How to get Print Job Status using C#

Question

I am able to print a document, but I do not know how to get its status. I went through many resources (MSDN, Links for checking Job Status), but was not able to find an answer.

I actually want to get confirmation from the printer whether the document was successfully printed or not. Moreover, I am also interested if I can get error signal from printer, like if paper is jammed.

I have the Printer Name and Document name which I am sending for Print. Has anybody done some research in this area and can tell me how to accomplish this?

Answer 1

You might be able to use WMI for this. It provides several printing-related classes, including Win32_PrintJob.

This is untested, but something like this should get you started:

SelectQuery query = new SelectQuery("Win32_PrintJob");

using (ManagementObjectSearcher searcher = new ManagementObjectSearcher(query))
using (ManagementObjectCollection printJobs = searcher.Get())
    foreach (ManagementObject printJob in printJobs)
    {
        // The format of the Win32_PrintJob.Name property is "PrinterName,JobNumber"
        string name = (string) printJob["Name"];
        string[] nameParts = name.Split(',');
        string printerName = nameParts[0];
        string jobNumber = nameParts[1];
        string document = (string) printJob["Document"];
        string jobStatus = (string) printJob["JobStatus"];

        // Process job properties...
    }

Answer 2

Of course, the above-mentioned answer is correct but if you are using Windows API in C# to check the Print Job Status, you have to do a little bit more, specifically to get rid of nested if-then-else clauses. Here is a sample code:

namespace Sample
{
    class UsingNativeAPIs
    {
        private const int JOB_STATUS_RETAINED = 8192;          
        private const int JOB_STATUS_COMPLETE = 4096;          
        private const int JOB_STATUS_RESTART = 2048;           
        private const int JOB_STATUS_USER_INTERVENTION = 1024;
        private const int JOB_STATUS_BLOCKED_DEVQ = 512;       
        private const int JOB_STATUS_DELETED = 256;            
        private const int JOB_STATUS_PRINTED = 128;            
        private const int JOB_STATUS_PAPEROUT = 64;                            
        private const int JOB_STATUS_OFFLINE = 32;             
        private const int JOB_STATUS_PRINTING = 16;     
        private const int JOB_STATUS_SPOOLING = 8;      
        private const int JOB_STATUS_DELETING = 4;                       
        private const int JOB_STATUS_ERROR = 2;                
        private const int JOB_STATUS_PAUSED = 1;
                                                                       
        private Dictionary<int, string> jDict = new Dictionary<int, string>()
            {
                {JOB_STATUS_RETAINED, "Retained"},
                {JOB_STATUS_COMPLETE, "Complete"},
                {JOB_STATUS_RESTART, "restarted"},
                {JOB_STATUS_USER_INTERVENTION, "UserIntervention"},
                {JOB_STATUS_BLOCKED_DEVQ, "Blocked"},
                {JOB_STATUS_DELETED, "Deleted"},
                {JOB_STATUS_PRINTED, "Printed"},
                {JOB_STATUS_PAPEROUT, "PaperOut"},
                {JOB_STATUS_OFFLINE, "Offline"},
                {JOB_STATUS_PRINTING, "Printing"},
                {JOB_STATUS_SPOOLING, "Spooling"},
                {JOB_STATUS_DELETING, "Deleting"},
                {JOB_STATUS_ERROR, "Error"},
                {JOB_STATUS_PAUSED, "Paused"},                      
            };

        private StringBuilder Get_Status(JOB_INFO_2W[] jobInfos, /*... your parameters, if any*/)
        {
            string jobStatus;
            StringBuilder sb;
            foreach (var job in jobInfos)
            {
                jobStatus = "";
                foreach (var item in jdict)
                {
                    if ((job.Status & item.Key) == item.Key)
                    {
                        jobStatus = item.Value;
                        break; // or just ignore this line if you look for all combined statuses
                    }
                }
                sb.Append("Status = " + jobStatus);
            }

            return sb;
        }
    }
}