Overview

Properties And Methods

New Image File Printing Capabilities!
aspPrint can finally print JPGs, GIFs, and BMP image files.  Just supply the file path to the image file and the X and Y coordinates. NOTE: On a web server, this must be the physical file path and not a relative url.

Recent Changes 07/12/2004
Added code to printImage method to set the image dimensions for the print out. This allows you to print large images in reduced sizes.

05/23/2004
Added code to printImage method to set various Printer properties. This allows you to print just an image without any text.

11/08/2003
Changed the CurrentX and CurrentY data types from Integer to Long because printing exceptionally long strings can exceed the maximum value for the Integer data type.

XBM Image File Capabilities

aspPrint can print graphics using the XBM image file format. XBM files are ideal for use with aspPrint because the information needed to create the image can be sent to the component as a text string, eliminating the need to load a file. 

HTML Parsing Capabilities

aspPrint now supports some limited ability to parse HTML code and format text according to the HTML tags found. This also gives you the ability to change text formatting within a line or document. See the updated help file for some important limitations to HTML parsing. This new feature uses regular expressions which means your VBScript engine must be updated to version 5.5!

NT Server / Windows 2000 Server Problem

My server testing has revealed a problem which requires some sophisticated server configuration to solve. You can find complete details on the problem and its solution by reading Microsoft Knowledge Base Article Q184291. However, a better solution to this problem is to create a Microsoft Transaction Server package for aspPrint on Windows NT or a COM+ Application on Windows 2000 (see revised help file). aspPrint usually works when created in a  Windows Script Host test script. 

ASP.NET and aspPrint

You probably will not need aspPrint to add printing capabilities to your web applications written for ASP.NET. The .NET Framework class library for printing can be used in your code-behind file. I have experimented with a simple example that prints out a text file without opening up a printer dialog box. See source code. 
You can also use aspPrint in ASP.NET by creating a Runtime Callable Wrapper for the COM component. Read Instructions

New Example Script

<%

Set objPrint = Server.CreateObject("aspPrint.ServerPrint")

objPrint.setPrinter = "HP DeskJet 600 (Color)"

objPrint.setPaperSize = 1

objPrint.setOrientation = 1

objPrint.setColorMode = 2

' the following four properties are optional

objPrint.setPrintQuality = -2 

objPrint.setDuplex = 1

objPrint.setCopies = 1

objPrint.setPaperBin = 4

' You must now call setDocument after setting all the document properties

objPrint.setDocument

objPrint.setForeColor = vbRed

objPrint.setFont = "Times New Roman"

objPrint.setFontSize = 20

objPrint.setFontBold = False

objPrint.setFontItalic = True

objPrint.setFontUnderline = False

' 1440 twips to an inch

objPrint.setCurrentX = 1440

objPrint.setCurrentY = 1440

' centerText has been changed to a property to fix a bug

objPrint.centerText = False

objPrint.doPrint("Hello World")

' building a xbm image file string

' Note that the first three lines must have a carriage return and line feed

strXBM = "#define trash_width 16" & vbCrLf

strXBM = strXBM & "#define trash_height 16" & vbCrLf

strXBM = strXBM & "static char trash_bits[] = {" & vbCrLf

strXBM = strXBM & "0x00, 0x01, 0xe0, 0x0f, 0x10, 0x10, 0xf8, " & _

"0x3f, 0x10, 0x10, 0x50, 0x15," & vbCrLf

strXBM = strXBM & "0x50, 0x15, 0x50, 0x15, 0x50, 0x15, 0x50, " & _

"0x15, 0x50, 0x15, 0x50, 0x15," & vbCrLf

strXBM = strXBM & "0x50, 0x15, 0x10, 0x10, 0xe0, 0x0f, 0x00, 0x00};" & vbCrLf

objPrint.printXBM(strXBM)

objPrint.printImage CStr("C:\test.bmp"),CInt(1500),CInt(500)

' or specify the image dimensions using the optional width, height arguments

objPrint.printImage CStr("C:\test.bmp"),CInt(1500),CInt(500),4000,4000

' You must call endDocument when you are ready to print

objPrint.endDocument

%>

drawTable Method Example Script

<%

Set objP = Server.CreateObject("aspPrint.ServerPrint")

' Only set these properties before calling the drawTable method

objP.setFont = "Times New Roman"

objP.setFontSize = 20

objP.setFontBold = False

objP.setFontItalic = True

objP.setFontUnderline = False

' Note that you don't use parentheses

objP.drawTable 2,2,"Expense,Cost,Date","Supplies,$50.00,Groceries,$15.00"

' You must call endDocument when you are ready to print

objPrint.endDocument

%>

printHTML Method Example Script

<%

Set objP = Server.CreateObject("aspPrint.ServerPrint") 

' You must set these properties 

objP.setColorMode = 1 

objP.setPaperSize = 1 

objP.setOrientation = 1 

' Note that the italics tag within the font tag had to be lowercase 

' Note that the bold and underline tags had to be uppercase 

' Note that the italics tag had to enclose the entire string within the font tag 

' Note that the break tag was not within another tag block 

' Note the use of two double quotes around the face and size attributes 

strHTML = "The <B>bold</B> word will be <U>underlined</U><BR> _

<font face=""Courier"" size=""5""><i>New line in Courier, size 5, _

and italics.</i></font>" 

objP.printHTML(strHTML)

' You must call endDocument when you are ready to print

objPrint.endDocument

%>

Pricing & Payment Options

Demo Download & Help File

Examples Download

Using Word To Print

You could use a Windows Script Host VBScript batch file to create an instance of Word and utilize its printing capabilities but this method can leave many Word processes running and it quickly degrades the server's performance. The WScript.Sleep line gives Word enough time to print and then destroys the process. This solution does allow you to use Word's ability to render HTML.

Dim wApp

Set wApp = WScript.CreateObject("Word.Application")

wApp.Documents.Add

wApp.Documents.Open("C:\WEBSHARE\WWWROOT\DHTML\webpage.html")

wApp.Documents(1).PrintOut

wApp.Documents(1).Close

WScript.Sleep 10000

wApp.Quit

Set wApp = Nothing

Using LPT1 To Print

' Chr(12) is a Form Feed

strText = "Print using plain text" & Chr(12)

Set fs = CreateObject("Scripting.FileSystemObject")

Set f = fs.CreateTextFile("LPT1:", True)

f.Write(strText)

f.Close

Set fs = Nothing

Set f = Nothing

Frequently Asked Questions

Question: Does aspPrint support network printers?

Answer: Network printers are not supported if the printer name appears as a Universal Naming Convention path (UNC) on the Printer Test Page (i.e. \\computer_name\printer_share_name). However, if the printer has a regular printer name and you print to the UNC as the port, then aspPrint will be able to print to that printer. Complete Instructions

Question: How do I control the page breaks for a web page printout?

Answer: You can specify page breaks, text color, and the background color using style sheets.

<STYLE TYPE="text/css">

#break

{

    PAGE-BREAK-AFTER: always;

}

</STYLE>

<P ID="break">The text for this page</P>

The page break will come after the closing </P> so text after that appears on a new page of the printout. 

<STYLE MEDIA="print">

BODY 

{   

    background-color : #FFFFFF;}

FONT 

{

   color : #000000;

}

</STYLE>

  Only works in Internet Explorer 4.0 or above.

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