HiFinance
4
SECTION
7.1.3.4 - EXTERNAL VIEWER
USAGE: To setup the parameters for an external viewer.
Note: This function is only available in DOS based
environments. For Unix installations, the menu option does not appear.
DISCUSSION: Normally when you generate
a report, HiFinance gives you the option to display the report to the screen or
print it on a printer. The screen display option normally displays in a
non-graphical screen, which cuts the report into sections that can be displayed
in 80 by 25 character chunks. This function is quick but sometimes difficult to
view because long and/or wide reports are displayed in short sections.
HiFinance also gives you the option to display the
report on any HTML viewer, eg Internet Explorer, Netscape, etc. The report is
transformed into an HTML compatible format and the external viewer is
initiated. Because HiFinance expects to print to non-proportional spaced
printers, the output is forced into a non-proportional character font using the
<pre> command. Once initiated,
the report can be read as per normal and movement can be achieved with the mouse
or cursor commands in the normal way. Most viewers also have facilities to
print to your local printer. HiFinance does not control this printing. The
printer should be setup from within Windows.
Note: HiFinance has no way of killing off the viewer
once the report has been displayed. You will need to complete this task
manually. For example, in most instances you can terminate the viewer with <alt><F4> or <alt><f><c> or <alt><f><x>. If you fail to do this,
each new call to the viewer will result in a new instance of the program, which
will eventually fill-up all available processing memory.
When you start this function, the following
questions will be asked.
ENABLE EXTERNAL VIEWER? This basically enables or disables the call to the external
program. If you enter N here, only the internal
viewer will be available and the rest of the questions are irrelevant. You can
enter an A here. This will cause the
print function to ask you each time you choose to display a report to the
screen. This option is available for those users who wish to sometimes display
in a non-graphical way and sometime wish to send the display to an external
viewer, eg Excel.
NAME AND FULL PATH TO
EXTERNAL VIEWER?
Here you enter
the full (absolute) path name of the external program. For example, to used Internet
Explorer, enter c:\program
files\microsoft internet\iexplore.exe Note the spaces in the path name. Do not enter any
quotation marks. HiFinance will insert these when calling the program.
LINES PER PAGE? It is not necessary to have page breaks in this function
because most HTML viewers are capable of printing and inserting their own page
numbers. If you do not wish to have page breaks, enter zero here. If you wish
to force page breaks (which will insert headings as per normal printing) enter
a number from 10 to 99 here representing the number of lines you wish to print
before a page break is triggered.
INITIAL FONT SIZE? This function modifies the HTML tag <font> with a size number. A good size is usually 2 or 3, but this depends on your
screen. Any number from 1 to 9 is valid. In either case, most viewers allow the font to be varied,
once the report is on the screen.
