Stream to LPT?

[Unregistered]

How can I make a stream go to a printer on an LPT port? Can it be done?

If not, is there any other way of outputting to an LPT?

[Betazep]

#include <iostream>
#include <fstream>
#include <stdlib>
using namespace std ;

int main()
{

        char printer[10] = "LPT1:";
        char character;

        
        ofstream prnt (printer);


        if (prnt.fail()) 
        {
                cout << "ERROR-Unable to open " << printer << '\n' ;
                return 1 ;
        }
        system ("cls");

        cout << "Type the text you wish to have printed.  You must use "
             << "\nyour own returns as there is no text wrapping other than "
             << "\nthat which the printer will do at the end of page. Though, "
             << "\nthis may lead to words being cut in half.  This simple "
             << "\nprogram could be made much better utilizing iomanip for text "
             << "\nformatting, but it shows you the basics of opening a printer "
             << "\nport. " << endl << endl
             << "Press a '#' and return when you are ready to print... " << endl
             << endl << endl;


        while (character != '#')
        {
                cin.get(character);

                if(character != '#')
                   prnt.put(character);
        }
        

        prnt << '\r' << '\f' ; // return and eject the last page from the printer


        prnt.close();

return(0);

}

[adrianxw]

You can get a handle to the port with the CreateFile() API function, look it up in the help with particular reference to the sections dealing with "communication resources". Once you have a handle, you can use any of the normal handle based I/O functions in the API.

[frenchfry164]

I tried to use _bios_printer(); function before, but the only thing I could do is turn my printer on, using _bios_printer(_Init_Printer,0,0);