Knowledge Base

FIX: Cannot Change Page Settings During Print Job

Article ID: 180645

Article Last Modified on 3/11/2005

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

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>' property cannot be set within a page

where <Property> 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.

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

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.

REFERENCES

For additional information for an example of changing Font information with this type of code, click on the article number below to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

175535 PRB: Printing Rotated Text with Visual Basic

For additional information on how ResetDC affects duplex printing, please see the following article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

173197 PRB: ResetDC Disables Duplex Printing on PCL Printers

Keywords: kbbug kbfix kbprint kbvbp600fix KB180645

Microsoft KB Archive/180645

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