Printing Directly to the Printer

Using this code enables you to print directly to the printer using WIN32 api calls and therefore should enable you to print at maximum speed rather than relying in the Windows Printing subsystems. Additionally I have added code to show how to send PCL codes to the printer.

 

The code has been compiled using the Everett beta of Visual Studio.NET however if you have not got this just copy and paste the code into a console project and recompile.

// PrintDirect.cs
// Shows how to write data directly to the printer using Win32 API's
// Written 17th October 2002 By J O'Donnell - [email protected]
// Adapted from Microsoft Support article Q298141
// This code assumes you have a printer at share \\192.168.1.101\hpl
// This code sends Hewlett Packard PCL5 codes to the printer to print
// out a rectangle in the middle of the page.
using System;
using System.Text;
using System.Runtime.InteropServices;
[StructLayout(LayoutKind.Sequential)]
public struct DOCINFO {
 [MarshalAs(UnmanagedType.LPWStr)] public string pDocName;
 [MarshalAs(UnmanagedType.LPWStr)] public string pOutputFile;
 [MarshalAs(UnmanagedType.LPWStr)] public string pDataType;
}
public class PrintDirect {
 [DllImport("winspool.drv", CharSet = CharSet.Unicode, ExactSpelling = false,
  CallingConvention = CallingConvention.StdCall)] public static extern long OpenPrinter
 string pPrinterName, ref IntPtr phPrinter, int pDefault);
[DllImport("winspool.drv", CharSet = CharSet.Unicode, ExactSpelling = false,
 CallingConvention = CallingConvention.StdCall)]
public static extern long StartDocPrinter(IntPtr hPrinter, int Level, ref DOCINFO pDocInfo);
[DllImport("winspool.drv", CharSet = CharSet.Unicode, ExactSpelling = true,
 CallingConvention = CallingConvention.StdCall)]
public static extern long StartPagePrinter(IntPtr hPrinter);
[DllImport("winspool.drv", CharSet = CharSet.Ansi, ExactSpelling = true,
CallingConvention = CallingConvention.StdCall)] public static extern long WritePrinter
IntPtr hPrinter, string data, int buf, ref int pcWritten);
[DllImport("winspool.drv", CharSet = CharSet.Unicode, ExactSpelling = true,
 CallingConvention = CallingConvention.StdCall)]
public static extern long EndPagePrinter(IntPtr hPrinter);
[DllImport("winspool.drv", CharSet = CharSet.Unicode, ExactSpelling = true,
 CallingConvention = CallingConvention.StdCall)]
public static extern long EndDocPrinter(IntPtr hPrinter);
[DllImport("winspool.drv", CharSet = CharSet.Unicode, ExactSpelling = true,
 CallingConvention = CallingConvention.StdCall)]
public static extern long ClosePrinter(IntPtr hPrinter);
}
public class App {
 public static void Main() {
  System.IntPtr lhPrinter = new System.IntPtr();
  DOCINFO di = new DOCINFO();
  int pcWritten = 0;
  string st1;
  // text to print with a form feed character
  st1 = "This is an example of printing directly to a printer\f";
  di.pDocName = "my test document";
  di.pDataType = "RAW";
  // the \x1b means an ascii escape character
  st1 = "\x1b*c600a6b0P\f";
  //lhPrinter contains the handle for the printer opened
  //If lhPrinter is 0 then an error has occured
  PrintDirect.OpenPrinter("\\\\192.168.1.101\\hpl", ref lhPrinter, 0);
  PrintDirect.StartDocPrinter(lhPrinter, 1, ref di);
  PrintDirect.StartPagePrinter(lhPrinter);
  try {
   // Moves the cursor 900 dots (3 inches at 300 dpi) in from the left margin, and
   // 600 dots (2 inches at 300 dpi) down from the top margin.
   st1 = "\x1b*p900x600Y";
   PrintDirect.WritePrinter(lhPrinter, st1, st1.Length, ref pcWritten);
   // Using the print model commands for rectangle dimensions, "600a" specifies a
   rectangle
   // with a horizontal size or width of 600 dots, and "6b" specifies a vertical
   // size or height of 6 dots. The 0P selects the solid black rectangular area fill.
   st1 = "\x1b*c600a6b0P";
   PrintDirect.WritePrinter(lhPrinter, st1, st1.Length, ref pcWritten);
   // Specifies a rectangle with width of 6 dots, height of 600 dots, and a
   // fill pattern of solid black.
   st1 = "\x1b*c6a600b0P";
   PrintDirect.WritePrinter(lhPrinter, st1, st1.Length, ref pcWritten);
   // Moves the current cursor position to 900 dots, from the left margin and
   // 1200 dots down from the top margin.
   st1 = "\x1b*p900x1200Y";
   PrintDirect.WritePrinter(lhPrinter, st1, st1.Length, ref pcWritten);
   // Specifies a rectangle with a width of 606 dots, a height of 6 dots and a
   // fill pattern of solid black.
   st1 = "\x1b*c606a6b0P";
   PrintDirect.WritePrinter(lhPrinter, st1, st1.Length, ref pcWritten);
   // Moves the current cursor position to 1500 dots from the left margin and
   // 600 dots down from the top margin.
   st1 = "\x1b*p1500x600Y";
   PrintDirect.WritePrinter(lhPrinter, st1, st1.Length, ref pcWritten);
   // Specifies a rectangle with a width of 6 dots, a height of 600 dots and a
   // fill pattern of solid black.
   st1 = "\x1b*c6a600b0P";
   PrintDirect.WritePrinter(lhPrinter, st1, st1.Length, ref pcWritten); // Send a form feed character to the printer
   st1 = "\f";
   PrintDirect.WritePrinter(lhPrinter, st1, st1.Length, ref pcWritten);
  } catch (Exception e) {
   Console.WriteLine(e.Message);
  }
  PrintDirect.EndPagePrinter(lhPrinter);
  PrintDirect.EndDocPrinter(lhPrinter);
  PrintDirect.ClosePrinter(lhPrinter);
 }
}