Q154007: HOWTO: Connect to a Network Printer with the Win32 API

Article: Q154007
Product(s): Microsoft Visual Basic for Windows
Version(s): 4.0
Operating System(s): 
Keyword(s): kbVBp400 kb32bitOnly
Last Modified: 11-JAN-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, 32-bit, for Windows, version 4.0 
- Microsoft Visual Basic Enterprise Edition, 32-bit, for Windows, version 4.0 
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SUMMARY
=======

Using the Win32 API, it is possible to bring up a predefined Windows Dialog box
for connecting to a network printer. The ConnectToPrinterDlg Win32 API works
under Windows NT. However, it is not accessible by Visual Basic programs running
under Windows 95 because the user interface is so different. Therefore, you must
use a Command line equivalent statement to invoke the "Add Printer Wizard" under
Windows 95. Below is a code sample showing how to implement both methods of
displaying the Dialog.

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

1. Create a new project with Visual Basic. Form1 is created by default.

2. Add a CommandButton, Command1, to the form.

3. Add the following code to the General Declarations section of Form1:

     Option Explicit

     Private Type OSVERSIONINFO
       dwOSVersionInfoSize As Long
       dwMajorVersion As Long
       dwMinorVersion As Long
       dwBuildNumber As Long
       dwPlatformId As Long
       szCSDVersion As String * 128
     End Type

     Private Declare Function GetVersionExA Lib "kernel32" _
        (lpVersionInformation As OSVERSIONINFO) As Integer
     Private Declare Function ConnectToPrinterDlg Lib "winspool.drv" (ByVal _
        hwnd As Long, ByVal flags As Long) As Long

     Private Sub Form_Load()
       Command1.Caption = "Press Me"
     End Sub

     Private Sub Command1_Click()
       Dim osinfo As OSVERSIONINFO
       Dim iReturn As Integer
       Dim lReturn As Long
       osinfo.dwOSVersionInfoSize = 148
       osinfo.szCSDVersion = Space$(128)
       iReturn = GetVersionExA(osinfo)
       If osinfo.dwMajorVersion = 3 And osinfo.dwMinorVersion = 51 And _
         osinfo.dwBuildNumber = 1057 And osinfo.dwPlatformId = 2 Then
         lReturn = ConnectToPrinterDlg(Form1.hwnd, 0)
       ElseIf osinfo.dwMajorVersion = 4 And osinfo.dwMinorVersion = 0 And _
         osinfo.dwBuildNumber = 67109814 And osinfo.dwPlatformId = 1 Then
         Shell "rundll32.exe shell32.dll,SHHelpShortcuts_RunDLL AddPrinter"
       Else
         MsgBox "Your Operating System has not been detected successfully !"
       End If
     End Sub

4. Press the F5 key to run the project. Click the buttons to see the results.
  Depending on which operating system you are running, you will see that one
  dialog works and one doesn't:

                         NT 3.51          Win95
     ---------------------------------------------

     dwMajorVersion           3              4
     dwMinorVersion          51              0
     dwBuildNumber         1057       67109814
     dwPlatformId             2              1


REFERENCES
==========

The Win32 SDK.

Additional query words: ConnectToPrinterDlg

======================================================================
Keywords          : kbVBp400 kb32bitOnly 
Technology        : kbVBSearch kbAudDeveloper kbVB400Search kbVB400
Version           : 4.0
Issue type        : kbhowto

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