How to show printer properties/preferences dialog and save changes?

Question

EDIT: My fault! I expected the changes to be written back to the default printer settings when in fact only the local instance of the PrinterSettings are changed. - The below code seems to work as intended

I am trying to show the custom printer properties of a given printer. I need this as part of a custom PrintDialog which I am trying to write.

Most of the examples that I can find online manage to show the dialog but any changes the user might make are lost which makes it useless.

Example: http://www.codeproject.com/KB/system/PrinterPropertiesWindow.aspx

(regarding above page: I tried to change the code as suggested by BartJoy (on the page) but that didn't fix it)

I also tried the sample and suggestions on the pinvoke.net page but it still doesn't work:

http://www.pinvoke.net/default.aspx/winspool.documentproperties

From the above websites I assume that the problem might only be on 64 bit Windows and/or if a printer name is longer than 32 characters.

I don't know what I should try next... I appreciate any suggestions and comments!

EDIT: Here is what I have tried:

[DllImport("winspool.Drv", EntryPoint = "DocumentPropertiesW", SetLastError = true,
 ExactSpelling = true, CallingConvention = CallingConvention.StdCall)]
static extern int DocumentProperties(IntPtr hwnd, IntPtr hPrinter,
        [MarshalAs(UnmanagedType.LPWStr)] string pDeviceName,
        IntPtr pDevModeOutput, IntPtr pDevModeInput, int fMode);

[DllImport("winspool.drv")]
private static extern int OpenPrinter(string pPrinterName, out IntPtr hPrinter, IntPtr pDefault);
[DllImport("winspool.drv")]
private static extern int ClosePrinter(IntPtr phPrinter);

[DllImport("kernel32.dll")]
static extern IntPtr GlobalLock(IntPtr hMem);
[DllImport("kernel32.dll")]
static extern bool GlobalUnlock(IntPtr hMem);
[DllImport("kernel32.dll")]
static extern bool GlobalFree(IntPtr hMem);

private const int DM_PROMPT = 4;
private const int DM_OUT_BUFFER = 2;
private const int DM_IN_BUFFER = 8;

private void OpenPrinterPropertiesDialog()
{
    var printerSettings = new System.Drawing.Printing.PrinterSettings();
    var printerName = printerSettings.PrinterName;

    IntPtr handle;
    OpenPrinter(printerName, out handle, IntPtr.Zero);

    IntPtr hDevMode = printerSettings.GetHdevmode(printerSettings.DefaultPageSettings);
    IntPtr pDevMode = GlobalLock(hDevMode);
    int sizeNeeded = DocumentProperties(this.Handle, handle, printerName, pDevMode, pDevMode, 0);
    IntPtr devModeData = Marshal.AllocHGlobal(sizeNeeded);
    DocumentProperties(this.Handle, handle, printerName, devModeData, pDevMode, DM_IN_BUFFER | DM_PROMPT | DM_OUT_BUFFER);

    ClosePrinter(handle);
    GlobalUnlock(hDevMode);

    printerSettings.SetHdevmode(devModeData);
    printerSettings.DefaultPageSettings.SetHdevmode(devModeData);

    GlobalFree(hDevMode);
    Marshal.FreeHGlobal(devModeData);
}

I have tried to use the OpenPrinter and ClosePrinter method and pass the devModeData as the output parameter in the second call as I found it strange that the original code from the pinvoke.net didn't do this. (but I admit, that I don't know what I am doing - this is just trial and error).

Here is the original code from the pinvoke site:

private void OpenPrinterPropertiesDialog(PrinterSettings printerSettings)
{
    IntPtr hDevMode = printerSettings.GetHdevmode(printerSettings.DefaultPageSettings);
    IntPtr pDevMode = GlobalLock(hDevMode);
    int sizeNeeded = DocumentProperties(this.Handle, IntPtr.Zero, printerSettings.PrinterName, pDevMode, pDevMode, 0);
    IntPtr devModeData = Marshal.AllocHGlobal(sizeNeeded);
    DocumentProperties(this.Handle, IntPtr.Zero, printerSettings.PrinterName, IntPtr.Zero, pDevMode, 14);
    GlobalUnlock(hDevMode);
    printerSettings.SetHdevmode(devModeData);
    printerSettings.DefaultPageSettings.SetHdevmode(devModeData);
    GlobalFree(hDevMode);
    Marshal.FreeHGlobal(devModeData);
}

Answer 1

• when your application started up:
  • have you queried the printer driver for the correct size of the DEVMODE structure before allocating it?
  • have you asked the device driver to initialize the DEVMODE buffer with the default settings after you have allocated it?
• when your application popped up the printer dialog:
  • have you set the DM_IN_BUFFER and DM_OUT_BUFFER flags (in addition to DM_IN_PROMPT) in the fMode parameter to DocumentProperties?
  • have you pointed both pDevModeInput and pDevModeOutput to the DEVMODE buffer you initialized at application startup?
  • are the dmFields bits in the DEVMODE buffer properly set prior to your calling DocumentProperties(... DM_IN_PROMPT ...)
  • are you preserving the contents of the DEVMODE buffer in between calls to DocumentProperties(... DM_IN_PROMPT ...)?

See:

• How To Modify Printer Settings with the DocumentProperties() Function
• Using the Document Properties Dialog Box
• the DocumentProperties Function

Answer 2

Also, if you want to do this using WPF classes (PrintQueue, PrintTicket) this page points you to the right direction:

http://social.msdn.microsoft.com/Forums/en/wpf/thread/0dc695c1-578d-4da5-8f68-b2a257846c02