printing with winspool windows api using c#

Hi,
I am trying to develop a simple application to print different kind of documents.
I am using winspool api. My problem is, document is added in printer queue and its showing status printing. but its not printing. WritePrinter function returning true but its not printing. i am stuck in this.
any help will appreciated, anyone has idea to find errors and correct my code.

beside this i can use other way also (but don't want to use Process or ProcessInfo class). I want to print silently from my application.

my code is below

[StructLayout(LayoutKind.Sequential, CharSet = CharSet.Ansi)]
public class DOCINFOA
{
[MarshalAs(UnmanagedType.LPStr)]
public string pDocName;
[MarshalAs(UnmanagedType.LPStr)]
public string pOutputFile;
[MarshalAs(UnmanagedType.LPStr)]
public string pDataType;
}
[DllImport(winspool.drv, CharSet = CharSet.Auto, SetLastError = true)]
[return: MarshalAs(UnmanagedType.Bool)]
public static extern Boolean SetDefaultPrinter(String name);
[DllImport(winspool.Drv, EntryPoint = OpenPrinterA, SetLastError = true, CharSet = CharSet.Ansi, ExactSpelling = true, CallingConvention = CallingConvention.StdCall)]
public static extern bool OpenPrinter([MarshalAs(UnmanagedType.LPStr)] string szPrinter, out IntPtr hPrinter, IntPtr pd);
[DllImport(winspool.Drv, EntryPoint = ClosePrinter, SetLastError = true, ExactSpelling = true, CallingConvention = CallingConvention.StdCall)]
public static extern bool ClosePrinter(IntPtr hPrinter);
[DllImport(winspool.Drv, EntryPoint = StartDocPrinterA, SetLastError = true, CharSet = CharSet.Ansi, ExactSpelling = true, CallingConvention = CallingConvention.StdCall)]
public static extern bool StartDocPrinter(IntPtr hPrinter, Int32 level, [In, MarshalAs(UnmanagedType.LPStruct)] DOCINFOA di);
[DllImport(winspool.Drv, EntryPoint = EndDocPrinter, SetLastError = true, ExactSpelling = true, CallingConvention = CallingConvention.StdCall)]
public static extern bool EndDocPrinter(IntPtr hPrinter);
[DllImport(winspool.Drv, EntryPoint = StartPagePrinter, SetLastError = true, ExactSpelling = true, CallingConvention = CallingConvention.StdCall)]
public static extern bool StartPagePrinter(IntPtr hPrinter);
[DllImport(winspool.Drv, EntryPoint = EndPagePrinter, SetLastError = true, ExactSpelling = true, CallingConvention = CallingConvention.StdCall)]
public static extern bool EndPagePrinter(IntPtr hPrinter);
[DllImport(winspool.Drv, EntryPoint = WritePrinter, SetLastError = true, ExactSpelling = true, CallingConvention = CallingConvention.StdCall)]
public static extern bool WritePrinter(IntPtr hPrinter, IntPtr pBytes, Int32 dwCount, out Int32 dwWritten);

public static bool SendBytesToPrinter(string szPrinterName, IntPtr pBytes, Int32 dwCount)
{
Int32 dwError = 0, dwWritten = 0;
IntPtr hPrinter = new IntPtr(0);
DOCINFOA di = new DOCINFOA();
bool bSuccess = false;

di.pDocName = "Document";
di.pDataType = "RAW";

if (OpenPrinter(szPrinterName.Normalize(), out hPrinter, IntPtr.Zero))
{
if (hPrinter.ToInt32() == 0)
return false; //Printer not found!!

if (StartDocPrinter(hPrinter, 1, di))
{

if (StartPagePrinter(hPrinter))
{

bSuccess = WritePrinter(hPrinter, pBytes, dwCount, out dwWritten);
EndPagePrinter(hPrinter);
}
EndDocPrinter(hPrinter);
}
ClosePrinter(hPrinter);
}

if (bSuccess == false)
{
dwError = Marshal.GetLastWin32Error();
}
return bSuccess;
}
public static bool SendFileToPrinter(string szPrinterName, string szFileName)
{
bool bSuccess = false;
try
{

FileStream fs = new FileStream(szFileName, FileMode.Open);

BinaryReader br = new BinaryReader(fs);

Byte[] bytes = new Byte[fs.Length];

IntPtr pUnmanagedBytes = new IntPtr(0);
int nLength;

nLength = Convert.ToInt32(fs.Length);

bytes = br.ReadBytes(nLength);

pUnmanagedBytes = Marshal.AllocCoTaskMem(nLength);

Marshal.Copy(bytes, 0, pUnmanagedBytes, nLength);

bSuccess = SendBytesToPrinter(szPrinterName, pUnmanagedBytes, nLength);

Marshal.FreeCoTaskMem(pUnmanagedBytes);

br.Close();
fs.Close();
}
catch (Exception ex)
{ string s = ex.Message.ToString(); }
return bSuccess;

}

It appears your code is reading the file and dumping its contents to the printer. If that's what you're doing, it will only work with a limited number of file types, such as plain text files or PostScript files if the printer happens to support PostScript printing.

If what you need is a way to print different types of files such as PDF and MS Office documents, you will need a way to parse and render these files before you send them to the printer.

One possible solution is to use a library that can read different files, such as LEADTOOLS. (Disclaimer: I work for the company that created this library).

The code to load any type of document as an image is simply this:

RasterImage myImage = codecs.Load("filename.docx");

To perform printing, see the code sample here:

https://www.leadtools.com/help/leadtools/v19/dh/wi/leadtools.winforms~leadtools.winforms.rasterimageprinter.html#Example-CS

1 Reply

Know the answer? Post it — somebody with the same question will find it here.

Amin Dodin9y ago
It appears your code is reading the file and dumping its contents to the printer. If that's what you're doing, it will only work with a limited number of file types, such as plain text files or PostScript files if the printer happens to support PostScript printing.
If what you need is a way to print different types of files such as PDF and MS Office documents, you will need a way to parse and render these files before you send them to the printer.
One possible solution is to use a library that can read different files, such as LEADTOOLS. (Disclaimer: I work for the company that created this library).

The code to load any type of document as an image is simply this:

RasterImage myImage = codecs.Load("filename.docx");

To perform printing, see the code sample here:
https://www.leadtools.com/help/leadtools/v19/dh/wi/leadtools.winforms~leadtools.winforms.rasterimageprinter.html#Example-CS
+1