DOCUMENT:Q175083  16-OCT-1997  [vbwin]
TITLE   :HOWTO: Print a Single Line Without Formfeed
PRODUCT :Microsoft Visual Basic for Windows
PROD/VER:WINDOWS:4.0,5.0
OPER/SYS:WINDOWS
KEYWORDS:vb432 VB4WIN vb5all vb5howto kbprint

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The information in this article applies to:

 - Microsoft Visual Basic Learning, Professional, and Enterprise Editions
   for Windows, version 5.0
 - Microsoft Visual Basic Standard, Professional, and Enterprise Editions,
   32-bit only, for Windows, version 4.0
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SUMMARY
=======

Printing page-by-page is the Windows standard; however, it is sometimes
desirable to print to a printer line-by-line rather than page-by-page. One
advantage to printing line-by-line is that if there is a power failure
while printing, the data lost is one log item, at most. The Visual Basic
Printer object does not support this mode, but the Win32 API accomplishes
this handily.

MORE INFORMATION
================

This technique will work only when printing to a local line printer,
typically a dot matrix printer. Laser and Ink Jet printers are page
printers and will not print in single line mode.

1. Create a new Visual Basic project and place a CommandButton on Form1.

2. Add the following code to Form1:

      Option Explicit

      Private Type DOCINFO
          pDocName As String
          pOutputFile As String
          pDatatype As String
      End Type

      Private Declare Function ClosePrinter Lib "winspool.drv" (ByVal _
         hPrinter As Long) As Long
      Private Declare Function EndDocPrinter Lib "winspool.drv" (ByVal _
         hPrinter As Long) As Long
      Private Declare Function EndPagePrinter Lib "winspool.drv" (ByVal _
         hPrinter As Long) As Long
      Private Declare Function OpenPrinter Lib "winspool.drv" Alias _
         "OpenPrinterA" (ByVal pPrinterName As String, phPrinter As Long, _
          ByVal pDefault As Long) As Long
      Private Declare Function StartDocPrinter Lib "winspool.drv" Alias _
         "StartDocPrinterA" (ByVal hPrinter As Long, ByVal Level As Long, _
         pDocInfo As DOCINFO) As Long
      Private Declare Function StartPagePrinter Lib "winspool.drv" (ByVal _
         hPrinter As Long) As Long
      Private Declare Function WritePrinter Lib "winspool.drv" (ByVal _
         hPrinter As Long, pBuf As Any, ByVal cdBuf As Long, _
         pcWritten As Long) As Long

      Dim lhPrinter As Long

      Private Sub Command1_Click()
             Dim lReturn As Long
             Dim lpcWritten As Long
             Dim sWrittenData As String
             sWrittenData = "How's that for Magic !!!!" & vbCrLf
             lReturn = WritePrinter(lhPrinter, ByVal sWrittenData, _
                Len(sWrittenData), lpcWritten)
      End Sub

      Private Sub Form_Load()
          Dim lReturn As Long
          Dim lDoc As Long
          Dim MyDocInfo As DOCINFO

          lReturn = OpenPrinter(Printer.DeviceName, lhPrinter, 0)
          If lReturn = 0 Then
              MsgBox "The Printer Name you typed wasn't recognized."
              Exit Sub
          End If
          MyDocInfo.pDocName = "AAAAAA"
          MyDocInfo.pOutputFile = vbNullString
          MyDocInfo.pDatatype = vbNullString
          lDoc = StartDocPrinter(lhPrinter, 1, MyDocInfo)
          Call StartPagePrinter(lhPrinter)
      End Sub

      Private Sub Form_Unload(Cancel As Integer)
          Dim lReturn As Long

          lReturn = EndPagePrinter(lhPrinter)
          lReturn = EndDocPrinter(lhPrinter)
          lReturn = ClosePrinter(lhPrinter)
      End Sub

3. Make the logging printer the default and run the application. Every
   time you click Command1, a line should be immediately printed to your
   printer.

REFERENCES
==========

For more information about using the Win32 API to send data directly to the
printer, please see the following article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

   ARTICLE-ID: Q154078
   Title     : HOWTO: Send Raw Data to a Printer Using the Win32 API
               from VB
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Keywords          : vb432 VB4WIN vb5all vb5howto kbprint
Version           : WINDOWS:4.0,5.0
Platform          : WINDOWS
Issue type        : kbhowto

=============================================================================

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Copyright Microsoft Corporation 1997.