NEED HELP...

[tsc128]

I know you people probably have answered this one a million times, but I wasn't able to find the thread, so...
How do you set the margin for a printed page. For example, I am printing the contents of a text box with -
printer.print (form.txtbox)
Anywho, it prints to close to the top, bottom, and side margins. I manually put spaces on top and left margin, but that doesn't work for printing 2 nd page or bottom margin.
HELP ME PLEASE!!!!!

[tsc128]

I know somebody has to know the answer to something so simple... Are you guys ignoring this because it's too simple?

Try using the CurrentX property of the printer.

[Iain17]

My god that is a hard quesiotn. After much effort i have knocked up the basics for you. it is not perfect, and i have not tested it thourouhgly, but you can modify it to suit yuor needs

This example uses a picture box, which has the same properties as the printer object. So just change picture1 to printer.

Private Sub Command1_Click()
    Dim iTop As Integer
    Dim iLeft As Integer
    Dim iRight As Integer
    Dim iBottom As Integer
    Dim iCurX As Long
    Dim iCurY As Long
    
    Dim blNewLine As Boolean
    Dim ip1 As Long, ip2 As Long
    Dim stWord As String
    
    'set the correct font
    Picture1.Font = Text1.Font
    
    'set the margins
    iTop = 200
    iLeft = 200
    iBottom = Picture1.Height - 200
    iRight = Picture1.Width - 200
    
    iCurX = iLeft
    iCurY = iTop
    
    ip2 = 1
    ip1 = 1
    Do While (ip2 <> 0) And (ip2 < Len(Text1.Text))
      blNewLine = False
      'break up on spaces
      ip2 = InStr(ip1, Text1.Text, " ")
      If ip2 = 0 Then
        ip2 = Len(Text1.Text) + 1
      Else
        ip2 = ip2 + 1
      End If
      
      'test for a new line
      If InStr(ip1, Text1.Text, vbCrLf) Then
        ip2 = InStr(ip1, Text1.Text, vbCrLf)
        blNewLine = True
      End If
      
      'get the word from the string
      stWord = Mid$(Text1.Text, ip1, ip2 - ip1)
      
      'make sure the word will not go past the edge
      'of the paper
      If iCurX + TextWidth(stWord) > iRight Then
        iCurX = iLeft
        iCurY = iCurY + TextHeight(stWord)
      End If
      'make sure the word wont go over the bottom margin
      If iCurY > iBottom Then
        'newpage
        'Printer.NewPage
        'iCurX = iLeft
        'iCurY = iTop
      End If
      
      'set the current X an Y positions
      Picture1.CurrentX = iCurX
      Picture1.CurrentY = iCurY
      
      'print the word
      Picture1.Print (stWord)
      
      'increase the x pos by the length of the word
      iCurX = iCurX + TextWidth(stWord)
      
      'if a new line then move the cur Y postion
      If blNewLine = True Then
        ip2 = ip2 + 2
        iCurY = iCurY + TextHeight(stWord)
        iCurX = iLeft
      End If
      
      ip1 = ip2
      
    Loop
    
End Sub

Hope it works.

[billrogers]

Iain is a vb god! So if something he says is tough, it is.

[tsc128]

Yo, you are a god!!! Thanks for your help... I don't understand why they wouldn't make a property or something for printing page margins. What's up with that?

[parksie]

The Printer object has been around for ages, and really isn't designed for anything particularly advanced. If you need anything better try ViewSoft's VSPrint control (look on ComponentSource for that).

[Iain17]

tsc128, and any one else who cares.

The last post i made was just a quick attempt at printing a string to the printer with set margins. It had a few problems, like : If a word was longer than the margins then it would still go of the margigns.

So i have wrote v1.2. This takes into acount long words, adn cuts them up. It is also a lot easier to read, as i am aware the last post did not read to well.

Here ya go then. It will still work with picture boxes (print preview?).

Private Sub Command5_Click()
    'call the printing algorithim
    printerString Text1.Text
        
End Sub



Private Sub printerString(strText As String)
    Dim ipCrlf1 As Long, ipCrLf2 As Long        'line feed pointers
    Dim ipSp1 As Long, ipSp2 As Long            'space pointers
    Dim iCurX As Long, iCurY As Long            'Current X and Y positions
    
    Dim ipLeft As Integer, ipRight As Integer   'Left and Right Margins
    Dim ipTop As Integer, ipBottom As Integer   'Top and Bottom Margins
    
    Dim strWord As String, strLine As String    'Holds words and Lines
    
    Dim blLongWord As Boolean   'True if the word won't fit in the margins
    
    'set the margins for the page
    ipLeft = 1000
    ipRight = Printer.Width - 1500
    ipTop = 1000
    ipBottom = Printer.Height - 1500
    
    'set the current X and Y co-ordinates
    iCurX = ipTop
    iCurY = ipLeft
    
    'set the font to that of the text box
    Me.Font = Text1.Font
    Printer.Font = Text1.Font
    
    'initialse the line pointers
    ipCrlf1 = 1: ipCrLf2 = 1
    
    'break up text on line feeds
    Do
      ipSp1 = 1: ipSp2 = 1
      
      'find a line feed
      ipCrLf2 = InStr(ipCrlf1, strText, vbCrLf)
      If ipCrLf2 = 0 Then
        'if there isn't one then set the length to the string length
        ipCrLf2 = Len(strText) + 1
      End If
      
      'get the line of text from the string
      strLine = Mid$(strText, ipCrlf1, ipCrLf2 - ipCrlf1)
      
      Do
        'find a space
        ipSp2 = InStr(ipSp1, strLine, " ")
        If ipSp2 = 0 Then
          'if there isn't one then set the length to th string length
          ipSp2 = Len(strLine)
        End If
        
        'get the word
        strWord = Mid$(strLine, ipSp1, ipSp2 - ipSp1 + 1)
        
        blLongWord = False
        'Make sure the word will fit between the margins
        'if not we will have to chop the string
        If Printer.TextWidth(strWord) > (ipRight - ipLeft) Then
          'find out where to chop string
          ipSp2 = chopString(strWord, (ipRight - iCurX)) + ipSp1
          blLongWord = True
          'get the chopped String
          strWord = Mid$(strLine, ipSp1, ipSp2 - ipSp1 + 1)
        End If
        
        
        'make sure the word won't pass the edge of the margin
        'if it will then drop down a line
        If iCurX + Printer.TextWidth(strWord) > ipRight Then
          iCurX = ipLeft
          iCurY = iCurY + Printer.TextHeight(strWord)
        End If
        
        'make sure the word won't pass the bottom margin
        'if it does then we need a new page
        If iCurY + Printer.TextHeight(strWord) > ipBottom Then
          'new page
          Printer.NewPage
          iCurX = ipLeft
          iCurY = ipTop
        End If
      
        'set the printer current X and Y positions
        Printer.CurrentX = iCurX
        Printer.CurrentY = iCurY
        
        'print the word
        Printer.Print strWord
        
        'set the current X position
        iCurX = iCurX + Printer.TextWidth(strWord)
        If blLongWord Then
          'set iCurX to the margin
          iCurX = ipLeft
          'go down a line
          iCurY = iCurY + Printer.TextHeight(strWord)
        End If
        
        'set the pointer
        ipSp1 = ipSp2 + 1
      Loop Until ipSp2 >= Len(strLine)
      
      'set the pointer.  +2 to miss the vbCrLf characters
      ipCrlf1 = ipCrLf2 + 2
      
      'finished a line so move curX to the margin
      iCurX = ipLeft
      'and go down a line
      iCurY = iCurY + Printer.TextHeight(strLine)
    
    Loop Until ipCrLf2 >= Len(strText)
    
    
    'finished composing Document.  Tell printer to print.
    'PHEW :)
    Printer.EndDoc

End Sub



Private Function chopString(stWord As String, iLength As Long) As Long
    Dim i As Integer
    
    '-----------------------------------------------'
    'This function chops a long word in half until  '
    'it is small enough that it will fit into the   '
    'Page margins.  It then loops to find the exact '
    'size that will fit to the edge of the margin.  '
    '-----------------------------------------------'
    
    
    'if the text is too wide for the margin, then chop it
    If TextWidth(stWord) > (iLength) Then
      'chop it in half
      chopString = chopString(Mid$(stWord, 1, Len(stWord) \ 2), iLength)
      If chopString = -1 Then
        'means we have a string that is small enough to work with
        'loop to find the exact righ size
        For i = Len(stWord) To 1 Step -1
          If TextWidth(Mid$(stWord, 1, i)) <= iLength Then
            chopString = i - 1
            Exit For
          End If
        Next i
      End If
    Else
      'the string has been choped small enough
      'to loop through to find the size to use
      chopString = -1
    End If
    
End Function

Hope this is better for you.

[Iain17]

I have decided to alter my printing algorithim to support diferent font styles (bold, italic, different fonts etc).

My question is does any one know an easy way to do this?

Or am i going to be stuck having to test each position in a text box for its font properties? As you can probably guess that would be very slow.

Any ideas are apreciated.

Regards,