Fastbase

Determine if printing to a windows printer or UNC printer.

If the system asks for a Printer, it is using a Windows printer.
If the system asks for an Output Device, it is using a UNC printer.

Windows printers:

If a user cannot print an e-mail or word document to the windows printer, then there is a problem with the printer set-up, not FastBase.
A user needs to check what they are printing from FastBase. For example, some users try printing customer statements but the chosen customer and date range produces nothing. This is not a printing issue.
Try printing an invoice to the windows printer. Does this work?
If any pop up message appears while trying to print, note it down and ask your FastBase support staff for advise.
If the message says "You cannot print until you have installed ... then follow the instructions in the pop up message window.

UNC Printers:

Go to the computer that the printer is attached to.
Click on Start Settings Printers and Faxes.
Right click on the printer and select Sharing.
Double check that the printer is shared. Note down the share name.
Log into FastBase on the same computer.
On the FastBase main menu, click on Utilities Printers.
Select the printer.
The UNC name should be \\computer_name\share_name.
The computer's name will be displayed to the right of the UNC name field.

NOTE:
Double check that the UNC name matches. Check for any blank spaces that may appear in the UNC name.

If you make any changes then try printing again to check if it is possible.
Make sure something is actually being printed. Try printing to screen to double check that FastBase is producing some output.

If nothing is still printing, then try the following:

Click on Start - Run CMD (command for windows 98 users).
Change to the fastbase folder, usually X:\NEW (do this by typing X: then CD \NEW ).
Type COPY AS.TCL \\UNC\NAME

This should print the file as.tcl. If it does not print anything, then try typing the following command:

Type COPY /a AS.TCL \\UNC\NAME

Does this print anything? If it does then we need to edit the setup.dat file and add the following line into it:

set setup(print_copy_options) /a

If neither of these two prints anything then there is something wrong with windows and the printer set-up. Perhaps the printer is configured incorrectly.
Right click on the printer (from printers and faxes) then select properties.
Some printers (not all) have an option called Spooling. Check this is set to RAW mode rather than EMF mode if this option is available.

Other Options:
Delete the printer and re-install it. Confirm that a test page prints after re-installation.

Re-start the computer that is having problems printing from FastBase by turning power off and back on again. Make sure all applications are closed before re-starting.

Re-start the server by turning power off and back on again. Once re-started, re-start all client machines and try printing.

Got to the command prompt on the machine having problems printing from FastBase and type in the following:
net view \\UNC
This should bring up all the shared printers.

MS-DOS Support:
Check with the printer vendor or technical support if the printer supports DOS based printing.
If it does not support DOS printing then FastBase cannot print reports directly to the printer. Users will need to send reports to screen and print them from there (this uses the windows printer method).

Security:
Check with the printer vendor or technical support if the printer has any user authentication or security restrictions.

This document is a work in progress and will get updated from time to time.

Note:

For more information on printing from FastBase, see Installing FastBase on a Workstation Computer and Utilities - Printers.