Knowledge Base

PRB: Multiple Visual Basic Printouts Are Not the Same

Article ID: 173074

Article Last Modified on 5/13/2003

APPLIES TO

This article was previously published under Q173074

SYMPTOMS

When you print what should be identical copies of the same print job, the pages do not print the same. Different fonts, text in the wrong place, and multiple blank pages are typical.

CAUSE

The primary cause of differences between print jobs is that the Visual Basic Printer Object is not fully reset by the EndDoc method. The values of the ScaleMode and a few other properties are inherited by subsequent documents unless the application is restarted. The most common source of problems is that new values are assigned to the Scale properties: (ScaleMode, ScaleHeight, ScaleLeft, ScaleTop, and ScaleWidth). These properties are not reset by the NewPage or EndDoc method and should be reset by the programmer to ensure correct behavior.

Another cause is that changing some printer properties changes other printer properties in ways that are not necessarily intuitive. Changing the ScaleMode property affects the other Scale properties and CurrentX/Y, which need to be converted to the new coordinate system. Similarly, changing the ScaleLeft/Top properties affects the values of CurrentX/CurrentY, respectively.

RESOLUTION

To work around this behavior, reset the ScaleMode and other properties to their original values. The code below enumerates all of the properties of the printer object and displays their values on the Immediate pane. During your debug cycle, call the code before each print job and compare the results. You can then modify your code to correctly reset the appropriate property values: 
   Sub PrntProp()
       Debug.Print "ColorMode   ", Printer.ColorMode
       Debug.Print "Copies   ", Printer.Copies
       Debug.Print "CurrentX   ", Printer.CurrentX
       Debug.Print "CurrentY   ", Printer.CurrentY
       Debug.Print "DeviceName   ", Printer.DeviceName
       Debug.Print "DrawMode   ", Printer.DrawMode
       Debug.Print "DrawStyle   ", Printer.DrawStyle
       Debug.Print "DrawWidth   ", Printer.DrawWidth
       Debug.Print "DriverName   ", Printer.DriverName
       Debug.Print "Duplex   ", Printer.Duplex
       Debug.Print "FillColor   ", Printer.FillColor
       Debug.Print "FillStyle   ", Printer.FillStyle
       Debug.Print "Font.Bold", Printer.Font.Bold
       Debug.Print "Font.Charset", Printer.Font.Charset
       Debug.Print "Font.Italic", Printer.Font.Italic
       Debug.Print "Font.Name", Printer.Font.Name
       Debug.Print "Font.Size", Printer.Font.Size
       Debug.Print "Font.Strikethr "; Printer.Font.Strikethrough
       Debug.Print "Font.Underline "; Printer.Font.Underline
       Debug.Print "Font.Weight", Printer.Font.Weight
       Debug.Print "hDC   ", Printer.hDC
       Debug.Print "Height   ", Printer.Height
       Debug.Print "Orientation", Printer.Orientation
       Debug.Print "Page   ", Printer.Page
       Debug.Print "PaperBin   ", Printer.PaperBin
       Debug.Print "PaperSize   ", Printer.PaperSize
       Debug.Print "Port   ", Printer.Port
       Debug.Print "PrintQuality", Printer.PrintQuality
       Debug.Print "RightToLeft", Printer.RightToLeft
       Debug.Print "ScaleHeight", Printer.ScaleHeight
       Debug.Print "ScaleLeft   ", Printer.ScaleLeft
       Debug.Print "ScaleTop   ", Printer.ScaleTop
       Debug.Print "ScaleWidth   ", Printer.ScaleWidth
       Debug.Print "ScaleMode   ", Printer.ScaleMode
       Debug.Print "TrackDefault", Printer.TrackDefault
       Debug.Print "TwipsPerPixelX"; Printer.TwipsPerPixelX
       Debug.Print "TwipsPerPixelY"; Printer.TwipsPerPixelY
       Debug.Print "Width   ", Printer.Width
       Debug.Print "Zoom   ", Printer.Zoom
   End Sub

MORE INFORMATION

Steps to Reproduce Behavior

The following code is based on the example in the Visual Basic Help file. Note that after the Printer.EndDoc, the Printer Object Properties are not reset: 
    Debug.Print Printer.ScaleTop
    Debug.Print Printer.ScaleLeft
    Debug.Print Printer.ScaleWidth
    Debug.Print Printer.ScaleHeight

    Printer.ScaleTop = -1  ' Set scale for top of grid.
    Printer.ScaleLeft = -1 ' Set scale for left of grid.
    Printer.ScaleWidth = 2 ' Set scale (-1 to 1).
    Printer.ScaleHeight = 2
    Printer.Line (-1, 0)-(1, 0)    ' Draw horizontal line.
    Printer.Line (0, -1)-(0, 1)    ' Draw vertical line.
    For I = -1 To 1 Step 0.05
        Printer.PSet (I * Rnd, I * Rnd)    ' Draw a point.
    Next I
    Printer.EndDoc

    Debug.Print Printer.ScaleTop
    Debug.Print Printer.ScaleLeft
    Debug.Print Printer.ScaleWidth
    Debug.Print Printer.ScaleHeight

Additional query words: kbVBp500 kbVBp600 kbVBp kbdsd kbDSupport kbPrinting KBWIN32SDK KBAPI

Keywords: kbprb KB173074


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