Need help with service to limit printer use.

David Malinowski

Greetings,
I am a web developer trying to create a windows service to limit the number of pages a user can print each day. I was thinking I'd save the total in isolated storage. What I would like to have happen is if the limit has been reached a dialog box would inform the user that the daily limit has been reached and not allow them to print.
I know how to create a windows service and a little of COM+/WinAPI but I need to know what windows message that coresponds to the print dialog opening.
I could not find anything on the web. Could somebody send me some links that might help?

2 Replies

Know the answer? Post it — somebody with the same question will find it here.

Sam Hobbs15y ago
A Windows service implies system-wide. If you need to limit access to printers at the system level then that article won't help.

I am not sure if Group Policies (look here) will do what you need to do but if it can then it will be easier to do it that way. Also see this.
David Malinowski15y ago
A little more searching and I found the solution. http://www.abstraction.net/ViewArticle.aspx?articleID=89

I'll check the pages printed that I'll save to a SQL database. If the user is at the limit, I will modify the print dialog to not allow printing.