RE: page n of x

You're right. I was referring to a simple report program, without any
advanced printing functions.

If you use advanced printing functions then you would have to copy the spool
file to a disk file.

        -----Original Message-----
        From:   Gary Guthrie [SMTP:GaryGuthrie@home.com]
        Sent:   Wednesday, September 06, 2000 10:33 AM
        To:     RPG400-L@midrange.com
        Subject:        Re: page n of x

        The problem with that approach is that it won't always work (without
a
        full-blown report writer). Writing the information to a disk file
and
        then simply dumping it to a spooled file doesn't account for the
more
        advanced features of printing.

        You would need EXTENSIVE formatting type information for various
        attributes, etc. Not to mention the problems with overlays,
barcodes,
        etc.

        Gary Guthrie
        REAL Solutions Technical Support
        NEWS/400 Technical Editor



        "York, Albert" wrote:
        > 
        > I ran into this problem many years ago. I had a boss who insisted
on it. The
        > most efficient method I found was to generate the report to a disk
file,
        > keeping track of the number of pages. Then I had a generic program
which
        > read the file and dumped it to a spool file, inserting the number
of pages
        > where appropriate. I put a special character in the first byte of
the line
        > where the page number was, so I wouldn't have to scan every line.
It worked
        > well and had the advantage of making reprints easy, as long as the
file was
        > still around. We kept them in a special library and purged them
once a
        > month.
        > 
        > There's no reason to write to a spool file on the first pass. It
just adds
        > extra work when you convert it to a disk file.
        > 
        > You definitely don't want to make two passes against the data.
        > 
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