Generate long (400+) character text output

[Former Member]

I have a rather complex and busy CR 2008 SP3 report to generate a fixed-length text file to send to a third-party. Problem is, when I export the report as text, it’s blank.

I did some searching online and received the hint that the available print drivers and page setup determines what’s possible. I have my “page” setup as custom, 38 inches wide to get all the data into one line. Looks great on the screen but blank when exporting.

My attempt based on what I read was to change the page setup to Letter, Landscape. I changed for format of the output field (415 characters!), to Arial, with a font size of 1. Made sure the width of the field fit onto the design setup’s 11 inches. That worked!

Of course, it’s hard to read in the Crystal Report. But the file is fine.

Question: Is this the correct approach?
Are there other ways to get around this within CR 2008?

(We have to use CR 2008 since it’s the bundled report writer within a larger software package.)

Thanks,
Brad

[Former Member]

Hi Brad,

Your approach is correct and I doubt if there are any better ones.

Some other known workarounds are:

1. use a printer/plotter  that supports wider formats.

2. export to csv and remove the delimiters before converting to text.

Thanks,

Prathamesh