Hi Ralph/Bert,
Yes, some of this helps, but you need more background on our situation. We are experiencing these issues regarding LPT1 only under Windows 11 using HTB 2021.1.015 and have tried several paths to troubleshoot the issue, some you have suggested- more details in a moment. The previous combination was using either HTB 2021, HTB 10.1 or HTB 8.3 under Windows 7 without any issues with regard to printing on LPT1. All of our 50-60 very large software packages were using an HP dot printer at address 701 many years ago. We easily converted to address ISC26 with minimal changes and kept all the embedded PCL scripting that formats the pages. From Windows XP up through Windows 7, the printers were connected to the parallel port and worked well. Since enterprise printers stopped supporting parallel ports, we migrated to network printers. Again, while under XP through Win7, we have either used utilities to capture the LPT1 port or the NET USE command to redirect the output to a network print queue as you have described in the previous post.
Since migrating to Windows 11, we have been unable to find a stable combination. We have tried the following:
– Creating virtual LPT1, LPT2, LPT3 and LPT4 ports without making any difference in correcting the problem.
– “NET USE” capturing the LPT port does not work under Win11 for HTB.
Nothing goes to the printer from HTB using the “OUTPUT 26” command during program execution.
Under Win11, files can be copied to NET USE captured LPTx port from a command prompt and do print, but nothing from HTB 2021
LPT2, 3, 4 have all been tested and do not work. The CONTROL statements within HTB were used to change the LPTx without success
– changing the properties/advanced options for a printer is irrelevant because ISC26 is a direct connection to the printer bypassing the Win print queue
– using the windows print queue (default ISC 10) is not an option if you are sending PCL commands directly. This will strip the commands
and hold pages in queue without printing. Again, formatting would require a complete rewrite which would take months.
– We have used the National Instruments VISA driver to create a TCP direct socket to a printer using PORT 9100. Then, under HTB 2021 have
loaded a VISA driver to ‘talk’ to the socket directly. This works for a period of time and then just stops. It will recover if
the HTB Program itself is completely closed and then restarted under Win11. While this seems like the most viable option for us, we
cannot seem to trace out why it only works for a period of time? Seems like HTB is cause. Adjusting parameters under the VISA
load timeouts seems to not make any difference.
We are aware of the options that you have presented regarding printing to a file and sending each output to the printer. The way our software is structured would require a significant amount of rewrite to make that work. We need each page as it is filled or if a process is aborted. We cannot wait until the end to print everything, so it must be done in real time page by page. While this is possible, it would require heavy editing as I have described. When you look at the fact we have 50-60 large packages which are not the same, this is a daunting task.
Have you tested HTB 2021 under Windows 11 and had success printing to ISC26? Are there any suggestions on what could be causing the VISA
driver timeout?
Thanks, Ralph R.-
