PRINT

While you edit your files, you can print DBF records (either a single current record, or a range of records), as well as whole texts and text blocks: use the Printer option of the Toolbar to do that. Star4Win will generate an RTF preview of the record or range of records which you can view or modify before actually sending to the printer.

To obtain more sophisticated reports and printouts Star4Win can generate database reports in RTF format which can be viewed, edited, saved and printed like any text files.

If you choose the Print option from the File menu, you will be presented a table with several options. This table is actually a special database file with the extension .prt. It will contain the list of your database fields (displayed as records) and a number of special columns [we will use the term 'column' here to avoid confusion between fields in the .prt file and fields in your database file which are here displayed as records]. The columns are called:

1. NEWFN - a character column which contains names of your database fields.You can change any of these names or delete any of them (if you do not want the field header to be printed).
2. PRFD - a logical column specifying whether any particular field should be printed or not.
3. PRFN - a logical column specifying whether the field name (field header) should be printed or not.
4. MINI - a logical column specifying whether a particular field should be printed in a condensed (petit) font or not.
5. ITALIC - a logical column for italic printing.
6. SUBSCR - a logical column for underscored printing.
7. DOUBLE - a logical column for bold (doublestrike) printing.
8. OPDELIM - a character column where you can specify opening delimiters for a particular field.
9. CLDELIM - a character column where you can specify closing delimiters for a particular field.
10. LNFD - a numeric column. Its 0 content means that a particular field will be printed without linefeed (i.e. immediately after the preceding field). A non-zero value means that the field will be printed on a new line, with the indent width specified in LNFD.
11. BLFD - a logical column, instructing the printing program either to print blank fields either as spaces (if the content of BLFD is Y) or to skip them.
12. HYPHEN - a logical column, instructing the printing program to print hyphens instead of blank fields.
13. SUBORD - a character column, containing the names of subordinate files to be printed (if any).
14. AFTPRINT - a logical column, regulating the order of fields to be printed. If a subordinate file is specified in the field SUBORD, its contents will be printed immediately after the basic file field if AFTPRINT is set to .F., but only after all basic file fields are printed if AFTPRINT is set to .T.. If no subordinate file is specified in the field SUBORD, the respective file field itself will be printed in the normal order if AFTPRINT is set to .F., but after all other fields if AFTPRINT is set to .T. All this allows for much freedom while formatting your printed output from database files.

Once you finish editing the .prt table, its contents will be remembered and you will not have to edit it again (unless you wish to change some parameters). However, the table will appear on the screen each time before you start printing. Just close the window or press the Print icon on the Toolbar to proceed if you do not wish to change its contents.

[NB: You may also edit .prt files in the standard BROWSE/EDIT modes. If you do so, you will note that there are some other columns there which are not shown within the printing program: FIELD_NAME which still contains the field names of your database, even though you may have changed them in NEWFN; FIELD_TYPE containing the type of each field; and POLYPRINT which automatically contains Y (T) in the first record if subordinate file printing is specified in SUBORD. You should not try to change contents of these fields: this will probably crash your printed output.]

After you finish editing the .prt, you will be presented with a dialog box concerning your immediate printing requirements (margins, lines per inch, lines per page, number of records to be printed.).

Next an .rtf file will be generated and shown to you. Its contents can also be modified like the contents of any other text file. You can then send it to the printer or save it on disk for further use.