How to: Create a Printable ListView Descendant Implementing the IPrintable Interface
- 13 minutes to read
The following example demonstrates how a standard control can be modified to enable its use with the PrintableComponentLink. To accomplish this, the control should implement the IPrintable interface. In this topic, we create a printable descendant of the ListView control, that implements the IPrintable interface.
This tutorial consists of the following steps:
Base Declaration
The class declaration and variable definitions are as follows:
public class PrintableListView : System.Windows.Forms.ListView, IPrintable {
private Container components = null;
private IPrintingSystem ps;
private IBrickGraphics graph;
private int offsetx = 0;
private ImageList imageList = null;
// ...
}
Interfaces Implementation
It is necessary to provide the methods of the IBasePrintable interface. The new control must be initialized. The code also defines which image view, and which image list are used.
The following code implements the IBasePrintable interface, which is the base interface for the IPrintable. It defines the procedures for printing initialization, page area creation and printing completion.
void IBasePrintable.Initialize(IPrintingSystem ps, ILink link) {
this.ps = ps;
imageList = (View == View.SmallIcon || View == View.List || View == View.Details)
? SmallImageList : (View == View.LargeIcon) ? LargeImageList : null;
offsetx = (imageList == null) ? 0 : imageList.ImageSize.Height;
}
void IBasePrintable.Finalize(IPrintingSystem ps, ILink link) {
}
// Constructs different bricks based on section type and information provided by the control.
void IBasePrintable.CreateArea(string areaName, IBrickGraphics graph) {
this.graph = graph;
if (areaName.Equals("PageFooter"))
CreatePageFooter();
else if (areaName.Equals("DetailHeader"))
CreateDetailHeader();
else if (areaName.Equals("Detail"))
CreateDetail();
}
Then, we have to provide methods for invoking and using the Printable Component Property Editor form and the corresponding help system.
The following code contains procedures which define and invoke the printable component Property Editor form and help system.
// Enables the Property Editor form.
bool IPrintable.HasPropertyEditor() {
return true;
}
// Overrides the corresponding property and specifies the Property Editor to display.
UserControl IPrintable.PropertyEditorControl {
get {
UserControl ctrl = new UserControl();
return ctrl;
}
}
// Enables the help system for the Property Editor.
bool IPrintable.SupportsHelp() {
return false;
}
// Invokes the help system for the Property editor.
void IPrintable.ShowHelp() {
}
// Determines whether intersected bricks are created by this link.
bool IPrintable.CreatesIntersectedBricks {
get { return true; }
}
// Applies all changes made by the Property Editor.
void IPrintable.AcceptChanges() {
}
// Cancels changes made by the user in the Property editor.
void IPrintable.RejectChanges() {
}
Drawing Methods
The code for drawing the bricks.
The following code implements methods for drawing bricks. The ps variable represents the current PrintingSystem. The IBrick.SetProperties method is used to specify the brick properties via the IBrick interface.
private IBrick DrawBrick(string typeName, RectangleF rect) {
IBrick brick = ps.CreateBrick(typeName);
return graph.DrawBrick(brick, rect);
}
private IBrick DrawBrick(string typeName, object[,] properties, RectangleF rect) {
IBrick brick = ps.CreateBrick(typeName);
brick.SetProperties(properties);
return graph.DrawBrick(brick, rect);
}
And, the code for the main method of report generation, which creates the report’s contents.
The following code implements the CreateDetail method for the printable descendant of the ListView control. It populates the detail section of a report with data obtained from the control.
It calls the CreateDetails method, if the printable ListView control is in Detail mode. The code for other modes is omitted to shorten and simplify the example.
The brickGraph variable represents the IBrickGraphics interface. The code draws TextBrick objects for text items in the List View and ImageBrick objects for list view icons. Brick properties are accessed via the IBrick.SetProperties method provided by the IBrick interface.
private void CreateDetail() {
if (View == View.Details) CreateDetails();
else if (View == View.LargeIcon || View == View.SmallIcon || View == View.List)
CreateIcons();
}
private void CreateDetails() {
Rectangle r = Rectangle.Empty;
StringFormat sf = new StringFormat(StringFormatFlags.NoWrap | StringFormatFlags.LineLimit);
sf.LineAlignment = StringAlignment.Near;
graph.DefaultBrickStyle.StringFormat = new BrickStringFormat(sf);
graph.DefaultBrickStyle.BackColor = SystemColors.Window;
graph.DefaultBrickStyle.BorderColor = SystemColors.Control;
graph.DefaultBrickStyle.Sides = GridLines ? BorderSide.All : BorderSide.None;
Point pt = Point.Empty;
if (Items.Count > 0) {
Rectangle bounds = Items[0].Bounds;
pt = bounds.Location;
pt.Y -= 3;
}
for (int i = 0; i < Items.Count; i++) {
ListViewItem item = Items[i];
graph.DefaultBrickStyle.Font = item.Font;
graph.DefaultBrickStyle.BackColor = item.BackColor;
graph.DefaultBrickStyle.ForeColor = item.ForeColor;
r = item.Bounds;
r.Offset(-pt.X, -pt.Y);
for (int j = 0; j < Columns.Count; j++) {
ColumnHeader column = Columns[j];
r.Width = column.Width;
if (j == 0 && imageList != null) {
DrawBrick("VisualBrick", r);
DrawDetailImage(item, r);
DrawDetailText(item, r);
} else {
TextBrick brick = (TextBrick)DrawBrick("TextBrick", r);
brick.Text = item.SubItems[j].Text;
}
r.Offset(r.Width, 0);
}
}
}
private void CreateIcons() {
graph.DefaultBrickStyle.BackColor = Color.Transparent;
graph.DefaultBrickStyle.BorderColor = Color.Black;
graph.DefaultBrickStyle.Sides = BorderSide.None;
Size imageSize = Size.Empty;
if (offsetx != 0) {
for (int i = 0; i < Items.Count; i++) {
ListViewItem item = Items[i];
int index = item.ImageIndex;
Image image = imageList.Images[index];
Rectangle r = item.Bounds;
imageSize = imageList.ImageSize;
r.Size = imageSize;
if (index < 0)
DrawBrick("VisualBrick", r);
else {
ImageBrick brick = (ImageBrick)DrawBrick("ImageBrick", r);
brick.Image = image;
}
}
offsetx += 3;
}
graph.DefaultBrickStyle.StringFormat = new BrickStringFormat(StringFormatFlags.LineLimit,
StringAlignment.Near, StringAlignment.Near);
for (int i = 0; i < Items.Count; i++) {
ListViewItem item = Items[i];
graph.DefaultBrickStyle.Font = item.Font;
graph.DefaultBrickStyle.BackColor = (item.BackColor == SystemColors.Window)
? Color.Transparent : item.BackColor;
graph.DefaultBrickStyle.ForeColor = item.ForeColor;
RectangleF r = RectangleF.Empty;
r.Size = MeasureString(item.Text);
if (r.Width > 59) {
r.Width = 59;
r.Height = 29;
}
r.X = item.Bounds.Left;
if (item.Bounds.Width > item.Bounds.Height) r.X += imageSize.Width;
r.Y = item.Bounds.Bottom - r.Height;
TextBrick brick = (TextBrick)DrawBrick("TextBrick", r);
brick.Text = item.Text;
}
}
private void DrawDetailImage(ListViewItem item, Rectangle bounds) {
int index = item.ImageIndex;
if (index < 0) return;
Rectangle r = bounds;
r.Size = imageList.ImageSize;
r.Offset(2, (bounds.Height - r.Height) / 2);
IBrick brick = DrawBrick("ImageBrick", r);
brick.SetProperties(new object[,] { { "Image", imageList.Images[index] },
{ "Sides", BorderSide.None }, { "BackColor", Color.Transparent } });
}
private void DrawDetailText(ListViewItem item, Rectangle bounds) {
Rectangle r = bounds;
r.Width = bounds.Width - (imageList.ImageSize.Width + 2);
r.Offset(bounds.Width - r.Width, 0);
IBrick brick = DrawBrick("TextBrick", r);
brick.SetProperties(new object[,] { { "Text", item.SubItems[0].Text },
{ "Sides", BorderSide.None }, { "BackColor", Color.Transparent } });
}
private Rectangle GetCellBounds(int pi, int pj) {
Rectangle r = Rectangle.Empty;
for (int i = 0; i < pi; i++)
r.X += Columns[i].Width;
r.Y += Font.Height + 4;
for (int i = 0; i < pj; i++)
r.Y += Items[i].Bounds.Y;
r.Width = Columns[pi].Width;
r.Height = Items[pj].Bounds.Height;
return r;
}
private SizeF MeasureString(string text) {
Graphics graphics = Graphics.FromHwnd(new IntPtr(0));
SizeF size = graphics.MeasureString(text, Font);
size.Width += 2; // Border size
size.Height += 2; // Border size
graphics.Dispose();
return size;
}
In order to print the date and page number at the bottom of each page, the code for the page footer generation should be added.
The following code implements the CreatePageFooter method, which is used to generate a report’s page footer. The resulting MarginalFooter is shown in the picture.
private void CreatePageFooter() {
string format = "Page {0} of {1}";
Font font = new Font("Arial", 9);
graph.DefaultBrickStyle = new BrickStyle(BorderSide.None, 1,
Color.Black, Color.Transparent, Color.Black, font,
new BrickStringFormat(StringAlignment.Center, StringAlignment.Center));
float height = font.Height + 2;
RectangleF r = new RectangleF(0, 0, 0, height);
DrawBrick("PageInfoBrick", new object[,] { {"PageInfo",PageInfo.NumberOfTotal},
{"Format",format}, {"Alignment",BrickAlignment.Far}, {"AutoWidth",true} }, r);
DrawBrick("PageInfoBrick", new object[,] { {"Alignment",BrickAlignment.Near},
{"AutoWidth",true}, {"PageInfo",PageInfo.DateTime} }, r);
}
The next step is to create the detail header. This section is repeated on each page, and is similar to the table header. In this implementation, it is drawn only if the list view is equal to the Details.
The following code constructs a header for the report’s detail area. It contains column headings for the list of items, representing the Detail view mode of the ListView control.
private void CreateDetailHeader() {
if (View != View.Details) return;
StringFormat sf = new StringFormat(StringFormatFlags.NoWrap);
sf.LineAlignment = StringAlignment.Near;
graph.DefaultBrickStyle = new BrickStyle(BorderSide.All, 1, Color.Black,
SystemColors.Control, SystemColors.ControlText, this.Font, new BrickStringFormat(sf));
Rectangle r = Rectangle.Empty;
r.Y = 1;
for (int i = 0; i < Columns.Count; i++) {
r.Width = Columns[i].Width;
r.Height = Font.Height + 4;
TextBrick brick = (TextBrick)DrawBrick("TextBrick", r);
brick.Text = Columns[i].Text;
r.Offset(Columns[i].Width, 0);
}
}
Get the Result
And, that’s all! Finally, the control, which can be printed via the XtraPrinting Library, is created.
The original ListView control and a report, generated via the XtraPrinting Library, are illustrated below.
