ACC2000: How to Use Code to Change a Report's Printer

ID: Q208840

The information in this article applies to:

Microsoft Access 2000

Advanced: Requires expert coding, interoperability, and multiuser skills.

SUMMARY

You can change the printer for a report or form in two ways:

You can change the Windows default printer.
You can set the PrtDevNames and PrtDevMode properties.

The information in this article supplements the Microsoft Access Help topic about the PrtDevNames property.

MORE INFORMATION

Method 1: Changing the Microsoft Windows Default Printer

In the Page Setup dialog box, you can select whether forms or reports are printed by either a default printer or a specific printer. If you select a default printer, the form or report is printed to the Windows default printer. If you want to change to another default printer, you must change the Windows default printer.

To change the Windows default printer by using Visual Basic code, use WriteProfileString to change the Device= entry of the Windows section of the Win.ini file.

Method 2: Setting the PrtDevNames and PrtDevMode properties

The PrtDevNames property stores the name of the printer, and the PrtDevMode property stores the driver information. You need to change both of these properties in order to change the printer driver. If the PrtDevMode property does not match the PrtDevNames property (that is, the PrtDevMode property describes a different driver than the PrtDevNames property) a General Protection (GP) Fault may occur.

To change the printer driver, you must do the following:

Open a form or report in Design view.

Set the PrtDevNames property.

Retrieve and set the PrtDevMode property.

In order to set the PrtDevMode property to the appropriate structure, you must obtain the driver information. You can obtain this information in several ways:

Retrieve the information from a previously saved form or report that uses the printer that you want.
Call the driver and retrieve the structure. In order to call the driver, you need a separate DLL. This is because you must declare calls to functions in outside files ahead of time and the driver name will not be known. Instead, call a DLL that determines the correct printer driver to call and retrieves the DevMode structure.
Use the Windows Print Common Dialog.

REFERENCES

For more information about the PrtDevMode and the PrtDevNames properties, click Microsoft Access Help on the Help menu, type "PrtDevMode, PrtDevNames" in the Office Assistant or the Answer Wizard, and then click Search to view the topic.

Also, see the following Web site:

http://www.microsoft.com/AccessDev/Articles/GetzCh10.HTM

For more information about WriteProfileString, the Win.ini, and the Default Printer in Windows, consult the Microsoft Developers Network CD-ROM (MSDN).

Additional query words:


Keywords          : kbprint kbdta PtrSetup 
Version           : WINDOWS:2000
Platform          : WINDOWS 
Issue type        : kbhowto

Last Reviewed: May 13, 1999