Printing the way you did in DOS using PB/DLL

[Andy Flowers]

The following is an example of how you can print the way you did in
DOS using PB/DLL. The program first get your default Printer (locally attached
or via a Network) then uses the 'OPEN' Command.

[CODE]
#COMPILE EXE
#INCLUDE "WIN32API.INC"

DECLARE FUNCTION GetDefaultPrinter AS STRING

FUNCTION PBMAIN()
LOCAL PFile AS LONG
LOCAL Printer AS STRING
Printer = GetDefaultPrinter
PFile = FREEFILE
OPEN Printer FOR OUTPUT AS PFile
IF ERR THEN
MSGBOX "Error initializing printer " & Printer
ELSE
PRINT #PFile, "Printer is working fine......."
END IF

CLOSE #PFile
MSGBOX "Printer Information Printed successfully"

END FUNCTION


FUNCTION GetDefaultPrinter AS STRING

LOCAL PN AS LONG
LOCAL hPrn AS LONG
LOCAL cbNeeded AS LONG
LOCAL cdBuf AS LONG
LOCAL numElm AS LONG
LOCAL cbSize AS LONG
LOCAL fRet AS LONG
LOCAL Printer AS STRING

LOCAL PShare AS ASCIIZ * 255
LOCAL PPort AS ASCIIZ * 255
LOCAL PServer AS ASCIIZ * 255
LOCAL PrinterName AS ASCIIZ * 255
LOCAL PInfo2() AS PRINTER_INFO_2
REDIM PInfo2(0)

cbSize = SIZEOF(PInfo2(0))
GetProfileString "WINDOWS", "DEVICE", ",,,", PrinterName, SIZEOF(PrinterName)
PN = INSTR(PrinterName, ",")
Printer = MID$(PrinterName,1,PN -1)
fRet = OpenPrinter(BYCOPY Printer, hPrn, BYVAL %NULL)
fRet = GetPrinter(hPrn, 2, BYVAL VARPTR(PInfo2(0)), cdBuf, cbNeeded)
cdBuf = cbNeeded
numElm = cbNeeded\cbSize
REDIM PInfo2(numElm)
fRet = GetPrinter(hPrn, 2, BYVAL VARPTR(PInfo2(0)), BYVAL cdBuf, cbNeeded)
PServer = PInfo2(0)[email protected]
PShare = PInfo2(0)[email protected]
PPort = PInfo2(0)[email protected]

IF LEN(TRIM$(PServer))=0 OR LEN(TRIM$(PShare))=0 AND LEN(TRIM$(PPort))>0 THEN
FUNCTION = PPort
ELSE
FUNCTION = PServer+"\"+PShare
END IF

END FUNCTION


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[Lance Edmonds]

I hate to rain on your parade, but if the target printer is a GDI or Windows-Only model, this code most likely wont work since the printer won't be able to handle the data stream. GDI and Windows-Only printers use a proprietary "BMP-like" data stream, not ASCII.


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Lance
PowerBASIC Support
mailto:[email protected][email protected]</A>