LW Select 360 & Pro 810: Controlling Print Destination

I am using a LaserWriter Select 360 with the fax option card and using the application 4th Dimension. As a programmer with 4D, I can select whether or not I want the printer dialogs to appear when the print command has been issued.

I re-programmed our application to display the printer dialogs for the specific purpose of faxing or printing items. Even with the printer dialogs displayed, I still encountered a problem of whether or not the item got printed or faxed. I simply could not control it.
In our investigations into issues similar to this, we have found that some applications do not make the required calls to certain Print Manager routines when they bypass the Print dialog.

We found this to be the case with programs such as Applelink and its ability to print files downloaded during its "Repeating connection" feature. When using that feature a print dialog is not displayed, however, regardless of the destination selected in the previous print job (i.e. Print, File, or Fax), the downloaded files were being faxed. We took a look at this problem and determined that the application was not making the Print Manager call to PrintDefault which provides the default values for the printing record. PrintDefault MUST be called if the Page Setup or Print dialogs are not displayed.

With regard to 4D, we assume that it is also not making the necessary call to PrintDefault.
Published Date: Feb 19, 2012