[reportlab-users] Printing to an index card

[Tim Roberts]

On Sun, 31 Jul 2005 22:57:58 -0500, Stephen Boulet 
<stephen at theboulets.net> wrote:

>I'm trying to print numers on index cards. The pdf looks good in
>Acrobat, but when it prints it centers the page as though it were on an
>8.5x11 inch sheet.
>
>Is there a way to specify the page size that I'm missing? Thanks.
>
>Stephen
>
># 152.40 x 101.60 is a 6x4 index card. Number is 1/72*inches
>
>from reportlab.pdfgen import canvas
>from reportlab.lib.pagesizes import letter, A4, inch
>print inch
>f = file('index cards.pdf','wb')
>width, height = 432.00,288.00
>pagesize = width, height
>


There are a couple of options.  The key issue is that you need to tell 
the Windows printer driver what size paper you actually have in the 
printer.  You are probably leaving it at the default (8.5 x 11), and you 
probably have the "auto-center and auto-rotate" checkbox selected in the 
print dialog.  This is all beyond the control of Reportlab: it is an 
interaction between Acrobat and the printer.

So, your first chore is to wade through the advanced options in Print 
Setup in Acrobat to see if your printer actually has 4x6 as one of the 
choices.  Few printers do.

Barring that, you should be able to deselect "auto-center and 
auto-rotate", and just let Acrobat think it has an 8.5 x 11 sheet.  
Depending on how the index cards line up in your paper feeder, it will 
print in one of the corners.

-- 
Tim Roberts, timr at probo.com
Providenza & Boekelheide, Inc.