I have an invoice form that is printed in batches using Mass Update. The form has about 75 layout elements and is printed using Printstring commands.
Normally, I would be printing about 40 to 80 invoices at a time. I just did a test run of 10 invoices which took 233 seconds to print in Sesame (23 seconds each). The same 10 invoices printed in 50 seconds in Q&A (5 seconds each). Timing was started when the first sheet of paper was picked up by the printer so initial processing was not included in the times.
Are there any things I can do to speed up the print job?

Here it is. It prints to a pre-printed form.

NewPage(850, 1100)
Printstring(@AsFormattedByLE(Invoice_No,0,Invoice_No), 725, 75, 0, "Arial", 14, 0)
Printstring(@AsFormattedByLE(Inv_Date,0,Inv_Date), 725, 125, 0, "Arial", 14, 0)

Printstring(@AsFormattedByLE(Customer1,0,Customer1), 50, 150, 0, "Arial", 14, 0)
Printstring(@AsFormattedByLE(Customer2,0,Customer2), 380, 150, 0, "Arial", 14, 0)
Printstring(@AsFormattedByLE(Street1,0,Street1), 50, 165, 0, "Arial", 14, 0)
Printstring(@AsFormattedByLE(Street,0,Street), 380, 165, 0, "Arial", 14, 0)
Printstring(@AsFormattedByLE(Street2,0,Street2), 50, 180, 0, "Arial", 14, 0)
Printstring(@AsFormattedByLE(City,0,City), 50, 195, 0, "Arial", 14, 0)
Printstring(@AsFormattedByLE(Prov,0,Prov), 225, 195, 0, "Arial", 14, 0)
Printstring(@AsFormattedByLE(Post,0,Post), 260, 195, 0, "Arial", 14, 0)
Printstring(@AsFormattedByLE(Prov1,0,Prov1), 500, 180, 0, "Arial", 14, 0)
Printstring(@AsFormattedByLE(City1,0,City1), 380, 180, 0, "Arial", 14, 0)
Printstring(@AsFormattedByLE(Post1,0,Post1), 550, 180, 0, "Arial", 14, 0)
Printstring(@AsFormattedByLE(PO_#,0,PO_#), 50, 290, 0, "Arial", 14, 0)
Printstring(@AsFormattedByLE(Cust_No,0,Cust_No), 290, 290, 0, "Arial", 14, 0)
Printstring(@AsFormattedByLE(DR_#,0,DR_#), 450, 290, 0, "Arial", 14, 0)
Printstring(@AsFormattedByLE(Terms,0,Terms), 700, 290, 0, "Arial", 14, 0)

Printstring(@AsFormattedByLE(Qty1,0,Qty1), 30, 350, 0, "Arial", 14, 0)
Printstring(@AsFormattedByLE(Desc1,0,Desc1), 75, 350, 0, "Arial", 14, 0)
Printstring(@AsFormattedByLE(Code1,0,Code1), 560, 350, 0, "Arial", 14, 0)
Printstring(@AsFormattedByLE(Unit1, 0, Unit1), 615, 350, 75, "Arial", 14, 0, Printstring_Align_Right)
Printstring(@AsFormattedByLE(Amount1,0,Amount1), 725, 350, 75, "Arial", 14, 0, PRINTSTRING_ALIGN_RIGHT)

If Qty2 > 0
{
Printstring(@AsFormattedByLE(Qty2,0,Qty2), 30, 375, 0, "Arial", 14, 0)
}
If Desc2 > 0
{
Printstring(@AsFormattedByLE(Desc2,0,Desc2), 75, 375, 0, "Arial", 14, 0)
}
If Qty2 > 0
{
Printstring(@AsFormattedByLE(Code2,0,Code2), 560, 375, 0, "Arial", 14, 0)
Printstring(@AsFormattedByLE(Unit2, 0, Unit2), 615, 375, 75, "Arial", 14, 0, Printstring_Align_Right)
Printstring(@AsFormattedByLE(Amount2,0,Amount2), 725, 375, 75, "Arial", 14, 0, Printstring_Align_Right)
}

If Qty3 > 0
{
Printstring(@AsFormattedByLE(Qty3,0,Qty3), 30, 400, 0, "Arial", 14, 0)
}
If Desc3 > 0
{
Printstring(@AsFormattedByLE(Desc3,0,Desc3), 75, 400, 0, "Arial", 14, 0)
}
If Qty3 > 0
{
Printstring(@AsFormattedByLE(Code3,0,Code3), 560, 400, 0, "Arial", 14, 0)
Printstring(@AsFormattedByLE(Unit3, 0, Unit3), 615, 400, 75, "Arial", 14, 0, Printstring_Align_Right)
Printstring(@AsFormattedByLE(Amount3, 0, Amount3), 725, 400, 75, "Arial", 14, 0, Printstring_Align_Right)
}

If Qty4 > 0
{
Printstring(@AsFormattedByLE(Qty4,0,Qty4), 30, 425, 0, "Arial", 14, 0)
}
If Desc4 > 0
{
Printstring(@AsFormattedByLE(Desc4,0,Desc4), 75, 425, 0, "Arial", 14, 0)
}
If Qty4 > 0
{
Printstring(@AsFormattedByLE(Code4,0,Code4), 560, 425, 0, "Arial", 14, 0)
Printstring(@AsFormattedByLE(Unit4, 0, Unit4), 615, 425, 75, "Arial", 14, 0, Printstring_Align_Right)
Printstring(@AsFormattedByLE(Amount4, 0, Amount4), 725, 425, 75, "Arial", 14, 0, Printstring_Align_Right)
}

If Qty5 > 0
{
Printstring(@AsFormattedByLE(Qty5,0,Qty5), 30, 450, 0, "Arial", 14, 0)
}
If Desc5 > 0
{
Printstring(@AsFormattedByLE(Desc5,0,Desc5), 75, 450, 0, "Arial", 14, 0)
}
If Qty5 > 0
{
Printstring(@AsFormattedByLE(Code5,0,Code5), 560, 450, 0, "Arial", 14, 0)
Printstring(@AsFormattedByLE(Unit5, 0, Unit5), 615, 450, 75, "Arial", 14, 0, Printstring_Align_Right)
Printstring(@AsFormattedByLE(Amount5, 0, Amount5), 725, 450, 75, "Arial", 14, 0, Printstring_Align_Right)
}

If Qty6 > 0
{
Printstring(@AsFormattedByLE(Qty6,0,Qty6), 30, 475, 0, "Arial", 14, 0)
Printstring(@AsFormattedByLE(Desc6,0,Desc6), 75, 475, 0, "Arial", 14, 0)
Printstring(@AsFormattedByLE(Code6,0,Code6), 560, 475, 0, "Arial", 14, 0)
Printstring(@AsFormattedByLE(Unit6, 0, Unit6), 615, 475, 75, "Arial", 14, 0, Printstring_Align_Right)
Printstring(@AsFormattedByLE(Amount6, 0, Amount6), 725, 475, 75, "Arial", 14, 0, Printstring_Align_Right)
}

If Qty7 > 0
{
Printstring(@AsFormattedByLE(Qty7,0,Qty7), 30, 500, 0, "Arial", 14, 0)
Printstring(@AsFormattedByLE(Desc7,0,Desc7), 75, 500, 0, "Arial", 14, 0)
Printstring(@AsFormattedByLE(Code7,0,Code7), 560, 500, 0, "Arial", 14, 0)
Printstring(@AsFormattedByLE(Unit7, 0, Unit7), 615, 500, 75, "Arial", 14, 0, Printstring_Align_Right)
Printstring(@AsFormattedByLE(Amount7, 0, Amount7), 725, 500, 75, "Arial", 14, 0, Printstring_Align_Right)
}

If Qty8 > 0
{
Printstring(@AsFormattedByLE(Qty8,0,Qty8), 30, 525, 0, "Arial", 14, 0)
Printstring(@AsFormattedByLE(Desc8,0,Desc8), 75, 525, 0, "Arial", 14, 0)
Printstring(@AsFormattedByLE(Code8,0,Code8), 560, 525, 0, "Arial", 14, 0)
Printstring(@AsFormattedByLE(Unit8, 0, Unit8), 615, 525, 75, "Arial", 14, 0, Printstring_Align_Right)
Printstring(@AsFormattedByLE(Amount8, 0, Amount8), 725, 525, 75, "Arial", 14, 0, Printstring_Align_Right)
}

If Qty9 > 0
{
Printstring(@AsFormattedByLE(Qty9,0,Qty9), 30, 550, 0, "Arial", 14, 0)
Printstring(@AsFormattedByLE(Desc9,0,Desc9), 75, 550, 0, "Arial", 14, 0)
Printstring(@AsFormattedByLE(Code9,0,Code9), 560, 550, 0, "Arial", 14, 0)
Printstring(@AsFormattedByLE(Unit9, 0, Unit9), 615, 550, 75, "Arial", 14, 0, Printstring_Align_Right)
Printstring(@AsFormattedByLE(Amount9, 0, Amount9), 725, 550, 75, "Arial", 14, 0, Printstring_Align_Right)
}

// Printstring(@AsFormattedByLE(Note1,0,Note1), 50, 815, 0, "Arial", 14, 0)
// Printstring(@AsFormattedByLE(Note2,0,Note2), 50, 840, 0, "Arial", 14, 0)
// Printstring(@AsFormattedByLE(Note3,0,Note3), 50, 865, 0, "Arial", 14, 0)
// Printstring(@AsFormattedByLE(Note4,0,Note4), 50, 890, 0, "Arial", 14, 0)

Printstring(@AsFormattedByLE(Total1, 0, Total1), 725, 815, 75, "Arial", 14, 0, Printstring_Align_Right)
Printstring(@AsFormattedByLE(THST, 0, THST), 725, 860, 75, "Arial", 14, 0, Printstring_Align_Right)
Printstring(@AsFormattedByLE(Total, 0, Total), 725, 975, 75, "Arial", 14, 0, Printstring_Align_Right)

If Paid_By > 0
{
Printstring(@AsFormattedByLE(Date_Paid, 0, Date_Paid), 65, 915, 0, "Arial", 14, 0)
Printstring(@AsFormattedByLE(Paid_By,0,Paid_By), 200,915, 0, "Arial", 14, 0)
Printstring(@AsFormattedByLE(Amount_Paid, 0, Amount_Paid), 250, 915, 75, "Arial", 14, 0)
}



FinishPage()

OK, how do I attach a file? Or should I email it? To whom?

It is an HP Officejet 6500A Plus, networked.

I just ran this with your database files that you sent in. I printed five invoices. It was about 35 seconds from when the first page was picked up to when the last page completed - about 7 seconds per invoice. I'm printing to a networked HP LJ2100.

I'm afraid that it appears that whatever is going on is going on with your OS and/or network.

Quick update.
I just tried this printer on a USB connection and I got 42 seconds for 5 forms, 8.5 seconds each. This includes a "long" delay between each page. Perhaps some tweaking can reduce this. I hooked it back up to the network and printing went back to about 23 seconds per page.

The ironic thing is, I put this printer on the network because Q&A could not talk to a USB printer.

Going to play with it some more and see if I can get that delay out of there.

Rick,
I already had Net Use LPT3 \\Glennw\HPOffice /Persistent:yes in a batch file to load Q&A, but after your comment I thought I would try Q&A and USB again. No go! I just couldn't get Q&A to print to a USB port. I even had trouble for a while when I tried to set it back to the ethernet printer, but I finally got it going again.
I suppose I can live with the 9 second page print in Sesame to the USB printer but there is about a 4 or 5 second pause between each page I want to try to get rid of. That would get it down to the 4 or 5 seconds that Q&A prints. So far, none of my adjustments have worked.
Glenn

Using XP, service pack 3.
I'll try it again today. I'll play around with renaming the eth printer and naming the USB printer to what the eth one was. I don't want to delete the eth printer in order to try the USB but I may have to, to try to force it to use the USB printer.
Now, when I run the .bat file which includes the Net Use statement to load Q&A, I get this message: System error 85 has occurred. The local device name is already in use. I thought that would prevent Q&A from printing, but I was able to do a test print this morning after that message.

I get the same error message if I set it to Persistent:no.
I probably always got that message, but I didn't see it until I put a Pause in the bat file.
I got Q&A to print to the USB printer! I had to change the share name for the eth printer first, then change the share name of the USB printer to what the eth name had been. I had a little trouble printing to it from Sesame so I hooked it back up to the eth and I had change the share names back again and I still had to reboot before it would print to the eth again. I'll leave it like this for now until I can get a long enough USB cable to have both connected simultaneously. Then I will work on tweaking it. At least now I know it can be done.

fwiw, one of our attached network printers is an HP OfficeJet 6300 all-in-one, and our accounting software takes FOREVER to print to it if the file is large (about 20 times as long to print to that printer versus a very old HP Series II laser printer that is also attached to a pocket print server).  I'm testing 'today' if changing that printer will speed up my posting times on customers with large amounts of data.  Will report on results.

Update:  the 'slow' issue had nothing to do with software or OS or printers.  It was a network cable gone bad.

Hello magicfish,

One thing you can try is the SBasic commands NewDocument() and FinishDocument() so that the invoices are sent to the Printer as one 50 page document rather than 50 one page documents.

In GlobalCode add

NewDocument(1) 

Then at the very bottom of your printing code add the following

If @ResultSetTotal() = @ResultSetCurrentPosition() Then
{
	FinishDocument()
} 

-Ray