GDI+ Pinting Application in VB.NET

In this article I will explain about Printing Application in GDI+.
  • 2547

We just saw how the printing process works in the .NET Framework. Now let's talk about how to write your first simple printing application. In this application we will send the text "Hello Printer!" to the printer from a Windows application. To create this application, follow the simple steps described here.

Using Visual Studio .NET, create a Windows application project names HelloPrinterSamp, as shown in Figure 11.6.

After we create the project, we add the following line to it:


Imports
System.Drawing.Printing

Then we add controls for a label, a combo box, and a button to the form. We change the Text and Name properties of the form and these controls. (See the online
source code for more details.) The final form should look like Figure 11.7.

When you run this application, the combo box will display the available printer on your machine. You can select any printer from this list, and when you click the Hello Printer button, it will print "Hello Printer!" on your printer.

Printer.gif

FIGURE 11.6: Creating a Windows application

Figure2011_7.jpg

FIGURE 11.7: Your first printing application

We load the available printers on the form's load event handler. The PrinterSetting.InstalledPrinter property returns the installed printers on a machine. PrinterSettings.InstalledPrinters.Count returns the total number of printers. In Listing 11.2 we check if printers are installed on the machine, read them, and add them to the printer list combo box.

LISTING 11.2: Getting all installed printers


    Private Sub Form1_Load(ByVal sender As System.Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles MyBase.Load
        'See if any printers are installed
        If PrinterSettings.InstalledPrinters.Count <= 0 Then
            MessageBox.Show("Printer not found!")
            Return
        End If

        'Get all available printers and add them to the combo box
        For Each printer As [String] In PrinterSettings.InstalledPrinters
            printersList.Itmes.Add(printer.ToString())
        Next
    End Sub


The next step is to add code to the Hello Printer button click event handler (see Listing 11.3). This code is responsible for printing. We create a PrintDocument object and set the PrintDocument.PrinterSettings.PrinterName property to the printer selected from the printer list combo box. Then we add print-page event handler and call the PrintDocument.Print method, which prints the document.

LISTING 11.3: The Hello printer button click event handler


    Private Sub HelloPrinterBtn_Click(ByVal sender As Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs)
        'Create a PrintDocument object
        Dim pd As PrintDocument = New PrintDocument()

        'Set PrinterName as the selected printer in the printers list
        pd.PrinterSetting.PrinterName =
        printersList.SelectedItem.ToString()

        'Add PrintPage event handler
Dim + As pd.PrintPage = New PrintPageEventHandler(pd_PrintPage)

        'Print the document
        pd.Print()
    End Sub

The last step is to add the print-page event handler code (see Listing 11.4). This code is responsible for creating a Graphics object for the printer. It calls the DrawString method, which is responsible for drawing text. First we create a Graphics object from PrintPageEventArgs.Graphics. Then we create Font and SolidBrush objects and call DrawString to draw some text on the printer. The DrawString method takes a string that represents the text to be drawn; the font; a brush; and a layout rectangle that represents the starting point, width, and height of a rectangle for the text.

LISTING 11.4: The print-page event handler


    'The PrintPage event handler
    Public Sub pd_PrintPage(ByVal sender As Object, ByVal ev As PrintPageEventArgs)

        'Get the Graphics object
        Dim g As Graphics = ev.Graphics

        'Create a font Arial with size 16
        Dim font As New Font("Arial", 16)
 
        'Create a solid brush with black color
        Dim brush As New SolidBrush(Color.Black)

        'Draw "Hello Printer!";
        g.DrawString("Hello Printer!", font, brush, New Rectangle(20, 20, 200, 100))
    End Sub


Now you can run the application, select a printer from the list, and click the Hello Printer button. You should see "Hello Printer!" on you printed page.

Conclusion

Hope the article would have helped you in understanding Printing Application in GDI+. Read other articles on GDI+ on the website.

Categories

More Articles

© 2020 DotNetHeaven. All rights reserved.