Sending Textbox Contents to a Thermal Printer.

Hey everyone,

I am looking to have the contents of a text box sent to a thermal printer on a button press. I can't seem to find anything of much use on the web. I would try adapting some code from somewhere else but my VB knowledge is very small.

Thanks for the help and sorry for being so vage, I'll answer any questions if I've missed anything out.

Hi, I will start out by saying that printing to a thermal printer is the same as printing to ANY printer. try looking done the road of printing a string, if you get stuck let me know (I use thermal printers on a more than daily basis with VB.Net).

I think your making a POS application.

Additional References:
VB Forum: VB Forums Thermal-printer-printing
Microsoft Support: Send Raw Data to a printer.
Crystal Reports Problem: vb.net-problem-printing-receipt-thermal in Crystal Reports

Note: I made similar project(s) using VB 6.0 and not .NET.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by bensonsearch

Hi, I will start out by saying that printing to a thermal printer is the same as printing to ANY printer. try looking done the road of printing a string, if you get stuck let me know (I use thermal printers on a more than daily basis with VB.Net).

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Okay thanks, it is now set as my default printer. I am know looking for a simple code that will let me send the (rich)textbox contents to the printer. Im not worried about formatting or spacing because I should be able to correct for that in the lines of text it will print. I just need something like textbox1.text = doprint or something that easy, if such a thing exists..

Thanks :)

well the easiest way is to add a print document control and some code, this is on a form with a button. for note I have made POS systems on .Net platform and it is currently my full time work, I use a custom class to add extra control, I can not find the tutorial but am happy to share the class if you go down that road.

Code:

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Public Class Form1

Private Sub PrintDocument1_PrintPage(ByVal sender As System.Object, ByVal e As System.Drawing.Printing.PrintPageEventArgs) Handles PrintDocument1.PrintPage

Static intCurrentChar As Int32

Dim font As New Font("Verdana", 8)

Dim PrintAreaHeight, PrintAreaWidth, marginLeft, marginTop As Int32

With PrintDocument1.DefaultPageSettings

PrintAreaHeight = .PaperSize.Height - .Margins.Top - .Margins.Bottom

PrintAreaWidth = .PaperSize.Width - .Margins.Left - .Margins.Right

marginLeft = .Margins.Left

marginTop = .Margins.Top

End With

Dim intLineCount As Int32 = CInt(PrintAreaHeight / font.Height)

Dim rectPrintingArea As New RectangleF(marginLeft, marginTop, PrintAreaWidth, PrintAreaHeight)

Dim fmt As New StringFormat(StringFormatFlags.LineLimit)

Dim intLinesFilled, intCharsFitted As Int32

e.Graphics.MeasureString(Mid(RichTextBox1.Text, intCurrentChar + 1), font, New SizeF(PrintAreaWidth, PrintAreaHeight), fmt, intCharsFitted, intLinesFilled)

e.Graphics.DrawString(Mid(RichTextBox1.Text, intCurrentChar + 1), font, Brushes.Black, rectPrintingArea, fmt)

intCurrentChar += intCharsFitted

End Sub

Private Sub Button1_Click(ByVal sender As System.Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles Button1.Click

PrintDocument1.Print()

End Sub

End Class

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Quote:

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Originally Posted by bensonsearch

well the easiest way is to add a print document control and some code, this is on a form with a button. for note I have made POS systems on .Net platform and it is currently my full time work, I use a custom class to add extra control, I can not find the tutorial but am happy to share the class if you go down that road.

Code:

---

Public Class Form1

Private Sub PrintDocument1_PrintPage(ByVal sender As System.Object, ByVal e As System.Drawing.Printing.PrintPageEventArgs) Handles PrintDocument1.PrintPage

Static intCurrentChar As Int32

Dim font As New Font("Verdana", 8)

Dim PrintAreaHeight, PrintAreaWidth, marginLeft, marginTop As Int32

With PrintDocument1.DefaultPageSettings

PrintAreaHeight = .PaperSize.Height - .Margins.Top - .Margins.Bottom

PrintAreaWidth = .PaperSize.Width - .Margins.Left - .Margins.Right

marginLeft = .Margins.Left

marginTop = .Margins.Top

End With

Dim intLineCount As Int32 = CInt(PrintAreaHeight / font.Height)

Dim rectPrintingArea As New RectangleF(marginLeft, marginTop, PrintAreaWidth, PrintAreaHeight)

Dim fmt As New StringFormat(StringFormatFlags.LineLimit)

Dim intLinesFilled, intCharsFitted As Int32

e.Graphics.MeasureString(Mid(RichTextBox1.Text, intCurrentChar + 1), font, New SizeF(PrintAreaWidth, PrintAreaHeight), fmt, intCharsFitted, intLinesFilled)

e.Graphics.DrawString(Mid(RichTextBox1.Text, intCurrentChar + 1), font, Brushes.Black, rectPrintingArea, fmt)

intCurrentChar += intCharsFitted

End Sub

Private Sub Button1_Click(ByVal sender As System.Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles Button1.Click

PrintDocument1.Print()

End Sub

End Class

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Having trouble with the

Code:

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PrintDocument1

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?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by callumwk

Having trouble with the

Code:

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PrintDocument1

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?

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Have no fear! Im an idiot, all works thank you :)

Attachment 114221 it is all to the right though?

Dont worry fixed that too ;)

hahaha glad you fixed it :)

also you may want to look into using an equal width font, that way all letters take the same space. I think i use Lucidia console or something like that

Perfect Dear. Thanks for your efforts.
Bless you.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by bensonsearch

well the easiest way is to add a print document control and some code, this is on a form with a button. for note I have made POS systems on .Net platform and it is currently my full time work, I use a custom class to add extra control, I can not find the tutorial but am happy to share the class if you go down that road.

Code:

---

Public Class Form1

Private Sub PrintDocument1_PrintPage(ByVal sender As System.Object, ByVal e As System.Drawing.Printing.PrintPageEventArgs) Handles PrintDocument1.PrintPage

Static intCurrentChar As Int32

Dim font As New Font("Verdana", 8)

Dim PrintAreaHeight, PrintAreaWidth, marginLeft, marginTop As Int32

With PrintDocument1.DefaultPageSettings

PrintAreaHeight = .PaperSize.Height - .Margins.Top - .Margins.Bottom

PrintAreaWidth = .PaperSize.Width - .Margins.Left - .Margins.Right

marginLeft = .Margins.Left

marginTop = .Margins.Top

End With

Dim intLineCount As Int32 = CInt(PrintAreaHeight / font.Height)

Dim rectPrintingArea As New RectangleF(marginLeft, marginTop, PrintAreaWidth, PrintAreaHeight)

Dim fmt As New StringFormat(StringFormatFlags.LineLimit)

Dim intLinesFilled, intCharsFitted As Int32

e.Graphics.MeasureString(Mid(RichTextBox1.Text, intCurrentChar + 1), font, New SizeF(PrintAreaWidth, PrintAreaHeight), fmt, intCharsFitted, intLinesFilled)

e.Graphics.DrawString(Mid(RichTextBox1.Text, intCurrentChar + 1), font, Brushes.Black, rectPrintingArea, fmt)

intCurrentChar += intCharsFitted

End Sub

Private Sub Button1_Click(ByVal sender As System.Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles Button1.Click

PrintDocument1.Print()

End Sub

End Class

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Quote:

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Originally Posted by callumwk

Have no fear! Im an idiot, all works thank you :)

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Hello Bro, how to fix this ?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by caldeslife

Hello Bro, how to fix this ?

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That was 6 years ago. I've no idea.