Digital Workshop

BTW, based on the print.exe issue, I ran this with an Opus 4.0 publication an it does print to network / PDF.

Mack

Mack --

Are you saying if your printer is connected with a parallel cable then Print.exe will work, but it won't if you are using a USB cable? That would explain why this worked for me in the past.

I think most printers today use USB cables...

print.exe works with no problem on my Win XP Pro using a USB cable.

Okay, am deleting this post as solving problems after midnight is not wise.

Fred, Paul (DW) post below is most likely the answer .

Mack

I don't believe Opus uses print.exe but rather perhaps that print.exe uses the same functionality as Opus. Dave tells me Opus uses richtx32.ocx which may not be registered properly on systems giving problems. this would also explain why it particularly affects Vista users.

It was important to sort this is because we're updating the print functionality at this very moment. The new printing code will avoid the OCX problem in any case but in the meantime anyone having problems try to register richtx32.ocx properly and see if that works as we'll need to look elsewhere if not.

Inevitably, all the examples of failure sent to support so far work fine here.

Paul

Got Mack's file printing on Vista eventually.
Vista (fresh install) was not recognizing the .rtf file format, so the print failed. This used to be picked up by Wordpad on XP, but I had to associate rtf with Wordpad manually -- still no luck.
Installed Office 2007 Pro, setup rtf files to be opened with Word and the print works ok now.

Paul

Cheer Paul (both),

Paul, the file was created in Office :-!

The registering of the richtx32.ocx does appear to be an issue as if it's not registered nothing prints.

For those that want to register the OCX manually to see if this solves the problem do this under XP.

1. make sure that richtx.ocx is in the system32 folder.
2. click START, run and enter CMD
3. tyep Regsvr32 richtx32.ocx

You'll get a prompt saying whether it worked.

Under Vista this isn't quite so easy as you need admin.

1. Click START
2. in the run / search box type command
3. At the top of the menu, right click and drag and drop command onto the desktop creating a shortcut.
4. Right click on this shortcut and run as admin.
5. follow instructions for XP above.

You'll also get a prompt saying it was successful.

As Paul points out there is an issue with RTF files so unless you've got office installed - don't use the example I posted as it won't work anyway.

Mack - awake now!

Mack --

I wish I had GOOD NEWS to report, but I don't. Using my XP computer, I ran tests with OPUS 4.5, 5.5 and 6.0 in which I created Button Objects which were to Print: 1) the Current Page; 2) an Object on Current Page; 3) Text from Page #2; AND 4) an external file (Test_Text.txt).

In every case I was able to successfully print using the first three Buttons. Even after following your clear directions to register RichTx32.ocx, none of my Buttons in any version of OPUS did anything when trying to print my txt file.

I just opened Windows Explorer and highlighted Test_Text.txt, then I did a right mouse click and selected "Print". The file printed successfully through Windows Explorer, so I know my printer works, and the file can be printed.

I'm fairly sure I've used OPUS to print an external file years ago. I'm still baffled as to why this works on your XP computer, but not mine...

FYI - When I run your Print.EXE file, nothing happens, but when I press ESC, I get a Windows Error Msg that "Print.exe has encountered a problem and needs to close."

All,

I would like to say I can print text and RTF files from Opus but I can't. I re-registered the OCX as described by Mack and tried several of my own pubs as well as Mack's example but to no avail. I do access the printers through USB connections not a network.

I have the same problem as Fred.

Hi,

Used Mack's samples and printed OK on a Vista machine without registering anything.

Kind Regards,

odder and odder....

following on from Paul's idea about installing Office under Vista, I ran the print.exe on a clean XP install and got the same problem and crash.

I then installed Office 2007 Pro and every worked fine.

Another clean install and this time ran with Office 2000 Pro and again everything now works fine.

At this point, I decided to see what would happen if I blocked access to the Office files by renaming the Microsoft Office and print.exe had a hissy fit.

Something odd is happening.

I created a new publication and used a standard text file (TXT) and repeat the above - same results on a clean XP it crashes but with Office Pro installed it ran perfectly.

I then used a file checker to see what was happening in the background and as suspected with Office installed running the Opus Publication was making lots of calls to various Office files but besides showing this - nothing else was evident.

If other people can post whether they have office and what version and whether it makes and difference - it might shed some light on this.

Mack

That's some keen sleuthing Mac.

I wonder if MS Works brings some of the same functionality/background-utilities... even if MS Office is not there?

If so, it seems MS Works was more routinely bundled with Windows systems for WinXP and earlier. However, with Vista machines MS Works may or may not come as part of the bundled software.

MS Works came installed with my Vista computer, but print.exe did not give the expected result until Office was installed.

Paul

I've got MS Office 2003 installed with Word, Excel, PPT, etc, but I can NOT print an external file (Txt or RTF) using any OPUS (4.5, 5.5, 6.0) or Mack's sample...

Hi,

I have Office 2007 installed on a Vista machine and can print a TXT file without difficulty using 6.4.

HTH

Stephen