Q153125: BUG: Printer Object Font Information is Lost After Printing

Article: Q153125
Product(s): Microsoft Visual Basic for Windows
Version(s): 4.0
Operating System(s): 
Keyword(s): kbprint kbPrinting kbVBp kbVBp400bug kbGrpDSVB kbDSupport
Last Modified: 07-SEP-2001

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The information in this article applies to:

- Microsoft Visual Basic Standard Edition, 32-bit, for Windows, version 4.0 
- Microsoft Visual Basic Professional Edition, 16-bit, for Windows, version 4.0 
- Microsoft Visual Basic Professional Edition, 32-bit, for Windows, version 4.0 
- Microsoft Visual Basic Enterprise Edition, 16-bit, for Windows, version 4.0 
- Microsoft Visual Basic Enterprise Edition, 32-bit, for Windows, version 4.0 
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SYMPTOMS
========

The printer object loses all of its font information, including font size,
boldness, underlining, etc., after an initial call to Printer.Print has been
made.

CAUSE
=====

This problem occurs because of the way the Windows 95, Windows 98, Windows Me,
Windows NT, and Windows 2000 printer drivers work. They require applications to
re-send printer settings for each page. Visual Basic 4.0 does not automatically
do this.

This behavior is described in the article mentioned in the REFERENCES section
below.

RESOLUTION
==========

To work around this problem, add the following statements to the beginning of
the Command1_Click procedure, as shown in the following example:

     Sub Command1_click()
       Dim PrinterFont As String   '*
       Printer.Print ""            '* Initialize printer object's device
                                   '* context
       PrinterFont = Printer.Font  '* Retrieve current font name
       Printer.Font = ""           '* Clear current font details
       Printer.Font = PrinterFont  '* Reset font information
       Printer.fontsize = 36
       Printer.fontbold = true
       Printer.fontitalic = true
       Printer.fontunderline = true
       Printer.print "This is a test"
       Printer.enddoc
     End Sub

Each time the CommandButton is pressed, the output should print correctly.

Starting a new page will also reset the Printer's font information to its
defaults, so you will need to reset the printer after each NewPage method. Page
level Information, such as orientation, will not need to be reset.

    ' If you have additional pages, use this syntax:
    Printer.NewPage
    Printer.Print ""     '* Reinitialize printer object's device
    Printer.Font = ""    '* Clear current font details
    Printer.Font = PrinterFont '* Reset font information
    Printer.FontSize = 36
    Printer.CurrentY = 0    '* Reset to the top of the new page
    Printer.Print "This is page two"
    Printer.EndDoc

STATUS
======

Microsoft has confirmed this to be a bug in the Microsoft products listed at the
beginning of this article.

MORE INFORMATION
================

Steps to Reproduce Problem
--------------------------

1. Start Visual Basic with a New Project.

2. Add a CommandButton to the form.

3. Add the following code to the Click event of the CommandButton:

        Sub Command1_click()
           Printer.Fontsize = 36
           Printer.Fontbold = true
           Printer.Fontitalic = true
           Printer.Fontunderline = true
           Printer.Print "This is a test"
           Printer.Enddoc
        End Sub

4. Run this program and press the CommandButton. The output should have printed
  correctly.

5. Press the CommandButton again. This time the output will have lost all of its
  font attributes.

REFERENCES
==========

For more information, please see the following article in the Microsoft
Knowledge Base:

  Q125696 : StartPage/EndPage Resets Printer DC Attributes in Windows95

Additional query words:

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Keywords          : kbprint kbPrinting kbVBp kbVBp400bug kbGrpDSVB kbDSupport 
Technology        : kbVBSearch kbAudDeveloper kbVB400Search kbVB400 kbVB16bitSearch
Version           : :4.0
Issue type        : kbbug
Solution Type     : kbpending

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