Printing Document from Listbox

Found some code for printing documents, as I've never tried it before. My main focus is to print the content of a listbox to a sheet of paper. What I found uses a type of ListItem, which doesn't seem to be available for a Windows Form outside of web dev.

My attempt was to add all items to an array and then cycle throught the array to create a new line after every array entry. I think that portion is functioning as desired, but I'm not quite sure if I'm handling the print function correctly.

VB.NET Code:

Private Sub LnkPrint_LinkClicked(ByVal sender As System.Object, ByVal e As System.Windows.Forms.LinkLabelLinkClickedEventArgs) Handles LnkPrint.LinkClicked
        If PrintDialog1.ShowDialog() = DialogResult.OK Then
            Me.ThePrintDocument.Print()
        End If
    End Sub
 
'Don't know if I actually need a PrintDocument tool here, but added one named ThePrintDocument.
 
    Protected Sub ThePrintDocument_PrintPage(ByVal sender As Object, ByVal ev As System.Drawing.Printing.PrintPageEventArgs)
        Dim MyArray(Me.LstResults.Items.Count) As String
        Dim linesPerPage As Single = 0
        Dim yPosition As Single = 0
        Dim count As Integer = 0
        Dim leftMargin As Single = ev.MarginBounds.Left
        Dim topMargin As Single = ev.MarginBounds.Top
        Dim line As String = Nothing
        Dim printFont As Font = Me.LstResults.Font
        Dim myBrush As New SolidBrush(Color.Black)
        Dim strText As String = ""
        Dim i As Integer = 0
        LstResults.Items.CopyTo(MyArray, 0)
        Do Until i = Me.LstResults.Items.Count
            strText = MyArray(i).ToString() + Environment.NewLine
            i = i + 1
        Loop
        Dim myReader = New StringReader(strText)
        ' Work out the number of lines per page, using the MarginBounds.
        linesPerPage = ev.MarginBounds.Height / printFont.GetHeight(ev.Graphics)
        ' Iterate over the string using the StringReader, printing each line.
        While count < linesPerPage And Not ((line <= myReader.ReadLine() And Nothing)) 'ToDo: Unsupported feature: assignment within expression. "=" changed to "<="
            ' calculate the next line position based on
            ' the height of the font according to the printing device yPosition = topMargin + (count * printFont.GetHeight(ev.Graphics));// draw the next line in the rich edit control
            ev.Graphics.DrawString(line, printFont, myBrush, leftMargin, yPosition, New StringFormat())
            count += 1
        End While ' If there are more lines, print another page. if (line != null)ev.HasMorePages = True
        ev.HasMorePages = False
        myBrush.Dispose()
    End Sub 'ThePrintDocument_PrintPage

I don't get any errors and the printer spits out a page, but it's blank.

Any help would be appreciated!

This is what I use to print the contents of a listbox and it seems to work well

vb.net Code:

Private Sub Button1_Click(ByVal sender As System.Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles Button1.Click
        PrintDocument1.Print()
End Sub
 
Private Sub PrintDocument1_PrintPage(ByVal sender As System.Object, ByVal e As System.Drawing.Printing.PrintPageEventArgs) Handles PrintDocument1.PrintPage
        Dim fnt As New Font("Arial", 10, FontStyle.Regular, GraphicsUnit.Point)
        Dim ListBoxItem As String = String.Empty
        For Each LBItem As String In ListBox1.Items
            ListBoxItem = ListBoxItem & vbCrLf & LBItem
        Next
        ListBoxItem = ListBoxItem.Substring(vbCrLf.Length)
        e.Graphics.DrawString(ListBoxItem, fnt, Brushes.Black, 0, 0)
        e.HasMorePages = False
End Sub

Hack, can you please explain this line?

vb Code:

ListBoxItem = ListBoxItem.Substring(vbCrLf.Length)

never mind, it looks like you are only leaving out the first CfLf you put on the string.

This is a great start, but if my text extends further than one page in length then the additional text is not carried to any additional pages.

Found a solution to the > 1 page issue. I'm using the t variable to remove the first line that was serving as the header, but can't get the VbTab to line up the same.

Thanks for your help Hack!

vb Code:

Private Sub PrintDocument1_PrintPage(ByVal sender As System.Object, ByVal e As System.Drawing.Printing.PrintPageEventArgs) Handles PrintDocument1.PrintPage
        Dim t As Integer = -1
        Dim ListBoxItem As String = String.Empty
        For Each LBItem As String In LstResults.Items
            If t >= 0 Then
                ListBoxItem = ListBoxItem & vbCrLf & LBItem
            Else
                t = t + 1
            End If
 
        Next
        Static Lines() As String = ListBoxItem.Split(vbCrLf)
        Static Font As New Font("Arial", 16, FontStyle.Regular, GraphicsUnit.Pixel)
        Static I As Integer
        Dim VerticalPos As Integer = 20
        Do
            e.Graphics.DrawString(Lines(I), Font, Brushes.Black, 20, VerticalPos)
            I += 1
            VerticalPos += Font.Height
            If VerticalPos > e.PageBounds.Bottom Then
                e.HasMorePages = True
                Return
            End If
        Loop Until I = Lines.Length
    End Sub

I had some issues with the positioning of the document once the listbox had been drawn to print. This code here seemed to fix all of my issues with vertical positioning and skipping the initial line of the listbox!

vb.net Code:

Private Sub PrintDocument1_PrintPage(ByVal sender As System.Object, ByVal e As System.Drawing.Printing.PrintPageEventArgs) Handles PrintDocument1.PrintPage
        Dim fnt As New Font("Arial", 13, FontStyle.Regular, GraphicsUnit.Point)
        Dim t As Integer = 0
        Dim ListBoxItem As String = String.Empty
        For Each LBItem As String In LstResults.Items
            If t >= 0 Then
                If ListBoxItem = String.Empty Then
                    ListBoxItem = LBItem
                Else
                    ListBoxItem = ListBoxItem & Environment.NewLine & LBItem
                End If
            End If
            t = t + 1
        Next
        Static Lines() As String = ListBoxItem.Split(Environment.NewLine)
        Static Font As New Font("Arial", 13, FontStyle.Regular, GraphicsUnit.Pixel)
        Static I As Integer
        Dim VerticalPos As Integer = 20
        e.Graphics.DrawString("Currently Unreported Items", Font, Brushes.Black, -85, -10)
        Dim q As Integer = 0
        Do
            e.Graphics.DrawString(Lines(I), Font, Brushes.Black, -75, VerticalPos)
            I += 1
            If q = 0 Then
                q = 1
            Else
                VerticalPos += Font.Height
            End If
            If VerticalPos > e.PageBounds.Bottom Then
                e.HasMorePages = True
                Return
            End If
        Loop Until I = Lines.Length
    End Sub

Hope this helps anyone else having an issue with printing a listbox! :wave: