Where to send commands to printer?

rbuser

I am working with an H-P 9065 printer with a stacker/stapler. I need to
send stacking and stapling commands to the printer. Sending the
commands is no problem. What I need to know is what event handler I can
use. I need an even handler(s) that fire after the printer document has
been started and before it has been ended. Which events qualify?

--
_Bill_

nicocizik

Hi Bill,

Try using the TppReport.StartPage. If you are printing to the printer
device, the OnStartPage event fires just after the page has sent to the
printer but before it has finished printing.

--
Regards,

Nico Cizik
Digital Metaphors
http://www.digital-metaphors.com

rbuser

TppReport.StartPage does not sound promising since any PCL code I send
in this event will be at the end of the page and will not affect the
page.

Out of curiosity, why can I not put PCL codes in the Caption property
of a ppLabel component and have them seen by the printer? That used to
work great with DOS reporting tools. In Windows the PCL code is printed
as text instead of being seen by the printer as an escape sequence.

--
_Bill_

nicocizik

Hi Bill,

ReportBuilder strictly uses the Windows API to communicate with the printer
driver, which in turn sends PCL codes to the printer. Ever since the
introduction of Windows, the idea that a driver would take care of the
printer commands based on what the API instructs has been the standard.
This is how we can support so many different types of printers using
virtually the same code. If you are trying to control a part of the printer
that is not defined in the API, you will need to get access to the DEVMODE
structure and try to understand the custom entries that the printer company
has added so you can control the specific features. See the article below
for more information.

-------------------------------------------------
Tech Tip: Configuring Printer Specific Options
-------------------------------------------------

The Report.PrinterSetup properties can be used to set the properties that
are common to all printers. Internally RB applies these to the Windows
DevMode structure.


Report.PrinterSetup <----> Windows DevMode <-----> Printer Driver <--->
Printer


Printers often contains additional features, such as output bins, media
types, etc. The Windows DevMode structure can contain a private area that is
used the printer driver to store printer specific options. These can be
configured by using the Printer Driver's built-in properties dialog. These
options can theoritically be set programmatically, the trick is that you
have to know where in the structure to store the option and what values are
valid.

The following example shows how to display the printer properties dialog and
save the devmode for use within RB...

http://www.digital-metaphors.com/tips/SavePrinterDevMode.zip

--
Regards,

Nico Cizik
Digital Metaphors
http://www.digital-metaphors.com