printing using UDF and a dll

[martin]

Great work!

Nearly what I was looking for but.... If I have a text file, can your DLL and UDF can be used to change the default printer and print the file?

Thanks

Sean

You can select the printer to use with _PrintSetPrinter, but it doesn't change it to the default printer.

If you want to print a text file then you have to format the printing yourself, that is you need to decide what text goes on each line and the position of each line.

I can se that a function like 'Print this text in this rectangular area and return the number of characters fitted' would be useful but I don't intend to do that at the moment.

I expect it would be easier to a Word udf.

[SAG]

Interesting - I hadn't thought to look at that.

Thanks for your reply.

[fhanna]

This is a simple example of printing using my print UDF which uses a dll. It is not intended to do the sorts of thing you can do with the Word UDF by big daddy, but it allows you to print text in any font, size and colour and to draw straight lines in any colour. Useful for labels, reports and so on.

example printout.

Edit:10th September 2007 changed the code below to be the code used to create the example printout.

expandcollapse popup

#include 'printMGv2.au3'
Global $hp
Local $mmssgg,$marginx,$marginy
$hp = _PrintDllStart($mmssgg);this must always be called first
if $hp = 0 then
    consolewrite("Error from dllstart = " & $mmssgg & @CRLF)
    Exit
endif

_PrintSetPrinter($hp);choose the printer if you don't want the default printer
_PrintPageOrientation($hp,0);landscape
_PrintStartPrint($hp)
$pght = _PrintGetpageheight($hp) - _PrintGetYOffset($hp)
$pgwd = _PrintGetpageWidth($hp) - _PrintGetXOffset($hp)

$axisx = Round($pgwd * 0.8)
$axisy = Round($pght * 0.8)
_PrintSetFont($hp,'Arial',18,0,'bold,underline')
$Title = "Sales for 2006"
$tw = _PrintGetTextWidth($hp,$Title)
$th = _PrintGetTextHeight($hp,$title)
_PrintText($hp,$title,Int($pgwd/2 - $tw/2),_PrintGetYOffset($hp))
_PrintSetLineWid($hp,2)
_PrintSetLineCol($hp,0)
_printsetfont($hp,'Times New Roman',12,0,'')
$basey = 2*_PrintGetTextHeight($hp,"Jan")
$basex = $basey + 200
_PrintLine($hp,$basex,$pght - $basey,$axisx + $basex,$pght - $basey)
_PrintLine($hp,$basex,$pght - $basey,$basex,$pght-$basey-$axisy)
$xdiv = Int(($axisx - $basey)/12)
$ydiv = Int($axisy/10)

$months = StringSplit("Jan|Feb|Mar|Apr|May|Jun|Jul|Aug|Sept|Oct|Nov|Dec",'|')
For $n = 1 To 12 
    _PrintText($hp,$months[$n],$basex + $n*$xdiv - Int(_printGetTextWidth($hp,$months[$n])/2),$pght-$basey + 5)
    _PrintLine($hp,$Basex + $n*$xdiv,$pght - $basey - 10,$Basex + $n*$xdiv,$pght - $basey + 10)
    
Next

For $n = 1 To 10
  _PrintText($hp,$n,$basex - _PrintGetTextWidth($hp,$n) - 20,$pght-$basey-$n*$ydiv-Int(_printGetTextHeight($hp,'10')/2))
  _PrintLIne($hp,$basex - 5,$pght - $basey - $n*$ydiv,$basex + 5,$pght - $basey - $n*$ydiv)  
    
Next

_PrintText($hp,"£ x 1000,000",$basex - 3 * _PrintGetTextHeight($hp,"£"),$pght - $basey - 100,90)
Dim $sales[13] = [0,20,25,20,18,10,17,20,10,80,90,100,100]
_PrintSetLineCol($hp,0x0000ff)
_PrintSetBrushCol($hp,0x55FF55)
For $n = 1 To 12
    _PrintRectangle($hp,$Basex + $n*$xdiv -50,$pght - $basey - Int($sales[$n]*$ydiv/10), _
                   $Basex + $n*$xdiv +50,$pght - $basey - 0.2)
               Next
               
$label = "I started work"
_PrintSetLineCol($hp,0)
_PrintLine($hp,Int($pgwd/2),2*$th + 125,$Basex + 8*$xdiv ,$pght - $basey - Int($sales[8]*$ydiv/10))
_Printsetlinecol($hp,0x0000ff)
_PrintSetLineWid($hp,10)
_PrintSetBrushCol($hp,0xbbccee)

_PrintEllipse($hp,Int($pgwd/2) - 200,2*$th,Int($pgwd/2) + 200,2*$th + 250)
;add an image in next line. can be bmp, jpg or ico file
;_PrintImage($hp,"screenshot004.bmp",Int($pgwd/2) - 150,2*$th+260,300,350)

_PrintText($hp,$label,Int($pgwd/2 - _PrintGetTextWidth($hp,$label)/2),2*$th + 125 - Int(_printGetTextHeight($hp,$label)/2))

_PrintEndPrint($hp)
_PrintNewPage($hp);
_printDllClose($hp)

Functions available are -

_PrintDllStart

_PrintDllClose

_PrintSetPrinter

_PrintGetPageWidth

_PrintGetPageHeight

_PrintGetHorRes

_PrintGetVertRes

_PrintStartPrint

_PrintSetFont

_PrintNewPage

_PrintEndPrint

_PrintText

_PrintGetextWidth

_PrintGetTextHeight

_PrintLine

_PrintGetXOffset

_PrintGetYOffset

_PrintSetLineCol

_PrintSetLIneWid

(added in V2.1)

_PrintImage - prints jpg, bmp and some ico files

_PrintPageOrientation - set portrait or landsacpe

+ _PrintText - updated so text can be printed at any angle. Also made text have a transparent background so it can be printed over images or lines etc without destroying them.

(added in V2.2)

_PrintEllipse Filled ellipse or circle

_PrintPie for filled pie slice

_PrintArc Elliptical or circular arcs

_PrintRectangle filled rectangle

_PrintSetBrushCol sets the colour used for filling

V2.3 13th Aug 2007

PrintRectangle in prinMGV2.au3 corrected. Thanks to Michel Claveau.

Orientation in PrintMG.dll now ignores request if printing in progress. Thanks again to Michel Claveau.

The link below is for a compressed link. If you download it, extract the link then double click on it and it will get the zip containing the UDF and the dll.

A definite thanks for this post. I need to carry 1 step futher. I know I could change the default printer prior to the script but want to leave the default but select the printer from the drop down via the script; ie a _printSelectPrinter type of function where the printer parameter would be supplied and the Print dialog box would not appear. Additional function would be the alter the page range.

Any additional info in reference to this would be appreciated.

Thanks again.

[martin]

A definite thanks for this post. I need to carry 1 step futher. I know I could change the default printer prior to the script but want to leave the default but select the printer from the drop down via the script; ie a _printSelectPrinter type of function where the printer parameter would be supplied and the Print dialog box would not appear. Additional function would be the alter the page range.

Any additional info in reference to this would be appreciated.

Thanks again.

Do you mean that you want a function where you can choose a printer from a drop down list, but you do not want to use the _PrintSePrinter function? If so then can you explain what the problem is with the _PrintSetPrinter function that you want to avoid?

Altering the page range doesn't make sense to me because the pages you print are set in your script, so you control that and not my dll.

[fhanna]

Do you mean that you want a function where you can choose a printer from a drop down list, but you do not want to use the _PrintSePrinter function? If so then can you explain what the problem is with the _PrintSetPrinter function that you want to avoid?

Altering the page range doesn't make sense to me because the pages you print are set in your script, so you control that and not my dll.

Thanks for your fast response. Yes, we would like for the printer selection be made via a parameter. When the Print dialog box appears the default is selected; then you press OK or select another printer. I would like another printer be selected without having to manually do. It would also be nice to not have the dialog box show.

We have multiple AutoIt scripts running and utilitizing the default but another application would need the software to select the printer. For the page range to print we supply a override via controlID.

Bottomline: The software calls up the Print dialog box via keystrokes, provides an override to print range, if needed then prints via an {ENTER} key. Currently the default is constantly changing depending on the routing of the printout.

Due to Windows XP we have found the default does not actually change in the drop down until to exit the program being controlled and reenter. The registry does reflect the proper printer. Under Windows 2000 we did not have this problem.

Hope this is a little more clear.

Again, thanks for your support.

[martin]

Thanks for your fast response. Yes, we would like for the printer selection be made via a parameter. When the Print dialog box appears the default is selected; then you press OK or select another printer. I would like another printer be selected without having to manually do. It would also be nice to not have the dialog box show.

We have multiple AutoIt scripts running and utilitizing the default but another application would need the software to select the printer. For the page range to print we supply a override via controlID.

Bottomline: The software calls up the Print dialog box via keystrokes, provides an override to print range, if needed then prints via an {ENTER} key. Currently the default is constantly changing depending on the routing of the printout.

Due to Windows XP we have found the default does not actually change in the drop down until to exit the program being controlled and reenter. The registry does reflect the proper printer. Under Windows 2000 we did not have this problem.

Hope this is a little more clear.

Again, thanks for your support.

OK, I see what you're after, I should have understood from your first post.

Yes, I agree a _PrintSelectPrinter would be a good idea. I'll work on a simple version. I'll PM you with an update when I think it works so you can test it.

[fhanna]

OK, I see what you're after, I should have understood from your first post.

Yes, I agree a _PrintSelectPrinter would be a good idea. I'll work on a simple version. I'll PM you with an update when I think it works so you can test it.

Martin sent me a module for testing and worked as needed. Hopefully, he will be posting an update. Martin, thank you again.

[martin]

Martin sent me a module for testing and worked as needed. Hopefully, he will be posting an update. Martin, thank you again.

Latest versions are now UDF version 2.4, printmg.dll v2.42 with the new function _PrintSelectPrinter. First post updated.

Thanks fhanna for pointing out the need for this and for testing it.

[Michel Claveau]

Latest versions are now UDF version 2.4, printmg.dll v2.42. First post updated.

Thanks.

[ryandavid773]

Sorry to dig up a old thread. I've searched but cannot find a answer.

I am trying to create a new page, but it constantly fails to do so. This is what I have so far:

$pagecount = 0
For $p = 1 To UBound($TopMatches)
    For $q = 1 To 5
        _PrintText($printer, $TopMatches[$p-1][$q-1], Int(($pgwd*$q*2)/11)-320, $StartHeight + (40*$pagecount))
    Next
    $pagecount += 1
    If $pagecount = 44 Then
        $pagecount = 0
        _PrintNewPage($printer)
        $StartHeight = -75
    EndIf
Next
_PrintDllClose($printer)

Could someone please point me in the right direction? Thanks a lot!

[DicatoroftheUSA]

I'm glad you made this now I can die happy

[martin]

Sorry to dig up a old thread. I've searched but cannot find a answer.

I am trying to create a new page, but it constantly fails to do so. This is what I have so far:

$pagecount = 0
For $p = 1 To UBound($TopMatches)
    For $q = 1 To 5
        _PrintText($printer, $TopMatches[$p-1][$q-1], Int(($pgwd*$q*2)/11)-320, $StartHeight + (40*$pagecount))
    Next
    $pagecount += 1
    If $pagecount = 44 Then
        $pagecount = 0
        _PrintNewPage($printer)
        $StartHeight = -75
    EndIf
Next
_PrintDllClose($printer)

Could someone please point me in the right direction? Thanks a lot!

I haven't got time to investigate this now, but if the NewPage function is a problem then try replacing _PrintNewPage with

If _PrintEndPrint($printer) then _PrintStartPrint($printer)

which should result in a new page being started.

I'll look at the problem at the weekend.

Edited December 6, 2007 by martin

[martin]

I'm glad you made this now I can die happy

I'm glad that you have found a use for it, and if it helps to kill off dictators then it's very useful!

[ryandavid773]

Thanks martin!

I don't mean to complain, but your method works great except for it creates a whole new document. The only reason why this is a problem is because I print mainly to PDF, and it asks for a new file name for each page. It would be awesome to be able to have multiple pages within a single PDF.

Thanks a lot!

Ryan

[martin]

Thanks martin!

I don't mean to complain, but your method works great except for it creates a whole new document. The only reason why this is a problem is because I print mainly to PDF, and it asks for a new file name for each page. It would be awesome to be able to have multiple pages within a single PDF.

Thanks a lot!

Ryan

Yes, I didn't think of that.

I've uploaded a new version (V2.44) which now has the new page working correctly, see the first post. Tested with a pdf creator as well as a printer.

For some reason I had commented out the most of the code in the _PrintNewPage function which explains why it didn't do anything, probably done when I was changing the way the page count worked in the previous version change. Who knows, who cares?

Anyway, apologies for the error.

[ryandavid773]

Yes, I didn't think of that.

I've uploaded a new version (V2.44) which now has the new page working correctly, see the first post. Tested with a pdf creator as well as a printer.

For some reason I had commented out the most of the code in the _PrintNewPage function which explains why it didn't do anything, probably done when I was changing the way the page count worked in the previous version change. Who knows, who cares?

Anyway, apologies for the error

Awesome, thank you so much martin! I owe you one!

[sherkas]

thank you for this udf!

[martin]

thank you for this udf!

A pleasure, hope it's useful to you.

[ChrisL]

Martin

I've been playing around with this dll and I think I have found a small issue

If I use $p = _PrintSetPrinter($hp) and I click cancel there seems to be no way for me to know that cancel was clicked.

@error is 0 and $p = 1, I was expecting $p to be -1

Any help you can give greatly appreciated

Edit: Forgot to say this is a great peice of work

Edited April 2, 2008 by ChrisL

[martin]

Martin

I've been playing around with this dll and I think I have found a small issue

If I use $p = _PrintSetPrinter($hp) and I click cancel there seems to be no way for me to know that cancel was clicked.

@error is 0 and $p = 1, I was expecting $p to be -1

Yes, not very good is it? I haven't got much time now but I've made a quick change to the dll so that it returns 1 on success and 0 on failure. I think clicking Cancel will give failure but I haven't tried it out! You only need the new dll which you can get here. (Link now removed)

Could you try it please and let me know if it does what you want?

If it works ok then I will update the links in the first post. If it doesn't do the job it will be a few days before I have another attempt to fix it.

Edit: Forgot to say this is a great peice of work

Thanks.

EDIT:

Now tested and it does return 0 if Cancel pressed, otherwise it returns 1.

A return of 1 does not guarantee that all is well however. If you select a printer which is no longer available the return is still 1 and the printout will be on the default printer.

To deal with this, and to give a method to check what printer is being used, I have added a new function '_PrinterGetPrinter' which returns the printer name. But this doesn't do quite what I wanted.

EDIT 2: The new _PrintGetPrinter function does give the current printer name but if you select a non existent printer then it will give that name even though the default printer actually gets used. I don't have a solution to this yet.

First post updated with new links to latest version.

Edited April 3, 2008 by martin