qbd software:moth:qprinter 1.6 - enhanced visual basic printer object with print preview


	qprinter > moth > qbd software

qPrinter 1.6

Enhancing the Visual Basic Printer Object

Version:	1.6.0
Date:	06 Jul 2001
Page:	02 Oct 2002

Links

qPrinter

Properties and Methods

Download

Contact

Introduction

qPrinter 1.6 allows programmers to add good quality print support to their applications. Documents can be constructed and edited through code. The Visual Basic Printer Object is extremely basic. When you have been using Visual Basic and Object Orientated Programming it is surprising to find how poor the Printer Object is in VB. Even simple features like basic word wrap facilities are not supported and most 'properties' include a disclaimer from Microsoft that their functionality is dependent on the Printer driver.

qPrinter overcomes some of the problems a coder is faced with when using the VB Printer Object and simplifies creating attractive documents from code. qPrinter allows the programmer to show a Preview of the printed document and allows both the coder and the user to determine Printed output including the number of copies and collation.

Documents are constructed in qPrinter by adding TextItems. Each TextItem has properties for changing font, style, alignment, borders and indenting. TextItems are printed in the order they are added to the document. All of the TextItem properties can be edited after they are added including the Text. TextItems can also be set as 'Absolute' so they will always be printed at an exact position on a particular page.

Text within a TextItem can contain HTML style formatting tags that will change the appearance of the text. These include font characteristics, styles, alignment and indentation.

qPrinter also includes built-in Headers and Footers. These can be different for Odd/Even pages and First/Last pages.

With version 1.6 the FormPrint method was added. This allows the programmer to pass a form reference to qPrinter and the method will construct a document based on the Text based controls on the form. The document will use the font properties of the original control. Where the text in a control is greater than the size of the control, the FormPrint method can be set to expand the area designated for the control to show the full text. Where Option boxes have been used qPrinter will only show the selected Option in the most appropriate position relative to the other controls.

The download contains the complete source code for the project as well as an example project. Load the PrinterTest project group. There are two examples included. One displays a Standard Document showing some of the features, the other shows an example of the Form_Print method. The Project is available for VB6 (English or Dutch) or VB5 (English).

Features in qPrinter 1.6.0
FormPrint	This is aimed at replacing the 'PrintForm' method of Visual Basic - the pixilated screen dump of the form. The 'FormPrint' method analyses the controls on the form/container control and creates a qPrinter document from these items. The method looks at the properties of each control to determine the formatting options.
Formatting Options	Formatting options include: Font, Borders and Shading, Indenting both left and right, alignment of text (including full justification) and Absolute positioning.
Inline Style Tags	Style and formatting options can be changed within Text using HTML style tags. These include Font options and Indenting.
Headers and Footers	Different Headers and Footers can be set to be printed on the First Page, Odd Pages, Even Pages and the Last Page. Date and Application information can be included using Field values.
Printing Options	Page ranges, Destination Printer, Copies and Collation options.
Preview Options	Zoom options including Page Width and Full Page. Move directly to specific page.

Basic Features of qPrinter and how a document is constructed
Working with the Visual Basic Printer Object	qPrinter provides an enhanced printer object with the ability to manipulate text. The project allows the user to Preview the printed output. The routine for drawing the printed output is based on measurements taken from the VB Printer Object. As the Printer Object doesn't support word-wrap, qPrinter measures words and characters and wraps text within a specified boundary.
Document Construction	Documents are constructed by adding TextItems. Each TextItem has its own font, indentation, border and alignment properties as well as the Text to be printed. A TextItem could be a single word or several pages. The TextItem's properties can be edited at any time.
Text Flow	TextItems are printed in the order they are added to the document. For example the first Item may be a Title. The second item could be the document body.
Absolute Items	A TextItem can be set as 'Absolute'. In this case you can specify where it should be positioned exactly on the page. It will be printed independently of 'Text Flow' items. You can specify the exact page it should be printed on or use it to print a watermark on every page.
Text Features	qPrinter handles word-wrapping, font, font size, font color and alignment. This includes the ability to fully justify text (e.g. maintain a straight vertical line down both margins).
Borders and Shading	qPrinter can draw a border around a TextItem and add shading to the area covered.
Previewing	A preview window can be called to show the document and the user can move through the pages of the document. Zoom features include the ability to show the full page and page width.