Even/odd pages in a report

[Bill]

Surely there must be a way of providing left and right margin
controls for even/odd pages when a report is to be bound
into a book. However, I've been un-successful in finding how
that is done without printing blank pages between each printed
page, as in article 209508.

What I'm trying to accomplish is to print multiple copies of
the odd pages, turn the printed paper-stack over in the input
tray and print the even numbered pages on the reverse side.

Thanks,
Bill

 

[Allen Browne]

Word provides this functionality (a "gutter"), but Access doesn't.

You can achieve the result by using the Page Header section's Format event
to set the Left property of the controls. The property is measured in twips,
where 1440 twips = one inch. You will need to store the default (unshifted)
location of the controls somewhere, as the pages could be formatted out of
order, e.g. if the user start printing just page 6 after viewing page 4.

This example assumes that the Tag property of each affected control contains
the default Left value in twips, and the gutter is half an inch:

Private Sub PageHeaderSection_Format(Cancel As Integer, FormatCount As
Integer)
Dim ctl As Control
Dim iGutter As Integer

'Use half an inch gutter on the even pages.
If (Me.Page Mod 2) = 0 Then
iGutter = 720
End If

For Each ctl In Me.Controls
If IsNumeric(ctl.Tag) Then
ctl.Left = ctl.Tag + iGutter
End If
Next
End Sub

Make sure that the report contains the extra half inch to the right of all
controls, and that the reports Width and margins do not exceed the paper
width.

 

[Bill]

Thanks Allen. Please re-check this thread tomorrow, as I can't
study your suggestion until then.
Bill

 

[Bill]

Allen,
It appears from your description and accompanying code that ALL
pages will print with the controls shifting to whatever side of the
paper is appropriate to it being even or odd.

However, what I need is to print multiple copies of the odd pages, turn
over the output from that and feed them back into the printer to print
the even pages on the opposite side of the paper.

It seems that I'll have to manipulate the RecordSource into two
recordsets and print them independently, one for the odd pages and
the other for the even pages.

Is there a better way?

Bill

 

[Allen Browne]

Yes, I was assuming the printer handled double-siding.

You did say you wanted to print just the even pages, and then flip them. The
k.b. article you referred to is probably the best approach.

The major practical issue with double-siding the stack is that some printers
will occassionally pick up 2 pages at once, especially when they have
already been through the printer. If that happened part way through the
print run, all the remaining pages would have the wrong thing on the back.
So if you are doing this regularly, it the printing cost in time paper and
ink plus your development time might make it economical to consider buying a
printer that does double-siding.

The other alernative would be to preview the report on screeen, and use the
Office Links button on the toolbar to export it to Word. You can then use
Word to set your gutters, print just even pages, or whatever you wish.

 

[Bill]

Hi Allen,
I've been waiting to get my hands on the user's printer
documentation as regards duplex printing. Their
HP 3550 LaserJet doesn't have native duplex
capabilities, so it will in fact require fliping the stack
to print the opposite side.

Knowing the user, as I do, I'll code up a form that
offers some setup options and deal with the printing
of each side, gutter controls included, by special
queries of the front and backside page content.
The operation will be as close to WORD as I can
get, as the user is already familiar with that process.

Thanks for your time and thoughts,
Bill