Diane Hawkins writes:

> I am searching for all and any information on printing checks on a
>  laserjet printer connected to a HP3000.  Are most people using something
>  like Fantasia to do this.  Does Fantasia produce MICR codes?  What kind
>  of Laser printers are being used?  Isn't it possible to produce a
>  professional looking form on plain paper using the PCL codes?
>  Any information would be greatly helpful.

Diane,

I just put together a web page for you specifically to look at that includes
sample MICR, PostNet, signatures, and appropriate logos. Its URL is:

     http://aics-research.com/hp3000/sample.html

I am worried that I am going to begin sounding like Birket (who suggests that
ODBC is the solution for all that ails you :-). Actually, my recommendation
of <plug>QueryCalc</plug> is as philosophically backwards from Birket as one
can possibly get. Although I consider Birket to be a good friend, and I
presume he does me also, we couldn't agree less on the proper approaches to
analyzing data on the HP3000. He argues for downloading such information into
a PC. I've come increasingly to believe that such downloading is not merely a
mistake but much more closely akin to a sin. I feel the same way about
post-processing forms merge and font management. All of that should be done
on the HP3000. It's the only way that all of this can be made simple enough
to be reliable and manageable.

A slightly condensed version of the text that I wrote for you on the web page
is:

======================================

Everything you see below (logos, forms, and data) was created wholly within
QueryCalc on the HP3000. All of this can easily be accomplished within a job
and be faxed automatically, in batch, during the night, if you wish.

Philosophically, QueryCalc is constructed as a spreadsheet that is wholly
resident on the HP3000. Thus no downloads into PCs are required -- or
recommended. Indeed, we have a large ruler to whack people's knuckles who
even suggest such an approach :-). Anything that can be done on a PC can be
accomplished far more easily, with enormously greater efficiency, and most
especially, with far greater automatibility on the HP3000 itself.

Because QueryCalc is a spreadsheet, drawing lines and boxes is very
straightforward. You simply specify the upper-left and lower-right corner
cells of the box you wish to create. Positioning anywhere within a cell is
available in positional step sizes 1/100th of the size of the cell. All font
management is done on the HP3000. If non-standard PostScript fonts (such as
MICR or PostNet fonts, as in the example below) are used on the page,
QueryCalc automatically downloads the necessary fonts into the printer prior
to printing the page.

That's all there is to QueryCalc. The only difference is that QC can produce
exceptionally nice looking output due to its use of PostScript -- and some
PostScript printers can also fax their output rather than merely print it
locally. All of this is (data retrieval, data processing, forms creation and
merging, and font management) is accomplished wholly within QueryCalc. All
you need is to have is an HP3000, your data resident in an IMAGE or KSAM
database, and a printer.

The sample output shown below was printed to a standard HP LaserJet 4M Plus
printer at 600dpi. The quality, unfortunately, of the scanned and compressed
image is unrepresentative of the actual output. But you can at least get some
sense from the sample of what you can do quite easily in QueryCalc. In order
to make the check legitimate, all that needs be done to the printer is insert
a magnetic toner cartridge. Such cartridges are available from a number of
sources. Indeed, when good bank stock paper (perhaps with a colored
background scene appropriate to your organization) and magnetic toner is used
in a LaserJet, the checks are not only completely automatically processible,
they can be made to be really quite attractive.

======================================

Wirt Atmar