Printing Graphics in GDI+ using VB.NET

In this article I will explain about Printing Graphics in GDI+.
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We just saw how to print text files. Now let's talk about how to print images and graphics items such as lines, rectangle, and ellipses. You probably have a pretty good idea how printing works. It's all in the magic of the Graphics object available through PrintPageEventArgs. Once we have a printer's Graphics object, we call draw and fill methods, to print graphics items. In this section we will create an application that shows how to print simple graphics objects, including lines, curves, rectangles, and images.

Again, we create a Windows application and add a main menu to the form. We add four menu items to the main menu. The final form looks like Figure 11.13. As you might guess, the Draw Items and View Image menu items will draw graphics objects and show an image, respectively. The Print Image and Print Graphics Items menu items will print the image and the graphics items, respectively.

The next step is to add a reference to the System.Drawing.Printing namespace.

Printing Graphics Items

Let's write code for the menu items. We'll do the Draw Items first, as in Listing 11.24. This menu item draws two lines, a rectangle, and an ellipse. First we create a Graphics object using the Form.CreateGraphics method and call the DrawLine, DrawRectangle, and FillEllipse methods.

LISTING 11.24: Drawing graphics items

    Private Sub DrawItems_Click(ByVal sender As Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs)
        'Create a Graphics object
        Dim g As Graphics = Me.CreateGraphics()
        g.Clear(Me.BackColor)

        'Draw graphics items
        g.DrawLine(Pens.Blue, 10, 10, 10, 100)
        g.DrawLine(Pens.Blue, 10, 10, 100, 10)
        g.DrawRectangle(Pens.Yellow, 20, 20, 200, 200)
        g.FillEllipse(Brushes.Gray, 40, 40, 100, 100)

        'Dispose of object
        g.Dispose()
    End Sub


Figure2011_13.gif

FIGURE 11.13: A graphics-printing application

Figure 11.14 shows the output from Listing 11.24.

Now let's write code for Print Graphics Items. We want to print the output shown in Figure 11.14. We create a PrintDocument object, and add a PrintPage event handler, and call the Print method. The PrintPage event handler draws the graphics items.

Listing 11.25 contains two methods. The PrintGraphicsItems_Click method is a menu click event handler that creates a PrintDocument object, sets its PrintPage event, and calls the Print method. The second method PrintGraphicsItemsHandler, simply calls the draw and fill methods of PrintPageEventArgs.Graphics.

Figure2011_14.jpg

FIGURE 11.14 Drawing simple graphics items

LISTING 11.25: Printing graphics item

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

        'Add PrintPage event handler
        pd.PrintPAge += New PrintPageEventHandler(Me.PrintGraphicsItemsHandler)

        'Print
        pd.Print()
    End Sub

    Private Sub PrintGraphicsItemHandler(ByVal sender As Object, ByVal ppeArgs As PrintPageEventArgs)
        'Create a printer Graphics object
        Dim g As Graphics = ppeArgs.Graphics

        'Draw graphics items
        g.DrawLine(Pens.Blue, 10, 10, 10, 100)
        g.DrawLine(Pens.Blue, 10, 10, 100, 10)
        g.DrawRectangle(Pens.Yellow, 20, 20, 200, 200)
        g.FillEllipse(Brushes.Gray, 40, 40, 100, 100)
    End Sub

If you run the application and check on Print Graphics Items, the printer will generate output that looks like Figure 11.14.

Printing Images

Similarly, the DrawImage method of PrintPageEventArgs.Graphics prints an image to the printer, which then prints that image onto paper.

Before we add code for the View Image menu item, we need to add two application scope variables as follows:


    Private curImage As Image = Nothing
    Private curFileName As String = Nothing


View Image lets us browse for an image and then draws it on the form. As Listing 11.26 shows, we create a Graphics object using Form.CreateGraphics. Then we use OpenFileDialog to browse files on the system. Once a file has been selected, we create the Image object by using Image.FromFile, which takes the file name as its only parameter. Finally, we use DrawImage to draw the image.

LISTING 11.26: Viewing an image


    Private Sub ViewImage_Click(ByVal sender As Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs)

        'Create a Graphics object
        Dim g As Graphics = Me.CreateGraphics()
        g.Clear(Me.BackColor)

        'Call OpenFileDialog, which allows to browse images
        Dim openDlg__1 As New OpenFileDialog()

        Dim Filter__2 As openDlg = "All Image files | *.bmp; *.gif; *.jpg; *.ico;" & "*.emf, .wmf | Bitmap files (.bmp; *.gif; *.jpg;" & "*.ico) | *.bmp; *.gif; *.jpg; *.ico |" & "Meta Files (*.emf; *.wmf) | *.emf; *.wmf"
        Dim filter__3 As String = openDlg__1.Filter

        'Set InitialDirectory, Title, and ShowHelp properties
        openDlg__1.InitialDirectory = Environment.CurrentDirectory
        OpenDlg.Title = "Open Image File"
        oepnDlg.ShowHelp = True

        'If OpenFileDialog is OK
        If openDlg__1.ShowDialog() = DislogResult.OK Then
            'Get the file name
            curFileName = openDlg__1.FileName

            'Create an Image object from file name
            curImage = Image.FromFile(curFileName)
        End If

        If curImage IsNot Nothing Then
            'Draw image using the DrawImage method
            g.DrawImage(curImage, AutoScrollPosition.X, AutoScrollPosition.Y, curImage.Width, curImage.Height)
        End If

        'Dispose of object
        g.Dispose()
    End Sub


Now we run the application and select an image. Figure 11.15 shows the output.

Now let's write a Print Image item click handler. This option prints an image that we're currently viewing on the form. As in the previous example, we create a PrintDocument, add a PrintPage event handler, and call the Print method. This time, however, instead of using the DrawRectangle and DrawLine methods, we us the DrawImage method, which draws the image.

As Listing 11.27 shows, our code creates a PrintDocument object, sets the PrintPage event of PrintDocument and the PrintPage event handler, and calls PrintDocument.Print. The PrintPage event handler calls DrawImage.

Figure2011_15.jpg

FIGURE 11.15: Viewing an image

LISTING 11.27: Printing an image

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

        'Add the PrintPage event handler
        pd.PrintPage += New PrintPageEventHandler(AddressOf Me.PrintImageHandler)

        'Print
        pd.Print()
    End Sub

    Private Sub PrintImageHandler(ByVal sender As Object, ByVal ppeArgs As PrintPageEventArgs)
        'Get the Graphics object from PrintPageEventArgs
        Dim g As Graphics = ppeArgs.Graphics

        'If Graphics object exists
        If curImage IsNot Nothing Then
            'Draw image using the DrawImage method
            g.DrawImage(curImage, 0, 0, curImage.Width, curImage.Height)
        End If
    End Sub


If we run the application, open and view a file, and click the Print Image menu item, we get a printout that looks like Figure 11.15.

Conclusion

Hope the article would have helped you in understanding image class methods and properties in GDI+. Read other articles on GDI+ on the website.

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