Printing Word Documents

[Karbon]

I need to whip up something really quick to print MS-Word documents. Can anyone give me some pointers about doing this in PB? I've never used the Office automation stuff in anything but VB..

Thanks!!

[GedB]

Karbon,

To be honest, If you do have VB then your best off writing a dll to do it in VB and then calling it from PB.

The other alternative is to use the command line or DDE.

[freak]

Ok, this might be a little bit of a hack, but it works
(requires the atl.dll to run of course)

Code: Select all

; Constants for the ExecWB Method:
#OLECMDID_OPEN              = 1
#OLECMDID_NEW               = 2
#OLECMDID_SAVE              = 3
#OLECMDID_SAVEAS            = 4
#OLECMDID_SAVECOPYAS        = 5
#OLECMDID_PRINT             = 6
#OLECMDID_PRINTPREVIEW      = 7
#OLECMDID_PAGESETUP         = 8
#OLECMDID_SPELL             = 9
#OLECMDID_PROPERTIES        = 10
#OLECMDID_CUT               = 11
#OLECMDID_COPY              = 12
#OLECMDID_PASTE             = 13
#OLECMDID_PASTESPECIAL      = 14
#OLECMDID_UNDO              = 15
#OLECMDID_REDO              = 16
#OLECMDID_SELECTALL         = 17
#OLECMDID_CLEARSELECTION    = 18
#OLECMDID_ZOOM              = 19
#OLECMDID_GETZOOMRANGE      = 20
#OLECMDID_UPDATECOMMANDS    = 21
#OLECMDID_REFRESH           = 22
#OLECMDID_STOP              = 23
#OLECMDID_HIDETOOLBARS      = 24
#OLECMDID_SETPROGRESSMAX    = 25
#OLECMDID_SETPROGRESSPOS    = 26
#OLECMDID_SETPROGRESSTEXT   = 27
#OLECMDID_SETTITLE          = 28
#OLECMDID_SETDOWNLOADSTATE  = 29
#OLECMDID_STOPDOWNLOAD      = 30

#OLECMDEXECOPT_DODEFAULT        = 0
#OLECMDEXECOPT_PROMPTUSER       = 1
#OLECMDEXECOPT_DONTPROMPTUSER   = 2
#OLECMDEXECOPT_SHOWHELP         = 3 


#Button = 1
#Web = 2

If OpenWindow(0, 0, 0, 300, 200, #PB_Window_SystemMenu|#PB_Window_Screencentered, "Print word documents...")
  If CreateGadgetList(WindowID())
  
    ButtonGadget(#Button, 5, 5, 120, 20, "Print a document")
    
    WebGadget(#Web, 0, 0, 0, 0, "")  ; nobody needs to see this ;)
    HideGadget(#Web, 1)

    ; get pointer to the WebGadget object
    WebObject.IWebBrowser2 = GetWindowLong_(GadgetID(#Web), #GWL_USERDATA)

    Repeat
      Event = WaitWindowEvent()
     
      If Event = #PB_EventGadget And EventGadgetID() = #Button
     
        File$ = OpenFileRequester("Print file...", "C:\", "MS Word Documents (*.doc)|*.doc|All Files (*.*)|*.*", 0)
        If File$ <> ""                
       
          ; load the file into the webgadget...
          SetGadgetText(#Web, File$)
          
          SetGadgetText(#Button, "Loading...")  ; put a wait message on the button :)
          While WindowEvent(): Wend
          
          ; wait until file is loaded!
          Repeat
            WebObject\get_Busy(@IsBusy.l)
            Delay(1)
          Until IsBusy = 0
          
          
          ; print the file...
          WebObject\ExecWB(#OLECMDID_PRINT, #OLECMDEXECOPT_PROMPTUSER, 0, 0)
          
          ; use this to print without asking the user:
          ; WebObject\ExecWB(#OLECMDID_PRINT, #OLECMDEXECOPT_DONTPROMPTUSER, 0, 0)
          
          ; reset wait message          
          SetGadgetText(#Button, "Print a document")
                      
               
        EndIf
     
      EndIf
     
    Until Event = #PB_EventCloseWindow
     
  EndIf
EndIf

End

Note: on the first run, the file might take a little time before printing,
because the webgadget needs to load the MS-word file display thingy first.
subsequent printings should be faster then.

Timo

[Karbon]

Very impressive!

THANK YOU!

For all the code you've given me I really owe you a beer or something.. If I'm ever near you, count on a pint(++)

[AlGonzalez]

You may want to look at the OpenSource AutoIt as an option:

Code: Select all

Dim $WordApp, $DocPath, $DocTitle

$WordApp = "E:\apps\Microsoft Office\Office\WINWORD.EXE"
$DocPath = "z:\Working\FVS2\Docs\"
$DocTitle = "Setup Sybase Server Service.doc"

Run($WordApp)
AutoItSetOption("WinTitleMatchMode", 2) ; Match any substring in title
WinWaitActive("- Microsoft Word")
Send("^o")                              ; Open File
Send($DocPath & $DocTitle & "{ENTER}")  ; Load file
Sleep(2000)                             ; Wait 2 seconds to load
Send("^p{Enter}")                       ; Print File
Sleep(5000)                             ; Wait 5 seconds to print
AutoItSetOption("WinTitleMatchMode", 1) ; Match partial in title from start
WinActivate($DocTitle)
WinWaitActive($DocTitle)
Send("!fx")                             ; Exit

You can run the AutoIt exe from PB or use the older version 2 that includes a dll.

The new version 3 will have a dll soon (I hope).

HTH

[Karbon]

Freak: Any reason this wouldn't work with the Acrobat extension and a PDF in the browser?

I get nothing...

[freak]

I guess it is because the PDF plugin adds it's own 'print' button, and maybe
doesn't use the IE printing interface at all.
Sorry, can't help you there.

Timo

[Karbon]

Ok, thanks!