eForms integration with Crystal Reports

via Font Selection

The method presented here allows Crystal Reports users to overlay data presented by the Crystal Reports generator with an e-Form already stored in the printer via an eForms chip by selecting the form from the font list after installing an eForms font .pcm file. The advantage of this approach is that no changes need to be made in the source code of the application that calls the Crystal Reports generator module, and the speed with which the report prints is not affected by graphic issues since the form image is already at the printer.

Start the Crystal Reports Design module. e.g. in Windows, click on Start, Programs, Seagate Crystal Reports, ...Crystal Reports Designer. If the designer module is not installed on your computer, it can be purchased for about $100.

Open the report form file for design by selecting File, Open, and clicking first on the report file name and then on Ok. If you are working with another application program that works with Crystal Reports contact your application vendor for information about the location of these files or search your system for *.rpt files.

Find and click on the "Insert Text Object" button pictured here.

Move the mouse into the Page Header section of the report and click in any open area.

The cursor will change to a text entry shape. Enter a single period or dot (".")

Now, use the right mouse button to click on that period and select the Format Text menu item.

In the Format Editor dialog, select the Font tab and pull down the Font list box. Find and select the appropriate EFPlus Form name and/or ID number.

Click on Ok.

You may now save the file and exit Crystal Reports designer. When you return to your application and print the report, the electronic form should overlay the report data.

In Crystal Reports 10 text objects no longer seem to work when using printer resident fonts. The workaround is simple: just define a calculated field with a value of nothing more than a period in quotes (".") This becomes the value the field will always print. Now the font that the field is to be printed in can be changed to the eForms font just as with the text label.

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