(edit This question has received few downvotes. I don't know a reason and still cannot see what's wrong with it. I can edit this if downvoters could comment about what they wish to see better written or lack of valuable info I have not given).
I have Intermec PM4i label printer and Generic text print driver. I am able to print text file script from Notepad or Delphi calls ShellExecute('printto',..) shellapi function.
I found few raw printing examples but none work. How can Delphi app print to Generic_text_driver without shellapi function? This is not GDI printer.canvas capable driver.
I have tried "everything" even legacy PASSTHROUGH printing examples. Only working method is Notepad.exe or shellexecute('printto', 'tempfile.txt',...) which I guess is using Notepad internally. I can see notepad printing dialog flashing on screen. I would like to control this directly from Delphi application.
This printFileToGeneric did not work.
// https://groups.google.com/forum/#!topic/borland.public.delphi.winapi/viHjsTf5EqA
Procedure PrintFileToGeneric(Const sFileName, printerName, docName: string; ejectPage: boolean);
Const
BufSize = 16384;
Var
Count : Integer;
BytesWritten: DWORD;
hPrinter: THandle;
DocInfo: TDocInfo1;
f: file;
Buffer: Pointer;
ch: Char;
Begin
If not WinSpool.OpenPrinter(PChar(printerName), hPrinter, nil) Then
raise Exception.Create('Printer not found');
Try
DocInfo.pDocName := PChar(docName);
DocInfo.pOutputFile := nil;
DocInfo.pDatatype := 'RAW';
If StartDocPrinter(hPrinter, 1, @DocInfo) = 0 Then
Raise Exception.Create('StartDocPrinter failed');
Try
If not StartPagePrinter(hPrinter) Then
Raise Exception.Create('StartPagePrinter failed');
System.Assign(f, sFileName);
Try
Reset(f, 1);
GetMem(Buffer, BufSize);
Try
While not eof(f) Do Begin
Blockread(f, Buffer^, BufSize, Count);
If Count > 0 Then Begin
If not WritePrinter(hPrinter, Buffer, Count, BytesWritten) Then
Raise Exception.Create('WritePrinter failed');
End;
End;
Finally
If ejectPage Then Begin
ch:= #12;
WritePrinter( hPrinter, @ch, 1, BytesWritten );
End;
FreeMem(Buffer, BufSize);
End;
Finally
EndPagePrinter(hPrinter);
System.Closefile( f );
End;
Finally
EndDocPrinter(hPrinter);
End;
Finally
WinSpool.ClosePrinter(hPrinter);
End;
End;
The following prtRaw helper util example did not work.
prtRaw.StartRawPrintJob/StartRawPrintPage/PrintRawData/EndRawPrintPage/EndRawPrintJob
http://www.swissdelphicenter.ch/torry/showcode.php?id=940
The following AssignPrn method did not work.
function testPrintText(params: TStrings): Integer;
var
stemp:String;
idx: Integer;
pOutput: TextFile;
begin
Result:=0;
idx := getPrinterIndexByName( params.Values['printer'] );
if (idx<0) then Raise Exception.Create('Printer not found');
WriteLn('Use printer(text) ' + IntToStr(idx) + ' ' + Printer.Printers[idx] );
Printer.PrinterIndex := idx;
stemp := params.Values['jobname'];
if (stemp='') then stemp:='rawtextprint';
Printer.Title:=stemp;
AssignPrn(pOutput);
ReWrite(pOutput);
stemp := 'INPUT ON'+#10;
stemp := stemp + 'NASC 1252'+#10;
stemp := stemp + 'BF OFF'+#10;
stemp := stemp + 'PP 30,480:FT "Swiss 721 BT",8,0,100'+#10;
stemp := stemp + 'PT "Test text 30,480 position ABC'+#10;
Write(pOutput, stemp);
//Write(pOutput, 'INPUT ON:');
//Write(pOutput, 'NASC 1252:');
//Write(pOutput, 'BF OFF:');
//Write(pOutput, 'PP 30,480:FT "Swiss 721 BT",8,0,100:');
//Write(pOutput, 'PT "Test text 30,480 position ABC":');
//Write(pOutput, 'Text line 3 goes here#13#10');
//Write(pOutput, 'Text line 4 goes here#13#10');
CloseFile(pOutput);
end;
This Printer.Canvas did not print anything, it should have had print something because Notepad is internally using GDI printout. Something is missing here.
function testPrintGDI(params: TStrings): Integer;
var
filename, docName:String;
idx: Integer;
lines: TStrings;
begin
Result:=0;
idx := getPrinterIndexByName( params.Values['printer'] );
if (idx<0) then Raise Exception.Create('Printer not found');
WriteLn('Use printer(gdi) ' + IntToStr(idx) + ' ' + Printer.Printers[idx] );
docName := params.Values['jobname'];
if (docName='') then docName:='rawtextprint';
filename := params.values['input'];
If Not FileExists(filename) then Raise Exception.Create('input file not found');
Printer.PrinterIndex := idx;
Printer.Title := docName;
Printer.BeginDoc;
lines := readTextLines(filename);
try
for idx := 0 to lines.Count-1 do begin
Printer.Canvas.TextOut(10, 10*idx, lines[idx]);
end;
finally
FreeAndNil(lines);
Printer.EndDoc;
end;
end;
Only three methods working are printing from Notepad.exe, Delphi ShellExecute call or open a raw TCP socket to IP:PORT address and write text lines to a socket outputstream.
function testPrintPrintTo(params: TStrings): Integer;
var
filename, printerName:String;
idx: Integer;
exInfo: TShellExecuteInfo;
device,driver,port: array[0..255] of Char;
hDeviceMode: THandle;
timeout:Integer;
//iRet: Cardinal;
begin
Result:=0;
idx := getPrinterIndexByName( params.Values['printer'] );
if (idx<0) then Raise Exception.Create('Printer not found');
WriteLn('Use printer(printto) ' + IntToStr(idx) + ' ' + Printer.Printers[idx] );
filename := params.values['input'];
If Not FileExists(filename) then Raise Exception.Create('input file not found');
filename := uCommon.absoluteFilePath(filename);
Printer.PrinterIndex := idx;
Printer.GetPrinter(device, driver, port, hDeviceMode);
printerName := Format('"%s" "%s" "%s"', [device, driver, port]);
FillChar(exInfo, SizeOf(exInfo), 0);
with exInfo do begin
cbSize := SizeOf(exInfo);
fMask := SEE_MASK_NOCLOSEPROCESS or SEE_MASK_FLAG_DDEWAIT;
Wnd := 0;
exInfo.lpVerb := 'printto';
exInfo.lpParameters := PChar(printerName);
lpFile := PChar(filename);
lpDirectory := nil;
nShow := SW_HIDE;
end;
WriteLn('printto ' + printerName);
if Not ShellExecuteEx(@exInfo) then begin
Raise Exception.Create('ShellExecuteEx failed');
exit;
end;
try
timeout := 30000;
while WaitForSingleObject(exInfo.hProcess, 50) <> WAIT_OBJECT_0 do begin
Writeln('wait timeout ' + IntToStr(timeout));
dec(timeout, 50);
if (timeout<1) then break;
end;
finally
CloseHandle(exInfo.hProcess);
end;
{iRet:=ShellExecute(0, 'printto',
PChar(filename),
PChar(printerName), //Printer.Printers[idx]),
nil, //PChar(filepath),
SW_HIDE // SW_SHOWNORMAL
);
Writeln('printto return code ' + IntToStr(iRet)); // >32 OK }
end;
