Select a printer and print text or file in Delphi

lsomething like this:

procedure TForm1.Button1Click(Sender: TObject);
begin
  with Printer do
    begin
      PrinterIndex := your_printer_index;
      BeginDoc;
       Canvas.TextOut(200,200, 'hello world');
      EndDoc;
    end;
end;

ziolko.

That seems to select different printers and draw the text on the canvas...

Just a hint...

if some of my printers are inkjet-laser and others are Dot-Matrix, then the textout is really bad when it gets to the dot-matrix one...

Is there any way arround this so I can print correctly on my desired printer either if its inkjet-laser or DotMatrix?

>>That seems to select different printers and draw the text on the canvas...

yup, that's how it works you can textout() or draw() onprinters canvas like on any other canvas

>>Is there any way arround this so I can print correctly on my desired printer either if its inkjet-laser or DotMatrix?

well it doesn't matter if it is laser, dot-matrix or termal printer it's all up to you what you draw on canvas and where you draw it.

for your "calculations" you can use:
  printer.Canvas.TextHeight('Lj')
  printer.Canvas.TextWidth('W')
as well as
 GetDeviceCaps(Printer.Handle, ... )


ziolko.

I used to use coordinates in milimeters to print text in specific position regardles of printer, it worked on different laser printers but never tried with dot-matrix.

basically i used:
  res := GetDeviceCaps(printer.Handle, PHYSICALWIDTH);
  sze := GetDeviceCaps(printer.Handle, HORZSIZE);
to calculate device units per millimeter (res / sze)
then
  offX := GetDeviceCaps(printer.Handle, PHYSICALOFFSETX)
to get edge of non-printable area, then when I wanted to print something 90 millimeters from lefte edge of page I calculated 90 millimeters to device units and substract offX

ziolko.