Message Capture Without a Form
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All of the Black Ice Printer Drivers include a messaging interface. The printer drivers communicate with applications through this interface by sending printer messages at different stages of the printing process. The applications capture the messages sent by the printer driver and process them.

The printer driver will send messages when the following events happen during the printing process:

  • Start of Document (StartDoc)
  • Start of Page (StartPage)
  • End of Page (EndPage)
  • End of Document (EndDoc)
  • Printer Settings changed
  • Image passed in Memory
  • Abort

The driver communicates with an application three different ways:

  • Method 1: Through the WM_COPYDATA Windows message
  • Method 2: Through a registered window message
  • Method 3: Through a pipe interface (for Terminal Server printer drivers)

In order to show the usage of the messaging interface of the printer driver, the Resource Toolkit includes the Message Capture without a Form Sample. This sample shows how you can use the BiPrnDrv.ocx dynamically without a form. You can use this procedure for example in getting printer driver messages in windows services or command line applications (using Method 1, Method 2 or Method 3).

To help Visual Basic, Delphi or other developers, the Resource Toolkit includes the BiPrnDrv.OCX that makes the process of capturing printer driver messages easy. The OCX will capture every printer driver message internally and will fire an OCX event for every message.

Source code for the Message Capture without a Form Sample is available in VB. Using the Start Application feature of the Black Ice printer drivers along with the messaging interface provides a straightforward method of monitoring the printing process.



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