Microsoft KB Archive/193379

= How To Print Preview in Visual Basic Applications =

Article ID: 193379

Article Last Modified on 9/1/2006

-

APPLIES TO


 * Microsoft Visual Basic 5.0 Learning Edition
 * Microsoft Visual Basic 6.0 Learning Edition
 * Microsoft Visual Basic 5.0 Professional Edition
 * Microsoft Visual Basic 6.0 Professional Edition
 * Microsoft Visual Basic 5.0 Enterprise Edition
 * Microsoft Visual Basic 6.0 Enterprise Edition

-



This article was previously published under Q193379



SUMMARY
This article shows you how to create a sample project that adds print preview capabilities to your Visual Basic program by using a generic object and the Printer object. The article assumes you are familiar with objects and the Common Dialog control in Visual Basic.



Create the Sample Project
 Start a new Standard EXE project in Visual Basic. Form1 is created by default. Add a reference to the Microsoft Common Dialog Control 6.0 by completing the following steps:

 From the Project menu, select Components to display the Components dialog box. From the Controls tab, check Microsoft Common Dialog Control 6.0. Click OK to close the Components dialog box.  Add three CommandButtons, two PictureBox controls, and one Common Dialog control to Form1.</li>  Copy the following code to the Code window of Form1: Option Explicit

Private Sub Form_Load CommonDialog1.CancelError = True Command1.Caption = "Load Picture" Command2.Caption = "Print Preview" Command3.Caption = "Print" End Sub

Private Sub Command1_Click Dim sFileFilter As String

On Error GoTo ErrHandler

sFileFilter = "Bitmap Files (*.bmp)|*.bmp|" sFileFilter = sFileFilter & "GIF Files (*.gif)|*.gif|" sFileFilter = sFileFilter & "Icon Files (*.ico)|*.ico|" sFileFilter = sFileFilter & "JPEG Files (*.jpg)|*.jpg|" sFileFilter = sFileFilter & "Windows MetaFiles (*.wmf)|.wmf" With CommonDialog1 .Filter = sFileFilter .ShowOpen If .FileName <> " " Then Picture2.Picture = LoadPicture(.FileName) End If        End With

ErrHandler: Exit Sub End Sub

Private Sub Command2_Click Dim dRatio As Double dRatio = ScalePicPreviewToPrinterInches(Picture1) PrintRoutine Picture1, dRatio End Sub

Private Sub Command3_Click Printer.ScaleMode = vbInches PrintRoutine Printer Printer.EndDoc End Sub

Private Function ScalePicPreviewToPrinterInches _ (picPreview As PictureBox) As Double

Dim Ratio As Double ' Ratio between Printer and Picture Dim LRGap As Double, TBGap As Double Dim HeightRatio As Double, WidthRatio As Double Dim PgWidth As Double, PgHeight As Double Dim smtemp As Long

' Get the physical page size in Inches: PgWidth = Printer.Width / 1440 PgHeight = Printer.Height / 1440

' Find the size of the non-printable area on the printer to        ' use to offset coordinates. These formulas assume the ' printable area is centered on the page: smtemp = Printer.ScaleMode Printer.ScaleMode = vbInches LRGap = (PgWidth - Printer.ScaleWidth) / 2 TBGap = (PgHeight - Printer.ScaleHeight) / 2 Printer.ScaleMode = smtemp

' Scale PictureBox to Printer's printable area in Inches: picPreview.ScaleMode = vbInches

' Compare the height and with ratios to determine the ' Ratio to use and how to size the picture box: HeightRatio = picPreview.ScaleHeight / PgHeight WidthRatio = picPreview.ScaleWidth / PgWidth

If HeightRatio < WidthRatio Then Ratio = HeightRatio smtemp = picPreview.Container.ScaleMode picPreview.Container.ScaleMode = vbInches picPreview.Width = PgWidth * Ratio picPreview.Container.ScaleMode = smtemp Else Ratio = WidthRatio smtemp = picPreview.Container.ScaleMode picPreview.Container.ScaleMode = vbInches picPreview.Height = PgHeight * Ratio picPreview.Container.ScaleMode = smtemp End If

' Set default properties of picture box to match printer ' There are many that you could add here: picPreview.Scale (0, 0)-(PgWidth, PgHeight) picPreview.Font.Name = Printer.Font.Name picPreview.FontSize = Printer.FontSize * Ratio picPreview.ForeColor = Printer.ForeColor picPreview.Cls

ScalePicPreviewToPrinterInches = Ratio End Function

Private Sub PrintRoutine(objPrint As Object, _                              Optional Ratio As Double = 1) ' All dimensions in inches:

' Print some graphics to the control object objPrint.Line (1, 1)-(1 + 6.5, 1 + 9),, B        objPrint.Line (1.1, 2)-(1.1, 2) objPrint.PaintPicture Picture2, 1.1, 1.1, 0.8, 0.8 objPrint.Line (2.1, 1.2)-(2.1 + 5.2, 1.2 + 0.7), _ RGB(200, 200, 200), BF

' Print a title With objPrint .Font.Name = "Arial" .CurrentX = 2.3 .CurrentY = 1.3 .FontSize = 35 * Ratio objPrint.Print "Visual Basic Printing" End With

' Print some circles Dim x As Single For x = 3 To 5.5 Step 0.2 objPrint.Circle (x, 3.5), 0.75 Next

' Print some text With objPrint .Font.Name = "Courier New" .FontSize = 30 * Ratio .CurrentX = 1.5 .CurrentY = 5 objPrint.Print "It is possible to do"

.FontSize = 24 * Ratio .CurrentX = 1.5 .CurrentY = 6.5 objPrint.Print "It is possible to do print"

.FontSize = 18 * Ratio .CurrentX = 1.5 .CurrentY = 8 objPrint.Print "It is possible to do print preview" End With End Sub </li> On the Run menu, select Start, or press the F5 key to start the program. Click the Load Picture CommandButton to open the Common Dialog box. Select an appropriate graphic file and click OK. The graphic is displayed in a PictureBox. Click the Print Preview CommandButton to display the graphic and some text in the other PictureBox. Click the Print CommandButton to print the contents of the PictureBox.</li></ol>

Additional query words: kbDSupport kbDSD kbVBp kbVBp500 kbVBp600 kbPrinting

Keywords: kbhowto KB193379

-

[mailto:TECHNET@MICROSOFT.COM Send feedback to Microsoft]

© Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.