Printing Problem - Please Help!!

[smcgarry]

I have been all over the internet trying to find a way to send a file to the printer and I cannot find an answer anywhere! I know how to display the printer dialog boxes to set the printer the user wishes to use, but I cannot figure out how to physically send a file (in this case a .pdf file) to the printer the user has selected. This is a HUGE piece of my application. I have even looked for third party components and I cannot find one that will print files (lots of controls to MAKE pdf documents but not print them). Does anyone have ANY idea on how to simply send a file to a printer? Please help.

[MartinLiss]

Dim intFN As Integer
Dim strLine As String
 
intFN = FreeFile
 
Open "C:\temp\test.txt" For Input As #intFN
Do While Not EOF(intFN)
    Line Input #intFN, strLine
    Printer.Print strLine
Loop
 
Printer.EndDoc
Close #intFN

[smcgarry]

I know that works with text documents but these are .pdf files (Adobe Acrobat). Does this code work with that? I didn't think you could use freefile to import anything except text files.

[MartinLiss]

Sorry, I didn't notice that you wanted to print a pdf. See this thread for your answer.

[NotLKH]

Let me cut & paste some code I have:
First, lets say you have a printer who's IP address is {string}:
"192.168.33.99"

And then, lets say you have a Queue on your printer, like:

"XRX_Swop"

Then this is the code I would use:

'In a sub somewhere:
 
MyLPStr = "lpr -S " & "192.168.33.99" & " -P " & "XRX_Swop" & " "
SyncShellCmd MyLPStr & "-J" & Chr$(34) & "p003456-save" & Chr$(34) & " " & Chr$(34) & "C:\p003456-duplex-save.pdf" & Chr$(34), 0
 
 
'Then, you have the function SyncShellCmd somewhere in your
'forms code:
 
Public Function SyncShellCmd(CmdStr As String, ByVal ApplicationFocus As Long) As Boolean
'Run the application by the CmdStr, and exit when the program terminated, Application focus specific
'the focus of the application. e.g vbNormalFocus
Dim lPid As Long 'The task ID of the started program
Dim lHnd As Long ' handle to object to wait for
Dim lRet As Long 'Return value of WaitForSingleObject()
 
SyncShellCmd = False
If CmdStr = "" Then Exit Function
lPid = Shell(CmdStr, ApplicationFocus)
    If lPid <> 0 Then
    'Get a handle to the shelled process.
    lHnd = OpenProcess(&H100000, 0, lPid)
    'If successful, wait for the application to end and close the handle.
        If lHnd <> 0 Then
            lRet = WaitForSingleObject(lHnd, &HFFFF) 'no time out
            CloseHandle (lHnd)
            SyncShellCmd = True
        End If
        
    End If
 
End Function
'Either put these three in a Bas, declared as public,
'or at the top of your forms code module:
 
Private Declare Function OpenProcess Lib "Kernel32.dll" (ByVal dwDesiredAccessas As Long, ByVal bInheritHandle As Long, ByVal dwProcId As Long) As Long
Private Declare Function WaitForSingleObject Lib "kernel32" (ByVal hHandle As Long, ByVal dwMilliseconds As Long) As Long
Private Declare Function CloseHandle Lib "kernel32" (ByVal hObject As Long) As Long

-Hope this helps
-Lou

BTW, the point of all this is you are essentially shelling to the LPR.exe, if you happen to have it on your system.