Trouble-Shooting Guide

Why are some characters missing or cut off when I print reports or forms? (Or you may be getting double lines when the print preview shows single lines, or boxes or circles may not appear on the printed copy, etc. In other words, the print preview shows objects that do not appear on the printed copy or are in some way distorted.)

The printer driver attached to the form is not completely compatible with the printer you are printing to. Check the selected printer driver by examining the parent form's properties. Click on to view these.

Has the correct brand and model been selected? You should always try to run the exact brand and model. Even similar but different printer models may have significant printing differences.

Another issue to keep in mind is that sometimes newer printer drivers may contain more bugs than earlier versions. Try printing the form using an earlier model (but same brand) printer driver. Does the form now print correctly? It may print correctly in some areas but then have new problems. If this is the case report the problem to the print driver manufacturer or see if "patches" or later versions of the problem print driver can be obtained.

I am getting the message "the printer attached to xxx.sty is no longer available. The default printer has been selected." I've checked inside the form and the printer is set to my printer so why am I getting this message?

This means that the form was originally created on another system with a printer driver you do not have access to. This is not normally a problem as Visual Builder will automatically use the default printer driver as specified on your system. In some cases a form may have been created for a printer that has a larger printed page then the printer you are using. You may have to move print objects within the grid area of the form if this is the case.

To prevent this message from occurring each time you access the form, load the form into the forms editor and press the save button. This will save the form with the new printer driver attached to it.

Why isn't the alignment on my print preview exactly the same as my printed copy? In particular, fonts seem to be slightly off their correct positions or appear wider or shorter on paper.

Visual Builder depends on and is limited by the font scaling technology built into Windows. Which, sadly, is not always particularly accurate in its representation of the true width of fonts when displaying them onto a video screen. (Microsoft made a conscious decision to sacrifice true accuracy for rendering the most readable fonts on screen.) Higher resolution video cards will be more accurate. You can also experiment with different zoom levels to see which level gives you the best matching paper and screen representation. Unfortunately it is often necessary to "tweak" the positions of the fonts on your form once you have completed its overall layout.

Why do my columns of data overprint each other on the page?

The most common reason for overprinting is when a field is unintentionally anchored to a margin. Objects (such as fields) that anchored to margins are carried onto each page. This can result in new information being printed over the top of old information. You will know if you have this problem if the first page of printing is okay, but subsequent pages have overprinted text.

To fix this problem decrease the bounding area of the anchor margins. Or turn them off completely if you do not require them. This can be done by setting the left and right margins of the form to 0.

Visual Builder seems stuck on printing the same page over and over again.

Check to ensure that you do not have more than one body section accidentally copied onto your form, with no fields specified in the additional body section or sections. From the editor menu select Edit|Body Management. Delete any redundant body objects from your form.

Visual Builder becomes very sluggish or hangs after I load a picture.

The picture file may be too large or complex. Remember that Windows prints graphic files very slowly. It is usually not practical to include large, complex graphical files on forms or reports. Use a paint program to reduce the size (if possible) and the number of colours used in the graphical image. Two colour (monochrome) graphics will produce the best results. Colour images should be limited to 16 colours where possible.

Why doesn't my subtotal appear on my last group?

If you have the Keep with Previous option set for your grand total, this will overwrite the last subtotal. Untick this option for the first grand total.

Why do I get 'A heading in body 1 is aligned with a column that no longer exists' or similar type of message?

You have deleted a field column but not the group that was assigned to that column. Select Body Properties, click on the Groups & Totals tab button and remove the group that no longer applies. If you're not sure which one no longer applies, inspect each group. If the Align With edit box is blank, then remove that group.

Why won't my bar code reader recognise the bar codes I print?

The two main things to check are:

1. Is your bar code reader capable of recognising the bar code symbology you are using? Virtually no bar code reader can recognise all the different types of bar code formats offered by Visual Builder. If you are printing, for example, Code 128 bar codes, is your reader capable of recognising them? If so, have you then "switched on" recognition of this format? Refer to your bar code reader instruction manual for information on how to switch on recognition of different bar code symbologies.

Keep in mind also that turning on recognition of some symbologies may make it impossible for the bar code reader to recognise other symbologies. Try deactivating recognition of all sympologies except for the one you are trying to get the reader to recognise.

2. Are you printing the bar code with the required parameters? For example, if you are printing Code 93 bar codes, do you require a checksum code to be included?

If you are not sure, experimentation with settings may be required in order to get your scanner to recognise your printed bar codes.

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