Send this first, send that second and that third....Can it be done?

[mxnmx]

My company has this massive printer...it does not come with Windows Drivers or anything like that...I made a program to interact with it...Here's how it works...if you output a ascii file to your LPT, it automatically picks it up and prints the contents of the same...I have developed that!...Now what I'm planning is like this:
I just wanna make a simple program like the one Windows has, when you print...I small window that will show all the ascii files, and then which ever I choose the output, should be sent...even if its the last one...Any help on this!!!!

[jdc2000]

What you need to do is develop your own version of the print spooler. You can start out with some fairly basic functions, and add to them as you go. For each file in the spool folder, you will need to keep track of the status. Status values can include the following: 0. Not yet sent to the printer or scheduled to be sent. 1. Currently being printed. 2. Paused while printing. 3. Has been printed. You might also want to keep track of what order the jobs are to be printed in. Other job specific items might include: Forms type, Duplex mode, other printer dependent features. You might also keep track of number of copies, printer number (you could have more that one printer to control), etc. Then there are reporting data items, like date and time printing started, was paused or resumed, and finished. Who scheduled the job, which printer it was sent to, who paused it and when, etc. Then there might be a list of printers in use, including items like default forms type, forms type currently loaded, printer type, etc. As you can see, the project can be as simple or complex as you need it to be, but in its most basic form, you just need to keep track of each document and the status of it, as well as provide the basic functions for starting, pausing, resuming, and stopping a print job. You will need a file list box with all of the files in the spool folder, and another box with the file beng printed and those scheduled to be printed, plus some controll buttons for the printing functions.

[mxnmx]

Thanks for your comments, but theres no spooler for this printer...each job sent to the printer is around 50MB in size...and spooling that everytime isn't a great idea...so the ouput is direct to LPT1...no spooling at all required...