How to get an Excel looking daily schedule to print from VB6

[TheBlueDragon]

I'm new to this board, but not programming. I've been working on quoting a job for a couple of days. It's kind of like a turin test. It's easy for a 5 year old to do (granted, laborious), but difficult for a computer to do.

Not impossible, just a lot of variables and special conditions. I've figured most everything out, but the end result is a printout of the next day's class schedules. Preferrably a new page per class.

Now I'm self taught, and have been programming since B.A.S.I.C. on the TRS-80, so this could be something I missed in VB 101.

I need to create something like this, that fits on paper to be printed (or prints automatically without screen view)..

Class #: xxxx
Class Name: My Class
--------------------------------------------------------------
Student Name | (blank for sign in) | time in | etc.
--------------------------------------------------------------
Student Name | (blank for sign in) | time in | etc.
--------------------------------------------------------------
ad infinitum... (or to bottom of page, then gen new page with header, continuing where left off...)

The customer I'm quoting, is tired of writing in the student names by hand. I've figured how to compute who's in what class, when, but I've never had to print something out 'pretty' before.

Any help would be appreciated..

A URL, an object name, a smack upside the head. <g> I hate feeling stupid. I have no problems figuring out logic/syntax for problems, but have never walked this particular road before. <sigh>

Thanks for any help...

Chris "Blue Dragon"

[TheBlueDragon]

I thought it might be something to do with Crystal Reports, but I've never used it. <sigh>

I do have one question... When I compile, does the CR portion go with the program? No problem with licensing?

Thanks..

If anyone else has more info, please I can use *all* the help I can get. Even pointing out a CR tutorial online...

Chris - Blue Dragon

[techgnome]

You could use Crystal Reports, or just about any other reporting tool (capabilities & price vary)..... to do this.

When you compile, all that's stored in the EXE is a reference .... which means you would need to include the additional files needed for a CR report to run properly.
the Package and Deployment Wizard (PDW) that comes w/ VB should be able to pick it up properly, but it isn't perfect. I don't know about INNO (it's the other preferred setup app by folks here) since I've never used it, but from what I have heard, it's better than PDW.

If you have Excell, you could build it using that.... You might even see about using the Access reporting ..... jsut a thought...

TG

[TheBlueDragon]

Thanks... I don't believe the customer has Office, or I would do the whole thing in Access. <sigh> It's got to be a compiled, stand-alone VB app. (have I sighed yet? <g>)

Chris - Blue Dragon

[techgnome]

If the report isn't too fancy, you could also just use the Printer object in VB to send text and graphic lines to the printer.
It takes some doing, but it's possible.

TG

[cid]

You need to use crystal reports. It is the best report expert I have ever used. If you want you can try to use VB6's report wizard. Go under project and clikc add report wizard...
From there you are on your own. I have never used the wizard. But Crystal Reports works wonders.

[techgnome]

Originally posted by cid
You need to use crystal reports. It is the best report expert I have ever used. If you want you can try to use VB6's report wizard. Go under project and clikc add report wizard...
From there you are on your own. I have never used the wizard. But Crystal Reports works wonders.

you don't need to use anything.
I agree that CR is wonderfull.... but for such a simple appl;ication, it maynot be worth the cahs needed to get a developer's copy.....

TG

[TheBlueDragon]

Techgnome, I take it the version that shipped with my vb6 then will not work for what I need?

Do you have or know of any resources for the printer object? An indepth look, reference or tutorial?

Thanks,

Chris - Blue Dragon

[cid]

You can get a free 30 day trial of Crystal Reports 9 on the website. But you can always use the built in report expert.

[MartinSmith]

Or you could easily create your report in HTML as they are certain to have a browser installed aren't they?

[TheBlueDragon]

MartinSmith...

Funny, most of the programming I do is ASP and ColdFusion for web. I *never* thought of doing it in HTML.

The only problem I see is that when I create the report in HTML, how do I format it for the printer? I know I can format it for the screen, but page breaks, etc?

Thanks for all your help - everyone...

Chris - Blue Dragon

[MartinSmith]

I'm not sure that you can specify page breaks (apart from of course by splitting the report into multiple documents) and you would be delegating quite a lot of responsibility for rendering to the browser so maybe this wouldn't be such a suitable approach if you need a fine level of control over how it looks/prints.

The advantages though over a 3rd party tool would of course be that it is a non proprietary format and free!

[TheBlueDragon]

Thanks for everyone's help.. I've been playing with the 'Data Report Designer'. It seems to be *exactly* what I need. Now I need to find a way to feed it the info I need it to print 'on-the-fly' rather then drag/drop from a query or table.

But that's the fun part.. The digging into the code and making it work.

Again, thanks for EVERYONE's input.

Chris - Blue Dragon