Check printing

[Terry Boldt]

I am running gnucash 1.8.2

I have 3 questions on printing checks from gnucash.

Currently I output a "transaction report", use a custom program to scan/parse 
the html report for all checks with "todays" date and print those checks. I 
use the VersaCheck 3001 form checks. I use Versacheck (obtained with TurboTax 
a few years back to print blank checks). I then use my custom program to fill 
in the checks when I need a physical check.

For this form there are 3 checks/page with the bottom of the page filled with 
a transaction log. The checks are numbered sequentially from the top. 
VersaChek also has a form with a single check/page, but with form 3001, I get 
3 times as many checks for the same price.

I have examined check forms from other venders. It appears from the 
perforations that for multiple checks/page, they also follow the practice of 
printing checks from the top down.

I attempted to use gnucash for printing checks, however, this would "appear" 
to be impossible. the gnucash format for a "custom" check measures all fields 
from the left and bottom edges of the page. The measurements for all three 
checks on the VersaCheck form is different from the bottom of the page (but 
the same from the left edge). If I enter the measurements for the top check 
and then write that check and tear it from the sheet, I then have 2 checks 
left, but not a full letter size sheet. If I desire to write another check, I 
must re-enter all of the measurements from the bottom edge of the page. I 
must then repeat this for the third check.

Using the option for selecting the top, middle or bottom check is not useful 
since not all checks are not written at the same time/date. Thus, all checks 
are really measured from the top down.

Normally (at least for all s/w I have used), page mesaurements are from the 
left edge and top edge for this reason. All printers I have used, print from 
the top edge down, not from the bottom up. All s/w I have used follows the 
h/w practice. 

Is there a reason for gnucash reversing this practice? Other than the practice 
of geometers of laying out a 2D grid with x increasing to the right and y 
increasing up? The geometer practice might seem more natural for qeometry 
applications, but for laying out sheets for a printer, it is more natural to 
reverse the vertical axis. A quick check with GIMP, reveals that GIMP also 
measures from left to right and top to bottom. Both for display of the cursor 
and in printing for measuring the image size and position.

By simply changing the gnucash layout of measuring from bottom to top to 
measuring from top to bottom, it would be possible to use multiple check/page 
forms and the field measurements would remain constant.

My second question: On the "Custom Format" tab for printing a check, under the 
"Check Position" field, there is another field: "Date Format".

What is this field used for?? And what does it mean to specify a position for 
a 'format'??

I assume that the position of the printed date is specified by the "date" 
field higher up, which testing seems to confirm.

Question 3: What is the field "Check Position" used for. I assumed that this 
field would be added to the fields above. In testing, this field seems to be 
totally ignored.