Fonts output to screen or printer

[Petrus Vorster]

hi All

Is it possible to have a different output to screen using a font than using that same font to a printer?

I have this little Code-128 barcode tool i have been using for ages and it creates perfect barcodes.
If i print to PDF or just view them on screen.
I have noticed that in one odd occasion when i print such a barcode one of them looked completely different.
Instead of the usual barcode one block was replaced by a normal character, but on screen it looks absolutely normal.
I find it quite odd that one out of many barcodes will have normal characters in it.

Any ideas?

[raymw]

Hi Pete,
In answer to your question, yes. It depends on the printer type, os, and original file. True-type fonts were an attempt to straighten it out, but if you think about it, a 24pin dot matrix printer, for example, can not produce the precise locations of dots, and even more basic, a daisy wheel can have entirely different founts to the screen. Some print drivers will allow settings different to others, in particular page boundaries, paper sizes, etc. Pdf's can print as image or as pdf encoded (not the proper terminology) but printing as image generally works OK, but slower. It is not clear to me, if you are always printing to pdf, but if you are noticing a difference in PDF prints, then it could be in the default print settings being changed when other software is printed. Also, printing to pdf, is it the adobe acrobat print driver, or something else? In the past, I've had numerous pages that wouldn't print, until I set it to print as image (or whatever it was called. (It was acrobat 5, maybe fifteen years ago? Maybe quite modern compared to the kit that you say you are forced to use... ;-)

Best wishes,
Ray

edit to add this link -https://helpx.adobe.com/acrobat/kb/quick-fix-print-pdf-image.html  But probably only if you have genuine adobe pdf/acrobat

[Petrus Vorster]

Hi

Yes, i finally caught the error.
It took me a while to see what the heck went wrong.

This refers to my other post on Barcodes.
Turned out, that this Barcode calculation have up to 204 possible check digits. (how i read the formula)
(in pairs or in an Ascii character for that number)
This specific tool referred to CHR$(204) in a font file, and this Font i have has this omitted.

As usual, the working one is for sale.

So as soon as i hit a barcode that resulted in a ZERo for a check digit, it refers to CHR$(204) and then the barcode looks weird.

It's ok, i changed to a simpler barcode (yet longer!), but for a hobbyist trying to make his own life at work easier that will just have to do.

O, and there is actually light in the tunnel. We are getting a national systems replacement soon, THe first investment in new hardware in over 18 YEARS!!!! HURRAY!!!