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Official GanttProject repository.
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poor print out quality #364

Open GoogleCodeExporter opened 9 years ago

GoogleCodeExporter commented 9 years ago 
What steps will reproduce the problem?
1. print out the project (no zoom - target paper size is A3)
2. e.g it is difficult to read the task list on the left side
3. print out is done via print preview function

What is the expected output? What do you see instead?
readable print out

What version of the product are you using? On what operating system?
GanttProject 2.5 Praha beta IV (build 823)

Please provide any additional information below.
you can use the sample project provided in the installation directory

Original issue reported on code.google.com by s.650.fi...@googlemail.com on 20 Dec 2011 at 9:42

GoogleCodeExporter commented 9 years ago 
Issue 380 has been merged into this issue.

Original comment by dbarashev on 9 Jan 2012 at 5:07

GoogleCodeExporter commented 9 years ago 
I have GanttProject 2.5 Praha beta V (build 888) installed on 3 differant 
Machines, 2 running XP pro SP3 and one Win7 pro patched to date.All appear to 
have this problem when printing from the project. Exporting to Jpg appears OK 
but has it's own limitations. Exportng to PDF Prints OK.
Hope this helps

Original comment by JPickett...@gmail.com on 12 Mar 2012 at 11:43

GoogleCodeExporter commented 9 years ago 
Hi,

I am running GanttProject 2.5 Praha (build 1024) on Windows 7 and I also have 
very bad output when printing on A3.
Looks like the letters don't fit in the printing boundry box. (like the font is 
too big for the box and get antialiased out of the picture)

Original comment by rjp.bo...@gmail.com on 26 Mar 2012 at 12:58

Attachments:

GoogleCodeExporter commented 9 years ago 
I see this also. Using XP32 and XP64. Print settings at defaults, ver 2.5, 
build 1024.
Starting with the sample in the install folder, it prints fine.  Add 16 tasks 
it still prints fine. Add one more it does not, print is illegible.  Save 
project, load with version 2.0.10 it will print fine.   

On a related topic.
Please fix print settings so they do not always return to defaults.

My compliments to the developers, GanttProject is a very nice piece of work.

Original comment by dean.dor...@gmail.com on 27 Mar 2012 at 5:11

GoogleCodeExporter commented 9 years ago 
Guys, why don't you export to PNG or PDF and print using any tool which you 
like? There must be tons of nice apps which can print an image, no?

Original comment by dbarashev on 27 Mar 2012 at 9:55

GoogleCodeExporter commented 9 years ago 
1.  I thought the point of reporting bugs was to get them fixed.  If
the driver's side door of your car would not open, would you just get
in on the passenger side day after day or get it fixed?
2.  The printouts are not the clearest.  Putting them through a
compression algorithm, making them into a picture, fuzzing them up
further then printing them would make the prints look unprofessional.
3.  Last but not least, it does not work (I tried it before I wrote
the comment).  The same garbage is printed to the pdf, and I do mean
garbage.  The printout is not just fuzzy, it's totally illegible.
Please look at what I wrote.  Try it.  See the garbage print for
yourself.   It has to do with how many tasks are listed.   It is a 2.5
bug.  2.0.10 does not do this.

Original comment by dean.dor...@gmail.com on 29 Mar 2012 at 2:42

GoogleCodeExporter commented 9 years ago 
Dear dbaras,

The exporting to PNG or PDF is a nice feature.
It is possible to print the resulting file.

There is only one limitation to this solution:
The number of lines in your project planning should be limited.
If the number of tasks get to long, the readability is gone.

Printing on a3 used to solve this because it would only do a limited of lines 
on one page and start a new page for the overflow of lines.

The PNG (and the picture in the PDF) solution puts everything on one page. 
Which makes the letters very,very small.

So the solution for me would be:
- fix the printing (is the most convenient)
- make the PNG and the PDF use only a maximum number of lines per file. (and 
for me to pick up every file and print them in A3)

Robert

Original comment by rjp.bo...@gmail.com on 30 Mar 2012 at 12:46

GoogleCodeExporter commented 9 years ago 
Is my understanding correct that there is no tool in this world that can print 
a big PNG picture (which is lossless compression by the way) on a few A4 
sheets? I can't believe it.

Original comment by dbarashev on 30 Mar 2012 at 12:56

GoogleCodeExporter commented 9 years ago 
Best way, in my point of view, is to fix this issue at the core and not put a 
plaster pad on it. Ofcourse there are workarounds but that will not fix the 
origine of this issue. If printing in v2.5 is not a function then better remove 
the link and replace it with the "export to pdf" option.

Original comment by remcojan...@gmail.com on 30 Mar 2012 at 1:11

GoogleCodeExporter commented 9 years ago 
We plan to stick to PDF export only in the future. Printing in GanttProject 
have never really worked anyway. And other tools do much better job with 
printers setup, margins, paper formats, settings, etc., so let's leave this 
stuff to them.

Original comment by dbarashev on 30 Mar 2012 at 1:31

GoogleCodeExporter commented 9 years ago 
Dbaras,

Just took a better look at your PNG export suggestion and it looks like msPaint 
(yes, the same one) can do the trick with win 7.

For a non-technical user this work-around is not convenient.

I have to look at the PDF export to see if there is a report that splits the 
Gantt-barchart up in a way that makes it readable.

Original comment by rjp.bo...@gmail.com on 31 Mar 2012 at 10:33

GoogleCodeExporter commented 9 years ago 
I am a technical user and this is inconvenient no matter who you are.
It's not a matter of knowing how or not, it's the time it takes to do
it.   A product like this without a print function (exporting is not
printing) is not a complete solution.  I guess I will go back to
2.0.10.  The print function works.

Original comment by dean.dor...@gmail.com on 31 Mar 2012 at 11:44

GoogleCodeExporter commented 9 years ago 
This issue was updated by revision fd4dab5f3216.

Original comment by dbarashev on 31 Mar 2012 at 11:51

GoogleCodeExporter commented 9 years ago 
I am happy guys that you would call this free software which we develop just 
for fun "a complete solution" if there were a good printing.

The latest CL hopefully makes printing sucking just as much as it sucked in GP 
2.0.10. It will be published in 2.5.1.

If you want a really good big image tiled on A4 paper, please consider taking a 
couple of minutes and reading this: 
http://scottiestech.info/2009/08/08/how-to-easily-print-a-large-image-to-multipl
e-pages-in-windows/

Or wait until we implement a good automated tiling of the chart in PDF export 
function. We will not be investing our time into fight with Java printing, 
sorry. 

Also, my name is Dmitry, not Dbaras.

Original comment by dbarashev on 31 Mar 2012 at 11:58

GoogleCodeExporter commented 9 years ago 
I have tried all the pdf exports and the reports are not usable if you want to 
use the ganttchart with bars.

Please reconsider about the print function.

It was very convenient to use.

Original comment by rjp.bo...@gmail.com on 1 Apr 2012 at 6:21

GoogleCodeExporter commented 9 years ago 
Dmitry,

Sorry, I referred to the e-mail address.

From your remark (the 'sucking' bit) I understand that there are issues with 
printing in Java. The issues i have had with the printing in previous versions 
were limited.

The Link you published is indeed the way in which I get it onto paper at this 
moment.

What does CL mean ?

Robert

By the way: I like this 'just for fun'-software you are developing.

Original comment by rjp.bo...@gmail.com on 1 Apr 2012 at 7:47

GoogleCodeExporter commented 9 years ago 
CL is "changelist" from comment #13. I spent a few hours searching what 
happened to printing, found the changelist which made it bad and implemented a 
workaround (and still I don't understand the reason). Now it should be as ugly 
as it was in 2.0.10. Not worse.

Original comment by dbarashev on 1 Apr 2012 at 7:52

GoogleCodeExporter commented 9 years ago 
Dmitry,

Ok, great that you found a way to get around the problem.
When can I test this ?

Robert

Original comment by rjp.bo...@gmail.com on 2 Apr 2012 at 8:27

GoogleCodeExporter commented 9 years ago 
You'd have to wait until 2.5.1 is released. (or you should grab the current 
source and compile yourself)

Original comment by maarten....@gmail.com on 2 Apr 2012 at 8:48

GoogleCodeExporter commented 9 years ago 
Actually, I uploaded a new build to Dropbox this morning, so if anyone could 
test it before it is officially published, it would be great.

ZIP: http://dl.dropbox.com/u/5454466/ganttproject-2.5.1-r1052.zip
EXE: http://dl.dropbox.com/u/5454466/ganttproject-2.5.1-r1052.exe

Original comment by dbarashev on 2 Apr 2012 at 11:20

GoogleCodeExporter commented 9 years ago 
Dmitry,

Just downloaded, installed and printed.
Sorry to report that the problem is not over.

It looks like it is trying to get a character into a too small box.

Original comment by rjp.bo...@gmail.com on 2 Apr 2012 at 1:33

Attachments:

GoogleCodeExporter commented 9 years ago 
Is it different in GP 2.0.10?

Original comment by dbarashev on 2 Apr 2012 at 2:45

GoogleCodeExporter commented 9 years ago 
So, the results of my own tests. 

* On Mac OSX Lion both GP 2.5 and GP 2.5.1 produce excellent results, both when 
printing to a real printer (HP Laser Jet 4700) and to PDF with CUPS-PDF driver. 
Sometimes printing fails with segmentation fault, though, which makes Mac OSX 
almost dead (I had to reboot it)

* On one of Ubuntu Linux boxes Java can't find any printer, despite that I have 
a few of them installed and they are visible to other programs. On another 
Ubuntu printing with Generic PostScript printer produces bad result in GP 2.5 
and better result in GP 2.5.1

* Results of tests on Windows 7 with PDFCreator driver are attached.  GP 2.5 
output is the worst (but still not ugly-ugly-ugly), in GP 2.5.1 it is more 
readable. 

* Also, the result of printing PNG image with MS Paint, using the same 
PDFCreator driver, with "fit 2 by 2" in Page setup is attached. It looks way 
better than anything else.

So, in my tests the results are pretty good, but I have no reason not to trust 
to those people who have problems with printer and get garbage instead of a 
nice picture. Since I work on GP about 5-10 hours weekly, I have two options. 
First is to spend the next few months trying to test printing on every possible 
printer model in the world, trying to understand why Open JDK can't see 
printers on Linux and trying to understand why it crashes on Mac OSX. Second 
option is to forget about ugly Java printing and, in the hope that those who 
experince problems will find feasible a workaround which requires just 1 minute 
to understand and 1 minute to use, implement other features, and maybe even 
implement a good PDF export which will automatically do what MS Paint does. 

I choose the second option. Sorry if anyone wants me to choose the first. It is 
open-source free software, and hopefully there is a smart hacker who is much 
more proficient in Java printing then I am. If you know one, please ping him. 
Maybe he will find this problem interesting.

Original comment by dbarashev on 2 Apr 2012 at 10:37

Attachments:

GoogleCodeExporter commented 9 years ago 
Also, see the result of exporting a big project using PDF export, Sortavala 
theme, A2 paper size, tiled on four A4 sheets with pdfposter tool on Linux. 
Looks just perfect, but required typing a few commands. If were able to do the 
same automatically, then it would well worth removing "Print" button from 
GanttProject.

Original comment by dbarashev on 2 Apr 2012 at 11:30

Attachments:

GoogleCodeExporter commented 9 years ago 
Need to distill what I am reading. I am fine with first exporting to a pdf, 
then printing the export file to get around the poor font quality issue. But 
(yes or no answers are needed):

1. can we use an export function and get a multipage gantt on A4. Yes or no? In 
this case we have a 2011 to 2013 plan, thus more than one page is needed.

2. If "yes", are there help instructions somewhere to get a multi-page gantt on 
A4. If "no", can someone provide them? If "yes", where are the instructions.

I tried with ALL export options using the most recent version of GanttProject, 
and failed. No need to ping me for the version number. It is the latest version 
number published as of 16July2012. When I failed, I simply get the FIRST page, 
not the second, third, fourth pages of the four page chart.

Terrific program, btw. A few simple user instructions are needed to explain how 
to export (or print to printer) a multi-page gantt chart on landscape A4 with 
normal readable font. So close, yet so far.

Original comment by cdnhocke...@gmail.com on 16 Jul 2012 at 12:25

GoogleCodeExporter commented 9 years ago 
GanttProject itself can't tile the chart image, but if you set e.g. A0 format 
then you'll be able to tile the resulting A0 PDF with PDF printing/tiling tools 
and get it on A4 sheets. Run "pdf tiling" search on Google to find tiling tools.

In particular, for Linux you can try using pdfposter. 

Another option is to export chart to PNG and use MS Paint for tiling. See the 
link to howto in the discussion above

Original comment by dbarashev on 16 Jul 2012 at 12:51

GoogleCodeExporter commented 9 years ago 
Many thanks. Almost there. What happened:

1. I selected A0 as recommended, then printed to a PDF driver. Assumed I could 
tile it later.
2. What happens: just the project window on my task screen was printed as an 
image on the A0 paper (e.g., the window of tasks for April 2012 through to June 
2012). Not what we wanted. We wanted to see the entire project printed in A0.

So very close to a solution. What do I do to have the entire project printed on 
A0 as a pdf?

Original comment by cdnhocke...@gmail.com on 16 Jul 2012 at 4:10

GoogleCodeExporter commented 9 years ago 
In PDF export wizard you can choose the date range of the exported chart. I 
assume you actually export to PDF, not print with PDF driver.

Original comment by dbarashev on 16 Jul 2012 at 4:56

GoogleCodeExporter commented 9 years ago 
This was sent by email to me:
A verry handy and free to use software you can find for that  :
http://www.noliturbare.com/pdf-tools/pdf-tiler
Maybe this can help us.

Succes.
CU,
Lode

Original comment by dbarashev on 1 Mar 2013 at 11:39

GoogleCodeExporter commented 9 years ago 
hallo together,

my question is, why is it not possible to generata vector-based pdf-files?

in 2.6.6 and also in 2.7 beta it doesen't matter if i export png, jpg or pdf... 
it is always pixel-based (to) low resulotion for clesr printing...
...ther is no real zoom-posibility in printing... if there was, i could choose 
the biggest papersize for higher solution...

greetings from germany...

Original comment by lelyles...@gmail.com on 1 Oct 2014 at 8:50

GoogleCodeExporter commented 9 years ago 
PDF produced by iText engine (Sortavala theme) IS vector-based. Try zooming in 
or using A0 paper to see the proof.

Original comment by dbaras...@ganttproject.biz on 1 Oct 2014 at 8:52