Need some advice on invoicing

[Chris]

Hi,
I have searched the internet, but havent seen any sample on large scale
invoice printing. I am tasked with this project of rerieving data form a
database and printing invoices on a daily bases. There will be about 2000
invoices printed on a daily basis.

The problem I have is how do I go about doing this. I was thinking of
creating a templete in crystal report in my vb.net app and then bring my data
into a dataset, then loop through the dataset and send each record to fill
the templete, then send to the printer (Laser Printing). I did try this
however, it seems to be slow beacuse I have to send each record as an
individual file to the printer instead of one file with all the invoices.

How do you guys normally batch print your invoices or how do the large scale
applicaions handle invoice printing? Where can I find any info on this?

Please advice.

Thanks

[Kim Greenlee]

Chris,

One of the problems with multiple invoices in a file is that if there is a
problem with the printer, you will have a mess trying to print only the
invoices that didn’t get printed already. One option is to buy a really,
really fast printer. Barring that, if you have multiple printers available
you could set up your application to print to those different printers
simultaneously. Depending on how your network is configured and your
performance requirements you may want to look into a grid computing solution.
It all depends on your requirements.

If you want to look at a grid solution I suggest looking at the Digipede
Network. (www.digipede.net) The Digipede Network Developer Edition is free
and you can experiment with it to solve your problem.

Good luck,

Kim Greenlee

--
digipede - Many legs make light work.
Grid computing for the real world.
http://www.digipede.net
http://krgreenlee.blogspot.net