DOCUMENT:Q178076  16-DEC-1997  [vbwin]
TITLE   :HOWTO: Use a PictureBox to Control Orientation Printing a Form
PRODUCT :Microsoft Visual Basic for Windows
PROD/VER:WINDOWS:5.0
OPER/SYS:WINDOWS
KEYWORDS:vb5all vb5howto

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The information in this article applies to:

 - Microsoft Visual Basic Learning, Professional, and Enterprise Editions
   for Windows, version 5.0
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SUMMARY
=======

When using the PrintForm method to print a Form, you have no control over
the orientation. This article describes a way to use a PictureBox to print
the client area of a Form in either orientation.

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

The PrintForm method creates its own Device Context and therefore ignores
any Printer object settings. It will just use the default orientation of
the current default printer. Because you cannot change how PrintForm
behaves, you must print another way. Your could change printer settings
with APIs, print the Form, then change them back, but a simpler approach is
to print from a PictureBox. The drawback to this method of using
PictureBoxes is that you are printing a Bitmap graphic, so the quality is
less than the PrintForm methods. The process described here uses two
PictureBoxes, each one covering the Form. The second PictureBox is to avoid
a shadowing effect caused by a small offset of the redraw on a single
PictureBox. This same technique can be used to print any group of controls.

Example of Using a PictureBox to Print a Form in Any Orientation
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1. Create a new Standard EXE Project. Form1 is created by default.

2. Add two PictureBoxes to Form1 so that each nearly covers the Form.

   NOTE: Avoid drawing the second PictureBox within the first. Doing so
   makes the second PictureBox a member of the first. A simple way to avoid
   the problem is to place the origin point of the second PictureBox to the
   left of the origin point of the first PictureBox. Once the second box is
   drawn, you can resize it so that it is the same size as the first
   PictureBox.

3. Right-mouse click on Picture2 and choose "Send to Back."

4. Place Picture1 on top of Picture2, covering Picture2.

5. Add a CommandButton and some other controls to Picture1, leaving
   Picture2 empty.

6. Place this code in the Declarations Section of the module of the Form:

      Private Declare Function SendMessage Lib "user32" Alias _
         "SendMessageA" (ByVal hwnd As Long, ByVal wMsg As Long, _
         ByVal wParam As Long, ByVal lParam As Long) As Long

      Private Const WM_PAINT = &HF
      Private Const WM_PRINT = &H317
      Private Const PRF_CLIENT = &H4&    ' Draw the window's client area
      Private Const PRF_CHILDREN = &H10& ' Draw all visible child windows
      Private Const PRF_OWNED = &H20&    ' Draw all owned windows

      Private Sub Command1_Click()
       Dim rv As Long
       Picture1.SetFocus  ' So that the button doesn't look pressed
       Picture2.AutoRedraw = True
       rv = SendMessage(Picture1.hwnd, WM_PAINT, Picture2.hDC, 0)
       rv = SendMessage(Picture1.hwnd, WM_PRINT, Picture2.hDC, _
          PRF_CHILDREN + PRF_CLIENT + PRF_OWNED)
       Picture2.Picture = Picture2.Image
       Picture2.AutoRedraw = False
       Printer.Orientation = vbPRORLandscape   ' 2
       Printer.Print ""
       Printer.PaintPicture Picture2.Picture, 0, 0
       Printer.EndDoc
       Command1.SetFocus  ' Return Focus
      End Sub

      Private Sub Form_Load()
       Me.Show
       Command1.Caption = "Print Form"
      End Sub

7. Run the Project and click on the "Print Form" button. Note that when you
   click on Command1, "Print Form", it will print the PictureBox and the
   controls it contains in Landscape orientation.

REFERENCES
==========

If you need to print more than just the client area of a Form or if you
need to scale the printout, please see the following article in the
Microsoft Knowledge Base:

   ARTICLE-ID: Q161299
   TITLE     : HOWTO: Capture and Print the Screen, a Form, or any Window

Additional query words: vb5all portrait
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Keywords          : vb5all vb5howto
Version           : WINDOWS:5.0
Platform          : WINDOWS
Issue type        : kbhowto

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Copyright Microsoft Corporation 1997.