Printing to a network printer

[tpekar]

Has anyone tried printing directly to a network printer from a Pelles C Windows program?  Was not sure what Windows functions to use.  Have done it in the past using lpr.  But don't think I have that available to me now.

[TimoVJL]

Do you mean to Print Server like HP Jet Direct ?
Winsock is your friend.

[jj2007]

Googling for PageSetupDlg StartDoc EndDoc CreateDC also yields some useful links.

[DMac]

Here's something I pulled out of a project from long ago.  In that application I was sending a bitmap to the printer.  It is an example showing  how the methods jj2007 mentioned work together.  Feel free to adapt it to your purposes if you find it helpful.

Global variables

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static HINSTANCE ghInstance;
static PAGESETUPDLG m_psd;

Various methods

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/ * Purpose: DoEvents is a statement that yields execution of the current
  * thread so that the operating system can process other events.
  * This function cleans out the message loop and executes any other pending
  * business.
  */
void DoEvents (void)
{
MSG Msg;
while (PeekMessage(&Msg,NULL,0,0,PM_REMOVE))
{
TranslateMessage(&Msg);
DispatchMessage(&Msg);
}
}

void InitPrintDevMode (void)
{
DEVMODE * pDevMode;

m_hDevMode = GlobalAlloc(GHND, sizeof(DEVMODE)); // allocate a moveable block of memory and initialize it to zeroes.
if (m_hDevMode)
{
pDevMode = (DEVMODE *) GlobalLock(m_hDevMode); // lock the memory and return a pointer to it
if (pDevMode)
{
pDevMode->dmSize = sizeof(DEVMODE); // set the size of the DEVMODE structure
pDevMode->dmFields = DM_ORIENTATION; // tell Windows that I will be setting the dmOrientation field
pDevMode->dmOrientation = DMORIENT_LANDSCAPE; // set the orientation to landscape
}
GlobalUnlock(m_hDevMode); // unlock the memory for other functions to use this
}
// m_hDevMode is now ready to be used in a PAGESETUPDLG structure
}

// Show the Print dialog and Return a HDC for the selected printer.
HDC GetPrinterDC(HWND hwnd)
{
PRINTDLG pdlg;
memset( &pdlg, 0, sizeof( PRINTDLG ));
pdlg.lStructSize = sizeof( PRINTDLG );
pdlg.hDevMode = m_hDevMode;
pdlg.hDevNames = m_psd.hDevNames;
pdlg.hwndOwner = hwnd;
pdlg.Flags = PD_NOPAGENUMS | PD_NOSELECTION | PD_RETURNDC;
PrintDlg( &pdlg );
DoEvents();
return pdlg.hDC;
}

void mnuPrint_Click(HWND hParent, HWND hWnd)
{
HDC     hdcPrinter;
int     iWidth;
int     iHeight;
DOCINFO di;
DIBSECTION ds;

// Do you have a valid window?
if (!IsWindow(hWnd)) return;

// Get HDC for the selected printer.
hdcPrinter = GetPrinterDC(hParent);
if (!hdcPrinter) return;

// Prepare the DOCINFO.
ZeroMemory(&di, sizeof(di));
di.cbSize = sizeof(di);
di.lpszDocName = "Memory Bitmap";

// Initialize the print job.
if (StartDoc(hdcPrinter, &di) > 0)
{

// Prepare to send a page.
if (StartPage(hdcPrinter) > 0)
{
// Retrieve the information describing the surface.
if(Plotter.MemoryBMP !=NULL)
{
GetObject(Plotter.MemoryBMP, sizeof(ds), &ds);

    // Get the resolution of the printer device in square pixels
    iWidth  = GetDeviceCaps(hdcPrinter, HORZRES);
    iHeight = GetDeviceCaps(hdcPrinter, VERTRES);

    // Maintain aspect ratio of printed image
    if (iHeight > iWidth)
{
//
// Page is taller than it is wide (portrait mode)
//
// Scale the height to conform to the client area's size
//

iHeight = iWidth * ds.dsBm.bmHeight / ds.dsBm.bmWidth;
}

// Print the contents of the surface.
StretchDIBits(hdcPrinter,
m_psd.rtMargin.left,
m_psd.rtMargin.top,
iWidth - (m_psd.rtMargin.right+m_psd.rtMargin.left),
iHeight - (m_psd.rtMargin.bottom+m_psd.rtMargin.top),
0, 0, ds.dsBm.bmWidth, ds.dsBm.bmHeight,
ds.dsBm.bmBits,
(LPBITMAPINFO)&ds.dsBmih,
DIB_RGB_COLORS,
SRCCOPY);
}
// Let the driver know the page is done.
EndPage(hdcPrinter);
}
// Let the driver know the document is done.
EndDoc(hdcPrinter);
}
// Clean up the objects you created.
DeleteDC(hdcPrinter);
}

void mnuPageSetup_Click (HWND hwnd)
{
    //Set the structure size
    m_psd.lStructSize = sizeof(PAGESETUPDLG);
    //Set the owner window
    m_psd.hwndOwner = hwnd;
    //Set the application instance
    m_psd.hInstance = ghInstance;
//Set the hDevMode to customized settings
m_psd.hDevMode = m_hDevMode;
    //No extra flags
    m_psd.Flags = PSD_MARGINS;
    //Show the pagesetup dialog
    PageSetupDlg(&m_psd);
}

BOOL FormMain_OnInitDialog(HWND hwnd, HWND hwndFocus, LPARAM lParam)
{
InitPrintDevMode();
return 0;
}


[TimoVJL]

Getting HDC for printer:

Code: [Select]

TCHAR szPrinter[255];
DWORD nLen;
if (GetDefaultPrinter( szPrinter, &nLen )) {
//HDC hDCPrn = CreateDC("WINSPOOL", szPrinter, NULL, NULL);
HDC hDCPrn = CreateDC(NULL, szPrinter, NULL, NULL);
//HDC hDCPrn = CreateDC(NULL, "\\\\foo-svr\\foo-printer", NULL, NULL);
...
}