Article ID: 173074
Article Last Modified on 5/13/2003
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 Q173074
SYMPTOMS
When you print what should be identical copies of the same print job, the pages do not print the same. Different fonts, text in the wrong place, and multiple blank pages are typical.
CAUSE
The primary cause of differences between print jobs is that the Visual Basic Printer Object is not fully reset by the EndDoc method. The values of the ScaleMode and a few other properties are inherited by subsequent documents unless the application is restarted. The most common source of problems is that new values are assigned to the Scale properties: (ScaleMode, ScaleHeight, ScaleLeft, ScaleTop, and ScaleWidth). These properties are not reset by the NewPage or EndDoc method and should be reset by the programmer to ensure correct behavior.
Another cause is that changing some printer properties changes other printer properties in ways that are not necessarily intuitive. Changing the ScaleMode property affects the other Scale properties and CurrentX/Y, which need to be converted to the new coordinate system. Similarly, changing the ScaleLeft/Top properties affects the values of CurrentX/CurrentY, respectively.
RESOLUTION
To work around this behavior, reset the ScaleMode and other properties to their original values. The code below enumerates all of the properties of the printer object and displays their values on the Immediate pane. During your debug cycle, call the code before each print job and compare the results. You can then modify your code to correctly reset the appropriate property values:
Sub PrntProp()
Debug.Print "ColorMode ", Printer.ColorMode
Debug.Print "Copies ", Printer.Copies
Debug.Print "CurrentX ", Printer.CurrentX
Debug.Print "CurrentY ", Printer.CurrentY
Debug.Print "DeviceName ", Printer.DeviceName
Debug.Print "DrawMode ", Printer.DrawMode
Debug.Print "DrawStyle ", Printer.DrawStyle
Debug.Print "DrawWidth ", Printer.DrawWidth
Debug.Print "DriverName ", Printer.DriverName
Debug.Print "Duplex ", Printer.Duplex
Debug.Print "FillColor ", Printer.FillColor
Debug.Print "FillStyle ", Printer.FillStyle
Debug.Print "Font.Bold", Printer.Font.Bold
Debug.Print "Font.Charset", Printer.Font.Charset
Debug.Print "Font.Italic", Printer.Font.Italic
Debug.Print "Font.Name", Printer.Font.Name
Debug.Print "Font.Size", Printer.Font.Size
Debug.Print "Font.Strikethr "; Printer.Font.Strikethrough
Debug.Print "Font.Underline "; Printer.Font.Underline
Debug.Print "Font.Weight", Printer.Font.Weight
Debug.Print "hDC ", Printer.hDC
Debug.Print "Height ", Printer.Height
Debug.Print "Orientation", Printer.Orientation
Debug.Print "Page ", Printer.Page
Debug.Print "PaperBin ", Printer.PaperBin
Debug.Print "PaperSize ", Printer.PaperSize
Debug.Print "Port ", Printer.Port
Debug.Print "PrintQuality", Printer.PrintQuality
Debug.Print "RightToLeft", Printer.RightToLeft
Debug.Print "ScaleHeight", Printer.ScaleHeight
Debug.Print "ScaleLeft ", Printer.ScaleLeft
Debug.Print "ScaleTop ", Printer.ScaleTop
Debug.Print "ScaleWidth ", Printer.ScaleWidth
Debug.Print "ScaleMode ", Printer.ScaleMode
Debug.Print "TrackDefault", Printer.TrackDefault
Debug.Print "TwipsPerPixelX"; Printer.TwipsPerPixelX
Debug.Print "TwipsPerPixelY"; Printer.TwipsPerPixelY
Debug.Print "Width ", Printer.Width
Debug.Print "Zoom ", Printer.Zoom
End Sub
MORE INFORMATION
Steps to Reproduce Behavior
The following code is based on the example in the Visual Basic Help file. Note that after the Printer.EndDoc, the Printer Object Properties are not reset:
Debug.Print Printer.ScaleTop
Debug.Print Printer.ScaleLeft
Debug.Print Printer.ScaleWidth
Debug.Print Printer.ScaleHeight
Printer.ScaleTop = -1 ' Set scale for top of grid.
Printer.ScaleLeft = -1 ' Set scale for left of grid.
Printer.ScaleWidth = 2 ' Set scale (-1 to 1).
Printer.ScaleHeight = 2
Printer.Line (-1, 0)-(1, 0) ' Draw horizontal line.
Printer.Line (0, -1)-(0, 1) ' Draw vertical line.
For I = -1 To 1 Step 0.05
Printer.PSet (I * Rnd, I * Rnd) ' Draw a point.
Next I
Printer.EndDoc
Debug.Print Printer.ScaleTop
Debug.Print Printer.ScaleLeft
Debug.Print Printer.ScaleWidth
Debug.Print Printer.ScaleHeight
Additional query words: kbVBp500 kbVBp600 kbVBp kbdsd kbDSupport kbPrinting KBWIN32SDK KBAPI
Keywords: kbprb KB173074
