Develop Reference

Is it possible to schedule the printer to print page by page

I have an A3-sized print document that contains images customer provide and it will fill up the document through calculation (There could sometimes be more than 300 images at once being computed to printDocument). The problem I am facing now is that when it is sent to the printer the document is too big for the printer memory to handle. Is there a way to let printer to print page as soon as it is sent rather than the whole document? My colleague suggest to break those pages to a different document. Is that possible?
I have scour through the documentation and there seems to be no way for the printDocument or printerController to talk with the printer to start printing page as soon as it receives.
On my test run I have a job of 360 images stuffed into 28 pages and the document spool data went up to 2.71GB
Screenshot of the print queue
private void PrintPageEventHandler(object sender, PrintPageEventArgs e)
{
//set some settings
//loop until the page has been filled up by images
while(counter < maxImageAllowedPerPage)
{
e.Graphics.DrawImage(image, currentPoint.X + posX, currentPoint.Y +
posY, newWidth, newHeight);
}
e.Graphics.Dispose();
e.HasMorePages = (PrintedImageCount != TotalImageCount);
}

Ok based on the Microsoft docs for PrintDocument, you should just need to move your loop.
So something like
while(counter < maxImageAllowedPerPage)
{
PrintDocument pd = new PrintDocument();
pd.PrintPage += new PrintPageEventHandler(this.PrintPageEventHandler);
pd.Print();
}
Not sure how your determining which image's to print, but you'll need to do that in this loop too, probably before the final Print(), as that is what will fire the Event Handler. Possibly you'll want two collections of 'images', your complete collection of images, and a collection that is filled for each page, so you'll fill that second collection in the loop above and the PrintPage EV will read from that collection.
Oh and HasMorePages will always be false now.

I ended up with something similar to #cjb110's answer
//initialize the print docuemnts with all settings required
var printDocument = new PrintDocument();
printDocument.PrintedImageCount = 0;
printDocument.TotalImageCount = 150;
while(printDocument.PrintedImageCount != printDocument.TotalImageCount){
printDocument.Print();
}
As of current the printer is able to handle based on my test print 30 document being sent to the printer without crashing, and my client will monitor on their own to see how many document can the printer accept until it crash to see if I need to implement a limitation to prevent too many docuemnt being sent at once.
Thanks to all that have suggest different kind of solutions.

Printing PDF programmatically bloats file size

Ok, So I've been given a task to build a light weight printing feature that will replace a third party tool that costs a significant amount of money,and not only that, has far too many features.
I've managed to build a little system that polls some data and calls an endpoint on an on-premise MVC app, which in turn prints the document.
All is great, but I'm really struggling to figure out why the PDF file size bloats when hitting the Print Queue.
Currently the File size is 822KB when I print manually via Adobe the PDF is compressed to 342KB
BUT using the system it bloats to an astonishing 4.22MB
To note I am using the PDFium SDK Nuget package to take away some of the heavy lifting. Having said that, I do utilize System.Drawing.Printing to craft settings to pass to PDFium.
A little code to demonstrate printing:
public bool PrintPDF(string printer,
string filePath)
{
try
{
var printerSettings = new PrinterSettings
{
PrinterName = "Hewlett-Packard HP LaserJet P2015 Series",
Copies = 1,
};
using (var document = PdfDocument.Load(#"C:\folder\Documentation\test.pdf"))
{
using (var printDocument = document.CreatePrintDocument())
{
printDocument.PrinterSettings = printerSettings;
printDocument.DefaultPageSettings = pageSettings;
printDocument.DocumentName = "test.pdf";
printDocument.PrintController = new StandardPrintController();
printDocument.Print();
}
}
return true;
}
catch(System.Exception ex)
{
new Email().SendEmail("", "TEST ERR", ex.Message, "email address");
return false;
}
}
At the moment I'd be happy if it printed the physical size (822KB) rather than bloating it.
Id really appreciate some guidance and a nudge in the right direction.

PDF is (usually) a vector representation of the page, its a page description. PDF can contain bitmap data as well, but for text and line art its usually vector, and white space simply isn't included in the description at all.
When you print, then behind the scenes the application creates a device context compatible with the printer you select, replays the drawing commands it used to draw the content on the display, and then tells the printer context to print.
That causes the device driver to be handed the GDI commands to draw the page. Depending on the printer type (ie what page description language it understands) the device driver can simply pass on the commands (for a GDI printer), convert them to a high level vector representation (like PostScript) or render them to a bitmap. Some drivers may do a combination of these approaches. The result is then sent to the printer.
The Adobe PDF 'printer' works by co-opting the Windows PostScript printer driver, which converts GDI commands into vector PostScript operations, which are easily turned into vector PDF operations, resulting in a small representation of the page.
It sounds to me like your printer (or possibly printer driver) is 'dumb' and wants, or is being sent, a big bitmap. Once upon a time, in the days when printers ran on serial interfaces and 9600 baud was fast, it was worth keeping the file size small and having the printer be smart, because it took a long time to send the data. Nowadays, that's less of a concern, even several megabytes can transfer rapidly, and if you send a pre-rendered bitmap to the printer, the printer can be dumb and still print fast, because all it has to do is transfer the bits.
You haven't really said what you mean when you "print manually using Adobe" or "use the system" so I can't tell you more than that, but my guess would be that your big PDF simply contains a large (compressed) image.

c# printing through PDF drivers, print to file option will output PS instead of PDF

After struggling whole day, I identified the issue but this didn't solve my problem.
On short:
I need to open a PDF, convert to BW (grayscale), search some words and insert some notes nearby found words. At a first look it seems easy but I discovered how hard PDF files are processed (having no "words" concepts and so on).
Now the first task, converting to grayscale just drove me crazy. I didn't find a working solution either commercial or free. I came up with this solution:
open the PDF
print with windows drivers, some free PDF printers
This is quite ugly since I will force the C# users to install such 3'rd party SW but.. that is fpr the moment. I tested FreePDF, CutePDF and PDFCreator. All of them are working "stand alone" as expected.
Now when I tried to print from C#, obviously, I don't want the print dialog, just select BW option and print (aka. convert)
The following code just uses a PDF library, shown for clarity only.
Aspose.Pdf.Facades.PdfViewer viewer = new Aspose.Pdf.Facades.PdfViewer();
viewer.BindPdf(txtPDF.Text);
viewer.PrintAsGrayscale = true;
//viewer.RenderingOptions = new RenderingOptions { UseNewImagingEngine = true };
//Set attributes for printing
//viewer.AutoResize = true; //Print the file with adjusted size
//viewer.AutoRotate = true; //Print the file with adjusted rotation
viewer.PrintPageDialog = true; //Do not produce the page number dialog when printing
////PrinterJob printJob = PrinterJob.getPrinterJob();
//Create objects for printer and page settings and PrintDocument
System.Drawing.Printing.PrinterSettings ps = new System.Drawing.Printing.PrinterSettings();
System.Drawing.Printing.PageSettings pgs = new System.Drawing.Printing.PageSettings();
//System.Drawing.Printing.PrintDocument prtdoc = new System.Drawing.Printing.PrintDocument();
//prtdoc.PrinterSettings = ps;
//Set printer name
//ps.PrinterName = prtdoc.PrinterSettings.PrinterName;
ps.PrinterName = "CutePDF Writer";
ps.PrintToFile = true;
ps.PrintFileName = #"test.pdf";
//
//ps.
//Set PageSize (if required)
//pgs.PaperSize = new System.Drawing.Printing.PaperSize("A4", 827, 1169);
//Set PageMargins (if required)
//pgs.Margins = new System.Drawing.Printing.Margins(0, 0, 0, 0);
//Print document using printer and page settings
viewer.PrintDocumentWithSettings(ps);
//viewer.PrintDocument();
//Close the PDF file after priting
What I discovered and seems to be little explained, is that if you select
ps.PrintToFile = true;
no matter C# PDF library or PDF printer driver, Windows will just skip the PDF drivers and instead of PDF files will output PS (postscript) ones which obviously, will not be recognized by Adobe Reader.
Now the question (and I am positive that others who may want to print PDFs from C# may be encountered) is how to print to CutePDF for example and still suppress any filename dialog?
In other words, just print silently with programmatically selected filename from C# application. Or somehow convince "print to file" to go through PDF driver, not Windows default PS driver.
Thanks very much for any hints.

I solved conversion to grayscale with a commercial component with this post and I also posted there my complete solution, in care anyone will struggle like me.
Converting PDF to Grayscale pdf using ABC PDF

Crystal Report | Printing | Default Printer

I am making one application where user will print invoices which I am displaying using Crystal Report.
The user showed me his current application made using ForPro. In that application, under Printer Options form, one can see all the printers currently installed and the user could select default printer. When the invoice is made, the user presses the print button, then there is one dialog asking for no. of copies. When it's entered, the invoice gets printed directly, without any Print Dialog Box. If the user wants to change the printer again he/she will change it in the Printer Option form.
I want to know if similar thing is possible in Crystal Report and need guidance on how to approach for it.

Take a look at the ReportDocument.PrintToPrinter SAP Docs or MSDN Docs for how to specify the PrinterName and then Print using the ReportDocument object.
If you can try and get away from how the FoxPro app UI for printer selection. Instead use the standard print dialog box to select the printer.
You should note that if you don't set the PrinterName before sending the report to the printer it will use the default on the crystal file. Not to be confused with the user's OS default printer.
Here's an example of showing the PrintDialog settings some parameters using the SetParameterValue method and then sending the report document to a printer
// Note: untested
var dialog = new PrintDialog();
Nullable<bool> print = dialog.ShowDialog();
if (print.HasValue && print.Value)
{
var rd = new ReportDocument();
rd.Load("ReportFile.rpt");
rd.SetParameter("Parameter1", "abc");
rd.SetParameter("Parameter2", "foo");
rd.PrintOptions.PrinterName = dialog.PrinterSettings.PrinterName;
rd.PrintToPrinter(1, false, 0, 0);
}

The code above no longer works as advertised which has been admitted by SAP
You need to set the report document to an ISCDReportClientDocument and then print it. This is a more robust way of making sure the print job doesn't go to the default printer. The last two lines can be replaced with this code.
CrystalDecisions.ReportAppServer.Controllers.PrintReportOptions printReportOptions = new CrystalDecisions.ReportAppServer.Controllers.PrintReportOptions();
CrystalDecisions.ReportAppServer.Controllers.PrintOutputController printOutputController = new CrystalDecisions.ReportAppServer.Controllers.PrintOutputController();
CrystalDecisions.ReportAppServer.ClientDoc.ISCDReportClientDocument rptClientDoc;
rptClientDoc = cryRtp.ReportClientDocument;
printReportOptions.PrinterName = pDialog.PrinterSettings.PrinterName;
rptClientDoc.PrintOutputController.PrintReport(printReportOptions);
Here is another good link
http://mattruma.azurewebsites.net/?p=258

Printing A PDF Automatically to a specific printer and tray

I have a C# application that When the user clicks Print the application creates a PDF in memorystream using ITextSharp. I need to print this PDF automatically to a specific printer and tray.
I have searched for this but all i can find is using javascript, but it doesn't print to a specific tray.
Does anyone have an examples of doing this?
Thank you.

You can change printer tray with this code.
string _paperSource = "TRAY 2"; // Printer Tray
string _paperName = "8x17"; // Printer paper name
//Tested code comment. The commented code was the one I tested, but when
//I was writing the post I realized that could be done with less code.
//PaperSize pSize = new PaperSize() //Tested code :)
//PaperSource pSource = new PaperSource(); //Tested code :)
/// Find selected paperSource and paperName.
foreach (PaperSource _pSource in printDoc.PrinterSettings.PaperSources)
if (_pSource.SourceName.ToUpper() == _paperSource.ToUpper())
{
printDoc.DefaultPageSettings.PaperSource = _pSource;
//pSource = _pSource; //Tested code :)
break;
}
foreach (PaperSize _pSize in printDoc.PrinterSettings.PaperSizes)
if (_pSize.PaperName.ToUpper() == _paperName.ToUpper())
{
printDoc.DefaultPageSettings.PaperSize = _pSize;
//pSize = _pSize; //Tested code :)
break;
}
//printDoc.DefaultPageSettings.PaperSize = pSize; //Tested code :)
//printDoc.DefaultPageSettings.PaperSource = pSource; //Tested code :)

in the past I spent a lot of time searching the web for solutions to print pdf files to specific printer trays.
My requirement was: collect several pdf files from server directory and send each file to a different printer tray in a loop.
So I have tested a lot of 3rd party tools (trials) and best practices found in web.
Generally all theese tools can be divide into two classifications: a) send pdf files to printer in a direct way (silent in UI) or b) open pdf files in UI using a built-in pdf previewer working with .Net-PrintDocument.
The only solution that fix my requirement was PDFPrint from veryPdf (drawback: it´s not priceless, but my company bought it). All the other tools and solutions didn´t work reliable, that means: calling their print-routines with parameter e.g. id = 258 (defines tray 2; getting from installed printer) but printing the pdf file in tray 3 or pdf was opened in print previewer (UI) with lost images or totally blank content and so on..
Hope that helps a little bit.

There is a tool called pdfprint:
http://www.verypdf.com/pdfprint/index.html
And here they discuss some solutions:
http://social.msdn.microsoft.com/forums/en-US/csharpgeneral/thread/da99765f-2706-4bb6-aa0e-b90730294cb4