GFC Data Systems
Software and Support for Oklahoma Municipalities
Contact Info:
Email: gfcdata@aol.com
Phone: 405-570-2821
Address:
7408 NW 116th St
Oklahoma City OK 73162

Contact: Jack C. Brown





 
Developing, installing, and supporting software for Oklahoma municipalities since 1984
   Home      Software Special Issues (including printing and new PC installation)
 
Printing:

Utility Billing, Budget Acctg, Work Orders, and Receipting Programs...
When a network printer is installed it could get installed on a WSD (Web Services on Device) port. These programs can not print through that port so it must be changed to be on the TCP/IP port
 
When printing in these programs for the first time, the programs self-detect a default printer from Control Panel automatically. Therefore on a new PC install make sure that the printer to be used has been installed and selected as the "default" before using the print routines in these programs. However the printer name can be changed as user goes to different report screens should a different printer be needed for a specific program (ex: some send utility statements to the fastest printer which may not be the default). If you change a printer name on a given screen either click on the "Set" command or actually print something which will make the change permanent by putting a setting in the system's registry.
Special note for Budget, Receipting, Work Order, and Utility Billing programs: in these programs when printing budget history or a receipt or work order "form" the program never displays a screen to allow user to enter/change printer settings. In these programs user (in advance) goes to "Options" and selects "History Printer", "Receipt Printer" or "Work Order Printer" and sets the printer information. This must be done at each PC that will use those programs.
'Arial' is the default printer font while 'Portrait' is the default orientation. Font sizes have default settings based on the report width. All these settings can be changed but care should be taken to not make the size too large or the print will go off the page on the right side. If a larger print size is needed one option would be to use Arial-Narrow as the font. Another option is to make the orientation to be Landscape. Note: if a PC or hard drive is replaced all printer settings will be lost and everything will return to default settings.

A problem can occur if a new printer is installed and an old one is uninstalled. The registry setting that tells the programs which printer to use is actually a "printer#" and not a printer name. For example if printer#1 is the one being used and that printer is uninstalled and a new one installed, Windows might not make the new printer #1. So when installing a new printer the name that comes up on the report screens may be the wrong one. The best thing to do in this case would be to remove the old printer registry settings and allow everything to reset automatically by using the "Clear Registry" command.
 
 
Payroll, Court, Cemetery, Fixed Assets, and Utility ACH Programs...
These programs are different in that they must have the printer name entered on a "Setup" or a "File Maintenance" screen. If you have changed printers or are using a printer not used in the past and a "Missing Allocation" error displays when trying to print, it means the printer name is not valid to this PC. In this case you should perform the below steps or call GFC Data for assistance.
 
Since the printer name must be inserted in a data file, you must find out the official Windows printer name. To get this go to Windows Control Panel and open Devices and Printers and right click on the icon of the printer desired and select "Printer Properties". The official name of the printer should display in a blue background and user should be able to hover over the name and right-click and select "Copy". After copying the name open the program screen where the printer name is stored and "Paste" the name in with the phrase "prtname:" in front of it (ex: prtname:HP 5600 Series). If the printer is a network printer then in some cases the server name must be included in the name with a double backslash in front of the server name and a single backslash after the server name (click here for an example). If it isn't clear exactly what the path/name of the printer should be, open MS Word and pretend to print a document to that printer to see what displays for the printer name. 
 
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New PC Installation (including hard drive replacement):
If PCs are replaced the following applies to re-installing your programs:
 
1. If you are running any version of Utility Billing, Budget Acctg, Work Orders, or Receipting, Microsoft Visual C++ versions must be loaded on any PC that will run these programs.The versions needed are:
C-Isam Versions:    Microsoft Visual C++ 2013 Redistributable x86
Postgres Versions: Microsoft Visual C++ 2013 and 2015-2022 Redistributable x64
These downloads are available at:
 https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/help/2977003/the-latest-supported-visual-c-downloads
 
2. If you use the C-Isam version of Utility Billing,  Budget Acctg, Work Orders, or Receipting, and the host PC or hard drive is being replaced, you would copy the folder(s) from a backup to the host PC's hard drive. If these apps are run at the host then shortcut icons would be set up to access the programs. If using a network and a remote PC is being replaced you do not need to load any files (except the Visual C++ files discussed above) but only connect the PC to the host and set up new shortcut icons that point to the host. A new PC will affect your printers and screens so see "Printing" (above) and "Screens" (below) for more info on those subjects.
 
3. If you use the Postgres version of Utility Billing, Budget Acctg, Work Orders, or Receipting, and the host (server) PC or hard drive is being replaced you would install the latest version of Postgres and the latest version of SqlAndFTP Backup software. Several other things must also be done including restoring the Postgres database(s) so generally it is better to get GFC Data involved in this situation.
 
4. If you use Payroll, Court, Cemetery, Fixed Assets, or Utility ACH programs, an "install" must be done to get certain 'system' files copied on to any new PC. If using more than one of these programs only one program needs to be installed since all these apps use the same system files. Therefore you must keep a Payroll, Court, or Cemetery CD on hand that has the installation files. This install must be done at any PC that will run any of these programs. If the host PC is being replaced the application folders must be copied from a backup on to the host PC.
 
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Screens:
Many LookUp/Inquiry screens in Utility Billing, Budget, Receipting, and Work Orders will initially display in default heights and widths. However these screens can have their column's width and overall screen width and height adjusted. To widen the entire screen, click on the right edge and drag it to the right. To increase the height click on the bottom and drag it down. If a column is too narrow click on the column heading boundary and drag it to the right to widen it (or to the left to narrow it). To center the screen click on the top title bar and move the screen up or down or left or right.

These settings will be remembered by the program placing a setting in the system's registry. These settings are stored uniquely for each PC so screen sizes can be customized by PC. NOTE: these screen settings are lost if a new PC is installed. 

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Print to csv File:
Many programs have a "Print to csv File" option on the report screens. This allows you to send a report to a 'csv' (comma separated value) formatted file instead of to a printer. This allows you to import the report into a spreadsheet program like Excel. When this option is selected the user will be prompted to enter a file name and in some programs a folder. Do not use spaces or slashes in the file name but instead use dashes or dots if separating characters are needed. It is recommended that the ".csv" extension be placed at the end of the name (ex: CUSTOMER-REPT.csv).  Unless otherwise specified the file will be stored in the folder that contains the application's data files (ex: Util or Budget or Payrl.win) unless you have selected a folder name. After the file is created you can open your spreadsheet software and import it.
 
 
 
 
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GFC Data Systems