Printing

ETBX provides standard Print, Page Setup, and Print Preview features for common output panels such as Results Reports, Plots, and Animations.

The Print Dialog Box

Open the Print dialog box shown in Figure 1 by choosing the File -> Print menu item. Select the desired printer, print range, and number of copies. Click the OK button to send the job to the printer.

Figure 1. Standard Print Dialog

Page Setup

Before printing you can adjust the page format, including page orientation, margins, output scaling, and more. These options are available on the Page Setup dialog box which can be opened by choosing the File -> Page Setup menu item. The Page Setup dialog has four tabs, described below.

The Page tab shown in Figure 2 includes options for specifying the output Media, Orientation, and Margins. The Media input group allows you to select a paper size and source. The Orientation group lets you choose the paper orientation - usually Portrait or Landscape. The Margins group allows you to set the margins in inches for each edge of the printed pages. If you exceed the allowable margin limits of your printer, an error message tells you to change the margins.

Figure 2. The Page tab of the Page Setup dialog box

The Graphics tab shown in Figure 3 provides inputs for specifying the Printed Size and other miscellaneous Print Options. It is only available for graphical output, and may not be displayed when printing text only.

The Printed Size section contains options for adjusting the output scale. The Use Full Page option causes the x- and y-scales to be independently adjusted so that the graphical output fills the entire page per the margin settings. The Scale To Fit Page box causes the output to be proportionally scaled (up or down) so that it fits the printed page while maintaining its original aspect ratio. The Custom option lets you specify the printed size in dots per inch.

The Print Options section contains miscellaneous options for customizing the printed output. Select the Transparent Background box to suppress printing of any background area. Select the Black Lines and Text option to print in black and white.

Figure 3. The Graphics tab of the Page Setup dialog box

The Header and Footer tabs are shown in Figure 4 and Figure 5. Headers and footers are lines of text at the top (header) and bottom (footer) of each printed page. They contain descriptive text such as titles, dates, and page numbers. ETBX organizes headers and footers into three sections: a left section, a center section, and a right section. For headers, the corresponding locations are the top left corner, the top center, and the top right corner of the page. For footers, the locations are the bottom left corner, the bottom center, and the bottom right corner of the page. For both headers and footers, the left section is left-aligned left, the center section is centered, and the right section is right-aligned.

To enter a header or footer, click in the Left, Center, or Right input field and type the text you want displayed on the printed page. The text font may be changed by clicking on the Change Font button to select a font using a standard Font dialog box.

Additional buttons are provided to help you enter common information such as page numbers, date, time, and the standard ETBX header.

Figure 4. The Header tab of the Page Setup dialog box

Figure 5. The Footer tab of the Page Setup dialog box

Print Preview

The Print Preview window shown in Figure 6 allows you to see how your output will look before you print it. Click the File -> Print Preview menu item to open the Print Preview window. The following controls are available on the toolbar at the top of the window:

Figure 6. The Print Preview window