Programming Visual Basic 2008

Chapter 20. Printing

When Microsoft released its original version of MS-DOS, it included printing features that supported the then-available printers: chisel and stone. Fortunately, printing has come a long way since then. These days, advanced color laser printers and even “paperless” printing systems (such as Adobe Acrobat and XPS) provide printer support that rivals that of professional four-color offset printing facilities.

Although the .NET Framework does not replace the print spooler system built into each copy of Windows, it makes it greatly accessible. As you’ll read in this chapter, a printer is now treated like any other .NET drawing surface. The statements you use to draw on a form or control can be copied and pasted directly into your printing code.

As I mentioned in Chapter 18, Windows Presentation Foundation (WPF) includes features that let you generate XPS files, designed for eventual WYSIWYG printing. I will not be discussing that technology in this chapter since the XPS files are actually an interim step between your printing code and the physical printer. The GDI+ based printing techniques shown in this chapter provide for more direct integration between your code and the printer.

This chapter provides a general discussion of .NET printing support. A discussion of report printing appears in the next chapter. If you are reading this chapter in its electronic format through the Safari publishing system, you can still rush right out and plunk down the funds for a hardcopy ...