* VB-CODE (2)
Tip 116: Sending Data to the Printer in Landscape or Portrait Mode

July 1, 1995

Abstract
In a Microsoft® Visual Basic® application, you can send data to the printer by
using the Print method. The printed output appears in the default portrait
orientation. This article shows how to change the orientation of the printer
from its default portrait mode to landscape mode.

Sending Commands to the Printer
When you create a report in a Microsoft® Visual Basic® application, the output is
usually sent to the printer in portrait mode. However, by using two Microsoft
Windows® application programming interface (API) functions, you can tell the
printer to print the report in landscape mode.

Most printers manufactured today support a number of functions such as changing
the print orientation to landscape mode. You tell the printer driver to select
landscape printing by sending specific control code commands to the device. In
Windows terminology, these control code commands are called Escape operations.
The example program below shows how to use the Windows API Escape function to
change the orientation of the printer. When you run this program, notice that a
blank piece of paper is not ejected when the setting takes effect.

How do we prevent the blank sheet of paper from being ejected? The AbortDoc
function tells Windows to ignore the previous print request. This generates a
printer error, which is trapped by the On Error Resume Next statement. Therefore,
the printer is set to the new orientation without ejecting a blank piece of paper.
The Escape function can be used to send specific control codes to a printer
device. The CONSTANT.TXT file contains a list of the most commonly used escape
codes that can be used with printers, display screens, and other devices.

To use the Escape function within your program, include the following Declare
statement in the General Declarations section of your form (note that this
Declare statement must be typed as a single line of text):

Private Declare Function Escape Lib "GDI" (ByVal hDC As Integer, ByVal nEscape
   As Integer, ByVal nCount As Integer, lpInData As Any, lpOutData As Any) As
   Integer

The Escape function requires five arguments, as follows:

hDC        An integer value containing the device context's handle
nEscape    An integer value containing the specific escape code to be sent to
           the device context
nCount     An integer value set to the size of the lpInData argument
lpInData   Variessee below
lpOutData  Variessee below

The arguments lpInData and lpOutData are set according to which escape code is
being sent to the printer. Because we want to set the printer to either landscape
or portrait mode, we specify the nEscape argument as GETSETPRINTORIENT. The
GETSETPRINTORIENT operation requires that the arguments lpInData and lpOutData
point to a 20-byte structure. To actually set the orientation, the first long
value in this structure must be set to the specific orientation you want to use.

After the escape code (landscape or portrait) is sent to the printer, you must
use the Windows API AbortDoc function. This function tells the printer to abort
the print request. Calling the AbortDoc function sets the printer to the new
mode. All subsequent output to the printer will then print in whichever print
orientation you selected. This means that you may have to issue another Escape
statement to reset the printer to portrait mode to return the printer to its
default state.

Example Program
This program shows how to set the printer to landscape (or portrait) mode.

 1. Create a new project in Visual Basic. Form1 is created by default.
 2. Add the following Constant and Declare statements to the General Declarations
    section of Form1 (note that each Declare statement must be typed as a single
    line of code):

Private Declare Function AbortDoc Lib "GDI" (ByVal hDC As Integer) As Integer
Private Declare Function Escape Lib "GDI" (ByVal hDC As Integer, ByVal
   nEscape As Integer, ByVal nCount As Integer, lpInData As Any, lpOutData As
   Any) As Integer
Const PORTRAIT = 1
Const LANDSCAPE = 2
Const GETSETPAPERORIENT = 30
Const NULLVALUE = 0&

 3. Add a Command Button control to Form1. Command1 is created by default. Set
    its Caption property to "Landscape".
 4. Add the following code to the Click event for Command1:

Private Sub Command1_Click()
    PrintOrient LANDSCAPE, "This is landscape printing."
End Sub

 5. Add a second Command Button control to Form1. Command2 is created by
    default. Set its Caption property to "Portrait".
 6. Add the following code to the Click event for Command2:

Private Sub Command2_Click()
    PrintOrient PORTRAIT, "This is portrait printing."
End Sub

 7. Create a new procedure called PrintOrient. Add the following code to this
    procedure:

Sub PrintOrient(Mode As Integer, PrintThis As String)
    Dim Orient As OrientStructure
    Dim Ret As Integer
    Dim X As Integer

    Printer.Print ""
    Orient.Orientation = Mode
    X = Escape(Printer.hDC, GETSETPAPERORIENT, Len(Orient), Orient, NULLVALUE)
    On Error Resume Next
    Ret = AbortDoc(Printer.hDC)
    On Error Resume Next

    Printer.EndDoc
    Printer.Print PrintThis
    Printer.EndDoc
End Sub

 8. From the Visual Basic Insert menu, click Module to create a new
    module. Module1.Bas is created by default.
 9. Add the following Type structure to Module1.Bas:

Type OrientStructure
    Orientation As Long
    Pad As String * 16
End Type

Run the example program by pressing F5. Click the Landscape command button to
print a test sheet in landscape mode. Next, click the Portrait command button to
print a test sheet in portrait mode. Notice that each time you change the
orientation of the printer, a blank sheet of paper is not ejected needlessly.

Additional References
"A Print Preview Program for Visual Basic." (Development Library,
   Books and Periodicals, Inside Visual Basic Articles [Cobb])
Knowledge Base Q113236. "How to Add Print Preview to Visual Basic Applications."
Knowledge Base Q80185. "How to Set Landscape or Portrait for Printer from VB App."
"Managing Your Print Jobs, PART 2: Providing the Cancel Print Form." (Development
   Library, Books and Periodicals, Inside Visual Basic Articles[Cobb])
"Querying Windows for Printer Information." (Development
   Library, Books and Periodicals, Inside Visual Basic Articles [Cobb])