Hi
I've got an app that needs to print labels and reports so frequently
switches printers using printerSetCurrent().

This has been working perfectly ok for last couple of years on a selection
of h/w and o/s versions.( Win2000 SP4, WIN XP SP1 & SP2) All Pdoxwin 11.
Recently my company bought a batch of up to date PCs ( P4 .. Sorry can't
recall exact spec but all WinXP SP1 and everything goes like the clappers.)
and now there is a very significant delay with printerSetCurrent().


Investigating the problem further I've found a wide range of times for
printerSetCurrent.
I've tried some test timings; for example my dev PC ( Athlon XP2500 512Mb
Win XP SP2) switches in approx 1.2 seconds, an older Win2000 SP4 PC switches
in approx 0.4 sec, a WinXP SP1 laptop takes about 3 secs but the new PCs (
Win XP SP1 ) take on average 14 seconds. This delay really disrupts the flow
of the app.

These times are seen whether or not the printers are physically attached to
the PC.

The usual configuration is a Zebra TLP2844 on the USB i/f and usually a HP
laserjet nn on LPT1.
I've tried installing the Laserjets driver as HP Laserjet Series2 but this
makes no difference.
I've tried swapping the Zebra onto LPT1, again no difference.

Any suggestions of what to try next most welcome.
Toby

Toby Sleigh wrote:
are not currently connected. There are several threads on this on the
pnews groups. Windows will *sometimes* spend an inordinate amount of
time looking for printers that are not connected. Odd things can
trigger this activity.
Mark B.

"Mark Bannister" <markRemove (AT) ThisINjection-Moldings (DOT) com> wrote


There seems to be no correlation between the number of printers and the
delay.
For example my dev PC currently has ten printers installed, some no longer
exist and most aren't connected, and this switches in 1.5secs. The new PCs
have only two printers installed and connected but they take 12secs or more
to switch.
Also the delay appears indifferent as to whether a printer is physically
connected or not.

Toby

Toby,

Put the Zebra on LPT1 and use TextStream to make your labels**. Put
the HP on another port and set it as your default printer. No more
need to swap printers.

**uses EPL2 - I use ZPL for the printers here, and once you get the
hang of it, it's easy - EPL probably isn't much different.

Liz


Toby Sleigh wrote:

Toby Sleigh wrote:
<Snip>

Hmmm, I'm not sure then. Some of the issues seen were printers that
were not actually showing up in the printer list (I think) and had to be
deleted in the registry.
I do know that on my portable it will sometimes look for a long time for
a network printer that is only available here at work. This printer is
a network device. Could be drivers.... maybe someone else has some
better ideas.
You might try Filemon or Regmon just to see what it is actually doing
http://www.sysinternals.com/.

Mark B.

hi,

try looking the default style file, on your *.fsl
the files are *.fp or *.FT

I now that if the default fp or ft file of your fsl are not present on
your machine, it can be a reason of your problem.

and sorry for the bad english.

Filipe


Toby Sleigh a écrit :

<user (AT) domain (DOT) invalid> wrote

Thanks for suggestion but they are all there.

Toby