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#1
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Problem with printing reports
Hi,
I have this user who is having trouble with the print options for reports for certain reports. The person sets the report to print to the default printer. This is the desired and necessary setting since people are accessing the database from multiple locations and it is important for security reasons for reports from other people not to be spitting out of the printer in his area without his knowledge. He sets the printer to default printer and it's fine for a while. Eventually the printer switches to specific printer, with the printer in his area being specified. This happens to users in another location who are unlikely to know the name of his printer, much less have a reason to print to it. I have searched google and Microsoft's site and have not seen a single mention of a problem of this nature. I haven't been able to duplicate the problem on my own test machines, but I also haven't had an opportunity to try it with the DB that is exhibiting this behavior yet. It occourred to me on Friday that this may be a PEBKAC issue with someone else in his area switching it to specific printer and saving it. I'm not sure if there is even anyone else in his area accessing this DB though, and I am pretty sure that he would have mentioned the problem to anyone working on this DB. I am going to check on this possibility Monday, but I was wondering if anyone had seen anything like this before. Thanks! ~ endus ~~ at ~ endus ~ dot ~~ com ~ But what the hell. It is a good & healthy thing to have a fine fat steak & a bottle of good Kentucky bourbon & order cameras from Hong Kong & generally feel rich. - Hunter S. Thompson |
#2
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Problem with printing reports
Endus,
Your comment "someone else in his area switching it to specific printer and saving it" makes me wonder whether you have multiple users accessing the same application file. If this is the case, I can't suggest a specific explanation for the printing problem, but this configuration is "asking for trouble". Consider placing the core data tables in a separate MDB file on the server, and linking to this backend from individual application frontend files installed separately on each workstation. Also consider saving these applications as MDE format, in which case users will not be able to change the settings. I apologise if I have misinterpreted your situation. Please post back if you need further help with this. -- Steve Schapel, Microsoft Access MVP endus wrote: Hi, I have this user who is having trouble with the print options for reports for certain reports. The person sets the report to print to the default printer. This is the desired and necessary setting since people are accessing the database from multiple locations and it is important for security reasons for reports from other people not to be spitting out of the printer in his area without his knowledge. He sets the printer to default printer and it's fine for a while. Eventually the printer switches to specific printer, with the printer in his area being specified. This happens to users in another location who are unlikely to know the name of his printer, much less have a reason to print to it. I have searched google and Microsoft's site and have not seen a single mention of a problem of this nature. I haven't been able to duplicate the problem on my own test machines, but I also haven't had an opportunity to try it with the DB that is exhibiting this behavior yet. It occourred to me on Friday that this may be a PEBKAC issue with someone else in his area switching it to specific printer and saving it. I'm not sure if there is even anyone else in his area accessing this DB though, and I am pretty sure that he would have mentioned the problem to anyone working on this DB. I am going to check on this possibility Monday, but I was wondering if anyone had seen anything like this before. Thanks! ~ endus ~~ at ~ endus ~ dot ~~ com ~ But what the hell. It is a good & healthy thing to have a fine fat steak & a bottle of good Kentucky bourbon & order cameras from Hong Kong & generally feel rich. - Hunter S. Thompson |
#3
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Problem with printing reports
On Sun, 23 May 2004 06:55:15 +1200, Steve Schapel
wrote: Endus, Your comment "someone else in his area switching it to specific printer and saving it" makes me wonder whether you have multiple users accessing the same application file. If this is the case, I can't suggest a specific explanation for the printing problem, but this configuration is "asking for trouble". Consider placing the core data tables in a separate MDB file on the server, and linking to this backend from individual application frontend files installed separately on each workstation. Also consider saving these applications as MDE format, in which case users will not be able to change the settings. I apologise if I have misinterpreted your situation. Please post back if you need further help with this. Thanks for the reply. I'm actually not sure of the exact scope of how many people are accessing this, or even whether there IS someone else in the area accessing it...that was just something that popped into my head this weekend. I am going to get a copy of the DB and get a better idea of how many users are actually using this thing on Monday. Thanks for the suggestions though. Why they chose me to troubleshoot this when my DB knowledge is...not so good...is a mystery to me, but I will absolutely examine the ideas you suggest. The very fact that multiple users are accessing this from different locations make me think that a more robust design might be a good idea whether it's related to this problem or not. I will post back again on this issue...I always like to leave google with a complete record. Thanks! ~ endus ~~ at ~ endus ~ dot ~~ com ~ But what the hell. It is a good & healthy thing to have a fine fat steak & a bottle of good Kentucky bourbon & order cameras from Hong Kong & generally feel rich. - Hunter S. Thompson |
#4
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Problem with printing reports
On Sat, 22 May 2004 16:23:49 -0400, endus wrote:
I will post back again on this issue...I always like to leave google with a complete record. Okay, still need suggestions on this. The deal is this: The user I deal with is the only one in his area who uses the DB. This is actualy happening with several Access 97 databases as well. The DB will be fine for awhile, then the preferences in Print Setup for a given report will randomly flip to his printer. This is happening for users who do not even have his printer set up on their machine...so I have no idea how *that* works. He will find copies of the report printed by users in another building on his printer days after they were printed. I tried to duplicate the issue multiple times with separate users on different machines with different printers. I was unable to get it to display the wrong printer in Print Setup. However, I did notice that if I went into the Print Setup dialog twice when displaying a given report it would flip from Default Printer being selected to Specific Printer being selected. Despiet this, it would always have the correct printer for that user/machine selected, but why should this setting be changing *at all* even if it is still specifying the correct printer for that user/machine??? It seems to me that it should be set to default printer no matter what. Anyone have any ideas on this? I am really confused how users could be printing reports to a printer that is not even set up on their machine. ~ endus ~~ at ~ endus ~ dot ~~ com ~ But what the hell. It is a good & healthy thing to have a fine fat steak & a bottle of good Kentucky bourbon & order cameras from Hong Kong & generally feel rich. - Hunter S. Thompson |
#5
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Problem with printing reports
Endus,
You didn't respond yet to my earlier post. Where is the application running from? Is the database configured as a frontend/backend split system? If so, does each user have their own copy of the application? Is the file in mdb or mde format? -- Steve Schapel, Microsoft Access MVP endus wrote: Okay, still need suggestions on this. The deal is this: The user I deal with is the only one in his area who uses the DB. This is actualy happening with several Access 97 databases as well. The DB will be fine for awhile, then the preferences in Print Setup for a given report will randomly flip to his printer. This is happening for users who do not even have his printer set up on their machine...so I have no idea how *that* works. He will find copies of the report printed by users in another building on his printer days after they were printed. I tried to duplicate the issue multiple times with separate users on different machines with different printers. I was unable to get it to display the wrong printer in Print Setup. However, I did notice that if I went into the Print Setup dialog twice when displaying a given report it would flip from Default Printer being selected to Specific Printer being selected. Despiet this, it would always have the correct printer for that user/machine selected, but why should this setting be changing *at all* even if it is still specifying the correct printer for that user/machine??? It seems to me that it should be set to default printer no matter what. Anyone have any ideas on this? I am really confused how users could be printing reports to a printer that is not even set up on their machine. ~ endus ~~ at ~ endus ~ dot ~~ com ~ But what the hell. It is a good & healthy thing to have a fine fat steak & a bottle of good Kentucky bourbon & order cameras from Hong Kong & generally feel rich. - Hunter S. Thompson |
#6
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Problem with printing reports
On Wed, 26 May 2004 14:42:51 +1200, Steve Schapel
wrote: Endus, You didn't respond yet to my earlier post. Where is the application running from? Is the database configured as a frontend/backend split system? If so, does each user have their own copy of the application? Is the file in mdb or mde format? Sorry about that. This is just an MDB file that people are passing around via shares on the network. Probably not the best way to do it, but that's the situation. I suggested that it might be a good idea to split it up, but this is happening with some smaller files that aren't worth the effort as well as some larger files that might be. ~ endus ~~ at ~ endus ~ dot ~~ com ~ But what the hell. It is a good & healthy thing to have a fine fat steak & a bottle of good Kentucky bourbon & order cameras from Hong Kong & generally feel rich. - Hunter S. Thompson |
#7
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Problem with printing reports
endus wrote: split it up, but this is happening with some smaller files that aren't worth the effort The effort involved with this is very small. It is not a difficult job. I am frankly as much in the dark as you regarding the specific causes of the printer setup problem. But if you have multiple users of the same application, with access to the design facilities, this kind of thing is possible. Whereas if each user has their own copy of the frontend application on their local machine, preferably as an MDE format, I would expect the risks to be eliminated. -- Steve Schapel, Microsoft Access MVP |
#8
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Problem with printing reports
On Thu, 27 May 2004 06:06:55 +1200, Steve Schapel
wrote: endus wrote: split it up, but this is happening with some smaller files that aren't worth the effort The effort involved with this is very small. It is not a difficult job. I am frankly as much in the dark as you regarding the specific causes of the printer setup problem. But if you have multiple users of the same application, with access to the design facilities, this kind of thing is possible. Whereas if each user has their own copy of the frontend application on their local machine, preferably as an MDE format, I would expect the risks to be eliminated. Thanks for the suggestion. This sure is a wierd problem. I tend to doubt that anyone is specifically changing the printer since they wouldn't even know which to change it to, but you definitely might be right that their ability to edit the DB is what allows it to get changed. I will bring this up as a possible resolution. Since I posted this I found two references online to a similar problem. No one seemed to have any idea in either of these places either, other than that it may be related to opening the DB with different versions of Access which I don't think is the case in my situation. For posterity, here are the links... http://www.experts-exchange.com/Data..._20761664.html http://groups.google.com/groups?hl=e...30%26hl%3 Den ~ endus ~~ at ~ endus ~ dot ~~ com ~ But what the hell. It is a good & healthy thing to have a fine fat steak & a bottle of good Kentucky bourbon & order cameras from Hong Kong & generally feel rich. - Hunter S. Thompson |
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