We recently decided that we were going to use Tessitura to ticket an upcoming performance (it's a specialty performance and, unfortunately, the rest of our performances are ticketed through ProVenue because of our shared performance space), and we've been having trouble getting our Boca to print anything outside of test tickets when we push the physical test button on the printer.
We're using Windows 7 and at first were having trouble getting the Boca to show up as a Printer at all (it showed up as an "Unspecified" thermal printer device), but we seem to have resolved that and have installed the "Generic/Text Only" driver suggested in Tessitura documentation. However, we can't print a test page through Windows and--even though the Boca shows up in Tessitura (we use RAMP) as a ticket printer--we can't test print from the Ticket Design window or through Ticket Orders.
Literally the only way we can get this Boca to spit out a printed ticket is by pushing the test button on the physical unit, despite everything else appearing on the computer as though the Boca is being recognized and should be appropriately set up to print.
As we're running out of time before we need to make the call to go with an alternate ticket thought or get this figured out, has anybody encountered this kind of scenario before? Would love to get some help or perspective on this.
Thank you!
I should also note that when we try to print through Ticket Design or from a Ticket Order, the Windows "What's Printing" window for the Boca shows that the print job is spooling and printing and then it goes away but no ticket is printed and no error message is given.
Hi Brian,
I am not sure that printing a test page through Windows is meant to test Generic/Text Only Boca printers. Personally, I have never tried it. My test has always been printing tickets from an order.
Since you are able to choose a printer in Tessitura, the problem seems not to be the printer configuration in RAMP, but that is not a sure thing. Could there be a problem with the ticket design?
If you have not updated 2X client for a while, I would recommend using the version suggested by RAMP, and the configuration is as prescribed in the RAMP documents. RAMP advises not to include Boca printers in the list of printers to use with 2X. You did not include them there, did you? Boca should not be the default printer in Windows, either.
If all fails, you should open a ticket with RAMP support. They will take care of you!
Good luck!
Ahmet Unal, IS Manager, UMSL - Touhill PAC
We just moved to Tessitura from ProVenueMax and had this same struggle. First and foremost because Tess uses the Generic driver and 2x you will not be able to get the workstations to use the BOCA for both systems. What I would have to do during the implementation process on my machine was to load the printer as generic text and then power off the printer, restart PC and printer then I could use it in Tess. I had to do the same but with the BOCA driver when I had to get it working with PVM again.
Thanks,
Daniel
Box Office Manager
Flat Rock Playhouse
Hey Brian,
I remember this feeling well. Yeah, no. Bocas do not understand the Windows test page at all.
Let's start by verifying the printer setup in 2x.
In 2X, click connection properties, then the printers tab.
In the Use (first drop down) it should say 2x Universal Printing and MS basic redirection
Redirect printers (drop down) -> specific only
Technically, you are supposed to only check the non-boca printers, but I have seen it work both ways as well as one way and not the other. When it is working correctly, you will see the full name and path of the Boca in the preferences default ticket printer window.
Next thing to try -> In T_Defaults, search for Networked Page Break. If it is set to no, try setting it to Yes.
In the Ticket design window, you should be able to send a test ticket to the boca with test data.
Let me know what you find.
Dot
Thank you all for the suggestions and commiseration!
Here's a quick update on where we currently stand:
Since the performance we were hoping to ticket is happening two weeks from tomorrow, we've enlisted our Graphic Designer in creating General Admission ticket we can use until we figure out our Boca printer issues. It's frustrating though, since it seems as though everything we've done--and every bit of feedback we're seeing from our setup--suggests that the Boca should print our tickets, but it isn't.
Thank you again for the help and support, and I'm happy for any new ideas as well.
After reading what Daniel had written, I believe that the problem you are having is due to the fact that your Boca setup for ProVenue is conflicting with that of Tessitura Boca/2X. If ProVenue is working, Tessitura will not. If you have multiple Bocas and client terminals, maybe you can dedicate each terminal to either Tessitura or ProVenue. Daniel has described a solution, which has worked for him during transition, but it probably would not be practical in your operating environment.
The new USB hub may potentially be source of a problem, too. We have a Boca dedicated to a manager terminal using USB (1.1 and 2.0) to Parallel adapter, which works fine on USB 3.,0 on the terminal, after following the instructions from the adapter. our Bocas are that old.
Hope this helps!
Ahmet,
Just to clarify something I didn't do a good job clarifying in my initial message, here's the history of the Boca printer in question:
From Daniel's example it sounds like he's forced to constantly go back and forth between ProVenue and 2X/Tessitura setups, but in our case with the new workstation we should (theoretically, anyway!) only be trying to get the Boca to talk to 2X/Tessitura and (unless the Boca is harboring any leftover programming from ProVenue) the Boca should not have any lingering feelings for ProVenue.
As for the USB hub, this morning was our first attempt to use it as part of the connection flow between the computer and the Boca; we've seen the same results with the USB hub in place as we did before it was purchased.
Brian,
It seems like the issue is with the USB configuration at the final location of the Boca printer. It could be as simple as a USB conflict, and you did not even need a new USB hub. On the other hand, if Boca had suggested trying a USB hub, it is likley that it was needed. First check the installation manual of the USB hub, if there is one. Then, I would recommend contacting USB hub's tech support. Maybe they have a support website. You can also google "Troubleshooting USB Connections with Windows X" as a last resort. Most will tell you not to connect the hub initially for troubleshooting, but this may not apply to your case, as USB 1.0 to 3.0 conversion may be needed to start with.
Ahmet Unal, IS Manager, UMSL - Touhill
If you try to print anything from somewhere other than Tessitura (IE: a windows print test page) then what I had to do was restart the BOCA (from the power switch in the back) in order to get it to recognize that it needed to use the generic text driver.
Also, we were on PVM not PV so I'm not sure if it works the same but on PVM we had default ticket printers setup in programming so it would automatically try to grab a BOCA. Even if the BOCA hadn't had anything print to it we would still have to restart the printer for some reason before we could use it in Tess.
What OS are you using?
Thanks,Daniel
Daniel,
We're using Windows 7 for our OS; I'd say that I wish we'd taken advantage of the free upgrade to Windows 10 in our office but it sounds like Bocas are kinda finicky with that too.
Since the new workstation we're trying to install the Boca on doesn't use ProVenue or have any half-installed vestiges of that service, I'm fairly sure that's not part of the issue we're having at present (unless, as mentioned previously, the Boca has stored some of its ProVenue thinking to unleash upon me).
Sounds like we're going to hop on a call with Tessitura support tomorrow or Monday to give it another crack, so I'll keep everyone updated.
Thank you,
Brian
Hi Daniel
Sorry for my late entry. Hope you found the answer but here was our solution.
We found two Windows 7 patches that affect Boca printing as you've described. 2923545 and 2830477 if installed on the pc will not send the job to the boca local queue.
Renee McCrea
Thanks for your detailed account, it was really helpful today trouble shooting my BOCA printer woes. I had a very similar problem to yours, I could see that it was printing, but no physical tickets were printing out.
Today my IT consultant managed to identify that the problem was I was using a serial to serial cable and what I needed was a serial to RJ12 cable. Well, they are now on order, so we shall see how that goes!
Cheers,
Prue