Report Library - Special

Citizen.sty - Sample receipt docket for Citizen iDP3550 printer

This form shows how it may be possible to utilise the Citizen iDP3550 docket receipt printer with Visual Builder. The form assumes that the Citizen Business Machines Windows printer driver iDP-3550 is installed and that the paper size for this driver has been set to 3 inch by 6 inch roll paper. Switch settings are assumed to be set to factory defaults. Be sure that the CR + LF switch is set, otherwise the printer may not space down properly.

The iDP3550 does not appear to be a printer that would normally be though of as "Windows compatible." It cannot, for example, print graphics. As well, the supplier printer driver has a number of problems and limitations. Keep in mind the following points:

• The Visual Builder print preview is unlikely to correspond to the printed output.

• Any text lines that exceed the width of the paper may result in additional and usually unexpected line feeds.

• You can only use printer only fonts with this printer. Other font selections will be ignored.

• The printer only fonts do not always work correctly or consistently.

• Changing the form may result in printed lines appearing in the wrong locations on the form. There seems to be no logical pattern to this behaviour so it is likely to be a limitation of the printer driver; namely, it's inability to correctly translate GDI data into text lines. Were it not for this problem, the printer and driver combination would probably be satisfactory for use with Visual Builder.

Given the problem inherent in using this printer and driver it is recommended that this form only be used as a last option. It is strongly recommended that a docket printer that supports graphics and is fully Windows compatible be used instead.

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