Checklist: Printer does not print in the format as expected

Checklist: Printer does not print in the format as expected

Time estimate: 15 minutes

Please go through all the points in the following checklist. If necessary, confirm with IT Department any information you cannot verify before contacting your local COPA-DATA Representative.
  1. No .frm file is used to specify what is being printed and instead the default is used.
    2. Create a .frm file, or use the predefined .frm file, and insert this in the project tree under 'Texts and Formats' folder. When using offline printing of alarms, the 'alar_g.frm' file is considered. For offline printing of the event list, the 'btb_g.frm' is considered. See the help for more information on frm files, the format and which keywords are available.
  2. Use space key (blanks) to fill out the spaces between keywords as the .frm file uses tab-stops.
  3. Make sure there are sufficient blanks behind a keyword when keywords are cut-off in order to allow enough space for printing the text.
PC online printing
  1. Printer is online and contains paper.
  2. Only printers which support line-printing can be used.
  3. Printer is set to the correct character page.
With online printing, zenon sends each alarm/event immediately to the printer, in raw data form, using the font and character set in the printer.
  1. Check the number of lines for the page in the project properties.
  2. The correct format file for online printing is used: ALM - alarm.frm / CEL - btb.frm.
  3. Make sure, that at the alarm the option 'print' is activated.
  4. In project 'AML and CEL' settings group the right option for online printing is selected Alarm Message List or Chronologic Event List and 'Printing active' is enabled.
  5. Create the system driver variables for online printing and check their values in the Service Engine.
CE online printing
  1. Online printing on windows CE sends the data directly to LPT1, as there is no real printer spooler on Windows CE. Make sure the printer is connected to this interface, or the data is forwarded to another port by using a third party software.
CE offline printing
  1. Offline printing on Windows CE takes place in the foreground, blocking the whole device. The Windows CE system does not have a printer spooler, which can perform print tasks in the background.
  2. On windows CE, offline printing is always performed to the default printer of the operating system. Use e.g. wordpad, to configure which driver and which printer should be used.
  3. Not all Windows CE devices come with a printer driver. Contact the device manufacturer to ask for more information.
If the problem persists after completing this checklist and followed corrective actions, please contact your local COPA-DATA Representative providing a SIC-Reduced Report from the target computer(s) and the result of this checklist – please include any additional information or comments related with the points addressed you find relevant.
System Information Collector is a standalone COPA-DATA application that collects relevant data about the Operating System and zenon Software Platform for troubleshooting purposes. SIC is installed with zenon and can be started from zenon Startup Tool (Tools).