Rapidfile printing

History

When Rapidfile was created in 1986 many people were still using dot matrix line printers.  Page printers (such as laser printers) were still uncommon and expensive (and extremely heavy).

The problems

Printing from Rapidfile under any version of Windows is not always very straightforward and there are two basic problems.  The first problem is that Rapidfile doesn't have any drivers for contemporary printers.  Most of the drivers supplied with Rapidfile are for dot matrix, continuous feed, line printers and as such are not much use with page printers such as laser printers.

The second problem is that Rapidfile tries to access the printer using a technique that MS Windows generally disapproves of; whether it works for you will probably depend on your exact configuration of hardware and software, the direction of the prevailing wind and whether the fairies at the bottom of your garden are in a good mood or not.

Not exactly a solution

However, Rapidfile does give you the option of printing to a file and that file can then be imported into your favourite editor and word processor and then printed.  This method is a little clumsy but it does provide a means of overcoming both of the printing problems mentioned above.  Unfortunately even this method is not entirely trouble free because sometimes the print file becomes locked and Rapidfile will not overwrite it.  The only way of overcoming this problem is to quit Rapidfile (after saving the database, of course), delete the print file manually and then restart Rapidfile.  The good news is that if you have a computer that is fast enough to run Windows XP then saving a database, stopping and restarting Rapidfile and reloading the database is a very quick and relatively painless operation.

Using a USB, or serial-port attached printer

If you are using Rapidfile in a Windows DOS box then basically Rapidfile doesn't know or care how the printer is connected to the computer. However for the printer output from Rapidfile (or any other DOS program) to reach the printer you need to tell Windows that it must 'capture' the DOS port that Rapidfile thinks that it is using. This will be LPT1: for most people but a few people might be using LPT2:. The option to 'capture' the DOS port will be found somewhere in the Windows properties menus for the printer and these can be accessed from the Windows control panel.

Note, Rapidfile will always use either parallel port LPT1 or parallel port LPT2 but when Windows 'captures' the DOS port it can redirect the Rapidfile printer output to anywhere it likes. So, this means that you can connect your printer by parallel port, USB port, serial port, bluetooth or a satellite connection to a printer located on orbiting space station, and Rapidfile will never know or care.

Using network printers or local printers under Windows XP onwards.

On later versions of Windows (XP and onwards, I believe) the printer 'capture' option doesn't exist. In this case you will need to create a network printer and then tell DOS to use it. The network printer doesn't actually need to be on a network; it can be on the same machine that you are running DOS. You simply need to tell Windows that it is to share the printer as if it were on a network and then tell DOS to use it. This does mean that you will need a version of DOS that supports networking. This same networking approach will also work for printers that really are attached via the network. Thus Rapidfile can be made to print to any printer on the network.

Choice of printer

More generally, I personally have made my life simpler in the matter of printing by buying a particular kind of printer.  I use DOS, Windows and Linux software and getting them all to print reliably is not easy if one tries to buy only the cheapest printers available.  I solved my requirements by purchasing a Kyocera printer with additional memory and optional postscript emulation.  The significance for Rapidfile is that some (possibly all) of Kyocera's range of laser printers come with a page description language (called KPDL) that uses plain text.  If you create your print reports using Rapidfile's custom form feature then it is possible to embed print commands into the form as if they were plain text.  When the command text gets to the printer it will change the font or line spacing or do whatever operation you provided commands for.  My particular printer (FS1700, no longer manufactured) was not especially cheap (at the time it cost more than the computer) but I reckon I saved more than the cost of the printer simply because everything worked and I didn't have to replace any software or spend time and money upgrading other things because the printer wasn't compatible.  The postscript emulation meant that everything “just worked” with Linux and some DOS software, the KDPL language allowed me to print reasonably well with Rapidfile and the other emulations (HPLJ4 I think) took care of anything that didn't understand postscript.  Also, eight or nine years and 100,000+ pages later it is still going just fine.  Actually I think the printer will also emulate an Epsom dot matrix line printer and a Diablo golf-ball printer (both from the early 1980s) but I never needed to use those options.  Of course splashing out good money for a printer might not be appropriate for you right now and I cannot guarantee that my happy experience will be repeated for you but next time you need a printer I recommend you review in detail whatever Kyocera are then offering.  For me the money I paid for a Kyocera printer has been money very well spent.