Automation to set duplex works on HP but not Dell printer

[richardb]

Refering to KB 828638, which is code that makes API calls to set a printer to
duplex or single side. I execute this procedure (exactly as in the article)
from Access prior to activating word and printing a job. Domain servier is
Windows 2003, work stations are XP Prof. All printers are networked with IP
addresses. Works great from work station to HP1320 printer, but completely
hangs when default printer is Dell M5200. Works to any printer running from
server. We had to install Dell driver locally. Anyone come across this? Any
thoughts? See article below. Thanks.

http://support.microsoft.com/?scid=kb;en-us;828638&spid=2530&sid=251

 

[Jonathan West]

Refering to KB 828638, which is code that makes API calls to set a printer
to
duplex or single side. I execute this procedure (exactly as in the
article)
from Access prior to activating word and printing a job. Domain servier is
Windows 2003, work stations are XP Prof. All printers are networked with
IP
addresses. Works great from work station to HP1320 printer, but completely
hangs when default printer is Dell M5200. Works to any printer running
from
server. We had to install Dell driver locally. Anyone come across this?
Any
thoughts? See article below. Thanks.

http://support.microsoft.com/?scid=kb;en-us;828638&spid=2530&sid=251

You might like to take a look at this article & see if the associated code
works

Controlling the Printer from Word VBA
Part 2: Using VBA to control Duplex, Color Mode and Print Quality
http://pubs.logicalexpressions.com/Pub0009/LPMArticle.asp?ID=116


--
Regards
Jonathan West - Word MVP
www.intelligentdocuments.co.uk
Please reply to the newsgroup
Keep your VBA code safe, sign the ClassicVB petition www.classicvb.org

 

[richardb]

Hello Jonathan,
Thanks. That code is basically what I used. Two problems are occuring: 1)
The duplex/simplex setting does not seem to work to network printers where
the work station is simply attached to the (non-local) network printer (not
local). We needed to install a local copy of the driver and push the network
printer with the local driver. Will this result in crashes or contention
issues if multiple work stations (each with a local driver) try to print to
the network printer?, and 2) In our automation environment where Access
produces the data and then launches the mailmerge document, we are often
losing the link from the document to the data source. Is this inherently a
problem with MS Office 2003?
Thanks...

 

[Jonathan West]

Hello Jonathan,
Thanks. That code is basically what I used. Two problems are occuring: 1)
The duplex/simplex setting does not seem to work to network printers where
the work station is simply attached to the (non-local) network printer
(not
local). We needed to install a local copy of the driver and push the
network
printer with the local driver.

Yes, the code will only work when a local copy of the driver is installed

Will this result in crashes or contention
issues if multiple work stations (each with a local driver) try to print
to
the network printer?,

No. The network protocols for printer sharing handle that irrespective of
whether the print file was assembled using a local driver or a network
driver.

and 2) In our automation environment where Access
produces the data and then launches the mailmerge document, we are often
losing the link from the document to the data source. Is this inherently a
problem with MS Office 2003?

That is an entirely new and separate question. I'm not much of an expert on
mailmerge, so I'm not going to guess at an answer. To ensure that the right
experts see this, I suggest you repost this problem with a new title and at
the start of a new thread, and crosspost it to the group
microsoft.public.word.mailmerge.fields

--
Regards
Jonathan West - Word MVP
www.intelligentdocuments.co.uk
Please reply to the newsgroup
Keep your VBA code safe, sign the ClassicVB petition www.classicvb.org

 

[richardb]

Thank you very much, Jonathan. I believe this was not the first time that you
helped me.