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Q184675: BUG: PictureBox Prints Incorrectly with PrintForm

Article: Q184675
Product(s): Microsoft Visual Basic for Windows
Version(s): WINDOWS:5.0
Operating System(s): 
Keyword(s): kbGrpDSVB
Last Modified: 11-JAN-2001

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The information in this article applies to:

- Microsoft Visual Basic Learning Edition for Windows, version 5.0 
- Microsoft Visual Basic Professional Edition for Windows, version 5.0 
- Microsoft Visual Basic Enterprise Edition for Windows, version 5.0 
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SYMPTOMS
========

When you print a form from the IDE or you use the PrintForm method to print a
form containing a PictureBox with its Picture property set to a metafile (.wmf,
.emf), the picture in the PictureBox does not print correctly. The picture may
appear offset from its original location or may not appear at all.

CAUSE
=====

The greater the Top and Left properties of the PictureBox control are from
(0,0), the greater the offset of the actual picture in the printed output. The
actual offset of the picture is relative to the size of the form.

RESOLUTION
==========

The following are three different methods you can use to work around this
problem:

- Use an Image control rather than a PictureBox control.

- Set the Picture property of the PictureBox control to a file in another
  graphics format. In addition to metafiles, the Picture property for a
  PictureBox also supports the bitmap (.bmp), icon (.ico), GIF, and JPEG file
  formats.

- Use another technique to print the form instead of the PrintForm method. The
  following articles in the Microsoft Knowledge Base discuss techniques you can
  implement to print your form with Visual Basic:

  Q161299 : HOWTO: Capture and Print the Screen, a Form, or any Window

  Q178076 : HOWTO: Use a PictureBox to Control Orientation Printing a Form

STATUS
======

Microsoft has confirmed this to be a bug in the Microsoft products listed at the
beginning of this article. We are researching this bug and will post new
information here in the Microsoft Knowledge Base as it becomes available.

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

Steps to Reproduce Behavior
---------------------------

1. Start a new project in Visual Basic. Form1 is created by default.

2. Draw a PictureBox control in the upper-left corner of Form1. Set the Picture
  property to any metafile.

  NOTE: You can find some metafiles in the Graphics\Metafile of your Visual
  Basic directory.

3. Add the following code to the Click event of Form1:

        PrintForm
        Picture1.Move 2000
        PrintForm

4. Press the F5 key to run the project.

5. Click Form1.

RESULTS: Notice that the first PrintForm prints the image correctly. However, the
second PrintForm, which executes after the Picture control is moved, prints the
image incorrectly. Depending on the picture you selected, and the size of the
form, the picture may appear off-center or not appear at all.

Additional query words: move left top meta file picture box kbPrinting kbVBp500 kbVBp

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Keywords          : kbGrpDSVB 
Technology        : kbVBSearch kbAudDeveloper kbZNotKeyword6 kbZNotKeyword2 kbVB500Search kbVBA500 kbVB500
Version           : WINDOWS:5.0
Issue type        : kbbug

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