Is the printer on-line and ready?

[Mel Bishop]

I'm writing a program that produces some heavy-duty print-out's.

Currently, to save paper and print media, I am printing to CutePDF and bringing up the .PDF file to check output.

However, sometimes, I miss my mark and try to print to a physical printer when it's turned off. Not what I'm expecting.

Is there a generic way of checking a printers status as to whether it's on-line and paper ready, or is this question printer specific?

[Michael Mattias]

OpenPrinter
GetPrinter
Query status member of PRINTER_INFO_2

Yes, your demo in Source Code Forum of same will be appreciated.

[Michael Mattias]

FWIW, this source code posting....

http://www.powerbasic.com/support/pbforums/showthread.php?t=23602

.. has all the literals typed for you if you want to make a demo function which looks something like...

FUNCTION getPRinterStatus (PrinterName AS STRING) AS STRING

END FUNCTION

...
   PrinterName = (Get a printername, using PrintDLG() or PRINTER$)
   MSGBOX GetPrinterStatus (Printername)