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Knowledge Base

PRB: Printing Rotated Text with Visual Basic

Article ID: 175535

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 Q175535

SYMPTOMS

If you try to print rotated text using the Printer object from Visual Basic with Visual Studio 97 Service Pack 2 or 3 using the technique described in the following Microsoft Knowledge Base article, the text fails to rotate:

154515 HOWTO: Print Rotated Text Using Win32 API

CAUSE

Visual Studio 97 Service Pack 2 and 3 for Visual Basic 5.0 and 6.0 include a fix for the Printer object that prevents any new SelectObject calls from selecting a new Font for the Printer.hDC. So, when referencing the Printer object, new fonts must be selected via the Printer object's properties or they are ignored.

RESOLUTION

To work around this problem, either print using the API only, or do not reference the Printer object while printing with the API functions.

STATUS

This behavior is by design.

MORE INFORMATION

The technique described in the Microsoft Knowledge Base article:

154515 HOWTO: Print Rotated Text Using Win32 API

prints to a PictureBox control but also works using the Printer object. Printing to a PictureBox still works after SP2 but fails using the Printer object. The following code example will work from Visual Basic versions 4.0 (32-bit) and later.

The key elements are using the TextOut API instead of Printer.Print and not referencing the printer object directly while setting up the font and printing with it. If you use TextOut with "Printer.hDC" instead of a local variable, it will fail. Any reference to a printer object property or method is a use of the printer object and will cause the printer object to reset its font/pen/brush. Therefore, the values of all printer object properties that you need to use with the new font/pen/brush must be saved into variables before using SelectObject, and then only use the variables.

Code Example

Create a Standard EXE project in Visual Basic. Form1 is created by default.
Add 2 CommandButtons to Form1.

Add the following code to the General Declarations section of Form1:

   Option Explicit

   Private Const LF_FACESIZE = 32

   Private Type LOGFONT
      lfHeight As Long
      lfWidth As Long
      lfEscapement As Long
      lfOrientation As Long
      lfWeight As Long
      lfItalic As Byte
      lfUnderline As Byte
      lfStrikeOut As Byte
      lfCharSet As Byte
      lfOutPrecision As Byte
      lfClipPrecision As Byte
      lfQuality As Byte
      lfPitchAndFamily As Byte
      lfFaceName As String * LF_FACESIZE
   End Type

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

   Private Declare Function CreateFontIndirect Lib "gdi32" Alias _
   "CreateFontIndirectA" (lpLogFont As LOGFONT) As Long

   Private Declare Function SelectObject Lib "gdi32" _
   (ByVal hdc As Long, ByVal hObject As Long) As Long

   Private Declare Function DeleteObject Lib "gdi32" _
   (ByVal hObject As Long) 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 Long ' or Boolean

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

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

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

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

   Const DESIREDFONTSIZE = 12     ' Could use variable, TextBox, etc.

   Private Sub Command1_Click()
   ' Combine API Calls with the Printer object
      Dim OutString As String
      Dim lf As LOGFONT
      Dim result As Long
      Dim hOldfont As Long
      Dim hPrintDc As Long
      Dim hFont As Long

      Printer.Print "Printer Object"
      hPrintDc = Printer.hdc
      OutString = "Hello World"

      lf.lfEscapement = 1800
      lf.lfHeight = (DESIREDFONTSIZE * -20) / Printer.TwipsPerPixelY
      hFont = CreateFontIndirect(lf)
      hOldfont = SelectObject(hPrintDc, hFont)
      result = TextOut(hPrintDc, 1000, 1000, OutString, Len(OutString))
      result = SelectObject(hPrintDc, hOldfont)
      result = DeleteObject(hFont)

      Printer.Print "xyz"
      Printer.EndDoc
   End Sub

   Private Sub Command2_Click()
   ' Print using API calls only
      Dim OutString As String  'String to be rotated
      Dim lf As LOGFONT        'Structure for setting up rotated font
      Dim temp As String       'Temp string var
      Dim result As Long       'Return value for calling API functions
      Dim hOldfont As Long     'Hold old font information
      Dim hPrintDc As Long     'Handle to printer dc
      Dim hFont As Long        'Handle to new Font
      Dim di As DOCINFO        'Structure for Print Document info

      OutString = "Hello World"   'Set string to be rotated

   ' Set rotation in tenths of a degree, i.e., 1800 = 180 degrees
      lf.lfEscapement = 1800
      lf.lfHeight = (DESIREDFONTSIZE * -20) / Printer.TwipsPerPixelY
      hFont = CreateFontIndirect(lf)  'Create the rotated font
      di.cbSize = 20                  ' Size of DOCINFO structure
      di.lpszDocName = "My Document" ' Set name of print job (Optional)

   ' Create a printer device context
      hPrintDc = CreateDC(Printer.DriverName, Printer.DeviceName, 0, 0)

      result = StartDoc(hPrintDc, di) 'Start a new print document
      result = StartPage(hPrintDc)    'Start a new page

   ' Select our rotated font structure and save previous font info
      hOldfont = SelectObject(hPrintDc, hFont)

   ' Send rotated text to printer, starting at location 1000, 1000
      result = TextOut(hPrintDc, 1000, 1000, OutString, Len(OutString))

   ' Reset font back to original, non-rotated
      result = SelectObject(hPrintDc, hOldfont)

   ' Send non-rotated text to printer at same page location
      result = TextOut(hPrintDc, 1000, 1000, OutString, Len(OutString))

      result = EndPage(hPrintDc)      'End the page
      result = EndDoc(hPrintDc)       'End the print job
      result = DeleteDC(hPrintDc)     'Delete the printer device context
      result = DeleteObject(hFont)    'Delete the font object
   End Sub

   Private Sub Form_Load()
      Command1.Caption = "API with Printer object"
      Command2.Caption = "Pure API"
   End Sub

Run the Project and click API with Printer object. This will print a single page to the current default printer with "Printer Object" and "xyz" printed normally and "Hello World" printed rotated 180 degrees.
Click Pure API. This will print a single page to the current default printer with "Hello World" printed normally and rotated 180 degrees.

Additional query words: sideways angle sp2

Keywords: kbprint kbapi kbgdi kbprb KB175535

Microsoft KB Archive/175535

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