Printer Page Area in Windows

The information in this article applies to:

• Microsoft Windows Software Development Kit (SDK) for Windows versions 3.0 and 3.1

SUMMARY

This article describes how to determine the printable area for a printer in Windows.

MORE INFORMATION

Escape(GETPHYSPAGESIZE) specifies the size of the physical sheet of the currently selected paper size; for example, 8 1/2 by 11 for letter-sized paper on the Epson FX-80.

Escape(GETPRINTINGOFFSET) specifies how far in and how far down the printable area starts on the sheet of paper; for example, 1/4 inch in and 1/8 inch down for the Epson.

GetDeviceCaps(HORZSIZE) specifies the width of the printable area on the page, in millimeters (8 inches for the Epson).

GetDeviceCaps(VERTSIZE) specifies the length of the printable area on the page, in millimeters (10 inches for the Epson).

GetDeviceCaps(HORZRES) specifies the width of the printable area on the page, in pixels. Note that this value will depend on the currently selected graphics resolution (960 for the Epson at 120 x 72 DPI or 120 x 144 DPI, 1920 for the Epson at 240 x 144 DPI).

GetDeviceCaps(VERTRES) specifies the length of the printable area on the page, in pixels. Note that this value will depend upon the currently selected graphics resolution (720 for the Epson at 120 x 72 DPI, 1440 for the Epson at 120 x 144 DPI or 240 x 144 DPI).

If pixels per inch are desired, GetDeviceCaps(LOGPIXELSX and LOGPIXELSY) gives the number of pixels per inch in each direction (120 per inch horizontal, 72 per inch vertical for Epson). Please note that these arguments were not documented prior to Windows version 3.0.

Device coordinates are returned; therefore, conversion to logical coordinates is necessary before drawing with GDI.

The origin of the printable area is 0,0. The rectangle that defines the printable area is as follows:

   left = 0
   top  = 0
   right = GetDeviceCaps (HORZSIZE)
   bottom = GetDeviceCaps (VERTSIZE)