Why Clarion, PCL Tools and TransForm Professional?

You already know why Clarion or you wouldn't be reading this!
Read on (completely) for enlightenment on a complete electronic
forms solution for your Clarion users.

PCL Tools allows you to use PCL Macro Form Overlays with Clarion
reports (not the standalone report writer though). The overlay
files consist of HP Printer Control Language codes. These codes
make up each form. Turning a form into a macro is just a matter of
assigning a macro id number to the form and then embedding the
following PCL commands: macro id, start macro definition (at the
top of the file) and stop macro definition (end of the file). You
now have a downloadable electronic PCL representation of your
form.

PCL Tools does not come with any software to create these files.
It simply is a template and Windows print engine that accommodates
the downloading of these files to an HP LaserJet (or compatible)
with PCL4, PCL5 or greater (the macro ability first appeared in
PCL4). The "invoke macro overlay" command gets embedded as a
string variable somewhere on your report page in the Clarion
report formatter. The trick here is that the report formatter
doesn't let you use the escape/chr(27). This is the prefix to all
PCL commands. I got around this by using this character -> ` in
place of the chr(27). The report is sent to a file. The file
consists of the PCL formatting code and your report data. A
routine quickly scans the file and converts all ` to chr(27). We
now have a report data file with a legitimate invoke overlay
command on each page. The overlay file (or files) get sent first
to the printer where it sits in the printer memory waiting to be
called. The data file generated by your Clarion report using a HP
Laserjet or compatible printer driver is then spooled.

This is far faster and more efficient than using the Clarion page
form band and a scanned image of the form. This method sends a
bitmap image of the form to the printer for EACH page. Obviously
this makes for a HUGE print file which means slower printing, more
network traffic and more complex processing for the printer.

The PCL Tools template provides additional options such as NOT
having the form files downloaded. This is desirable if your
printer has the forms stored in Flash RAM or a plug in forms
cartridge.

That pretty much sums up PCL Tools.  Of course there are many
options not explained here.  Go back and see the PCL Tools webpage
and the demo for greater insight into it's capabilities.

Now about how to create the form files.

I had been using JetForm 3.1 (forms design software) for the past
4 years to visually design my forms. When ready to create the
macro files, I simply print to a file using JetForm's optimized
PCL5 printer driver. The PCL codes are then tweaked to convert the
file into a downloadable macro. You can also use any Windows
program such as MS Word to create forms. You then just print to a
file using a PCL4/HP LaserJet II or PCL5/HP LaserJet 3 and up
printer driver. Codes get tweaked and presto, a downloadable
macro. In the old days before forms design software, the really
macho handcoded their PCL overlays. Fortunately I did not have to
thanks to JetForm but did have to tweak some of the PCL which was
difficult to figure out at first.

Recently I discovered TransForm Professional from mips Dataline
America. What a great product! This product has saved me much time
in the creation of form macro files! TransForm has automation that
JetForm does not. You simply scan your form into a 300dpi PCX file
and open it in TransForm. TransForm then will convert the bitmap
image of the form into a fully editable vector graphic. It draws
all the lines, boxes, inverse text, logo recognition, etc. The
second step is OCR. It actually OCR's all the text. Then,
depending upon how good the image of the form was and how
detailed, a little cleanup is necessary. TransForm Pro features
many tools to aid in the cleanup process.  TransForm has all the
standard editing tools for drawing lines, boxes, text, graphics,
etc so cleanup is easy and of course you can create brand new
forms from scratch. The final step is to create the PCL Macro
file. This is an option on the menu of the TransForm Professional
program. You simply give it an id number such as 500 and then
generate the file. TransForm's generated PCL is superior to that
generated by Windows PCL printer drivers. No codes to tweak!!!
Great for somebody new to PCL and who doesn't care to know much
about it.  It's simply not necessary to get your hands dirty with
PCL anymore.

Using the overlay file with a Clarion report is simply a matter of
adding the PCL Tools report extension template to the report,
specifying the macro file and macro id via the template interface
and setting the various template options. The final step is to
place the GLO:PCLCommand string variable somewhere on the report
page with a font of courier (fixed space). The command is
automatically set to invoke the first form overlay specified. For
multiple overlays, the variable get's set appropriately in the
"Before Printing Detail" source embed. This is all covered in the
documentation.

That pretty much summarizes Clarion + PCL Tools + TransForm.

One thing that I want to point out is that if you need to be able
to print on the widest range of printers, ie: inkjets, this is not
for you. This solution is best when implemented as an in-house
solution and/or where you have absolute control over the types of
printers used.

I develop software for a payroll and tax filing service and we
print literally tens of thousands of pages of overlayed reports
and overlayed paychecks with stub overlays, logos, signatures,
etc. every day. I can tell you from experience that for high speed
volume forms processing, there is nothing else out there that can
touch PCL Macro overlays!  We couldn't afford to stay in business
if it weren't for the HP LaserJet Macros!!!
