Thread: need help on batch printing

hello all .
i was asked to make a program which takes the forms picture and then prints it. the form can be of any size and also there must be two modes for printing , a batch print option and a single printing option .

printing the form was easy but im stuck at the printing section .
my problems are :
1.i dont know how i can change the size of the card when printing.!

2.i have no idea how i can have a batch printing without the user interference!

so far i have these functions for printing procedures :

Code:

protected void btnPrint_Click(object sender, EventArgs e)
        {
            PaperSize cardsize = new PaperSize("test", this.Width, this.Height);
            PrintDocument pd = new PrintDocument();
            ;pd.PrinterSettings.Duplex = Duplex.Horizontal;
            PageSettings psetting = new PageSettings();
            psetting.PaperSize = cardsize;
            pd.DefaultPageSettings = psetting;

            pd.PrintPage += new PrintPageEventHandler(PrintImage);
            pd.Print();
        }

Code:

        void PrintImage(object o, PrintPageEventArgs e)
        {
            int x = SystemInformation.WorkingArea.X;
            int y = SystemInformation.WorkingArea.Y;
            int width = this.Width;
            int height = this.Height;

            Rectangle bounds = new Rectangle(x, y, width, height);

            Bitmap img = new Bitmap(width, height);

            this.DrawToBitmap(img, bounds);
            Point p = new Point(100, 100);
            e.Graphics.DrawImage(img, p);
        }

this print function is located in a timer tick event , inwhich the forms information is updated each X seconds and when updated , it is printed and its goes on and on till there are no more information to be updated and hence printed .

As you can see i tried to re-size the print (sketch ) to match the the form size (which is what is actually to be printed) but no luck!
i have no idea how im supposed to do that! i searched dozens of articles on google on printing! but none of them were useful to me and neither they covered what i was looking after

and the other problem is that , when printing , a window is shown to the user to choose a name and then save the print file !( i currently have no printer installed , so there is only the Microsoft's default (virtual?) printer ! - i dont know if this is shown because of that virtual printer or there is the wrong way for batch printing )

i would be very thankful if any of you guys guide me get through this problem
thank you all in advance

1. Configure the printer interface so you can send it jobs to print.
2. Get your list of things to print.
3. For each thing to print, get info, set up print job, and print it.

You need to generalize your items to print, so that it's separate from configuring the printer. Configure the printer, then set it the job to print. Repeat the last until done.

Quzah.

Thank you verymuch for your reply

1. Configure the printer interface so you can send it jobs to print.

ok , about configuring the printer , i already mentioned one of my problems , i cant get the print size changed , it always print in A4 size!!

2. Get your list of things to print.
3. For each thing to print, get info, set up print job, and print it.

are you suggesting that i save each images , and then print these images in another iteration? as you see i just get the image , and then try to print it
and for the no.3 part , how can i set up the print job , im not sure i got you right ! .
and ths is the first time im having a project which needs printing! and i couldnt find any sample that demonstrates all of these stuff , most of them ( in my case , all i've seen so far) , do not change the default size of the print paper or even make a queue of jobs for printer , so im just clueless about them , tried MSDN but no luck
i would appreciate if you guide me more.
thanks again for your time

How to send raw data to a printer by using Visual C# .NET
PrintDocument.PrinterSettings Property (System.Drawing.Printing)
http://www.codeproject.com/Articles/...sharp-and.aspx

There's a whole bunch of stuff regarding printing, but you're going to have to do some digging (or wait until someone shows up that has done this before):

C# printer - MSDN Search

I was thinking of something along the lines of:

Code:

namespace PrintingStuff
{
    class Printer
    {
        public void Initialize()
        {
            // initialize your printer
        }

        public void Print(PrintJob thisJob)
        {
            // print this job
        }

    }

    class PrintJob
    {
        // all the info for one particular job, all your file info, size, etc, settings to send to the printer
    }

    class Program
    {
        static void Main()
        {
            Printer myPrinter = new Printer();
            PrintJob[] jobList;

            myPrinter.Initialize();
            
            // get jobs / set jobList[ x ] = new PrintJob( myfilename or whatever );

            // print jobs
            foreach( PrintJob j in jobList )
            {
                myPrinter.Print( j );
            }
        }
    }
}

But I've never done anything with C#, so there's probably a container or something better you could use to do what I'm thinking of.


Quzah.