The Dot-Matrix: Revolution

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The Dot-Matrix Revolution
Tim Page
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TIM PAGE

• QAD User since 1991
• Progress Programmer
• DBA
• System Administrator
• IT Manager

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• Lexington Precision Corporation
• Lexington Rubber Group
• Lexington Metals Group

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Rubber Group Lexington Connector Seals
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Rubber Group Lexington Insulators
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Rubber Group Lexington Medical
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Metals Group Lexington Die Casting
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Metals Group Lexington Machining
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Our Environment

• 6 MFG/PRO databases
• Local servers
• Eb SP7
• NT4
• GUI clients
• Some remote character clients
• Some remote Citrix clients

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The problem Dot-Matrix Forms are

• Ugly
• Costly
• Hard to print
• Require separate printer
• Cant email
• Hard to fax

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Commercial forms printing software is costly. We
looked at the following

• Formtrap
• Optio
• Streamserve
• Cyberquery

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Other options for printing forms

• Crystal Reports
• Report Builder
• Direct Progress to HP PCL

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Report Builder was chosen because

• Free!!
• Nice WYSIWYG design tool
• Ease of integration with MFG/PRO

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REPORT BUILDER BASICS

• Features
• WYSIWYG Page layout design
• Font Size/Color/placement
• Lines/Boxes
• Calculated fields
• Accumulated fields
• Text string manipulation
• Graphics/Logo

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REPORT BUILDER BASICS
Master Table Source of main data records
Secondary tables Linked with the joins window
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REPORT BUILDER BASICS
Can define up to 8 levels of sorting
Can group up to 8 levels of data usually the
same as sort levels
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REPORT BUILDER BASICS

• Band Lines
• Title One per report
• Page Header
• Group Header may have 1 per group level
• Record
• Group Footer may have 1 per group level
• Summary
• Page Footer

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REPORT BUILDER BASICS
Calculated fields Supports a wide variety of
functions for calculations
Use aggregate for accumulating values
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INTERFACING TO MFG/PRO
PRINTRB INTERFACE
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First Attempt - Invoice and PO using direct
database access from Report Builder. DEMO
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• Results summary
• Nicer looking forms
• Ran live on this for 6 months on a relatively
  small database (lt 1GB)

• Report Builder drawbacks
• Slow speed due to Report Builder not being able
  to use indexing

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ATTEMPT 2
USER INTERFACE
DATA GATHERING
INTERMEDIATE DATABASE
REPORT BUILDER
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FRONT END INTERFACE
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DATA GATHERING PROGRAM
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DATA GATHERING PROGRAM
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DATA GATHERING PROGRAM
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INTERMEDIATE DATABASE
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REPORT BUILDER DESIGN
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REPORT BUILDER DESIGN
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Second Attempt - Invoice, PO and packlist using
side database access from Report Builder. DEMO
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• Results summary
• Same nicer looking forms
• Near instantaneous output

• Downsides
• Must maintain side database and extraction
  programs for each form you wish to output

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Output formats

• Report builder outputs to most printers
• Outputs to windows screen
• Would be nice to have pdf file
• Email

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CHEAP PDF OPTIONS

• Freepdf Free! - www.webxd.com/zipguy/frpdfdl.htm
  
• Difficult to install
• WIN2PDF www.win2pdf.com
• about 30/client
• Docucom Driver www.pdfwizard.com
• About 15/User

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PDF - DEMOS
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• Additional resources
• Progress Report Builder Deployment Guide
• Progress Report Builder Users Guide
• Progress Report Builder Tutorial

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• CD Available
• Freeware barcode font
• Report Builder programs for PO, packlist,
  invoice
• Data gathering programs - Progress
• Forms database .df file
• PDF drivers (WIN2PDF, DOCUCOM)

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Thank you for attending Questions