.PrintOutEx(1, 3, 1, False, verbinding.printer(), False, Collate:=True)
Else
workbook.PrintOutEx(1, 3, 1, False, DefaultPrinterName(), False, Collate:=True)
End IfHow about seeing if there is an updated printer driver first? AFAIK, there's no way to combine many print jobs into a single job without rewriting the entire job from scratch. Writing the code to do that is not what I would call a productive use of your time. It's not the most efficient solution, but how about throttling the print jobs? Send about 10 jobs at a time, wait, send another 10, wait, rinse and repeat.
A guide to posting questions on CodeProject[^]
Dave Kreskowiak -
How about seeing if there is an updated printer driver first? AFAIK, there's no way to combine many print jobs into a single job without rewriting the entire job from scratch. Writing the code to do that is not what I would call a productive use of your time. It's not the most efficient solution, but how about throttling the print jobs? Send about 10 jobs at a time, wait, send another 10, wait, rinse and repeat.
A guide to posting questions on CodeProject[^]
Dave Kreskowiakhello Dave, the drivers are already at there most recent version. the problem is on the printer tough. the printer itself gets an error and that makes the drivers crash. so unfortunately that wont help to much. I already considered making batches of jobs to send. but the crashing of the printer inst the only issue with the program (i just left less important once out to shorten the post). A other problem i had was that when other people printed documents they got lost in the pile of papers. and it already happened once that those papers got onto the work floor (witch caused the necessary panic)
-
This is going to sound like overkill, but ... 1) Create a directory on the machine which will hold a list of file names which need to be printed. 2) Create a windows service which monitors the directory by using a FileSystemWatcher, when it sees a file added to that directory it looks to the printer to see if there is a job currently printing, if so, make the job sleep for a 1 minute (or whatever). If the printer is available, then send the job. I created a Service with a FileWatcher to do all kinds of asynchronous processing and it works really well. I log messages to the Event Log for easy troubleshooting / status. http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/system.io.filesystemwatcher.aspx[^] Remember to vote. :cool:
Hello David, thanks for the idea's. the program is already creating a "spool" folder on the C:\temp to store its files before printing them. so its already using the method you described. The problem with it is that still every file is a differed printer job As a side note: i totally agree to you when we talk about overkill. this program was initially created to print like 10 forms a week. but some people found it on the network and are now "abusing" it. I have a executing function, in other words i just get a mail about these problems with a note stacked to it saying 'fix it' :~
-
hello Dave, the drivers are already at there most recent version. the problem is on the printer tough. the printer itself gets an error and that makes the drivers crash. so unfortunately that wont help to much. I already considered making batches of jobs to send. but the crashing of the printer inst the only issue with the program (i just left less important once out to shorten the post). A other problem i had was that when other people printed documents they got lost in the pile of papers. and it already happened once that those papers got onto the work floor (witch caused the necessary panic)
Nick Otten wrote:
the drivers are already at there most recent version. the problem is on the printer tough. the printer itself gets an error and that makes the drivers crash. so unfortunately that wont help to much.
If that's the case, no amount of code you write is going to fix this problem. See if there's a firmware update for the printer. If not, you're pretty much screwed. You can queue up the jobs or print onat a time, but if the printer is going to puke, there's nothing you can do about it, well, except replace the printer with a different one.
Nick Otten wrote:
I already considered making batches of jobs to send. but the crashing of the printer inst the only issue with the program (i just left less important once out to shorten the post). A other problem i had was that when other people printed documents they got lost in the pile of papers. and it already happened once that those papers got onto the work floor (witch caused the necessary panic)
This sounds like a procedural problem with people, not your app. There's isnot anything that's going to some this one, except maybe getting a printer dedicated to printing this stuff.
A guide to posting questions on CodeProject[^]
Dave Kreskowiak -
Nick Otten wrote:
the drivers are already at there most recent version. the problem is on the printer tough. the printer itself gets an error and that makes the drivers crash. so unfortunately that wont help to much.
If that's the case, no amount of code you write is going to fix this problem. See if there's a firmware update for the printer. If not, you're pretty much screwed. You can queue up the jobs or print onat a time, but if the printer is going to puke, there's nothing you can do about it, well, except replace the printer with a different one.
Nick Otten wrote:
I already considered making batches of jobs to send. but the crashing of the printer inst the only issue with the program (i just left less important once out to shorten the post). A other problem i had was that when other people printed documents they got lost in the pile of papers. and it already happened once that those papers got onto the work floor (witch caused the necessary panic)
This sounds like a procedural problem with people, not your app. There's isnot anything that's going to some this one, except maybe getting a printer dedicated to printing this stuff.
A guide to posting questions on CodeProject[^]
Dave KreskowiakThe error on the printer is coused by the speed and ammount of print job is has to swallow. if i print a file with the same amount of pages its not really a problem. I already updated the firmware to the newest version and even contacted Xerox for help. but they said the machines are just not made to handle printer tasks at the speed i send them. Anyhow i indeed think its a lost cause to save this little application. i think i'm going to make a "spool file" on a network drive where all excel templates are stored. then during night time i make one of the background threads pick it up and print them, so the forms are all done the next morning. this way i can set it to a much lower speed (like 1 file per 10 seconds and something). So all that last me now is to thank you very much for your help! :cool:
-
The error on the printer is coused by the speed and ammount of print job is has to swallow. if i print a file with the same amount of pages its not really a problem. I already updated the firmware to the newest version and even contacted Xerox for help. but they said the machines are just not made to handle printer tasks at the speed i send them. Anyhow i indeed think its a lost cause to save this little application. i think i'm going to make a "spool file" on a network drive where all excel templates are stored. then during night time i make one of the background threads pick it up and print them, so the forms are all done the next morning. this way i can set it to a much lower speed (like 1 file per 10 seconds and something). So all that last me now is to thank you very much for your help! :cool:
Nick Otten wrote:
The error on the printer is coused by the speed and ammount of print job is has to swallow. if i print a file with the same amount of pages its not really a problem. I already updated the firmware to the newest version and even contacted Xerox for help. but they said the machines are just not made to handle printer tasks at the speed i send them.
That's a load of horse shit. The speed of the jobs is dictated by the printer, not the application. The printer signals it's ready and idle to its driver on the print server (the client machine) and the spooler sends the next job. The spooler is insulating the printer from the applications print jobs. You can send as many jobs as you want as fast as you want. They all get sent to the spooler, not the printer. The printer won't know anything about it at all. This is definitely a problem for Xerox to fix, not you. Wanna try it? Swap the printer out, install the drivers and try your app unmodified on a different printer.
A guide to posting questions on CodeProject[^]
Dave Kreskowiak -
Hello, I'm struggeling with a bit of a problem. I got a program that prints production forms using excel. the problem is users are printing batches of 300 or more of these. The Xerox WC 3745 printer driver cant keep up with this and crashes. I'm looking for a way to merge these printer tasks. i already try'd merging the work sheets into one workbook. this didnt work to well...excel doenst like to handle more then 250 worksheets it seems. also merging all data from the worksheets into one massive worksheet doesn't work (the layout cell count ect. are not the same) anyone able to point me in a possible solution? perhaps i could catch the printer jobs and resend them as one big job? or is there a way that makes excel to do it that i just didnt find yet? following code is looped to start the print jobs in the current version:
If rbexact.Checked Then
workbook.PrintOutEx(1, 3, 1, False, verbinding.printer(), False, Collate:=True)
Else
workbook.PrintOutEx(1, 3, 1, False, DefaultPrinterName(), False, Collate:=True)
End IfNick Otten wrote:
I got a program that prints production forms using excel
Here is your problem - excel as a reporting tool. Wrong tool for the job. Instead of busting your balls trying to make excel do something it is fundamentally not designed to do, spend the time rewriting the printing solution to something designed to do that job.
Never underestimate the power of human stupidity RAH
-
Nick Otten wrote:
The error on the printer is coused by the speed and ammount of print job is has to swallow. if i print a file with the same amount of pages its not really a problem. I already updated the firmware to the newest version and even contacted Xerox for help. but they said the machines are just not made to handle printer tasks at the speed i send them.
That's a load of horse shit. The speed of the jobs is dictated by the printer, not the application. The printer signals it's ready and idle to its driver on the print server (the client machine) and the spooler sends the next job. The spooler is insulating the printer from the applications print jobs. You can send as many jobs as you want as fast as you want. They all get sent to the spooler, not the printer. The printer won't know anything about it at all. This is definitely a problem for Xerox to fix, not you. Wanna try it? Swap the printer out, install the drivers and try your app unmodified on a different printer.
A guide to posting questions on CodeProject[^]
Dave KreskowiakWell that's Xerox for you i guess. Or perhaps i just had a "first day helpdesk" person on the line i don't know, nor did i really care. It didn't work, they gave me that explanation. And with that it was pretty clear they didn't have a fix. Also printers aren't my responsibility so i didn't pay more attention to it. fact remains that this app was initially written for 2 people in less then a hour to print like 10 forms in a weak. I choose to use excel instead of crystal reports because users "know" how to make something in excel, while crystal reports is the scary unknown for them. Gues it was a big mistake tough, its coming back at me pretty bad now.
-
Nick Otten wrote:
I got a program that prints production forms using excel
Here is your problem - excel as a reporting tool. Wrong tool for the job. Instead of busting your balls trying to make excel do something it is fundamentally not designed to do, spend the time rewriting the printing solution to something designed to do that job.
Never underestimate the power of human stupidity RAH
The program was initially written for 2 people in less then a hour to print like 10 forms in a weak. I choose to use excel instead of crystal reports because users "know" how to make something in excel, while crystal reports is the scary unknown for them. Now however more users found out of this tool and some are using it for things it isn't really designed for. I asked my initial question to see if i could "boost" the program a bit to make it work. but i guess im just gone shake my first to them telling them they are abusing software/blocking them access.
-
The program was initially written for 2 people in less then a hour to print like 10 forms in a weak. I choose to use excel instead of crystal reports because users "know" how to make something in excel, while crystal reports is the scary unknown for them. Now however more users found out of this tool and some are using it for things it isn't really designed for. I asked my initial question to see if i could "boost" the program a bit to make it work. but i guess im just gone shake my first to them telling them they are abusing software/blocking them access.
Nick Otten wrote:
Now however more users found out of this tool and some are using it for things it isn't really designed for
You know the reward for good work right!
Never underestimate the power of human stupidity RAH