Very complex issue...

[j_jewell]

Hi guys, here is one that I have been slamming my head against the wall over for way too long:

I have a .dll which sets the default printer for the server that it is running on. It then opens an instance of IE and navigates to a page which builds an xml file and saves it. That .asp page then redirects to another .asp page which applies a stylesheet to the aforementioned xml file and finally prints it out to the printer which the user selected.

When I set the .dll up on COM+, it alters the default printer, instantiates IE, creates the XML, and then hangs.

When I don't run the .dll in COM+, but instead register the .dll and reference it in my .asp project, it doesn't even get the printer changed.

Thoughts are appreciated.

[Shawn N]

User intervention isn't always a bad thing, especially when it comes to things like printing. Why change the printer? Maybe the already selected default printer is what the user wants.

Just my opinion.

[j_jewell]

Long story made short...the requirement on this product is that the user will not interact with the Printer Settings dialog box. They will simply choose what and where on the web page.

[j_jewell]

Well, this has taken a change, and I am lost. I basically have everything wrapped up into a COM+ component. The component builds and saves an html file (which is the output of applying an XSL to the XML).

The problem, which has to have an answer, is that I need to be able to say where I want the html file to be printed at. Think about this -- we can have a window with .html files in it, and our printer window open at the same time...grab an .html file and drag and drop on the printer we want and windows knows what to do. This leads one to believe that we should be able to accomplish the same thing through API calls. Does anyone have a clue?

Thanks again for all of your input.

[Shawn N]

How about setting the default printer?

http://support.microsoft.com/default...;en-us;q266767

[j_jewell]

Good thought, but too unstable for our production environment. This application is going to run at the server, so changing the default printer is not an option. I already explored that route.

Again though, good thought, if it was running from the client's PC, that would work.

[j_jewell]

I figured out how to emulate a drag and drop of an .html file onto a printer. However, the real problem remains...I don't want the printer settings message box to pop-up. I've seen people post, saying that this can't be done; however, it can.

You can use the ExecWB function and pass it parameters of (6,6) and it will print with out prompting. I need the best of both worlds, I need to be able to print in automation (without being prompted), to a location which can change on the fly.

Seems to me that it sucks that I can do A or B, but not A & B.

[Shawn N]

j - quick question for you: If I could show you how to show the printer dialog box, and change anything you want (programatically, of course) would this be an option for you?

Let me know. If it is I'll go ahead and make a sample project for you.

[j_jewell]

Could I close out the dialog box when I was finished with it?

[Shawn N]

Yea, of course.

[j_jewell]

See subject line.

[Shawn N]

Working on the project. Gimme a little time.

[Shawn N]

Is the printer always the same name?

Do all the servers have the same # of printers installed?

[j_jewell]

No, the printer will vary. I will always have the printer name. This will be running in a COM+ object on a server, so, it will not necessarily always have the same number of printers installed. The number might change

[Shawn N]

Hope this works for you. Just change the printer name in the module.

[Shawn N]

I'm guessing this didn't help. I have another option for you if not.

[Shawn N]

Try installing this control:

http://support.microsoft.com/default...b;en-us;322710

Run this code with the module from the other posted project.

Option Explicit
 
Private Sub cmdShowPrinter_Click()
 
    
    'Means our changes won't be set as default system-wide
    'cmnPrinter.PrinterDefault = False
    
    'set an API timer - this will allow an event to be raised even though
    'the printer dialog box will have complete control over our thread
    'Call timeSetEvent(500, 100, AddressOf TimerProc, 0, TIME_ONESHOT)
    'Wait half a second, with a resolution of 100.
    'Call functin TimerProc, no user-data being
    'passed, and call it only once.
            
    'show our printer selection dialog box
    'cmnPrinter.ShowPrinter
    
    
    Dim printDlg As PrinterDlg
    Set printDlg = New PrinterDlg
    ' Set the starting information for the dialog box based on the current
    ' printer settings.
    printDlg.PrinterName = Printer.DeviceName
    printDlg.DriverName = Printer.DriverName
    printDlg.Port = Printer.Port
    
    ' Set the default PaperBin so that a valid value is returned even
    ' in the Cancel case.
    printDlg.PaperBin = Printer.PaperBin
    
    ' Set the flags for the PrinterDlg object using the same flags as in the
    ' common dialog control. The structure starts with VBPrinterConstants.
    printDlg.Flags = VBPrinterConstants.cdlPDNoSelection _
                     Or VBPrinterConstants.cdlPDNoPageNums _
                     Or VBPrinterConstants.cdlPDReturnDC
    Printer.TrackDefault = False
    
    ' When CancelError is set to True the ShowPrinterDlg will return error
    ' 32755. You can handle the error to know when the Cancel button was
    ' clicked. Enable this by uncommenting the lines prefixed with "'**".
    '**printDlg.CancelError = True
    
    ' Add error handling for Cancel.
    '**On Error GoTo Cancel
    
    Call timeSetEvent(500, 100, AddressOf TimerProc, 0, TIME_ONESHOT)
    If Not printDlg.ShowPrinter(Me.hwnd) Then
        Debug.Print "Cancel Selected"
        Exit Sub
    End If
    
    'Turn off Error Handling for Cancel.
    '**On Error GoTo 0
    Dim NewPrinterName As String
    Dim objPrinter As Printer
    Dim strsetting As String
    
    ' Locate the printer that the user selected in the Printers collection.
    NewPrinterName = UCase$(printDlg.PrinterName)
    If Printer.DeviceName <> NewPrinterName Then
        For Each objPrinter In Printers
           If UCase$(objPrinter.DeviceName) = NewPrinterName Then
                Set Printer = objPrinter
                Set objPrinter = Nothing
           End If
        Next
    End If
    
    Debug.Print Printer.DeviceName
    Debug.Print Printer.hDC
    
End Sub

[Shawn N]

Never thought about going about it like this. After you set the printer object you can reference the printer as you normally would.

Option Explicit
 
Private Sub Form_Load()
 
    Dim objPrinter As Printer
    For Each objPrinter In Printers
        With objPrinter
            If .DeviceName = "Your Printer's Name" Then
                
                Set Printer = objPrinter
                Debug.Print Printer.DeviceName
                Debug.Print "     " & Printer.hDC
                
            End If
        End With
    Next objPrinter
    
    Unload Me
    
End Sub

[j_jewell]

O.K, I think we are getting somewhere, and I hope we don't dead-end now. So, when I go to print my document, the system produces a print dialog box (I don't). How do I get a handle on it?

Something I tried:

dim prnDialog as PrinterDlg
dim sws as new ShellWindows

for each prnDialog in sws 'there should only be one

next

I registered the prndialog.dll and setup a project reference, then in code right after the print dialog box is raised by the system, the code that runs is the for loop above. The problem now, is that I can't even get into the for loop, I get a "Type Mismatch" error pointing to the for line.

[j_jewell]

O.K., we're getting somewhere...I think. I can get a handle on the printer dialog box with the GetForegroundWindow() call. Does anyone know how I can set my printer dialog reference equal to the returned handle?

[j_jewell]

I have been building off of this post onto a different post which seems to address the direction I was going here. Please read this post to continue to assist.

Thanks!

[Shawn N]

jewell I thought you were trying to print a document with a specific printer that you'd have the name of. I thought I'd answered your question but I guess not - what exactly are you trying to do now?

[j_jewell]

If you read my post (which is two above yours on this thread), you will understand what I was trying to do.

[Shawn N]

That's not going to be possible jewell.

[j_jewell]

...does Crystal expose the properties of the printer settings to us programatically to manipulate? The report is going to run in a web browser, in order to render the report, and then the print is kicked off from ie -- but Crystal can alter the print settings at that point in time.

Why can't we do the same?

[Pseudocode]

dim prnDlg as PrinterDlg

set prnDlg = the printer dialog that ie opened
[/Pseudocode]