The distribution contains settings for the …/library/classes/class.ezpdf.php margins of 30 in lines 119-122 for both the earlier and the latest 3.1.0 release. That results in the print on every example (admittedly working only in windows) I have seen of print which does not match the actual CMS 1500 ver 8/05. In every case, changing them to 5 worked perfectly, and I have yet to see a downside from that.
Similarly, the distribution for …/interface/billing/billing_report.php from line 84 has a top margin value of 27, which results in the print shifting below the desired lines. All I have set to 20 have been perfect. And while I know that is a user adjustable at actual print, defaulting to the 20 eliminates the need to think about it.
In that same file, on line 266 the “Change View” is not intuitive, whereas making it “Update List” actually reflects what will be done on clicking there. Lastly, since we ARE using the CMS 1500, should we not call that out in the buttons from line 328 instead of 'HCFA" - note we will only want to change the display labels, as the other callouts for HCFA have logical functions.
Is there anyone for whom the distribution settings work as distributed? If not, can we fix those in the CVS? Those who actually print their bills from OpenEMR need this right.
Anybody else in favor of changing these defaults. If they indeed aren’t working by default on most printers then I am for it. Do any others need to change these settings, and if so, to what? Once get consensus, can then commit it.
I just tested the print in the CVS with whatever are the margin values there from …/classes/class.ezpdf.php (which appear to be 30 where in every Windows setup I have seen, they need to be 5), but they print fine, albeit shifted down by the Top = 27 I advise be changed to Top = 20 in /library/billing_report.php along with changing from HCFA to CMS in the labels. So the billing_report.php changes seem to be needed in any case, while the ezpdf changes may only be required for Windows installs.
Anybody else done similar comparison prints, and what have you found? I have seen queries from at least three on the forums about the print format, and my settings have proven correct for all, though I cannot say all were windows installs.
I changed the margin values in /classes/class.ezpdf.php from 30 to 5 as suggested by Joe and it works fine with all printers. I have done this only on Linux.
Committed all your proposed changes into the billing\_report.php file into CVS. Stil very wary of touching class.ezpdf.php since I think this will affect all pdf’s, not just the billing. Anybody else have testing of this?(not just billing pdf’s but others such as scripts, immunizations, growth charts).
Based on the fact that nobody working in Linux ever had a problem with the margin settings of 30 in class.ezpdf.php, it is obvious those settings are meaningless and ignored in Linux. But they are far from that in Windows.
You have no idea the machinations I had to go through to “convince” the CMS1500 to print correctly, including having to setup the printer special to print without margins. Then I tried changing the 30 to 5 and it worked perfectly on EVERY printer I own, plus the printers owned by my wife’s biller, without any other changes than changing the billing_report.php top margin from 27 to 20.
And I recall that at least two Windows users reported my settings worked fine, as well as the Linux user above. So if the margin settings have no effect in Linux for the CMS 1500, they have no effect for any of the scripts, etc either. But if they have the affect of compressing in Windows, then all the others will do so as well there. All my settings do is bring things to the place they are supposed to be when they actually affect the outputs, which seems only to be in Windows.
So I appreciate your hesitantcy, but all evidence says it is not necessary, and the longer we have the setting at 30, the more new Windows users will continue to be baffled at the fonts being misplaced.
Might I suggest that you try the various elements in Windows for yourself with each of the settings, and see if they do not most closely reflect the Linux outputs when the margins are set at 5 instead of 30?
There’s no rush here. Just needs to be figured out before next release, since this file can’t go into a 3.1.0 patch. I’ve only seen one linux say it was ok, whom didn’t respond to further questioning. Just need to make sure other pdf’s are also ok; if there is a difference, then can make code act differently on windows vs linux.