12 - WinForms - Printing.md

Windows Forms – Printing

• 1. Objectives
• 2. Printing
• 3. Bibliography

1. Objectives

• using the PrintPreviewDialog, PrintDialog and PageSetupDialog dialogs;
• printing text and shapes;
• printing a document that exceeds a single page;

2. Printing

Activity

Sample Code available – Check the “PrintingRecordsSample” Sample

1. Create a copy of the “ListViewBasicSample” project and name it “PrintingRecordsSample”

2. Add a MenuStrip control with the options shown in the following screenshot

3. From the ToolBox add a PrintDocument control and name it printDocument.

4. From the ToolBox add a PageSetupDialog control and name it pageSetupDialog. For the Document property of the pageSetupDialog choose the printDocument.

5. Handle the Click event on the "PageSetup" button as follows

   private void btnPageSetup_Click(object sender, EventArgs e)
   {
       pageSetupDialog.PageSettings = printDocument.DefaultPageSettings;
   
       if (pageSetupDialog.ShowDialog() == DialogResult.OK)
           printDocument.DefaultPageSettings = pageSetupDialog.PageSettings;
   }

6. Handle the PrintPage event of the PrintDocument control as follows

   private void printDocument_PrintPage(object sender, System.Drawing.Printing.PrintPageEventArgs e)
   {
       // Initialize the font to be used for printing.
       Font font = new Font("Microsoft Sans Serif", 24);
   
       var pageSettings = e.PageSettings;
       
       // Initialize local variables that contain the bounds of the printing area rectangle.
       //var printAreaHeight = pageSettings.PaperSize.Height - pageSettings.Margins.Top - pageSettings.Margins.Bottom;
       //or
       var printAreaHeight = e.MarginBounds.Height;
   
       //var printAreaWidth = pageSettings.PaperSize.Width - pageSettings.Margins.Left - pageSettings.Margins.Right;
       //or
       var printAreaWidth = e.MarginBounds.Width;
   
       // Initialize local variables to hold margin values that will serve
       // as the X and Y coordinates for the upper left corner of the printing 
       // area rectangle.
       var marginLeft = pageSettings.Margins.Left;
       // X coordinate
       var marginTop = pageSettings.Margins.Top;
       // Y coordinate
   
       // If the user selected Landscape mode, swap the printing area height 
       // and width.
       if (pageSettings.Landscape)
       {
           var intTemp = printAreaHeight;
           printAreaHeight = printAreaWidth;
           printAreaWidth = intTemp;
       }
   
       const int rowHeight = 40;
       var columnWidth = printAreaWidth / 3;
   
       // Instantiate the StringFormat class, which encapsulates text layout 
       // information (such as alignment and line spacing), display manipulations 
       // (such as ellipsis insertion and national digit substitution) and OpenType 
       // features. Use of StringFormat causes MeasureString and DrawString to use
       // only an integer number of lines when printing each page, ignoring partial
       // lines that would otherwise likely be printed if the number of lines per 
       // page do not divide up cleanly for each page (which is usually the case).
       // See further discussion in the SDK documentation about StringFormatFlags.
       StringFormat fmt = new StringFormat(StringFormatFlags.LineLimit);
       fmt.Trimming = StringTrimming.EllipsisCharacter;
   
       var currentY = marginTop;
       while(_currentParticipantIndex < _participants.Count)
       {
           //Reset the horizontal drawing coordinate
           var currentX = marginLeft;
   
           //Draw the border of the cell
           e.Graphics.DrawRectangle(
               Pens.Black, 
               currentX, 
               currentY, 
               columnWidth, 
               rowHeight);
           //Draw the text in the cell
           /*e.Graphics.DrawString(
               _participants[i].FirstName,
               font,
               Brushes.Black,
               currentX,
               currentY,
               fmt);*/
           // By specifying a LayoutRectangle, we are forcing the text into a specific area, with automatic word wrapping and other features controllable through the StringFormat parameter
           e.Graphics.DrawString(
               _participants[_currentParticipantIndex].LastName,
               font,
               Brushes.Black,
               new RectangleF(currentX, currentY, columnWidth, rowHeight),
               fmt);
           //Update the horizontal drawing coordinate
           currentX += columnWidth;
   
           e.Graphics.DrawRectangle(
               Pens.Black,
               currentX,
               currentY,
               columnWidth,
               rowHeight);
           e.Graphics.DrawString(
               _participants[_currentParticipantIndex].FirstName,
               font,
               Brushes.Black,
               currentX,
               currentY,
               fmt);
           currentX += columnWidth;
   
           e.Graphics.DrawRectangle(
               Pens.Black,
               currentX,
               currentY,
               columnWidth,
               rowHeight);
           e.Graphics.DrawString(
               _participants[_currentParticipantIndex].BirthDate.ToShortDateString(),
               font,
               Brushes.Black,
               currentX,
               currentY,
               fmt);
   
           //Update the participant index
           _currentParticipantIndex++;
           //Update the vertifcal drawing coordinate
           currentY += rowHeight;
   
           // HasMorePages tells the printing module whether another PrintPage event should be fired.
           if (currentY + rowHeight > printAreaHeight)
           {
               e.HasMorePages = true;
               break;
           }
       }
   }

7. Handle the BeginPrint event of the PrintDocument control as follows

   private void printDocument_BeginPrint(object sender, System.Drawing.Printing.PrintEventArgs e)
   {
       _currentParticipantIndex = 0;
   }

8. From the ToolBox add a PrintPreviewDialog and name it printPreviewDialog.

9. For the Document property of the printPreviewDialog choose the printDocument.

10. Handle the Click event on the "PrintPreview" button, as follows

    private void btnPrintPreview_Click(object sender, EventArgs e)
    {
        try
        {
            printPreviewDialog.ShowDialog();
        }
        catch (Exception)
        {
            MessageBox.Show("An error occurred while trying to load the document for Print Preview. Make sure you currently have access to a printer. A printer must be connected and accessible for Print Preview to work.");
        }
    }

11. From the ToolBox add a PrintDialog and name it printDialog.

12. For the Document property of the printDialog choose the printDocument.

13. Handle the Click event on the "Print" button as follows

    private void btnPrint_Click(object sender, EventArgs e)
    {
        if (printDialog.ShowDialog() == DialogResult.OK)
            printDocument.Print();
    }

Assignment (for you to try)

1. Add a header at the begging of the printed report
2. Repeat the header at the beginning of each new page

Activity

Sample Code available – Check the “PrintingLongTextSample” Sample

3. Bibliography