Use of Print Preview in .Net Winforms

Question

I am writing c# code in .Net 2008 Winforms.

I created a print preview window to create a report. It works fine I can preview the report and then print it. The only problem is it is not as flexible as the Office Print preview. The users cannot chose a printer other that the default printer and they cannot limit the print to certain pages. Perhaps I am missing some prperties I need.

Here is a portion of the code I use:

PrintDocument pd = new PrintDocument();
            pd.PrintPage += new PrintPageEventHandler(this.PrintTheGraph);
            pd.DefaultPageSettings.Landscape = true;
            // Allocate a print preview dialog object.
            PrintPreviewDialog dlg = new PrintPreviewDialog();
            dlg.Width = 100;
            dlg.MinimumSize = new Size(375, 250);
            dlg.SetBounds(100, -550, 800, 800);
            dlg.Document = pd;
            DialogResult result = dlg.ShowDialog();

Thanks,

Bob

Answer 1

Print Preview and Print are different functions and should be different menu options. Choosing Print Preview should not print your document, it is entirely likely that a user would want to see what their document looks like laid out on a page without actually printing it.

To print a page and allow selecting printer devices, use :

PrintDialog pDialog = new PrintDialog( );
pDialog.Document = printDocument;
if (pDialog.ShowDialog( ) == DialogResult.OK) {
    printDocument.DocumentName = fileName;
    printDocument.Print( );
    }

The PrintDialog class has a UseEXDialog property you can use to show an expanded Page Setup dialog with print selections, ranges, n-up printing, et. al. Handling all these options is a lot of work, get PrintDialog working first.

Answer 2

Nowhere in that code do you ever call pd.Print(). Where does that happen?

Answer 3

I don't actually want to print in code. The user will decide to print (or not) after previewing the document.

Bob