How to print in full page without margins -- dotnet drawing api

Judge
8/7/2005 1:28:03 PM

Hi Ron,
I found a great set of codes and article that you post in the other forum
for getting the printer's hard margin throught GetDeviceCaps.

I was able to retrieve the correct hard margins through GetDeviceCaps but I
am unable to tell the printer to use that hard margins to draw maximum
printable area. I have the following code for setting the margins.

IntPtr hDc = new IntPtr();
hDc = e.Graphics.GetHdc();
PrintUtil.GetHardMargins(hDc, ref leftHardMargin, ref topHardMargin, ref
rightHardMargin, ref bottomHardMargin);
e.Graphics.ReleaseHdc(hDc);

leftMargin = Convert.ToInt32(leftHardMargin);
topMargin = Convert.ToInt32(topHardMargin);
rightMargin = Convert.ToInt32(rightHardMargin);
bottomMargin = Convert.ToInt32(bottomHardMargin);

this.DefaultPageSettings.Margins = new
Margins(leftMargin,leftMargin,topMargin,topMargin);

this.OriginAtMargins = true;
Rectangle myRect = new Rectangle(leftMargin, topMargin, rightMargin,
bottomMargin);

e.Graphics.DrawRectangle(Pens.Black, myRect );

The printer cuts of the right side of the rectangle box. And the printer's
left offeset seems to be wider than the printer's actual printable area which
I tested with left and right margin set to zero. So I can see where the
printer start printing on the page.

I have tried so many ways of setting printers margins but none seems to work.

Furthermore, my way of setting margins have different effects on different
printers.

Please help me figure out what is making this weird behavior.

Thanks in advance

[quoted text, click to view]

Ron Allen
8/8/2005 9:21:13 AM

Judge,
You may be seeing the way the rectangle is being drawn. Try drawing the
rectangle with the left and bottom 1 less than the generated amounts. I've
never tried the OriginAtMargins offset though. I just normally to a
TranslateTransform by the negative of the left and top margins and then draw
as normal. When I have output that may overflow the printer's hard margins
I test the scaling necessary to fit into the drawn area and do a scale on
the drawing as well.
You might want to try doing the TranslateTransform on the Graphics to
see how that works as well.

Ron Allen
[quoted text, click to view]

SharpCoderMP
8/8/2005 10:38:27 AM

how big is the difference between the size you get from code and the
actual printed one?

[quoted text, click to view]

Judge
8/27/2005 11:55:34 AM

Hi Ron,
I tried that and it still not working. What happens is that the hard margin
returns .25 the printpreview shows exactly how the whole rectangle is drawn
around the hard margin. i.e., .25 from the left, .25 from the right etc. Its
nicely drawn on the printpreview. But somehow when I do actual printing the
printer adds .25 to the left of the hard margin. i.e. it starts drawing at
..50 double the size of the original hard margin.

To fix that I set the origins at margin to true. Since the graphics object
return now is located within the margin I start drawing the rectangle from
x:0, y:0 position. This fix the actual printing but the printpreview now
shows me it started drawing from the 0, 0 position. No hard margin is taken
into acount.

So I tested with different printer and found out that different printer has
different result again. Back to same old problem. The rectangle may sifted or
cut off on the right side etc.

Have you or anyone ever tried to print the rectangle of the hardmargin
(printable area). If so could you share information how this can be achieved.

I am using .net 1.1 and C#

Thanks Ron. Your inputs are greatly appreciated.

Ron, is it ok for me to do email exchange with you?

If any one from Microsoft reading this (hoping they visit forums), I think
its about time they provide a solution to this (if they have any) in their
MSDN or publish an article on how to do this exactly. So many people have
encounter problem with .net printing API behaving so differently on different
computer across different forums. This solution should offer technique for
printing the rectangle of a printable area hard margin that works with
different printer.

Judge

[quoted text, click to view]

Judge
8/27/2005 11:57:16 AM

SharpCoderMP. Depends on the printer. It returns correct but the printer
won't obey that margin. Thats the main problem coz it behave differently on
different printers.

[quoted text, click to view]

Ron Allen
8/29/2005 8:59:54 AM

Judge,
What you want to do is only apply the hard margin offsets when printing
to the printer but not do this when in PrintPreview.
I usually check the VisibleClipBounds to see if it is smaller than the
page and apply hard margin offets if this is true. Otherwise I don't do a
translate. Note that I don't draw using OriginAtMargins = true, I just use
the actual page coordinates after taking account of the hard margins. A
sample from one of my working reports is:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
IntPtr hDc = ev.Graphics.GetHdc();
ev.Graphics.ReleaseHdc(hDc); // don't tie the hDC up any longer than
required
float left = 0.0f, right = 0.0f, top = 0.0f, bottom = 0.0f;
PrintUtils.GetHardMargins(hDc.ToInt32(), ref left, ref top, ref right,
ref bottom);
if (ev.Graphics.VisibleClipBounds.Height < 1100.0f) // the displayed
page height is for printer
{
ev.Graphics.TranslateTransform(-left, -top); // adjust to take hard
margins into account
}
else
{
m_color = true; // printing to screen -- use color and set a
TextRenderingHint
ev.Graphics.TextRenderingHint =
System.Drawing.Text.TextRenderingHint.AntiAliasGridFit;
}
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
After the TranslateTransform I check to see if the margins are within the
desired page width and height (Note that GetHardMargins on a PrintPreview
returns large #s for right and bottom) and then call
Graphics.Transform.Scale to get the document to fit within the printed page.
I think that you will be better off using the TranslateTransform rather
than the OriginAtMargins to do the drawing. Also note that since your
drawing is specifying left/top of the point being drawn if you draw all the
way to the margins on the right/bottom your actual line pixels will be just
outside the drawing area. You will need to subtract your line width from
the right/bottom of the rectangle to get the whole thing shown.

Ron Allen

[quoted text, click to view]

Judge
8/29/2005 1:45:44 PM

Thanks Ron, I am trying it right now and will post the result here how it
goes.

Thanks,

[quoted text, click to view]

Judge
9/7/2005 2:44:03 AM

Ron,

I tried what you have suggested here. But I still have the same problem. The
right side gets cut off in the actual printing and the the left margin is
twice the width of what the actual hard margin is. However in print preview
everthing looks find.

I notice that for actual printing, the .NET graphics some how locates the 2
times the hardleftmargin for x, 2 times the topHardmargin for y.

This happens when you create a rectangle
new Ractangle(leftHardMargin, topHardMargin, width, height);

Whatever I specified in the rectangle's lefthardmargin is added to the
DefaultPageSettings.Margins.Left. Similarly, whatever I specified in the
rectangle's lefthardmargin is added to the DefaultPageSettings.Margins.Top.

In my case the actual printing becomes twice the size because I set the same
lefthardmargin to the
DefaultPageSettings.Margins.Left and my Rectangle.Left. Similarly, for the
top setting.

However, PrintPreview shows correctly. i.e. what we thought would show. But
the actual printing somehow mess that up and keep adding the Rectangle's left
and top with DefaultPageSettings left and top. Thats why so many people have
trouble finding a solution. Some say if I print the rectangle at 0,0 position
the printout fine but print preview becomes a problem.

So to work around with the problem I did the following:
note: m_Preview is set before I show preview dialog.

this.DefaultPageSettings.Margins= new
Margins(leftHardMargin,(e.PageBounds.Width - rightHardMargin),topHardMargin,
(e.PageBounds.Height - bottomHardMargin));

if (!this.m_Preview)
{ // if this is not print preview
if (topHardMargin < 25) // i would like at least o.25 top margin
{
topHardMargin = 25 - topMargin;
// since the weird api keeps adding up the top margin with the
DefaultPageSettings.Margins.Top
}
if (leftHardMargin >= 25)
{
leftHardMargin = 25 - leftMargin; // i would like at least
o.25 top margin
// since the weird api keeps adding up the left margin with the
DefaultPageSettings.Margins.Top

}
}
else {
if (topHardMargin < 25)
{
topHardMargin = 25;

}
}
m_Preview = false; // reset to default.

Rectangle checkRect = new Rectangle(leftMargin, topMargin,
e.PageSettings.Bounds.Width - (25 * 2) - 1, e.PageSettings.Bounds.Height -
(25 * 2) - 1); // i would like my margins to be at least .25 inch

After that I tested on two different computers and printers and it works
like a charm. I tested the above code on Lexmark and samsaung. They both
printed and previewed fine.

I am not sure if my solution is a correct solution but this is the only way
I could work around with that .NET printing api. It sucks big time but have
to put up with it anyways. If I can spend more time I would have rewrote it
in java.

Thanks for you input.
Judge

[quoted text, click to view]

Judge
9/7/2005 3:23:01 AM

Typo correction on previous post:

Similarly, whatever I specified in the
rectangle's tophardmargin is added to the DefaultPageSettings.Margins.Top.

[quoted text, click to view]

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