Error when printing template details

[Vistisen]

I get this error when I try to print template details. It comes after clicking print in the printer dialogue window- I am using Templot 5. the latest build.

I do not get the error if I create a pdf... but I do not get an PDF either! The templot pdf folder is empty

 

[Steve_Cornford]

Hi Tim,

I will check that out.

Steve

 

[Steve_Cornford]

I have re-created the error, so you are not alone!

I will investigate further.

Steve

 

[Steve_Cornford]

Hi Tim,
@Martin Wynne
I have not managed to solve this one yet, it might be above my pay grade.

Works fine in the Delphi version of Templot (Templot2), but not in the Lazarus version of Templot(Templot5).

Steve

 

[Steve_Cornford]

@Vistisen @Martin Wynne
Not getting very far. the problem seems to be in htmlview.pas , but having added a showmessage statement, the error changes to:-

without the message we get the access violation message.

Confused Steve

 

[Martin Wynne]

@Vistisen @Steve_Cornford

Hi Tim, Steve,

This problem is caused by the fact that the HtmlViewer component (originally written for Delphi) uses EMF metafiles to create the print output.

EMF metafiles are not supported in Lazarus, so the print function fails.

We have created our own workaround for EMF metafiles in Templot5, but incorporating it into the HtmlViewer package is no 5-minute task. I have too many other distractions at present, so I'm going to leave this for now and add it to the to-do list. The same applies to the PDF output.

For the present I have now commented out these two functions, suggesting swapping back to Templot2 if they are needed. Sorry this wasn't done before releasing Templot5. Thanks for reporting it.

A more practical solution would be to click the options... button and then copy all text. Which can then be pasted into any editor such as Windows Notepad for printing. But note that this won't include any images.

This problem also applies to several other functions in Templot which use the HtmlViewer, such as printing a list of the storage box contents. I will look at creating an alternative printing function for them in the short-term.

This is one of several loose ends still to be fixed before Templot5 can fully replace Templot2.

cheers,

Martin.

 

[Steve_Cornford]

Hi Martin,
But the [ create PDF] button on the Help screen works ok so perhaps leave that in?
Steve

 

[Martin Wynne]

Hi Martin,
But the [ create PDF] button on the Help screen works ok so perhaps leave that in?
Steve

@Steve_Cornford

Hi Steve,

???

Have you fixed it and not merged it?

Here the button works in that it doesn't crash and shows the PDF file save dialog. But no file gets created -- it is all still commented out in the original conversion to get Lazarus to compile:

procedure Thelp_form.pdf_buttonClick(Sender: TObject);

var
 //OT2024  metafile_printer:TMetafilePrinter;
  page:integer;
  folder_str:string;

begin
  num_of_print_pages:=html_view.NumPrinterPages;   // for print header

  with save_file_dialog do begin
    InitialDir:=exe_str+'PDF-FILES\';
    FileName:=remove_invalid_str(Copy(Trim(help_form.Caption),1,24)+FormatDateTime('_yyyy_mm_dd_hhmm_ss',Date+Time))+'.pdf';
    Title:='    save  PDF  file  as ...';

    showing_dialog:=True;   // 212a Wine bug

    if Execute=False
       then begin
              showing_dialog:=False;   // 212a Wine bug
              EXIT;
            end;

    showing_dialog:=False;   // 212a Wine bug       

          // invalid entered chars removed by dialog

// OT2024    html_pdf_printer.FileName:=ExtractFilePath(FileName)+lower_case_filename(ExtractFileName(FileName));   // to underscores and lower case

  end;//with

  showing_dialog:=True;   // 212a Wine bug

(* // OT2024

  if pdf_setup_dialog.Execute=False
     then begin
            showing_dialog:=False;   // 212a Wine bug
            EXIT;
          end;

  showing_dialog:=False;   // 212a Wine bug

  metafile_printer:=TMetafilePrinter.Create(Self);

  try
    html_view.PrintPreview(metafile_printer);

    html_pdf_printer.BeginDoc;
    try
      for page:=0 to metafile_printer.LastAvailablePage-1 do begin

        html_pdf_printer.StartPage(metafile_printer.PageWidth,metafile_printer.PageHeight,metafile_printer.PixelsPerInchX,metafile_printer.PixelsPerInchY,0);
        html_pdf_printer.Canvas.Draw(0,0,metafile_printer.MetaFiles[page]);
        html_pdf_printer.EndPage;

      end;//for
    finally
      html_pdf_printer.EndDoc;
    end;
  finally

    if alert(2,'    PDF  file  created',
               ' |PDF file created ( '+IntToStr(num_of_print_pages)+' pages ):'
              +'||'+ExtractFileName(html_pdf_printer.Filename)
              +'||  page width: '+IntToStr(metafile_printer.PageWidth)+' dots at '+IntToStr(metafile_printer.PixelsPerInchX)+' dots per inch'
              +'||page height: '+IntToStr(metafile_printer.PageHeight)+' dots at '+IntToStr(metafile_printer.PixelsPerInchY)+' dots per inch|| ',
               '','','','open  the  containing  folder','','continue',0)=4
       then begin
              folder_str:=ExtractFilePath(html_pdf_printer.Filename);

              if ShellExecute(0,'explore',PChar(folder_str),nil,nil,SW_SHOWNORMAL)<=32
                 then show_modal_message('Sorry, unable to open the folder.')
                 else external_window_showing:=True;
            end;

    metafile_printer.Free;
  end;//try

*)

end;

I have changed it to:

begin
  do_open_source_bang('PDF Help Notes');  // OT2024
  EXIT; // OT2024

And similarly for the print button.

Which I should have done originally.

cheers,

Martin.

 

[Steve_Cornford]

Hi Martin,
Yes sorry you are right, it does show the create PDF dialog screen, but as you say nothing actually gets created.

Are we aiming to make Templot5 platform independent?

Steve

 

[Martin Wynne]

Are we aiming to make Templot5 platform independent?

@Steve_Cornford

Hi Steve,

Who is this "we"?

I'm not -- I don't know enough about any platform other than Windows to know what I'm doing.

But part of the reason for going open-source is that others may want to do that. Someone (sorry, forgotten who) did post a while ago to say that he had got the original 2018 code running natively on a Mac, sort of.

As you know, for Windows stuff not supported in Lazarus I have created helper executables using Delphi. Which means T5 will be Windows-only (or via Wine/CrossOver).

If someone creates a version for some other platform it will need its own name, such as TemplotMac. I would be a bit annoyed if someone created a version of Templot with bits missing for other platforms, and still called it Templot5.

cheers,

Martin.

 

[Philip]

Wouldn't the simplest solution for creating a saveable/printable version of HTML text be to save as a HTML file and, for the print functionality, invoke Window.print() in JavaScript (equivalent to clicking print in the browser, so you get the normal print dialog) and open the file in the default browser? It probably wouldn't look as nice, and it would be a bit less convenient for printing, but it should still be useable and anyone who is really concerned about how the documents look would probably find it easier to work with the HTML version anyway. Pictures would need to either be exported as separate files or Base 64 encoded and embedded. If I haven't misunderstood the point or the architecture, I could have a look at that as an interim solution unless/until HTMLViewer is fixed upstream.

On the cross platform question - at least on ARM Macs, Templot runs fine in Windows 11 virtualised in a (GPL'd free) UTM VM. The effort of digging out all the code that assumes it is on Windows (font selections, for example) hardly seems worthwhile if done for its own sake compared to developing the interesting and useful features, let alone re-writing parts that actually need Windows.