• Incompatible Versions message in Data Export Tool
• Using USB Printers

A: You will get this message  (or a File Not Found message) under two conditions. The first condition is that you are not running Advantage version 3.3. If this is the case you will not be able to use the Data Export Tool as it has been designed to work with Advantage version 3.3+.  Assuming you are on version 3.3 and your Advantage data files are current (you can run SA7 to be sure), then the other possibility is that you specified the incorrect directory for your Advantage AFILES/SYS files during the installation of the Data Export Tool.  When you install the Data Export Tool it is very important that you specify the correct Advantage AFILES/SYS directory. The setup program asks for two directories; first the directory where you wish to install the Data Export Tool (this can be any directory you wish), and then the SYS directory where your Advantage system data files reside. The default shown for this question, C:\ADV\SYS, is NOT a suggested directory – it is simply the most common directory where the software is typically installed. The installation program DOES NOT check your system to provide a suggested directory here. Thus, if you just leave this prompt at the default you may very well be specifying the wrong directory and the Data Export Tool will not work properly. If you have installed the software improperly, you can simply re-install using the SETUP program to correct this problem.
 

A: USB printers have a problem in that they do not run off ports that are ‘published’ to MS-DOS. Unlike parallel printers which get assigned DOS LPT ports, USB printers do not have port names such as USB1, USB2, etc. Because of this, DOS applications cannot directly print to a USB printer. However, you can actually print to USB printers from Advantage in one of two ways:

1) Using Fabsoft’s Reform product you can print to any printer, including USB printers. Because Fabsoft addresses printers through Windows, it can access USB printers with no trouble.

2) If you are on a network, a shared USB printer can be printed to from DOS applications. When you share the printer just tell it to associate that printer with an LPT port (1-9 if you are on Windows 95/98/NT/2000, 1-5 on Windows me, 1-3 on Windows XP). Once the printer is associated with an LPT port Advantage can print to that printer simply by choosing that printer number in Advantage. It will print to the printer just as if it were a parallel printer.
 

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