printing byte array

Question

Hi,

I want to perform two actions with a byte array:

1) write it to a file

2) print it on a printer

Results:

1) Writing to a file is succesfull using "File.WriteAllBytes("c://temp//test.pdf", pByteArray);". The file is stored correctly and readable.

2) To print the same information, I've used the 'PrintQueue'. I can see the job appears in the queue, but nothing comes out of the printer.

Sample code:

            LocalPrintServer srv = new LocalPrintServer(PrintSystemDesiredAccess.AdministrateServer);

            // Get the printqueue
            PrintQueue printQueue = srv.GetPrintQueue(PrinterPath);  // PrinterPath = windows printer name
            if (printQueue == null)
            {
                throw new Exception(String.Format("PrintQueue for printer {0} not found.", PrinterPath));
            } 

            // Call AddJob
            PrintSystemJobInfo myPrintJob = printQueue.AddJob("Test Print Job");

            // Write a Byte buffer to the JobStream and close the stream
            Stream myStream = myPrintJob.JobStream;
            myStream.Write(pByteArray, 0, pByteArray.Length);
            myStream.Close();

For information: I did a test that reads the written (pdf) file into a byte array, and if I use that array to print => this works correct...

What can cause this?

Best regards,

Stijn.

Answer 1

A byte[] array is binary so you can't print the results directly.  See code below for solution

using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.Linq;
using System.Text;
using System.IO;
namespace ConsoleApplication1
{
    class Program
    {
        
        static void Main(string[] args)
        {
            byte[] mybytes = new byte[256];
            for (int index = 0; index < 256; index++)
            {
                mybytes[index] = (byte)(index & 0xff) ;
            }
            string stringbytes = BytesToString(mybytes);
        }
        static string BytesToString(byte[] mybytes)
        {
            string[] HexChar = new string[]{"0","1","2","3","4","5","6","7",
                "8","9","A","B","C","D","E","F"};
            string results = "";
            for (int index = 0; index < mybytes.Count(); index++)
            {
                results += HexChar[(mybytes[index] >> 4) & 0xf];
                results += HexChar[(mybytes[index] & 0xf)];
            }
            return results;
        }
    }
}

---

jdweng

Answer 2

Hi Stijn,

How about Joel's code?

Best regards,

---

Mike Feng
MSDN Community Support | Feedback to us
Please remember to mark the replies as answers if they help and unmark them if they provide no help.

Answer 3

The easiest way to print a pdf file is to shell it with the print verb.  It will print with the program associated with the pdf extension, usually Adobe Acrobat.  If you must print the byte array, use a 3rd party library.