EBME Forums Forums Maintenance Biomed Databases Faulty work order print-out from Easynet/AIMS

We have recently started using Easynet the equipment fault reporting system in conjunction with our AIMS database.

The problem we are having is that the print-out of the work order from Easynet is printed out over two A4 pages instead of one.

ECRI of course say this is a local printer set-up problem, but all print-outs across the hospital are the same and I must say ECRI have been of very little help in this matter.

Has anybody else had the same problem and if so how did you cure it?

Any help would be much appreciated - John

EasyNet ... what's that, then?

I know nothing about those Systems, John ... but have spent many a "happy" hour (day?) with problems along the lines you mention. Not to mention Code Pages, character sets (both at the PC and "device" - printer et al - end), and all the rest.

Folk may mock (and indeed do), but I still maintain that printers and printer-related stuff was far easier back in the Dot-Matrix era! Just one driver to be installed (if that), and Robert's yer father's brother!

Hopefully someone else with the same set-up as yours will be able to offer an easy fix (oh dear, was that a pun?)

But, meanwhile, what is actually going on? Are you talking about page-breaks:- as in, the difference in length between A4 and the American "Letter" size (which is also known as "American Quarto" ... and both erroneously, and irritatingly ... "American A4")? Or something else?

And, is there an intermediate step in play here (filter, whatever)? AIMS -> filter -> EasyNet?

Naturally, any half decent application that is required to produce output (be it hard-copy, or simply exported data) should have config settings available in order to match the thing up with the devices and protocols to be used. However (and I'm by no means offering excuses here for high-priced software packages), from my own experience, I can say that it's not easy for a developer to gaze into the crystal ball and imagine each and every set-up that it likely to be encountered!

Meanwhile, I can feel the vibes from Carlisle. I fear another "InfoPath" post from Billy may be in the offing (and ... it may be a good idea, at that)!

Easynet is an add-on fault reporting module for AIMS that runs via the hospital Intranet.

The Easynet fault report raises a work order directly into the AIMS database for that equipment using its item/tag number.

The print out problem looks very like the incorrect page settings i.e. US to UK page sizes as the print-out ‘rolls over’ onto the second page. I have tied changing the page sizes and margins etc to no avail.

Unfortunately I am not much of a software buff so am a bit stuck for ideas.

When you say you have "tried changing the page sizes and margins etc", where do you mean, there, John? Settings within AIMS ... or EasyNet ... and/or both? Or are you refering to printer settings?

And, of course, you must know what AIMS did "before". Did it dish out "American" sized work orders, for instance? Are (were) those report what we might call "pretty" (that is, graphical) or simply text based? And did they have printed borders (boxes) around them?

When the second page is forced, is it essential data that is given, or just a footer (or some such nebulous thing)?

Lastly, are you able to simply reduce "font size" somewhere in there?

As your tag-line mentions:- "In-between there are doors"!

1. Printer settings.

2. AIMS prints out our A4 lab work orders ok it is the Easynet module print-out (ward users copy) that is the problem.

3. Essential data.

4. Not to my knowledge.

5. This one keeps slamming in my face!

Maybe 'coz you're turning the wrong knob (handle), John.

From what you're saying there, and if you're sure that the printer settings are OK (?), the problem must be a setting in that EasyNet thingy, then. Page length, by the sound of things.

OK (don't tell me), there aren't any settings to play with!

So ... what is going on here? The user gets sent data from your server (or at least the same one that generates good reports to your end)? So ... just maybe ... a form-feed character (traditionally ASCII decimal 12 - or Hex C - if I remember rightly) is being added in there somehow, and somewhere, along the line!

Got it sorted yet, John?

I was mooching about at (in) an old hard-drive this morning (you know, the way you do) and I came across EasyNet!

However, this was an old DOS version from 1988, by EasyNet Systems of Mississauga, Ontario. I probably picked that one up in a souk somewhere, I expect. It looks like it permitted the connection of two PC's in a peer-to-peer network (that is, without the need of a server) using a serial cable (up to 200 feet long, with 2 and 3 crossed, 7 straight through). Oh yes, life was a lot simpler back then!

But I suppose that things may have moved on a bit since. So, if your IT bods can't sort things out (?), I guess it might take a call to Easynet themselves! If, indeed, these are the same folk who produced the original software (which I doubt ... not the 1988 version, anyway).

On-line, I found this .pdf. It looks like there could be a config file called EasyNetSettings.inc that you could take a look at.