Printing Overview

Printing in AlterNET UI consists primarily of using the PrintDocument component to enable the user to print. The PrintPreviewDialog control, PrintDialog and PageSetupDialog components provide a familiar graphical interface to users.

The PrintDialog component is a pre-configured dialog box used to select a printer, choose the pages to print, and determine other print-related settings in UI applications. It's a simple solution for printer and print-related settings instead of configuring your own dialog box. You can enable users to print many parts of their documents: print all, print a selected page range, or print a selection. By relying on standard dialog boxes, you create applications whose basic functionality is immediately familiar to users. The PrintDialog component inherits from the CommonDialog class.

Typically, you create a new instance of the PrintDocument component and set the properties that describe what to print using the PrinterSettings and PageSettings classes. Calling the Print method prints the document.

Working with the component

Use the PrintDialog.ShowModal method to display the dialog at run time. This component has properties that relate to either a single print job (PrintDocument class) or the settings of an individual printer (PrinterSettings class). One of the two, in turn, may be shared by multiple printers.

How to capture user input from a PrintDialog at run time

You can set options related to printing at design time. Sometimes you may want to change these options at run time, most likely because of choices made by the user. You can capture user input for printing a document using the PrintDialog and the PrintDocument components. The following steps demonstrate displaying the print dialog for a document:

1. Add a PrintDialog and a PrintDocument component to your form.

2. Set the Document property of the PrintDialog to the PrintDocument added to the form.

   printDialog1.Document = printDocument1;
   

3. Display the PrintDialog component by using the ShowModal method.

   // display show dialog, and if the user selects "Ok" the document is printed
   if (printDialog1.ShowDialog() == DialogResult.OK)
       printDocument1.Print();
   

4. The user's printing choices from the dialog will be copied to the PrinterSettings property of the PrintDocument component.

How to create print jobs

The foundation of printing in AlterNET UI is the PrintDocument component, more specifically, the PrintPage event. By writing code to handle the PrintPage event, you can specify what to print and how to print it. The following steps demonstrate creating a print job:

1. Add a PrintDocument component to your form.

2. Write code to handle the PrintPage event.

   You'll have to code your own printing logic. Additionally, you'll have to specify the material to be printed.

   As a material to print, in the following code example, a sample graphic in the shape of a red rectangle is created in the PrintPage event handler.

   private void PrintDocument1_PrintPage(object sender, System.Drawing.Printing.PrintPageEventArgs e) =>
       e.Graphics.FillRectangle(Brushes.Red, new Rectangle(100, 100, 100, 100));
   

You can also write code for the BeginPrint and EndPrint events. It will help to include an integer representing the total number of pages to print that is decremented as each page prints.

For more information about the specifics of AlterNET UI print jobs, including how to create a print job programmatically, see PrintPageEventArgs.