Microsoft KB Archive/12110

= Calling ROM BIOS Routines to Check the Printer Status =

Article ID: 12110

Article Last Modified on 12/1/2003

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APPLIES TO


 * Microsoft C Professional Development System 6.0
 * Microsoft C Professional Development System 6.0a
 * Microsoft C Professional Development System 6.0a
 * Microsoft C/C++ Professional Development System 7.0
 * Microsoft Visual C++ 1.0 Professional Edition
 * Microsoft Visual C++ 1.5 Professional Edition

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This article was previously published under Q12110



SUMMARY
The text below provides a method for a C application to check the status of a printer before it attempts to write data to the printer.



MORE INFORMATION
Even though the C language does not define a portable method to check printer status, your application can retrieve this information using routines in the ROM BIOS. To obtain status information, call the _bios_printer function, an interface to Interrupt 17H, Function 2, or call the interrupt directly through the int86 functions. For more information, see the online help file or the run-time library reference manual provided with your compiler.

In your application, you may want to process printer errors by changing the critical error handler interrupt vector (the Interrupt 24H vector). The default critical error handler presents the user with the notorious "abort, retry, ignore" message. Your application can provide a substitute message, like "Printer offline: place printer on line and press Y to continue."

