Printform doesn't print entire form width

Question

I am trying to use the printform control to print one of the forms in a MDI document. For some reason It only seems to print a portion of the form width that is displayed on the screen. I have played with portrait and landscape page orientations with landscape printing more of the form but still not the entrie width.  It seems like it is a screen to printer resolution issue but I can't figure out how to compress the form to fit the printer resolution. The code I found in another thread I have been playing with and a print preview screen shot. Any help would be appreciated.

With Me.PrintForm1
            .PrintAction = Printing.PrintAction.PrintToPreview
            For i = 0 To .PrinterSettings.PaperSizes.Count - 1
                If .PrinterSettings.PaperSizes(i).Kind = PaperKind.Letter Then
                    Dim size As PaperSize = .PrinterSettings.PaperSizes(i)
                    .PrinterSettings.DefaultPageSettings.PaperSize = size
                    .PrinterSettings.DefaultPageSettings.Landscape = True
                    '.PrinterSettings.PrintRange.AllPages(1)
                    Exit For
                End If
            Next
            Dim MyMargins As New Margins
            With MyMargins
                .Left = 0
                .Right = 0
                .Top = 0
                .Bottom = 0
            End With
            .PrinterSettings.DefaultPageSettings.Margins = MyMargins
            .Print(Me, PowerPacks.Printing.PrintForm.PrintOption.CompatibleModeFullWindow)
        End With

Answer 1

Hi mustBob,

What do you mean by " one of the forms in a MDI document"? According to my experience, it seems that the printdocument doesn't provide the function to adjust itself to suit the size of papper. 

Hope this helps.

---

No code, No fact.

Answer 2

Hi,

I have no idea how to customize the control size to fit the printing paper size in the PrintForm in the power pack.  But could you please the PrintPreviewDialog class instead?   We can shrink the image of the form if the its size is larger than the normal A4 pager size. 

Here are some sample codes for your references.  I only handled the form's width is larger than the normal A4 paper width condition.  You can edit the codes to meet your own requirement.  

Private PrintDoc1 As PrintDocument = New PrintDocument

    Private PrintPreviewDialog1 As PrintPreviewDialog = New PrintPreviewDialog

    Private Sub Button1_Click(sender As System.Object, e As System.EventArgs) Handles Button1.Click
        PrintPreviewDialog1.Document = PrintDoc1
        PrintDoc1.OriginAtMargins = False
        AddHandler PrintDoc1.PrintPage, AddressOf PDoc_PrintPage
        PrintPreviewDialog1.ShowDialog()
    End Sub

    Private Sub PDoc_PrintPage(sender As Object, e As PrintPageEventArgs)
        Dim bmp As Bitmap = New Bitmap(Me.Width, Me.Height)

        Me.DrawToBitmap(bmp, New Rectangle(0, 0, bmp.Width, bmp.Height))
        If Me.Width > 820 Or Me.Height > 1100 Then
            Dim bmp2 As Bitmap = New Bitmap(bmp)
            Dim height As Integer = 820.0 * Me.Height / Me.Width
            Dim bmp3 As Bitmap = New Bitmap(bmp2, 820, height)
            e.Graphics.DrawImage(bmp3, 0, 0)
        Else
            e.Graphics.DrawImage(bmp, 0, 0)
        End If
    End Sub

Good day!

Thanks

---

Michael Sun [MSFT]
MSDN Community Support | Feedback to us

Answer 3

Hi mustBob,

What do you mean by " one of the forms in a MDI document"? According to my experience, it seems that the printdocument doesn't provide the function to adjust itself to suit the size of papper. 

Hope this helps.

---

No code, No fact.

The form I am trying to print is one of the child forms in a MDI document. I think I have to abandon the PrintForm method as even if I can get it to print the entire formwidth it won't do what I need.  The summary report form contains a mix of text and images and is scrollable. Initially it seemed the print form control would work but now I think print the printdocument method may provide a better solution. My problem will be since the form is scrollable I need method that is not just a screenshot.

Answer 4

Hi,

So how about the workaround I provided?   If you have any questions, please feel free to let me know.

Good day!

Thanks

---

Michael Sun [MSFT]
MSDN Community Support | Feedback to us

Answer 5

Thanks Michael,

Your code should solve the form width issue but it will still be a screen shot. Since my form is scrollable I will need something that would allow me to print at least one and possibly two letter size pages. I have played with a method to print a scrollable rich text box but that only works for text. If I drop graphics or images into it they don't print.

Any ideas?

Answer 6

Hi,

Thanks for the following up!  Could you please make your request be more specific?   Do you want to print the forms in multiple pages?   Or do you want to control the print image scrollable automatically?  

Good day!

Thanks

---

Michael Sun [MSFT]
MSDN Community Support | Feedback to us

Answer 7

Hi,

Any update?  If you need any assistance, please feel free to let me know.

Good day!

Thanks

---

Michael Sun [MSFT]
MSDN Community Support | Feedback to us

Answer 8

Sorry for posting back sooner. I haven't been able to work on this project for a few days.

I tried your solution and it solves the form width issue. Now I just need to get the full form height. What I am thinking of trying now is to place all the controls in a panel and then just print the panel. Not sure if this will work though. Any thoughts.

Answer 9

Hi,

I think it's fine to print the panel since we can trend the panel as a control too, like:

    Private Sub PDoc_PrintPage(sender As Object, e As PrintPageEventArgs)
        Dim bmp As Bitmap = New Bitmap(Me.Panel1.Width, Me.Panel1.Height)
        Me.Panel1.DrawToBitmap(bmp, New Rectangle(0, 0, bmp.Width, bmp.Height))
        e.Graphics.DrawImage(bmp, 0, 0)
    End Sub

Is it what you want?  

Have a nice day!

Thanks

---

Michael Sun [MSFT]
MSDN Community Support | Feedback to us

Answer 10

Yep I tried that last night and it works. The only problem is it distorts the aspect ratio of the panel so it is compressed in height . On the bright side at least I can print the whole form now. I'll have to see if there is a way to correct the aspect ratio issue.

Thanks for all you help so far.

Answer 11

You're welcome!  If you need any assistance, please feel free to let me know.

Have a nice weekend!

Thanks

---

Michael Sun [MSFT]
MSDN Community Support | Feedback to us

Answer 12

I solved the aspect ratio issue and have it almost printing perfectly now. Never thought printing would be so involved. I marked one of your posts as answer.

Answer 13

Thanks for the update!  By the way, if it is convenient, could you please share the solution you have to benefit more community members?

Have a nice day!

---

Michael Sun [MSFT]
MSDN Community Support | Feedback to us

Answer 14

Here is the final solution. It has nothing to do with the VB Power Packs PrintForm control which is where I started. This control just would do what I needed so I ended up using the .printing namespace. The solution involves creating a form with three buttons, Page Setup, Print Preview and Print and a pane. All of the form controls you want to print are placed in the panel and the graphics print method is used to print everything. The graphics print routine scales the panel to fit the available print area (Letter, legal A4 whatever is selected).

Add reference to printing namespace

Imports System.Drawing.Printing

Define your print object

Private PrintDoc1 As PrintDocument = New PrintDocument

Page Setup Button Code

Private Sub btnPageSetup_Click(sender As System.Object, e As System.EventArgs) Handles btnPageSetup.Click
        With PageSetupDialog1
            'Assign the document to use
            .Document = PrintDoc1
            'Enable printer button
            .AllowPrinter = True
            .EnableMetric = True
            If .ShowDialog = Windows.Forms.DialogResult.OK Then
                ' Initialize the dialog's PrinterSettings property to hold user
                ' defined page settings.
                PageSetupDialog1.PageSettings = _
                    New System.Drawing.Printing.PageSettings
                ' Initialize dialog's PrinterSettings property to hold user
                ' set printer settings.
                .PrinterSettings = _
                    New System.Drawing.Printing.PrinterSettings
            End If
        End With
    End Sub

Preview Dialog and Print Buttons

Private Sub btnPrint_Click(ByVal sender As System.Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles btnPrint.Click
        AddHandler PrintDoc1.PrintPage, AddressOf PDoc_PrintPage
        PrintDoc1.Print()
    End Sub
    Private Sub btnPrintPreview_Click(sender As System.Object, e As System.EventArgs) Handles btnPrintPreview.Click
        PrintPreviewDialog1.Document = PrintDoc1
        'Add a handler to direct print from Preview Dialog to graphics
        AddHandler PrintDoc1.PrintPage, AddressOf PDoc_PrintPage
        PrintPreviewDialog1.ShowDialog()
    End Sub

Print Handler and Graphics print method with scaling

Private Sub PDoc_PrintPage(sender As Object, e As PrintPageEventArgs)
        PrintToGraphics(e.Graphics, e.MarginBounds)
    End Sub
    Public Sub PrintToGraphics(Graphics As Graphics, bounds As Rectangle)
        'Print the control's view to a Graphics object.
        '<param name="graphics">Graphics object to draw on.</param>
        '<param name="bounds">Rectangle to print in.</param>

        'Draw the control and contents to a bitmap 
        Dim Bitmap As Bitmap = New Bitmap(pnlSetupSummary.Width, pnlSetupSummary.Height)
        pnlSetupSummary.DrawToBitmap(Bitmap, New Rectangle(0, 0, Bitmap.Width, Bitmap.Height))
        
	'Assign Print Bounds to target rectangle
        Dim PrtWidth, PrtHeight, PrtLeft, PrtTop As Integer
        PrtWidth = bounds.Width
        PrtHeight = bounds.Height
        PrtLeft = bounds.Left
        PrtTop = bounds.Top
        Dim target As Rectangle = New Rectangle(PrtLeft, PrtTop, PrtWidth, PrtHeight)
        'Scale bitmap to fit target
        Dim xScale As Double = Bitmap.Width / PrtWidth
        Dim yScale As Double = Bitmap.Height / PrtHeight
        If xScale < yScale Then
            target.Width = Int(xScale * target.Width / yScale)
        Else
            target.Height = Int(yScale * target.Height / xScale)
        End If
        'Draw the bitmap
        Graphics.PageUnit = GraphicsUnit.Display
        Graphics.DrawImage(Bitmap, target)
    End Sub

Answer 15

Thanks a lot!

---

Michael Sun [MSFT]
MSDN Community Support | Feedback to us

Answer 16

Good morning,

congratulations for this page.

I have a question.

i try to use the above code but it does not recognize "PDoc_Printpage". What i am doing wrong?

Best regards,

Sérgio

Answer 17

Does the top of you code look exactly like this?

Imports System.Drawing.Printing
Public Class SetupPrint
    Private PrintDoc1 As PrintDocument = New PrintDocument