Microsoft KB Archive/180645

= FIX: Cannot Change Page Settings During Print Job =

Article ID: 180645

Article Last Modified on 3/11/2005

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APPLIES TO


 * Microsoft Visual Basic 5.0 Control Creation Edition
 * Microsoft Visual Basic 5.0 Learning Edition
 * Microsoft Visual Basic 5.0 Professional Edition
 * Microsoft Visual Basic 5.0 Enterprise Edition

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This article was previously published under Q180645



SYMPTOMS
When using the Printer object, you cannot change any page settings after using the NewPage method. This includes Orientation, Height, Width, PaperSize, PrintQuality, and PaperBin.



RESOLUTION
You cannot change page settings while printing to a page; however, you should be able to call the NewPage method, then make page setting changes before printing again. This allows the code to switch orientations, paper trays, paper size, and so forth, between pages. A bug in the Visual Basic 5.0 version of the NewPage method prematurely sets a flag that indicates printing on the new page has already started. So when you try to set a page property, such as Orientation, the following error is generated:

Run-time error '396':

'' property cannot be set within a page

where  is the property you were trying to set.

Alternatively, you can print with API functions exclusively without using the Printer object.



STATUS
Microsoft has confirmed this to be a bug in the Microsoft products listed at the beginning of this article. This bug has been fixed in Visual Basic 6.0.



MORE INFORMATION
When printing via the Visual Basic Printer object, replacing NewPage with EndDoc is the only workaround to this problem. While this works as expected in many circumstances, this is not always an acceptable solution in multi- user environments. This article provides an API solution to this problem. Because this code creates a Device Context (DC) for your printer and you can only print to one DC at a time, it has the limitation that you cannot use the Printer object at the same time. So, you must end this document before returning to using the Printer object.

Please note that when using duplex printing, the call to ResetDC can cause duplexing to start over on some printer drivers. This can produce blank pages giving the appearance that the duplexing is skipping pages or not working at all. Because this is happening in the driver, the way to resolve this is to use a driver that does not exhibit this behavior.

You can use Printer.hDC instead of getting a new DC with CreateDC, but Printer.hDC might have some problems that can be encountered if you expand on this code. Article 175535, listed in the "References" section below, describes one such problem.

Steps to Reproduce Behavior
 Create a Standard EXE Project. Form1 is created by default.  Add the following code to the Form_Load event: Printer.PaperBin = vbPRBNLower ' 2 Printer.Print "Testing Lower Bin" Printer.NewPage Printer.PaperBin = vbPRBNUpper ' 1 Printer.Print "Testing Upper Bin" Printer.EndDoc

 Run the project. This produces the message "Run-time error '396': 'Paperbin' property cannot be set within a page". Clicking on "Debug" will highlight the line following the NewPage.

Example to Change Page Settings During a Print Job
 Create a Standard EXE Project. Form1 is created by default.</li>  Add a CommandButton to Form1, and paste the following code into the form's Declaration section: Option Explicit

' Constants for DEVMODE. Private Const CCHDEVICENAME = 32 Private Const CCHFORMNAME = 32

' Constants for DocumentProperties call. Private Const DM_MODIFY = 8 Private Const DM_IN_BUFFER = DM_MODIFY Private Const DM_COPY = 2 Private Const DM_OUT_BUFFER = DM_COPY

' Constants for Orientation. Private Const DMORIENT_PORTRAIT = 1 Private Const DMORIENT_LANDSCAPE = 2

' Constants for printer bin. Private Const DMBIN_UPPER = 1 Private Const DMBIN_LOWER = 2

' Constants for DMFIELDS (which fields did you change?). Private Const DM_ORIENTATION = &H1 Private Const DM_DEFAULTSOURCE = &H200

Private Type DOCINFO cbSize As Long lpszDocName As String lpszOutput As String End Type

Private Type DEVMODE dmDeviceName(1 To CCHDEVICENAME) As Byte dmSpecVersion As Integer dmDriverVersion As Integer dmSize As Integer dmDriverExtra As Integer dmFields As Long dmOrientation As Integer dmPaperSize As Integer dmPaperLength As Integer dmPaperWidth As Integer dmScale As Integer dmCopies As Integer dmDefaultSource As Integer dmPrintQuality As Integer dmColor As Integer dmDuplex As Integer dmYResolution As Integer dmTTOption As Integer dmCollate As Integer dmFormName(1 To CCHFORMNAME) As Byte dmUnusedPadding As Integer dmBitsPerPel As Integer dmPelsWidth As Long dmPelsHeight As Long dmDisplayFlags As Long dmDisplayFrequency As Long End Type

Private Declare Function OpenPrinter Lib "winspool.drv" Alias _ "OpenPrinterA" (ByVal pPrinterName As String, phPrinter As _         Long, ByVal pDefault As Long) As Long

Private Declare Function ClosePrinter Lib "winspool.drv" _ (ByVal hPrinter As Long) As Long

Private Declare Function DocumentProperties Lib "winspool.drv" _ Alias "DocumentPropertiesA" (ByVal hwnd As Long, _         ByVal hPrinter As Long, ByVal pDeviceName As String, _          pDevModeOutput As Any, pDevModeInput As Any, _          ByVal fMode As Long) As Long

Private Declare Function ResetDC Lib "gdi32" Alias "ResetDCA" _ (ByVal hdc As Long, lpInitData As Any) As Long

Private Declare Function CreateDC Lib "gdi32" Alias "CreateDCA" _ (ByVal lpDriverName As String, ByVal lpDeviceName As String, _         ByVal lpOutput As Long, ByVal lpInitData As Long) As Long

Private Declare Function DeleteDC Lib "gdi32" (ByVal hdc As Long) _ As Long

Private Declare Function TextOut Lib "gdi32" Alias "TextOutA" _ (ByVal hdc As Long, ByVal X As Long, ByVal Y As Long, _         ByVal lpString As String, ByVal nCount As Long) As Boolean

Private Declare Function StartDoc Lib "gdi32" Alias "StartDocA" _ (ByVal hdc As Long, lpdi As DOCINFO) As Long

Private Declare Function StartPage Lib "gdi32" (ByVal hdc As Long) _ As Long

Private Declare Function EndDoc Lib "gdi32" (ByVal hdc As Long) _ As Long

Private Declare Function EndPage Lib "gdi32" (ByVal hdc As Long) _ As Long

Private Declare Function GetLastError Lib "KERNEL32" As Long

Private Declare Sub CopyMemory Lib "KERNEL32" Alias "RtlMoveMemory" _ (hpvDest As Any, hpvSource As Any, ByVal cbCopy As Long)

Function ResetPrinterDC(PrinterName As String, hPrtDc As Long, _         PaperSource As Long, PaperOrient As Long) As Boolean Dim nSize As Long          ' Size of DEVMODE Dim pDevMode As DEVMODE Dim PrinterHandle As Long  ' handle to printer Dim LastError As Long      ' return value for GetLastError Dim aDevMode As Byte     ' working DEVMODE

' Get a handle to the printer. If OpenPrinter(PrinterName, PrinterHandle, 0&) Then nSize = DocumentProperties(Me.hwnd, PrinterHandle, _             PrinterName, 0&, 0&, 0) ' Reserve memory for the actual size of the DEVMODE ReDim aDevMode(1 To nSize)

' Fill the DEVMODE from the printer. nSize = DocumentProperties(Me.hwnd, PrinterHandle, _             PrinterName, aDevMode(1), 0&, DM_OUT_BUFFER) ' Copy the predefined portion of the DEVMODE. Call CopyMemory(pDevMode, aDevMode(1), Len(pDevMode))

' Change the appropriate member in the DevMode. ' In this case, you want to change the paper bin and ' orientation. pDevMode.dmDefaultSource = PaperSource pDevMode.dmOrientation = PaperOrient ' Set the dmFields bit flag to indicate what you're changing. pDevMode.dmFields = pDevMode.dmFields Or DM_DEFAULTSOURCE _ Or DM_ORIENTATION

' Copy your changes back, then update DEVMODE. Call CopyMemory(aDevMode(1), pDevMode, Len(pDevMode)) nSize = DocumentProperties(Me.hwnd, PrinterHandle, _             PrinterName, aDevMode(1), aDevMode(1), _              DM_IN_BUFFER Or DM_OUT_BUFFER)

nSize = ResetDC(hPrtDc, aDevMode(1))  ' Reset the DEVMODE

' Close the handle when you're done with it. ClosePrinter (PrinterHandle) ResetPrinterDC = True  ' Reset succeeded! Else ResetPrinterDC = False ' Reset failed! LastError = GetLastError MsgBox "Error changing Page settings. Error Code: " _ & LastError, vbExclamation, "Print Error" End If     End Function

Private Sub Command1_Click Dim di As DOCINFO Dim hPrintDc As Long Dim Ret As Long Dim LastError As Long Dim tx$

tx$ = "Hello World!" hPrintDc = CreateDC(Printer.DriverName, Printer.DeviceName, 0, 0) di.cbSize = Len(di)  ' 20 di.lpszDocName = "VB Test Document"   ' Optional

' Initialize page settings. Ret = ResetPrinterDC(Printer.DeviceName, hPrintDc, _         DMBIN_UPPER, DMORIENT_PORTRAIT)

Ret = StartDoc(hPrintDc, di) Ret = StartPage(hPrintDc) Ret = TextOut(hPrintDc, 1000, 1000, tx$, Len(tx$)) Ret = EndPage(hPrintDc)

' Change page settings. Ret = ResetPrinterDC(Printer.DeviceName, hPrintDc, _         DMBIN_LOWER, DMORIENT_LANDSCAPE)

Ret = StartPage(hPrintDc) Ret = TextOut(hPrintDc, 1000, 1000, tx$, Len(tx$)) Ret = EndPage(hPrintDc) Ret = EndDoc(hPrintDc) Ret = DeleteDC(hPrintDc) End Sub </li> Make sure that the printer orientation is set to Portrait and the paper source is set to Upper Tray or AutoSelect. Then run the Project and click on Command1. If your printer has both an upper and a lower paper tray and supports both orientations, this will print the first page to the upper tray in Portrait and then a second page from the lower tray in Landscape.</li></ol>

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