I thought about the binary route also, until Neil mentioned that "the flyer is a full color graphic that will take time to rasterize". In that situation, Neil should minimize the number of print jobs queued (to fulfill the print order) because each print job causes a rasterization. If we assume, for example, that all of Neil's print orders will be less than 1000 pages, an **expansion** of Don's approach will guarantee that a print order will take at most 3 print jobs: one for the 100s, on for the 10s, and one for the 1s. For example, if NumCopies = 678, the print order would consist of 3 print jobs: one for 600 copies, one for 70 copies, and one for 8 copies. Any print order less than 1000 would take 2.7 print jobs, on average.
On the other hand, using a binary representation of NumCopies, there can be as many as 9 print jobs in a single print order (NumCopies = 511, 767, 895, etc), with an average print job count of 4.9. [if we assumed NumCopies <= 500, the binary method would still require, on average, 4.4 print jobs/order].
Jason L. DeLooze
> Neil,
>
> You can do it the intelligent (binary) way:
>
> Set up a number of scripts with predefined numbers of copies for
> 1, 2, 4, 8, 16, 32, 64.
>
> Then make another script (pass number of desired pages as parameter)
> that calls the necessary scripts to print the desired number of
> pages - always use the highest (scripted pages) number possible.
>
>
> As to the number of scripts: Not more than 7.
> If the pages to print is p. e. 500, that 64er script would be
> called 8 times. Not too many print jobs, right?
>
> This way you never have more than a few print jobs, which
> should perform quite fast.
>
>
> If you loop around a one page script you run into another issue,
> because the printer queue piles up and will almost certainly crash
> your printer driver. And it prints much slower.
>
>
> Winfried
> www.fmdiff.com
>
>
>
>
> On 30.08.2007, at 16:38, Neil Ticktin wrote:
>
>> Wow -- interesting brute force method. If it really turns out that
>> FileMaker doesn't have the capability to specify copies, this is probably a
>> good way to go.
>>
>> I'm pretty sure there's no good way to do this through ScriptMaker at this
>> point ... but I'm hoping that there's something that AppleScript can do.
>>
>> Thanks!
>>
>> Neil
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> At 10:53 PM -0700 8/29/07, Don Wieland wrote:
>>> on 8/29/07 8:24 PM, Neil Ticktin stated:
>>>
>>>> Single page cover letter to LA
>>>> 50 copies of the flyer personalized to LA
>>>> Single page cover letter to NY
>>>> 25 copies of the flyer personalized to NY
>>>
>>> I think you should define a separate subscript for different QUANTITIES of
>>> pages. Here is an example of what scripts you should have with QTY in the
>>> script name:
>>>
>>> Print Letterhead
>>> Print 100 pages
>>> Print 90 pages
>>> Print 80 pages
>>> Print 70 pages
>>> Print 60 pages
>>> Print 50 pages
>>> Print 40 pages
>>> Print 30 pages
>>> Print 20 pages
>>> Print 10 pages
>>> Print 5 pages
>>> Print 4 pages
>>> Print 3 pages
>>> Print 2 pages
>>> Print 1 page
>>>
>>> Then you can define a script call "PRINT PAGE(S) MASTER"
>>>
>>> Go To Record ["FIRST"]
>>> Loop
>>> Go To Layout ["whatever"]
>>> Set Variable ["$$Counter", "numcopies"]
>>> Perform Script [ subscript, "Print Letterhead"]
>>> Loop
>>> Exit Loop If [$$Counter < 100]
>>> Perform Script [ subscript, "Print 100 pages"]
>>> Set Variable ["$$Counter", "$$Counter - 100"]
>>> End Loop
>>> Loop
>>> Exit Loop If [$$Counter < 90]
>>> Perform Script [ subscript, "Print 90 pages"]
>>> Set Variable ["$$Counter", "$$Counter - 90"]
>>> End Loop
>>> Loop
>>> Exit Loop If [$$Counter < 80]
>>> Perform Script [ subscript, "Print 80 pages"]
>>> Set Variable ["$$Counter", "$$Counter - 80"]
>>> End Loop
>>> Loop
>>> Exit Loop If [$$Counter < 70]
>>> Perform Script [ subscript, "Print 70 pages"]
>>> Set Variable ["$$Counter", "$$Counter - 70"]
>>> End Loop
>>> Loop
>>> Exit Loop If [$$Counter < 60]
>>> Perform Script [ subscript, "Print 60 pages"]
>>> Set Variable ["$$Counter", "$$Counter - 60"]
>>> End Loop
>>> Loop
>>> Exit Loop If [$$Counter < 50]
>>> Perform Script [ subscript, "Print 50 pages"]
>>> Set Variable ["$$Counter", "$$Counter - 50"]
>>> End Loop
>>> Loop
>>> Exit Loop If [$$Counter < 40]
>>> Perform Script [ subscript, "Print 40 pages"]
>>> Set Variable ["$$Counter", "$$Counter - 40"]
>>> End Loop
>>> Loop
>>> Exit Loop If [$$Counter < 30]
>>> Perform Script [ subscript, "Print 30 pages"]
>>> Set Variable ["$$Counter", "$$Counter - 30"]
>>> End Loop
>>> Loop
>>> Exit Loop If [$$Counter < 20]
>>> Perform Script [ subscript, "Print 20 pages"]
>>> Set Variable ["$$Counter", "$$Counter - 20"]
>>> End Loop
>>> Loop
>>> Exit Loop If [$$Counter < 10]
>>> Perform Script [ subscript, "Print 10 pages"]
>>> Set Variable ["$$Counter", "$$Counter - 10"]
>>> End Loop
>>> Loop
>>> Exit Loop If [$$Counter < 5]
>>> Perform Script [ subscript, "Print 5 pages"]
>>> Set Variable ["$$Counter", "$$Counter - 5"]
>>> End Loop
>>> Loop
>>> Exit Loop If [$$Counter < 4]
>>> Perform Script [ subscript, "Print 4 pages"]
>>> Set Variable ["$$Counter", "$$Counter - 4"]
>>> End Loop
>>> Loop
>>> Exit Loop If [$$Counter < 3]
>>> Perform Script [ subscript, "Print 3 pages"]
>>> Set Variable ["$$Counter", "$$Counter - 3"]
>>> End Loop
>>> Loop
>>> Exit Loop If [$$Counter < 2]
>>> Perform Script [ subscript, "Print 2 pages"]
>>> Set Variable ["$$Counter", "$$Counter - 2"]
>>> End Loop
>>> Loop
>>> Exit Loop If [$$Counter < 1]
>>> Perform Script [ subscript, "Print 1 pages"]
>>> Set Variable ["$$Counter", "$$Counter - 1"]
>>> End Loop
>>> Go To Record [exit after last, "NEXT"]
>>> End loop
>>>
>>>
>>> This script works this way:
>>>
>>> It sets the QTY in a temp variable ($$Counter"), then categorically prints
>>> batches of pages base on the variable (which decrements based on the pages
>>> printed) until the variable reaches the value ZERO.
>>>
>>> So here some examples of how the printing would go:
>>>
>>> QTY = 222
>>> Perform Script [ subscript, "Print 100 pages"] - Loops 2 times
>>> Perform Script [ subscript, "Print 20 pages"] - Loops 1 times
>>> Perform Script [ subscript, "Print 2 pages"] - Loops 1 times
>>>
>>> QTY = 189
>>> Perform Script [ subscript, "Print 100 pages"] - Loops 1 times
>>> Perform Script [ subscript, "Print 80 pages"] - Loops 1 times
>>> Perform Script [ subscript, "Print 5 pages"] - Loops 1 times
>>> Perform Script [ subscript, "Print 4 pages"] - Loops 1 times
>>>
>>> Etc...
>>>
>>> This only disadvantage to this method is you cannot include PAGE NUMBERS of
>>> your layouts since every batch start back at ONE.
>>>
>>> Hope this helps!!!
>>>
>>> Don Wieland
>>> DW DATA CONCEPTS
>>> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
>>>
>>> Direct Line - (714) 389-4026
>>> Fax - (714) 389-4027
>>>
[hidden email]
>>>
http://www.dwdataconcepts.com>>>
>>> Integrated data solutions to fit your business needs.
>>>
>>> APPOINTMENT 1.0v7 - Add powerful scheduling to your database system.
>>>
>>>
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