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🖨️ Mastering Uniface Print Statements: A Complete Guide

#uniface #printing #enterprise #development

Printing functionality is a crucial aspect of enterprise applications, and Uniface provides robust printing capabilities through its print statement. This comprehensive guide explores everything you need to know about implementing printing in your Uniface 10.4 applications. 🚀

This article is based on the official Uniface Documentation 10.4 and was created with AI assistance.

📋 Basic Syntax and Structure

The Uniface print statement follows this syntax:

print{/ask} {/preview} {PrintJobModel {, PrintMode {, USE_SYSTEM_SETTINGS= ( TRUE | FALSE )}}}
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A simple example looks like this:

print "SALESLASER", "A"
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🔧 Qualifiers: Your Printing Control Panel

/ask - Interactive Printing 💬

The /ask qualifier displays a Print form where users can modify default values before printing. This gives users full control over their printing preferences:

print/ask "SALESLASER","A"
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/preview - See Before You Print 👀

The /preview qualifier opens a Print Preview window, allowing users to:

  • View printouts at different scales
  • Navigate between pages
  • Print or close the preview

Note: Preview functionality is Windows-specific and supports only P_MSWIN3 and P_MSWINX device translation tables.

⚙️ Parameters Deep Dive

PrintJobModel (String) 🎯

Defines where and how to print. If omitted, defaults to "PRINTER". This parameter determines your printing destination and configuration.

PrintMode (String) 📄

Controls what gets printed:

  • A (All): Print form/report component and all hitlist data
  • C: Like All, but clears data from memory afterwards (recommended for reports)
  • F (Current component and data): Print entire form/report with current data
  • S (Screen): Print screen content (character mode) or same as F (GUI mode)

USE_SYSTEM_SETTINGS (String) 🖥️

Windows-only parameter that determines whether to use Microsoft Windows print settings (TRUE) or current print job settings (FALSE). Defaults to FALSE when omitted.

📊 Return Values and Error Handling

The print statement returns status values in $status:

Value Meaning
0 ✅ Success - Statement executed successfully
<0 ❌ Error - Check $procerror for details
>0 ⚠️ Specific errors (range 1410-1415 or 2003)

💡 Practical Examples

Example 1: Interactive Printing with User Confirmation 

print/ask "SALESLASER","A"
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This prompts users to confirm printing parameters before execution.

Example 2: Automated Report Printing 

operation exec ; use SALESLASER print job model, option All custname = $1 retrieve print "SALESLASER", "A" if ($status = 0) message "Print completed." ✅ else message "Error %%$status, printing may have failed" ❌ endif exit (0) end; exec
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🎯 Best Practices and Tips

  • Use Mode C for Reports: Always use print mode "C" when creating reports to free up memory
  • Server-Side Considerations: When printing from server operations, ensure print job models exist on the server repository
  • Error Handling: Always check $status and handle common error codes like -400 (UMISERR_PRINT)
  • Platform Limitations: Remember that preview functionality is Windows-specific

🔍 Common Error Scenarios

Watch out for these frequent issues:

  • Error -400: Printing already in progress or invalid print mode
  • Error 1411-1412: Margin-related issues
  • Error 2003: File access problems

🎉 Conclusion

Uniface's print statement offers powerful and flexible printing capabilities for enterprise applications. Whether you need interactive user prompts, automated batch printing, or print previews, understanding these parameters and qualifiers will help you implement robust printing solutions.

Happy coding! 🚀💻

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