Chapter 4

Printing

The Print Setup Screen

After selecting Print from the menu (or toolbar ) the Print Setup screen will be displayed as shown in the accompanying illustration. There are several options on this screen which are divided over five tabs. The first tab is shown below.

Before examining the tabs please notice that the bottom of the form contains three frames which if clicked will change the format between black/white and color; portrait and landscape; and ASCII and grid style printing.

Information to Print

The options in the frame depend on whether Print was selected from the data screen or from the solution screen. From the data screen, the only option that will appear is to print the data. However, from the solution screen there will be one option for each screen of solution values.

For example, in the linear programming example above there are four different output displays as well as a graph available. You can select which of these get printed. In general, the data is printed when printing the output and therefore it is seldom necessary to print the data, meaning that all printing can be performed after solution.

Printing Graphs

If you select to print the graphs then the software will print all of the graphs that are available for that module. For example, Project Management results include three Gantt charts and a precedence graph. If all you want is one of the graphs, do your graph printing from the graph screen (described in the next chapter) rather than from a numerical output screen. Furthermore, if you want to control the size of the printed graph, use the options in the next chapter.

Tables vs. Equations

For the mathematical programming types of modules, there is an option available about the style of printing. The problem can be printed in regular tabular form or in equation form. We show an example of each next.

Tabular form

Results ----------

x y RHS Dual

Maximize 3 3

labor hours 3 4 <= 14 0.5

material (pounds) 6 4 <= 15 0.25

Equation form

Results ----------

OPTIMIZE: 3x + 3y

labor hours:+ 3x + 4y <= 14

material (pounds):+ 6x + 4y <= 15

Page Header Information

The tab for the page header information is displayed below. There are six pieces of information that can be chosen to appear on the header. The first three options will appear on the first header line, and the second three will appear on the second header line. To make permanent changes to the course name or instructor name, use Help, User information.

Page Layout

The tab for page layout is below.

Print as

There are three styles of printing that may be used. The most common and fastest way to print is as ASCII (plain text). In addition, you may also print it as a grid similar to the one that appears on the screen. Thus, you may format the grid and then go to the print option and print a highly formatted grid. The formatted grids take longer to print than the plain text printing. Finally, you may print it exactly as it appears (Windows form).

Paper Orientation

The paper can be printed in regular fashion (portrait) or it can be printed sideways (landscape).

Answers

Answers can be bold, italic, color or any combination of the three. Do not look for color if you do not have a color printer. In fact, if you set the printing to use color on a black/white printer then the color answers generally appear lighter! This is usually not the desired characteristic.

Spacing

The printing may be single spaced (highly suggested) or double spaced.

Margins

The left, right, top and bottom margins can be set from zero to 1 inch in increments of .1 inches. The margin is above or beyond any natural margin that the printer itself has. Margins of zero allow for the most printing across the page.

Maximum Column Widths

The maximum widths of the columns (in characters) can be set. The leftmost column which is usually names can be set separately from the other columns. This is useful if you want to compress tables.

Printer options

The tab for the printer options appears below.

Print to & If the file already exists

It is possible to print to the printer or to print to a file. If you print to a file you will be asked for a file name. Any name can be given. You also have the option of adding the printing to a file that was already there (appending) or erasing the file before printing (replace file).

Print Timing

Printing can occur each time that you use print or it can wait until the end, when everything will be printed at once. Printing each time is generally preferable but there are some situations where you want to wait until the end since this may save paper or minimize the number of trips to a network printer.

Change Default Printer

If you have more than one printer you may change the printer using this option. This changes the Windows default printer and may affect other programs! If you print as a grid then the printer selected is always the Windows default printer regardless of what you select in this window.