Microsoft KB Archive/172853

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The information in this article applies to:


 * Microsoft FoxPro for Windows, versions 2.5, 2.5a, 2.5b, 2.6, 2.6a
 * Microsoft FoxPro for Macintosh, versions 2.5b, 2.5c, 2.6a

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SUMMARY
Attempting to route a report to an ASCII text file from FoxPro 2.x for MS- DOS using the command REPORT FORM TO FILE, creates an ASCII text file without printer control codes. However, attempting to route a report to an ASCII text file from FoxPro for Macintosh using the command REPORT FORM TO FILE, creates an ASCII text file with embedded printer control codes.

In FoxPro 2.x for Windows, the simplest way to create an ASCII text file from a report is to use the Generic/Text only printer driver within Windows. However, if for some reason you cannot install this printer driver, you can use the following sample code as a workaround. The sample code below creates a report programmatically and sends it to an ASCII text file.

MORE INFORMATION
If printer control codes are present in an ASCII text file, they can cause significant difficulties when you try to share the file with another application or user. The sample code below illustrates hot to use low-level file input and output (I/O) functions to create an ASCII text output file with headers and footers.

Sample Code
  *begin program m.usefile=sys(2004)             && get the start up directory * add a path to the clients file m.usefile=m.usefile+"sample\organize\dbfs\clients.dbf" USE (m.usefile)                 && use the clients table gnhandle=FCREATE('output.txt',0) && create an output file * set up some variables to track pagination gnpage=1                        && page count variable gnlines=0                       && line count variable GO TOP                          && go to the first record * Now loop through the table DO WHILE !EOF * If the number of lines is 0, put in a page header IF gnlines>=65 gnlines=0                 && reset the line count to 0 gnpage=gnpage+1           && increment the page count ENDIF DO CASE CASE gnlines=0 =pagehead               && procedure to write page header LOOP CASE gnlines=56 =pagefoot               && procedure to write page footer LOOP OTHERWISE gnlines=gnlines+1         && increment the line count * concatenate four character fields out_line=client_id+SPACE(3)+company+SPACE(3)+city+SPACE(3)+state =FPUTS(gnhandle,out_line) && output the string to the ASCII file * FPUTS automatically adds a carriage return & line feed * change fputs to fwrite if you want to control insertion of        * the carriage return & line feed characters SKIP                      && skip to the next record ENDCASE ENDDO * If not at the end of the page, pad blank lines IF gnlines<56 out_line="" FOR i=gnlines TO 56 =FPUTS(gnhandle,out_line) gnlines=gnlines+1 NEXT =pagefoot                  && write the page footer ENDIF =FCLOSE(gnhandle)               && close the open output file RETURN

PROCEDURE pagehead =spacer                       && insert blank lines * Place the title into the file out_line="This is Sample ASCII Text Output" gnlines=gnlines+1               && increment the line count =FPUTS(gnhandle,out_line)       && write the page header =spacer                       && insert blank lines RETURN

PROCEDURE pagefoot =spacer                       && insert blank lines * Place the date and page number in the footer of the file out_line=DTOC(DATE)+SPACE(50)+"Page "+LTRIM(STR(gnpage)) =FPUTS(gnhandle,out_line)       && write the page footer =spacer                       && insert blank lines gnlines=0                       && reset the line count to 0 gnpage=gnpage+1                 && increment the page count RETURN

PROCEDURE spacer * Padding four lines in this loop out_line="" FOR i=1 TO 4 gnlines=gnlines+1 =FPUTS(gnhandle,out_line) NEXT RETURN *end of program file