id cards

[tmarsh]

Hello. Is it possible to create a database that will print id cards?

I currently use an "off the shelf" piece of software to track and issue plastic id cards. The software was quite expensive initially and over the years, as my pc/os changed it wouldn't work under w2000 so I am using it on a laptop running w98.

If I want reports printed I have to change cables etc (no money for an upgrade apparently!) so I thought maybe I could import the existing data into an access database, it's simply name/job title/dept etc. but I'm not sure if I could print cards from it. The existing software has a card editor where I drop desired fields on to it and use that layout for issuing the card.

Is there a way to do this?

Thanks.

 

[The_Doc_Man]

Most of the ID printers I've ever seen are just printers that have special forms loaded to them. I.e. you send them ASCII codes just like you send anything else codes. So if you COULD connect it via some reasonable interface, you could probably print your cards.

The bigger issue will be whether your can still talk to the device (I.e. a device driver issue) from more recent versions of Windows. It is possible to use VBA to reset the printer you want to use for a particular operation, so you could theoretically select a printer or a card printer (if both devices had suitable physical connections.)

Another thought is that if there is no exposure to the outside world, you can set up a local network between the machine supporting this function and the machine you want to print up your reports? With Win98, I would be leery of exposing that machine to the outside world, but a private network ought to be OK.