Printerobject DeviceContext

[TopSat]

Hi there,

I'm looking for a way to determine the handle of the actuall printer. Printer.hdc does not work in excel/vba, there is no printer object definition. Background: I want to know some printer properties like resolution using the GetDeviceCaps call, but there I have to pass the printer handle.

Thanks for any advice in advance,

TopSat

[Leith Ross]

Hello TopSat,

The API call you need to return the printer handle from VBA or VB is below. This code must be placed inside VB or VBA Module.
_________________________________________________________________

Public Sub GetPrinterHandle()

Declare Function OpenPrinter _
Lib "winspool.drv" _
Alias "OpenPrinterA" _
(ByVal pPrinterName As String, phPrinter As Long, pDefault As Any) As Long

End Sub

Notes:

If the function succeeds, the return value is the printer handle otherwise it is 0.

· pPrinterName
[in] Pointer to a null-terminated string that specifies the name of the printer or print server.
Windows NT/2000: If NULL, it indicates the local printer server.

· phPrinter
[out] Pointer to a variable that receives a handle to the open printer or print server object.
Windows 2000: The phPrinter parameter can return an Xcv handle for use with the XcvData function. For more information about XcvData, see the Microsoft Windows 2000 Driver Development Kit.

· pDefault
[in] Pointer to a PRINTER_DEFAULTS structure. This value can be NULL.

_________________________________________________________________

Hope this helps,
Leith Ross

[TopSat]

Hello Leith,

thank you for this great advice. I assume with this call, I get the right handle.
But in fact obviously the return values of GetdeviceCaps are wrong. My be it won't work with excel vba, but doing the same with window properties is fine (mydc = GetDC(ihwndCreatedWindow) - Result= GetDeviceCaps(mydc, LOGPIXELSX) )

I tried this:

Declare Function OpenPrinter Lib "winspool.drv" Alias "OpenPrinterA" ( _
ByVal pPrinterName As String, phPrn As Long, pDefault As Any) _
As Long
Private Declare Function GetDeviceCaps Lib "GDI32" _
(ByVal hDC As Long, ByVal nIndex As Long) As Long


Private Const PHYSICALWIDTH As Long = 110


Type Defaults
pDataType As String
pDevMode As Long
DesiredAccess As Long
End Type

Dim PrinterDefaults As Defaults

Dim ThePrinter As String
Dim lhPrinter As Long 'handle of printer
Dim lReturn As Long

ThePrinter = "HP LaserJet 4M/M" 'Name is okay, actually found with other sub
'only for demonstration filled

lReturn = OpenPrinter(ThePrinter, lhPrinter, PrinterDefaults)

MsgBox lhPrinter & "<<<lhPrinter"


Result = GetDeviceCaps(lhPrinter, PHYSICALWIDTH)

'Result is alway 0

------------------

Do you have an idea why it won't work as intended?

Thanks,

TopSat

[Leith Ross]

Hello TopSat,

In the API call:

Declare Function OpenPrinter _
Lib "winspool.drv" _
Alias "OpenPrinterA" _
(ByVal pPrinterName As String, phPrinter As Long, pDefault As Any) As Long

You are probably running Windows 2000 or newer. This call uses ASCII string coding. The newer Windows use Unicode. Change "OpenPrinterA" to "OpenPrinterW".

Should do it,
Leith Ross

[TopSat]

Hi Leith,

everything works fine, if I find the printer handle with

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

Thank you again for your support.

TopSat