printing

[mohdamelia]

hi,

basically my problem is like this:

I want the printer to send status to my application if there is something error while printing my documents.

can i use abortprinter function?. but the thing is that - i don't know what parameter should i pass. example please.

thanks,
amelia

[jim mcnamara]

This is a lot messier than you would like. Or I would like.
Not all printers can be queried. About all you can do is this:

Sub PrintStuff()
On Eroro goto OOPS
' put your code to print stuff in here

Printer.EndDoc
Exit Sub

OOPS:
Printer.KillDoc  ' this aborts printing

End Sub

The reason for this is that printer messages get intercepted by the driver, so you can't just go out and query the printer 'Are You Okay?' and get an answer back. Plus, the actual message you send is different for each kind of printer, especially line printers.

To send something DIRECTLY to the printer use the Escape api.

Here is sample escape api code from allapi.net

Const NEWFRAME = 1
Private Declare Function Escape Lib "gdi32" (ByVal hdc As Long, ByVal nEscape As Long, ByVal nCount As Long, ByVal lpInData As String, lpOutData As Any) As Long
Private Declare Function CreateCompatibleDC Lib "gdi32" (ByVal hdc As Long) As Long
Private Declare Function SelectObject Lib "gdi32" (ByVal hdc As Long, ByVal hObject As Long) As Long
Private Declare Function StretchBlt Lib "gdi32" (ByVal hdc As Long, ByVal x As Long, ByVal y As Long, ByVal nWidth As Long, ByVal nHeight As Long, ByVal hSrcDC As Long, ByVal xSrc As Long, ByVal ySrc As Long, ByVal nSrcWidth As Long, ByVal nSrcHeight As Long, ByVal dwRop As Long) As Long
Private Declare Function DeleteDC Lib "gdi32" (ByVal hdc As Long) As Long
Dim hMemoryDC As Long
Private Sub Command1_Click()
    'KPD-Team 1999
    'URL: http://www.allapi.net/
    'E-Mail: [email protected]
    'API uses pixels
    Picture1.ScaleMode = vbPixels
    Printer.ScaleMode = vbPixels
    'Take paper
    Printer.Print ""

    'Create a compatible device context
    hMemoryDC = CreateCompatibleDC(Picture1.hdc)
    'Select Picture1's picture into our new device context
    hOldBitMap = SelectObject(hMemoryDC, Picture1.Picture)

    'Stretch our picture to the height and width of the paper
    StretchBlt Printer.hdc, 0, 0, Printer.ScaleWidth, Printer.ScaleHeight, hMemoryDC, 0, 0, Picture1.ScaleWidth, Picture1.ScaleHeight, vbSrcCopy

    'Select the original bitmap into our DC
    hOldBitMap = SelectObject(hMemoryDC, hOldBitMap)
    'Delete our memorydc
    DeleteDC hMemoryDC

    'Access our printer device
    Escape Printer.hdc, NEWFRAME, 0, 0&, 0&

    'End of document
    Printer.EndDoc
End Sub