How to programmatically set the number of copies for a report (251236)

SUMMARY

In Microsoft Visual FoxPro, there is no direct way to set the number of copies to be printed. However, there are several ways to print multiple copies. One is to print the report in a loop, but this is the slowest way to do it. Another is to use the PROMPT keyword in the REPORT FORM command, but this requires an extra user action, even if it is only hitting the ENTER key. The most efficient way is to modify the .frx file directly to include the proper number of copies.

Note In Visual FoxPro 9.0, you can also use the Report Listner to set the number of copies.

MORE INFORMATION

The following code modifies a report to print the correct number of copies. To use it, save the code to a new program (named MULTIREPO.PRG, for instance) and call it from the Command window using this syntax:

DO MULTIREPO WITH [full path to report table],[number of copies wanted]

Example: DO MULTIREPO WITH "C:\MYREPORT.FRX", 2

The next time that report is printed, it prints out the number of copies you specified.

LPARAMETER lcFRX, lnCopies
LOCAL lcNewExpr, lnStartCopiesLine, lcStartAtCopiesLine, lnEndCopiesLine, ;
	lnLenCopiesLine, lcTop, lcBottom
#DEFINE vfCRLF CHR(13) + CHR(10)

IF !(UPPER(RIGHT(lcFRX, 4)) = ".FRX")
	lcFRX = lcFRX + ".FRX"
ENDIF
USE (lcFRX)
LOCATE FOR objType = 1 AND objCode = 53

IF EMPTY(EXPR)

        lcNewExpr = "COPIES=" + ALLT(STR(lnCopies)) + vfCRLF
ELSE

        lnStartCopiesLine = ATC("COPIES", EXPR)
        lcStartAtCopiesLine = SUBSTR(EXPR, lnStartCopiesLine)
        lnEndCopiesLine = ATC(vfCRLF, lcStartAtCopiesLine)
        lnLenCopiesLine = LEN(SUBSTR(lcStartAtCopiesLine, 1, lnEndCopiesLine))
        lcTop = SUBSTR(EXPR, 1, lnStartCopiesLine - 1)
        lcBottom = SUBSTR(EXPR, (LEN(lcTop) + lnLenCopiesLine))
        lcNewExpr  = lcTop + "COPIES=" + ALLT(STR(lnCopies)) + lcBottom

ENDIF

REPLACE EXPR WITH lcNewExpr
USE IN (lcFRX)