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Q255115: BUG: Printer.ForeColor Property Does Not Work Correctly

Article: Q255115
Product(s): Microsoft Visual Basic for Windows
Version(s): 6.0
Operating System(s): 
Keyword(s): kbprint kbPrinting kbVBp kbVBp600 kbGrpDSVB kbDSupport
Last Modified: 11-SEP-2001

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The information in this article applies to:

- Microsoft Visual Basic Learning Edition for Windows, version 6.0 
- Microsoft Visual Basic Professional Edition for Windows, version 6.0 
- Microsoft Visual Basic Enterprise Edition for Windows, version 6.0 
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SYMPTOMS
========

You can use the Printer.ForeColor property to print color text. However, if you
set this property before you print anything on a new page, it may have no
effect.

CAUSE
=====

This problem stems from the way in which the Visual Basic Printer object calls
the underlying API functions, StartPage and EndPage.

- In Microsoft Windows 95, Windows 98, and Windows Me, the StartPage function
  call resets the Printer's Device Context attributes to default values and so
  it is required to set the fore color and re-select objects every time the
  StartPage function is called.

- In Microsoft Windows NT and Microsoft Windows 2000, the StartPage function
  call does not reset the Device Context attributes so that Device Context
  attributes remain constant across subsequent pages. However, it is required
  to set the fore color and select objects the first time the StartPage
  function is called.

- The Printer object for Visual Basic does not set the fore color automatically
  after the StartPage function call.

- The Printer object calls the StartPage function only when the Printer.Print
  method is called to eliminate unnecessary blank pages. The Printer.NewPage
  method only calls the EndPage function.

RESOLUTION
==========

To work around the problem, you need to force a call to the StartPage function
with the Printer.Print method and then set the Printer.ForeColor property
yourself.

You need to do this for the first page only if your application only targets on
Windows NT and Windows 2000.

You need to do this for each page if your application is to be delivered to
Windows 9x and Windows Me platforms.

NOTE: This workaround requires that you issue the Printer.NewPage function call
explicitly by calculating when a new page should be started. If Visual Basic
automatically starts a new page for you, you do not have a chance to apply the
workaround for Windows 9x.

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 Behavior
---------------------------

1. Install a color printer to your computer and set it as the default printer.

2. Create a new Standard EXE project with Visual Basic 6.0. Form1 is created
  automatically.

3. Add the following code to the code window of Form1:

  Private Sub Form_Load()
      Printer.ColorMode = 2
      Printer.ForeColor = vbRed
      Printer.Print "page 1"
      Printer.NewPage
      Printer.Print "Page 2"
      Printer.EndDoc
  End Sub

4. Press the F5 key to run the project and note that both page 1 and page 2 are
  printed in black.

5. Return to design mode and change the code for Form1 to be:

  Private Sub Form_Load()
      Printer.ColorMode = 2
      Printer.Print " ";  ' force a call to StartPage
      Printer.CurrentX = 0  ' restore the position
      Printer.ForeColor = vbRed
      Printer.Print "Page 1"
      Printer.NewPage  ' VB only calls EndPage here
      ' The following three lines are not necessary for NT/Windows 2000
      ' But you need them if you want to make the code work under Windows 9x or Windows Me
      Printer.Print " ";  ' force a call to StartPage
      Printer.CurrentX = 0  ' restore the position
      Printer.ForeColor = vbRed
      Printer.Print "Page 2"
      Printer.EndDoc
  End Sub

6. Press F5 to run it again and note that it works as expected.

REFERENCES
==========

MSDN Platform SDK: StartPage

Additional query words:

======================================================================
Keywords          : kbprint kbPrinting kbVBp kbVBp600 kbGrpDSVB kbDSupport 
Technology        : kbVBSearch kbAudDeveloper kbZNotKeyword6 kbZNotKeyword2 kbVB600Search kbVBA600 kbVB600
Version           : :6.0
Issue type        : kbbug
Solution Type     : kbnofix

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