FAQ

What is the diference between MiraPrint LE and MiraPrint FULL?

MiraPrint LE contains a limited set of features.
In particular the following differences should be noted:
1. MiraPrint LE doesn't include the barcoding module.
2. MiraPrint LE doesn't support the use of external Postscript fonts. ONLY those fonts included in the printer will work.
3. MiraPrint LE doesn't support form and bitmap pre-compiling. Pre-compiling functionality provided by the full version can improve job performance exponentially.
4. MiraPrint LE doesn't include the automated printer dialog box controlled by "selprtr.i". See documentation for details on the "selprtr.i" interface. Note: MiraPrint LE 4.0.1 and up include the selprtr.i interface.

Can I use MiraPrint with my current PCL or inkjet printer?

Most likely you can. If your printer does not already support Postscript by design, you can use an interpreter between MiraPrint and the destination device.

Ghostscript is an excellent product to do just that. Drivers for virtually any printer are available and it is relatively simple to configure.

Unix users simply set up Ghostscript as a filter to the destination device (instructions vary by platform). Windows users can use RedMon to configure a printer to pass it's output through Ghostscript.

These techniques can be used make almost any printer handle MiraPrint's Postscript output.

Can I preview output using MiraPrint?

You cannot directly preview documents using MiraPrint, however there are a few options for you.

Windows Users
By piping MiraPrint output through a program such as Ghostscript you can easily create PDF versions of your reports. You can then very simply make a call to Acrobat Reader and give your users a common interface to preview, print or simply archive documents.

Alternatively, you could use a PostScript preview application such as GSView to view the Postscript output on screen directly. This is extremely useful during report development to preview output without actually wasting paper.

Unix/Linux Users
Obviouly there is no way to actually preview a document through a character interface. If you use character based terminals, previewing may simply be impossible in your environment. If using an X-terminal system, Ghostscript is available for most environments along with GhostView.

Some customers using telnet clients on a Windows client use Ghostscript to create PDF files from MiraPrint output. They then share the output directory via Samba allowing their users to use Acrobat Reader to preview reports generated in UNIX/Linux.

Automating previewing

In MiraPrint 4.0 and on, the "selprtr.i" supports previewing MiraPrint output. A third party tool must be used, but can be configured in the "miraprnt.ini" file.

Adobe Acrobat Reader® is the generally preferred application to preview MiraPrint output, using GhostScript to first convert MiraPrint output to PDF format.

The default "miraprnt.ini" file included in versions 4.0 and on contain configuration options to allow GhostScript or Adobe Acrobat® to automatically support previewing. For the default options to work, GhostScript must be installed (may be locally or a UNC share) and "miraprnt.ini" must be configured to point to the installation directory. Additionally, Acrobat Reader must be installed as the default PDF file viewer application.

By reviewing the files "miraprnt.ini", "selprtr.i", "openstream.i" and "closestream.i", you will find examples on how you may want to integrate other previewing methods. This also should provide insite on methods you may want to use for previewing reports when not using the "selprtr.i" functionality.

Where are my fonts? All my text is comming out as the Courier font.

When a Postscript® interpreter encounters a font it doesn't recognize, it substitutes it with the font named Courier. Font names are CASE SENSITIVE, and as such must be typed with proper capitalization. Postscript includes the following 14 Base fonts, available on all Postscript® interpreters:

Courier
Courier-Bold
Courier-BoldOblique
Courier-Oblique
Helvetica
Helvetica-Bold
Helvetica-BoldOblique
Helvetica-Oblique
Symbol
Times-Bold
Times-BoldItalic
Times-Roman
Times-Italic
ZapfDingbats

Most interpreters can also use the following font names. These are part of what is known as the Base 35 postscript fonts:
Helvetica-Narrow
Helvetica-Narrow-Bold
Helvetica-Narrow-BoldOblique
Helvetica-Narrow-Oblique
AvantGarde-Book
AvantGarde-BookOblique
AvantGarde-Demi
AvantGarde-DemiOblique
Bookman-Light
Bookman-LightItalic
Bookman-Demi
Bookman-DemiItalic
NewCenturySchlbk-Bold
NewCenturySchlbk-BoldItalic
NewCenturySchlbk-Roman
NewCenturySchlbk-Italic
Palatino-Bold
Palatino-BoldItalic
Palatino-Roman
Palatino-Italic
ZapfChancery-MediumItalic

Other fonts can be used providing they are available on the print device you are sending your output to. Check your printer's documentation to see which fonts are installed.

The last page of my report doesn't print. It looks like the printer has just stopped.

Some older printers require an EOF (CTRL-D) marker to be sent to the printer when printing is complete. This can be controlled in MiraPrint with the .ini file or overridden via the MiraPrint function "SetCtrlD". See the documentation for detailed instructions.

I saved an image as a .BMP file, but MiraPrint still tells me that it is not supported.

MiraPrint supports only one bit (black and white) and 24 bit (color) bmp files saved in Windows .bmp format. Paletted color table bmp formats are not supported. MiraPrint also requires that the file be saved with the .bmp file extension.

When I include BMP graphics, it takes a long time to generate the document. Color graphics seem to take longer.

BMP files contain a lot of data. MiraPrint analyzes this data and converts it to a format that the printer can understand. Since Progress® is not extremely efficient at bit-level processing, this process can take some time, especially for Color graphics.

The best way to speed up the process is to include the graphic in a MiraPrint form overlay, and run the MiraPrint form pre-compiler against it. Alternatively, you can set the "quickform" option to "yes" in the "miraprnt.ini" file (v3.0+). This will cause MiraPrint to try and save a compiled copy of the form the first time it is accessed, allowing subsequent printing of the form without having to process the graphics again.

Begining with MiraPrint 3.1.1, the ability to convert BMP files in advance (pre-compile), without the need to include them in a MiraPrint form overlay. This allows you to use the "rImageFile()" and "sImageFile()" functions with pre-converted files, dramatically increasing their performance.