Print and Print Preview Help

[Dr@g0nic]

Hey guys

Hey guys

I would just like like to know how to add printing and print preview in a windows form...

i still have my books from college and i've looked on the net and call me dumb but it dont make much sense (or maybe im lazy)... is there anybody that can help out more

 

[wesleyfraser]

What you coding in?

 

[Dr@g0nic]

oops sorry my bad...

im coding in VB.Net and im using vs2005

 

[wesleyfraser]

Well there are a couple of ways you can do it, if you are using the reports in visual studio 2005 then you can use their built in report viewer control which allows for print preview and printing...

 

[Dr@g0nic]

ok cool thanks

and any other way that you can think of?

for example i've added the PrintPreviewDialog, PrintPreviewControl(use it at run time), PrintDocument, PageSetupDialog

this is the code i've used (probably lots of things missing)

Private Sub PrintPreviewToolStripMenuItem_Click(ByVal sender As System.Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles PrintPreviewToolStripMenuItem.Click

PreviewDialog.WindowState = FormWindowState.Maximized
PreviewDialog.PrintPreviewControl.StartPage = 0
PreviewDialog.Document = PrintDocument1

PreviewDialog.ShowDialog()

End Sub

when i click print preview i get the print preview screen but its blank

 

[wesleyfraser]

Have you populated the the print document with data... You need to draw on a print document using the graphics functions.
What do you want to display in the document?

 

[Dr@g0nic]

yes yes thats the thing...

it says in this book you have to use GDI+ drawing methods of the PrintPageEventArgs.Graphics object to construct contents of the print document page....

but i'm feeling dumb that i dunno where or how

picturebox, labels and textboxes.
its a program im designing for my dads work

 

[wesleyfraser]

If its just a form that you want to design I would recommend using the built in report document, there you can just drag and drop components...

Are you using the full version of vb.net 2005

 

[Dr@g0nic]

yeah i am

why?

 

[Dr@g0nic]

How do i do the graphic drawing...

and

what built in reports? the crystal reports? if not how do i get to the built in reports

 

[wesleyfraser]

I'm not to clued up with the grapic drawing thing, but you might want to check out www.codeproject.com

When you go to add new item, there should be crystal reports and some other report you want the other one..

 

[erMaC]

Here is a simple example I put together. I used it to manually create reports last year for a project.

My VB is a bit rusty, been using C# ever since I switched to .NET

    Friend WithEvents myReport As System.Drawing.Printing.PrintDocument
    Dim pageNum As Integer
    Dim myFont As System.Drawing.Font


    Private Sub generatePreview()
        pageNum = 1
        myFont = New Font("Arial", 16, CType(System.Drawing.FontStyle.Bold, System.Drawing.FontStyle))
        myReport = New System.Drawing.Printing.PrintDocument
        Dim ppd As PrintPreviewDialog = New PrintPreviewDialog
        ppd.Document = myReport
        ppd.WindowState = FormWindowState.Maximized
        ppd.PrintPreviewControl.Zoom = 0.5
        ppd.ShowDialog()
    End Sub

    Private Sub PrintPage(ByVal sender As Object, ByVal e As System.Drawing.Printing.PrintPageEventArgs) Handles myReport.PrintPage

        'heading
        e.Graphics.DrawString("Hello World", myFont, Brushes.Blue, 50, 50)

        'checker board
        Dim j As Integer
        Dim k As Integer

        For j = 0 To 7
            For k = 0 To 7
                If (j + k) Mod 2 = 0 Then

                    e.Graphics.FillRectangle(Brushes.Black, 100 + j * 40, 100 + k * 40, 40, 40)
                Else
                    e.Graphics.FillRectangle(Brushes.White, 100 + j * 40, 100 + k * 40, 40, 40)
                End If

            Next k
        Next j

        e.Graphics.DrawRectangle(Pens.Black, 100, 100, j * 40, k * 40)

        'page numbering
        Dim stringSize As SizeF = e.Graphics.MeasureString("Page " & pageNum, myFont)
        e.Graphics.DrawString("Page " & pageNum, myFont, Brushes.Black, e.PageSettings.PrintableArea.Width - stringSize.Width, e.PageSettings.PrintableArea.Height - stringSize.Height)


        If pageNum < 2 Then
            e.HasMorePages = True
        End If
        pageNum += 1
    End Sub

Anyhow, hope this helps.

 

[Dr@g0nic]

http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=384949&id=618867547(only if you have a Facebook profile sorry... dunno how else to show the form)
this is an example of one of my forms..
its for my dads company..when they done typing in everything it must be printed out. in exactly the way it looks there.

 

[Dr@g0nic]

thanks ermac.....
i'll look through that code an see what i can do

 

[wesleyfraser]

Check out this site...

If you want the file I can email it to you...

http://www.winformreports.co.uk/downloads.htm

 

[Dr@g0nic]

has anyone looked at the pic of that form?

 

[wesleyfraser]

If you look at the site in my last post it allows you to print the form as is...

 

[erMaC]

To buy that control is damn expensive, unless wesleyfraser has a copy that fell off the back of a truck if you know what I mean .

I figured I could write one myself, here is my first attempt it prints a form to a single page. It doesn't scale larger forms down, if you need this I'm sure I can add it.

Give it a try if you need anymore features let me know.

Control + Example

Oh and for hosting images try imageshack or one of the many other image hosts, Google is your friend.

Edit: If you feel uneasy running this control let me know I'll gladly send you the source code however, its in C#.

 

[Dr@g0nic]

tnx alot... i'll try it out asap an i'll let you know how things go

 

[wesleyfraser]

I do have a copy that i got somewhere so if someone wants it i'll be more than glad to send it to someone...