Printer Properties

Printer properties are used to control printer settings used by the method SendPrint.

Printer properties are set and queried using the SIS_OT_PRINTER constant and the GetFlt/GetInt/GetStr/GetProperty and SetFlt/SetInt/SetStr/SetProperty methods. The nObject& argument is not required with SIS_OT_PRINTER, and should be set to 0.

Note: When the printer properties are being used then all of them must be set, because all of them are used every time the SendPrint method is called.

Printer Properties

• Device name
  
• Driver name
  
• Number of copies
  
• Orientation
  
• Output port
  
• Paper length
  
• Paper size
  
• Paper width
  

Printer Properties

• Device name: _device$
  The printer device name.
  
  In Microsoft Visual Basic this is the DeviceName property of a Printer object.
  
  
• Driver name: _driver$
  The printer driver. This will typically be "winspool".
  
  In Microsoft Visual Basic this is the DriverName property of a Printer object.
  
  
• Number of copies: _copies&
  The number of copies to print, in the range 1 to 100.
  
  
• Orientation: _orientation&
  The printer page orientation, i.e. portrait or landscape.
  
  In Microsoft Visual Basic this is the Orientation property of a Printer object. The Microsoft Visual Basic constants for orientation, vbPRORLandscape and vbPRORPortrait, should be used.
  
  
• Output port: _output$
  The printer output port.
  
  In Microsoft Visual Basic this is the Port property of a Printer object.
  
  
• Paper length: _paperLength&
  The length of the printer page (in 1/10ths of a millimetre), in the range 100 to 32000 (10mm to 3.2m). This property is only used if Paper size is set to 0 or 256.
  
  In Microsoft Visual Basic this can be calculated from the Height property of a Printer object. The Height property of a Microsoft Visual Basic Printer object is specified in twips, and should be converted to 1/10ths of a millimetre. A twip is a unit of screen measurement equal to 1/20 of a printer's point. There are approximately 1440 twips to a logical inch, or 567 twips to a logical centimetre or 5.67 twips to 1/10 of a millimetre (the length of a screen item measuring one inch or one centimetre or 1/10 of a millimetre when printed).
  
  
• Paper size: _paperSize&
  The printer page size. If this is set to 0 or 256 then the Paper length and Paper width properties will be used instead.
  
  In Microsoft Visual Basic this is the PaperSize property of a Printer object. The Microsoft Visual Basic constants for the recognised paper sizes, e.g vbPRPSA4 for A4, should be used.
  
  
• Paper width: _paperWidth&
  The width of the printer page (in 1/10ths of millimetre), in the range 100 to 32000 (10mm to 3.2m). This property is only used if Paper size is set to 0 or 256.
  
  In Microsoft Visual Basic this can be calculated from the Width property of a Printer object. The Width property of a Microsoft Visual Basic Printer object is specified in twips, and should be converted to 1/10ths of a millimetre. A twip is a unit of screen measurement equal to 1/20 of a printer's point. There are approximately 1440 twips to a logical inch, or 567 twips to a logical centimetre or 5.67 twips to 1/10 of a millimetre.(the length of a screen item measuring one inch or one centimetre or 1/10 of a millimetre when printed).

Example of an API command for another paper size:

''Compose the current map for printing
        Dim uPrinterSettings As New PrintDialog

        uPrinterSettings.AllowSelection = False
        uPrinterSettings.AllowSomePages = False
        uPrinterSettings.AllowPrintToFile = False

        If uPrinterSettings.ShowDialog() = DialogResult.OK Then
            Sis1.SetStr(SIS_OT_PRINTER, 0, "_device$", uPrinterSettings.PrinterSettings.PrinterName)
            Sis1.SetStr(SIS_OT_PRINTER, 0, "_driver$", "winspool")
            Sis1.SetStr(SIS_OT_PRINTER, 0, "_output$", "")
            Sis1.SetInt(SIS_OT_PRINTER, 0, "_copies&", uPrinterSettings.PrinterSettings.Copies)
            Sis1.SetInt(SIS_OT_PRINTER, 0, "_paperSize&", uPrinterSettings.PrinterSettings.DefaultPageSettings.PaperSize.RawKind)

            If uPrinterSettings.PrinterSettings.DefaultPageSettings.Landscape = False Then
                Sis1.SetInt(SIS_OT_PRINTER, 0, "_orientation&", 1)
            Else
                Sis1.SetInt(SIS_OT_PRINTER, 0, "_orientation&", 2)
            End If
        
        Sis1.DoCommand("AComPrintTemplateWizard")

       End If

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