Hello, I am a newbie. I have a few questions to ask. 1. From what I read, Zope supports transactions. If I want to use MySql as my backend database, can Zope still support atomic operations since MySql does not support transactions? 2. The project I will work on requires a lot of very customized reports to be printed on blank paper as well as pre printed form. I have used Delphi from my previous project. I used the report writter came with Delphi to design & print all sorts of report on all kinds of papers (blank, pre printed form, labels, etc). How can I produce reports for printing to pre printed form? 3. My project also requires barcode (Code39) printing on labels feed from dot-matrix printers. Where can I find barcode module or class for Zope? I would like to say thank you in advance for your answers, tips, or pointers. Regards, Ping __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Bid and sell for free at http://auctions.yahoo.com
Ping Lau wrote:
1. From what I read, Zope supports transactions. If I want to use MySql as my backend database, can Zope still support atomic operations since MySql does not support transactions?
Zope will still support transactions on *Zope objects*. Your MySQL database will not participate in the transaction, so all SQL statements executed will remain in effect even if the Zope transaction aborts. You might be able to handle this with explicit logging in MySQL, if the changes aren't too complicated.
2. The project I will work on requires a lot of very customized reports to be printed on blank paper as well as pre printed form. I have used Delphi from my previous project. I used the report writter came with Delphi to design & print all sorts of report on all kinds of papers (blank, pre printed form, labels, etc). How can I produce reports for printing to pre printed form?
3. My project also requires barcode (Code39) printing on labels feed from dot-matrix printers. Where can I find barcode module or class for Zope?
Unless you want to generate PDF or Postscript files on the fly, you are *not* going to get what you want from a browser-based application, regardless of the server. Neither Zope nor any other Web App can control how your browser will print an HTML page (AFAIK). If you know Postscript well, you could *theoretically* load your report's Postscript output into a DTML Document and insert variables and loops in the correct places. More likely, you want to write a Delphi program which uses HTTP to ask the server for a nicely formatted hunk of data (tab-delimited, or perhaps XML) which you can then feed into your already-written reports.
Evan Simpson writes:
Unless you want to generate PDF or Postscript files on the fly, you are *not* going to get what you want from a browser-based application, regardless of the server. Neither Zope nor any other Web App can control how your browser will print an HTML page (AFAIK).
Not in general, but within the Big Two you could do something. www.fedex.com lets you print shipping receipts with barcodes; I assume it's done by making the barcode from one-pixel GIF images that get stretched to make the lines of the bar code. -- A.M. Kuchling http://starship.python.net/crew/amk/ All around me darkness gathers, fading is the sun that shone, we must speak of other matters, you can be me when I'm gone... -- The train's clattering, in SANDMAN #67: "The Kindly Ones:11"
"Andrew M. Kuchling" wrote:
Evan Simpson writes:
Unless you want to generate PDF or Postscript files on the fly, you are *not* going to get what you want from a browser-based application, regardless of the server. Neither Zope nor any other Web App can control how your browser will print an HTML page (AFAIK).
Not in general, but within the Big Two you could do something. www.fedex.com lets you print shipping receipts with barcodes; I assume it's done by making the barcode from one-pixel GIF images that get stretched to make the lines of the bar code.
I don't imagine that the barcodes would be a problem; There are a number of ways to generate them. The problem is that he wants to fill in pre-printed forms. He seems to need precise page-placement in his printout, which you *might* be able to manage if you mandate a particular version of a particular browser, and use a lot of tables. Sounds shaky, though.
2. The project I will work on requires a lot of very customized reports to be printed on blank paper as well as pre printed form. I have used Delphi from my previous project. I used the report writter came with Delphi to design & print all sorts of report on all kinds of papers (blank, pre printed form, labels, etc). How can I produce reports for printing to pre printed form? I've been thinking about this myself as I'd really like to convert a lot of our company's internal databases to Zope.
I would redesign my forms (sorry!) :-( using LaTeX or -possibly easier?-Lout. Then use an external method to push the form fields to the Lout script. The Lout interpreter will produce a Postscript file (LaTeX produces a dvi file which you then convert to Postscript) which you can then push to the printer. You could convert the Postscript file to PDF if that would be easier for the clients (see below). If the client was a remote client, you'd have to have them download, open, and print the Postscript file using Acrobat, ghostview, or some other format. kind of a pain. Alternatively, if you have control over your clients, you could have them use the Adobe Acrobat plug in in their browsers and then when they clicked on the PDF file it would open in their browser, at which point they could just press the print button. If the printer was going to be hooked up to the server, the task becomes easier because you could just lpr (print under NT) the PS file right there. Keep in mind that if your printer doesn't understand postscript, you will either convert it to PDF and use Adobe Acrobat (under NT), or use Ghostscript/Ghostview/etc under Linux or NT. I know it sounds like a great deal of effort but it'd probably be worth doing.
3. My project also requires barcode (Code39) printing on labels feed from dot-matrix printers. Where can I find barcode module or class for Zope. Not sure about this -- but probably your best bet is to use a Postscript or TrueType font that does bar codes for you. I don't know that much about bar codes but I know Corel has a few in their clipart packages. As above, you'd specify the font in your Lout script and that would automagically get included in the PS file.
Good luck! Let me know what you end up doing! :-)
participants (4)
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Andrew M. Kuchling -
Evan Simpson -
Jamieson Becker -
Ping Lau