ID: Q166008
The information in this article applies to:
Advanced: Requires expert coding, interoperability, and multiuser skills.
This article shows you two procedures that use the EnumPrinters API function to retrieve a list of printers available locally and that your computer is connected to on the network.
The procedures demonstrate returning data to both the PRINTER_INFO_1 structure and the PRINTER_INFO_4 structure, each of which provides slightly different information about the printer. If you are using Microsoft Windows 95 or later, you can return data to the PRINTER_INFO_1 structure; if you are using Microsoft Windows NT, you can return data to either structure.
This article assumes that you are familiar with Visual Basic for Applications and with creating Microsoft Access applications using the programming tools provided with Microsoft Access. For more information about Visual Basic for Applications, please refer to your version of the "Building Applications with Microsoft Access" manual.
WARNING: ANY USE BY YOU OF THE CODE PROVIDED IN THIS ARTICLE IS AT YOUR OWN RISK. Microsoft provides this code "as is" without warranty of any kind, either express or implied, including but not limited to the implied warranties of merchantability and/or fitness for a particular purpose.
Use the Sub routine EnumeratePrinters1 if you are running Microsoft Windows 95 or later. You can use either Sub routine if you are running Microsoft Windows NT.
The code in each of the two examples performs these steps:
The buffer is in the following format:
|rec1|rec2|...|recn|...garbage...|strn|...|str2|str1|
The buffer is declared as type Long, which makes extracting data from the records easier - all fields are either Long or pointers (pointers map to Long).
The StrLen() and PtrToStr() functions are used to set up the receiving string variable and to copy the text from the buffer to the variable.
1. Create a module and type the following lines in the Declarations
section:
Option Explicit
Const PRINTER_ENUM_CONNECTIONS = &H4
Const PRINTER_ENUM_LOCAL = &H2
Type PRINTER_INFO_1
flags As Long
pDescription As String
PName As String
PComment As String
End Type
Type PRINTER_INFO_4
pPrinterName As String
pServerName As String
Attributes As Long
End Type
Declare Function EnumPrinters Lib "winspool.drv" Alias _
"EnumPrintersA" (ByVal flags As Long, ByVal name As String, _
ByVal Level As Long, pPrinterEnum As Long, ByVal cdBuf As Long, _
pcbNeeded As Long, pcReturned As Long) As Long
Declare Function PtrToStr Lib "Kernel32" Alias "lstrcpyA" _
(ByVal RetVal As String, ByVal Ptr As Long) As Long
Declare Function StrLen Lib "Kernel32" Alias "lstrlenA" _
(ByVal Ptr As Long) As Long
Sub EnumeratePrinters1()
Dim Success As Boolean, cbRequired As Long, cbBuffer As Long
Dim Buffer() As Long, nEntries As Long
Dim I As Long, PFlags As Long, PDesc As String, PName As String
Dim PComment As String, Temp As Long
cbBuffer = 3072
ReDim Buffer((cbBuffer \ 4) - 1) As Long
Success = EnumPrinters(PRINTER_ENUM_CONNECTIONS Or _
PRINTER_ENUM_LOCAL, _
vbNullString, _
1, _
Buffer(0), _
cbBuffer, _
cbRequired, _
nEntries)
If Success Then
If cbRequired > cbBuffer Then
cbBuffer = cbRequired
Debug.Print "Buffer too small. Trying again with " & _
cbBuffer & " bytes."
ReDim Buffer(cbBuffer \ 4) As Long
Success = EnumPrinters(PRINTER_ENUM_CONNECTIONS Or _
PRINTER_ENUM_LOCAL, _
vbNullString, _
1, _
Buffer(0), _
cbBuffer, _
cbRequired, _
nEntries)
If Not Success Then
Debug.Print "Error enumerating printers."
Exit Sub
End If
End If
Debug.Print "There are " & nEntries & _
" local and connected printers."
For I = 0 To nEntries - 1
PFlags = Buffer(4 * I)
PDesc = Space$(StrLen(Buffer(I * 4 + 1)))
Temp = PtrToStr(PDesc, Buffer(I * 4 + 1))
PName = Space$(StrLen(Buffer(I * 4 + 2)))
Temp = PtrToStr(PName, Buffer(I * 4 + 2))
PComment = Space$(StrLen(Buffer(I * 4 + 2)))
Temp = PtrToStr(PComment, Buffer(I * 4 + 2))
Debug.Print PFlags, PDesc, PName, PComment
Next I
Else
Debug.Print "Error enumerating printers."
End If
End Sub
Sub EnumeratePrinters4()
Dim Success As Boolean, cbRequired As Long, cbBuffer As Long
Dim Buffer() As Long, nEntries As Long
Dim I As Long, PName As String, SName As String
Dim Attrib As Long, Temp As Long
cbBuffer = 3072
ReDim Buffer((cbBuffer \ 4) - 1) As Long
Success = EnumPrinters(PRINTER_ENUM_CONNECTIONS Or _
PRINTER_ENUM_LOCAL, _
vbNullString, _
4, _
Buffer(0), _
cbBuffer, _
cbRequired, _
nEntries)
If Success Then
If cbRequired > cbBuffer Then
cbBuffer = cbRequired
Debug.Print "Buffer too small. Trying again with " & _
cbBuffer & " bytes."
ReDim Buffer(cbBuffer \ 4) As Long
Success = EnumPrinters(PRINTER_ENUM_CONNECTIONS Or _
PRINTER_ENUM_LOCAL, _
vbNullString, _
4, _
Buffer(0), _
cbBuffer, _
cbRequired, _
nEntries)
If Not Success Then
Debug.Print "Error enumerating printers."
Exit Sub
End If
End If
Debug.Print "There are " & nEntries & _
" local and connected printers."
For I = 0 To nEntries - 1
PName = Space$(StrLen(Buffer(I * 3)))
Temp = PtrToStr(PName, Buffer(I * 3))
SName = Space$(StrLen(Buffer(I * 3 + 1)))
Temp = PtrToStr(SName, Buffer(I * 3 + 1))
Attrib = Buffer(I * 3 + 2)
Debug.Print "Printer: " & PName, "Server: " & SName, _
"Attributes: " & Hex$(Attrib)
Next I
Else
Debug.Print "Error enumerating printers."
End If
End Sub
and then press ENTER:
EnumeratePrinters1
The output should be similar to the following:
There are 1 local and connected printers.
8388608 \\NCPRINT\HP5SI@1155,HP LaserJet 5Si MX,HP5SI@1155
\\NCPRINT\HP5SI@1155 \\NCPRINT\HP5SI@1155
If you are using Microsoft Windows NT, type:
EnumeratePrinters4
The output should be similar to the following:
There are 1 local and connected printers.
Printer: \\NCPRINT\HP5SI@1155 Server: \\NCPRINT
Attributes: 10
For more information about the EnumPrinters function, please refer to the Win32 SDK.
Additional query words:
Keywords : kbcode kbnetwork kbprg kbprint
Version : 7.0 97
Platform : WINDOWS
Hardware : x86
Issue type : kbhowtoLast Reviewed: November 20, 1998