This article has been
excerpted from book "Graphics Programming with GDI+".
In this article I will explain about the DocumentName Property and Marginal
Printing in GDI+.
The DocumentName Property and Marginal Printing in GDI+.
The DocumentName Property
If you want to display the name of the document you're printing, you can use the DocumentName property of the PrintDocument object:
pd.DocumentName ="A Text Document";
The new result is shown in Figure 11.26.
We have seen that using the DocumentPrintPreview class is fairly
straightforward. In reality, all that's happening is that this control is passed
a graphics class representing each page in a printout.
FIGURE 11.25: Print preview of multiple pages
FIGURE 11.26: Setting a document name
Marginal Printing: A Caution
Although it's exciting to be able to draw graphics on a printout, keep in mind
that printers have limits. Never try to print at the extreme edges page because
you cannot be sure that a printer will print in exactly the same place. You
could have two printers of the same model and manufacturer and yet when you
print you may notice they print in different places. Some printers are more
accurate than others, but usually a sheet of paper will move slightly as it
moves through the printer. Laser printers tend to be able to print closer to the
edges of the paper than inkjet printers because of the mechanism that is used to
transport the sheet of paper thought the printer.
To see a marginal-printing sample, let's create a Windows application. We add
two buttons to the form. The final form is shown in Figure 11.27.
Now we add code for the Normal Printing and Marginal Printing button click event
handlers, as in Listing 11.47. Each handler creates a PrintDocument object, adds
a PrintPage event handler, and calls the Print method. The PrintPage event
handlers for Normal Printing and Marginal Printing are NormalPrinting and
MarginPrinting, respectively.
FIGURE 11.27: Marginal-printing test application
LISTING 11.47: The Normal Printing and Marginal Printing button event
handlers
private void
NormalBtn_Click(object sender, System.EVentArgs
e)
{
//Create a PrintDocument object
PrintDocument pd = new
PrintDocument();
//Add PrintPage event handler
pd.PrintPage += new
PrintPageEventHandler(NormalPrinting);
//Print
pd.Print();
}
private void
MarginalBtn_Click(object sender, System.EventArgs
e)
{
//Create a PrintDocument object
PrintDocument pd = new
PrintDocument();
//Add PrintPage event handler
pd.PrintPage += new
PrintPageEVentHandler(MarginPrinting);
//Print
pd.Print();
}
Now let's look at the NormalPrinting handler (see Listing 11.48). We start with
the top location of the text as unit 1. Then we calculated the nest line's
position using the height of the font and draw lines with the values of the top,
left, bottom, and right margins. In the end we draw a rectangle with the default
bounds of the page.
LISTING 11.48: The NormalPrinting event handler
public void
NormalPrinting(object sender, PrintPageEventArgs
ev)
{
//Set the top position as 1
float ypos = 1;
//Get the default left margin
float leftMargin =
ev.MarginBounds.Left;
//Create a font
Font font =
new Font("Arial",
16);
//Get the font's height
float fontheight =
font.GetHeight(ev.Graphics);
//Draw four strings
ev.Graphics.DrawString("Top
Margin = " + ev.MarginBounds.Top.ToString(), font,
Brushes.Black, leftMargin, ypose);
ypos = ypos + fontheight;
ev.Graphics.DrawString("Bottom Margin =
" + ev.MarginBounds.Bottom.ToString(), font,
Brushes.Black,leftMargin, ypose);
ypos = ypos + fontheight;
ev.Graphics.DrawString("Left Margin = "
+ ev.MarginBounds.Left.ToString(), font, Brushes.Black,
leftMargin, ypose);
ypos = ypos + fontheight;
ev.Graphics.DrawString("Right Margin = "
+ ev.MarginBounds.Right.ToString(), font, Brushes.Black,
leftMargin, ypose);
ypos = ypos + fontheight;
//Draw a rectangle with defualt margins
ev.Graphics.DrawRectangle(new Pen(Color.Black),
ev.MarginBounds.X,
ev.MarginBounds.Y,
ev.MarginBounds.Width,
ev.MarginBounds.Height);
}
If we run the application, we will see text describing the four margins values
printed outside the rectangle.
Next comes code for the MarginPrinting event handler (see Listing 11.49). We use
the default margin of the page as the top location for the first text.
Everything else is the same as in Listing 11.48.
LISTING 11.49: The MarginPrinting event handler
public void
MarginPrinting(object sender, PrintPageEventArgs
ev)
{
//Set the top position as the default
margin
float ypos =
ev.MarginBounds.Top;
//Get the default left margin
float leftMArgin =
ev.MarginBounds.Left;
//Create a font
Font font =
new Font("Arial",
16);
//Get the font's height
float fontheight =
font.GetHeight(ev.Graphics);
//Draw four strings
ev.Graphics.DrawString("Top
Margin = " + ev.MarginBounds.Top.ToString(),
font, Brushes.Black,
leftMargin, ypose);
ypos = ypos + fontheight;
ev.Graphics.DrawString("Bottom Margin =
" + ev.MarginBounds.Bottom.ToString(),
font, Brushes.Black,
leftMargin, ypose);
ypos = ypos + fontheight;
ev.Graphics.DrawString("Left Margin = "
+ ev.MarginBounds.Left.ToString(),
font, Brushes.Black,
leftMargin, ypose);
ypos = ypos + fontheight;
ev.Graphics.DrawString("Right Margin = "
+ ev.MarginBounds.Right.ToString(),
font, Brushes.Black,
leftMargin, ypose);
ypos = ypos + fontheight;
//Draw a rectangle with default margins
ev.Graphics.DrawRectangle(new Pen(Color.Black),
ev.MarginBounds.X,
ev.MarginBounds.Y,
ev.MarginBounds.Width,
ev.MarginBounds.Height);
}
When we run this code, we will se text appearing inside the rectangle printed
using the page margin values.
Conclusion
Hope the article would have helped you in understanding the DocumentName
Property and Marginal Printing in GDI+. Read other articles on GDI+ on the website.
