Printing

• Nov 13, 2018
• 3 minutes to read

This document outlines the following techniques used to print from RichEditControl.

• Print Documents Using the Default Printer
• Change Printing Settings
• Print Documents Using the Command UI

Print Documents Using the Default Printer

RichEditControl allows you to print a document with the default settings without end-user interaction. To do that, use the RichEditControl.Print method as shown below.

Note

A complete sample project is available at https://github.com/DevExpress-Examples/winforms-the-richeditcontrols-common-api-t210437

RichEditControlActions.cs

static void buttonCustomAction_ItemClick_PrintDocumentMethod(object sender, ItemClickEventArgs e) {
    RichEditControl richEdit = e.Item.Tag as RichEditControl;
    if(richEdit.IsPrintingAvailable) {
        richEdit.Print();
    }
}

RichEditControlActions.vb

Private Shared Sub buttonCustomAction_ItemClick_PrintDocumentMethod(ByVal sender As Object, ByVal e As ItemClickEventArgs)
    Dim richEdit As RichEditControl = TryCast(e.Item.Tag, RichEditControl)
    If richEdit.IsPrintingAvailable Then
        richEdit.Print()
    End If
End Sub

Change Printing Settings

To set options that are unavailable from RichEditControl directly, use the DevExpress Printing Library. This library has the PrintableComponentLink class, which allows you to change required printing settings (e.g., use the specific printer or disable showing error messages). For this, use the API from the table below as shown in the following code snippet.

Member	Description
PrintableComponentLink	Creates a new PrintableComponentLink instance with a given printing system.
PrintableComponentLinkBase.Component	Sets user implementation represented by the IPrintable instance for the current component link.
PrintableComponentLink.PrintingSystem	Obtains settings provided by the given PrintingSystem instance.
PrintableComponentLink.Print	Prints the current document using the specified printer.

Note

A complete sample project is available at https://github.com/DevExpress-Examples/how-to-use-different-printing-techniques-and-set-printing-options-in-code-e3882

Form1.cs

private static void PrintViaLink(IPrintable srv)
{
    PrintableComponentLink link = new PrintableComponentLink(new PrintingSystem());
    link.Component = srv;
    // Disable warnings.
    link.PrintingSystem.ShowMarginsWarning = false;
    link.PrintingSystem.ShowPrintStatusDialog = false;
    // Find a printer containing Canon in its name
    PrinterSettings settings = new PrinterSettings();
    string printerName = String.Empty;
    for (int i = 0; i < PrinterSettings.InstalledPrinters.Count; i++) {
        string pName = PrinterSettings.InstalledPrinters[i];
        if (pName.Contains("Canon")) {
            printerName = pName;
            break;
        }
    }
    // Print to the specified printer.
    link.Print(printerName);
}

Form1.vb

Private Shared Sub PrintViaLink(ByVal srv As IPrintable)
    Dim link As New PrintableComponentLink(New PrintingSystem())
    link.Component = srv
    ' Disable warnings.
    link.PrintingSystem.ShowMarginsWarning = False
    link.PrintingSystem.ShowPrintStatusDialog = False
    ' Find a printer containing Canon in its name
    Dim settings As New PrinterSettings()
    Dim printerName As String = String.Empty
    For i As Integer = 0 To PrinterSettings.InstalledPrinters.Count - 1
        Dim pName As String = PrinterSettings.InstalledPrinters(i)
        If pName.Contains("Canon") Then
            printerName = pName
            Exit For
        End If
    Next i
    ' Print to the specified printer.
    link.Print(printerName)
End Sub

Important

Such PrintableComponentLink properties, as LinkBase.Landscape or LinkBase.PaperKind do not affect the layout of a printed document. To change the document page layout properties before printing, change the corresponding settings of a document section ( accessed by the Section.Page property).

Print Documents using the Command UI

RichEditControl provides the following built-in commands to print the document.

Command	Description
PrintCommand	Invokes the Print dialog to print the current document.
QuickPrintCommand	Prints the current document using the default printer. The command is executed without user intervention.
PrintPreviewCommand	Displays the Print Preview window for the current document.

All built-in printing commands are available on the File Ribbon tab. To learn how to provide your application with the Ribbon Command UI, refer to the How to: Create a Simple Word Processor with a Ribbon UI topic.