C# Printing Problem (RichTextBox)

Question

I want to print the content of my RichTextBox (eintragRichTextBox) I have now this code:

private void druckenPictureBox_Click(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
    PrintDialog printDialog = new PrintDialog();
    PrintDocument documentToPrint = new PrintDocument();
    printDialog.Document = documentToPrint;

    if (printDialog.ShowDialog() == DialogResult.OK)
    {
        StringReader reader = new StringReader(eintragRichTextBox.Text);
        documentToPrint.Print();
        documentToPrint.PrintPage += new PrintPageEventHandler(DocumentToPrint_PrintPage);
    }
}

private void DocumentToPrint_PrintPage(object sender, System.Drawing.Printing.PrintPageEventArgs e)
{
    StringReader reader = new StringReader(eintragRichTextBox.Text);
    float LinesPerPage = 0;
    float YPosition = 0;
    int Count = 0;
    float LeftMargin = e.MarginBounds.Left;
    float TopMargin = e.MarginBounds.Top;
    string Line = null;
    Font PrintFont = this.eintragRichTextBox.Font;
    SolidBrush PrintBrush = new SolidBrush(Color.Black);

    LinesPerPage = e.MarginBounds.Height / PrintFont.GetHeight(e.Graphics);

    while (Count < LinesPerPage && ((Line = reader.ReadLine()) != null))
    {
        YPosition = TopMargin + (Count * PrintFont.GetHeight(e.Graphics));
        e.Graphics.DrawString(Line, PrintFont, PrintBrush, LeftMargin, YPosition, new StringFormat());
        Count++;
    }

    if (Line != null)
    {
        e.HasMorePages = true;
    }
    else
    {
        e.HasMorePages = false;
    }
    PrintBrush.Dispose();
}

But it always prints me a blank site :(.. Anyone an Idea, why it is not working? Or has someone a better code/Idea how I could achieve the printing?

Answer 1

I tried How to print the content of a RichTextBox control and it works like a charm.

You just have to create a custom RichTextBox and then it will print the whole text so fast and also keeps the style on the paper!

Code for creating custom RichTextBox

using System;
using System.Windows.Forms;
using System.Drawing;
using System.Runtime.InteropServices;
using System.Drawing.Printing;

namespace RichTextBoxPrintCtrl
{
    public class RichTextBoxPrintCtrl:RichTextBox
    {
        //Convert the unit used by the .NET framework (1/100 inch) 
        //and the unit used by Win32 API calls (twips 1/1440 inch)
        private const double anInch = 14.4;

        [StructLayout(LayoutKind.Sequential)] 
            private struct RECT
        {
            public int Left;
            public int Top;
            public int Right;
            public int Bottom;
        }

        [StructLayout(LayoutKind.Sequential)]
            private struct CHARRANGE
        {
            public int cpMin;         //First character of range (0 for start of doc)
            public int cpMax;           //Last character of range (-1 for end of doc)
        }

        [StructLayout(LayoutKind.Sequential)]
            private struct FORMATRANGE
        {
            public IntPtr hdc;             //Actual DC to draw on
            public IntPtr hdcTarget;       //Target DC for determining text formatting
            public RECT rc;                //Region of the DC to draw to (in twips)
            public RECT rcPage;            //Region of the whole DC (page size) (in twips)
            public CHARRANGE chrg;         //Range of text to draw (see earlier declaration)
        }

        private const int WM_USER  = 0x0400;
        private const int EM_FORMATRANGE  = WM_USER + 57;

        [DllImport("USER32.dll")]
        private static extern IntPtr SendMessage (IntPtr hWnd , int msg , IntPtr wp, IntPtr lp); 

        // Render the contents of the RichTextBox for printing
        //  Return the last character printed + 1 (printing start from this point for next page)
        public int Print( int charFrom, int charTo,PrintPageEventArgs e)
        {
            //Calculate the area to render and print
            RECT rectToPrint; 
            rectToPrint.Top = (int)(e.MarginBounds.Top * anInch);
            rectToPrint.Bottom = (int)(e.MarginBounds.Bottom * anInch);
            rectToPrint.Left = (int)(e.MarginBounds.Left * anInch);
            rectToPrint.Right = (int)(e.MarginBounds.Right * anInch);

            //Calculate the size of the page
            RECT rectPage; 
            rectPage.Top = (int)(e.PageBounds.Top * anInch);
            rectPage.Bottom = (int)(e.PageBounds.Bottom * anInch);
            rectPage.Left = (int)(e.PageBounds.Left * anInch);
            rectPage.Right = (int)(e.PageBounds.Right * anInch);

            IntPtr hdc = e.Graphics.GetHdc();

            FORMATRANGE fmtRange;
            fmtRange.chrg.cpMax = charTo;               //Indicate character from to character to 
            fmtRange.chrg.cpMin = charFrom;
            fmtRange.hdc = hdc;                    //Use the same DC for measuring and rendering
            fmtRange.hdcTarget = hdc;              //Point at printer hDC
            fmtRange.rc = rectToPrint;             //Indicate the area on page to print
            fmtRange.rcPage = rectPage;            //Indicate size of page

            IntPtr res = IntPtr.Zero;

            IntPtr wparam = IntPtr.Zero;
            wparam = new IntPtr(1);

            //Get the pointer to the FORMATRANGE structure in memory
            IntPtr lparam= IntPtr.Zero;
            lparam = Marshal.AllocCoTaskMem(Marshal.SizeOf(fmtRange));
            Marshal.StructureToPtr(fmtRange, lparam, false);

            //Send the rendered data for printing 
            res = SendMessage(Handle, EM_FORMATRANGE, wparam, lparam);

            //Free the block of memory allocated
            Marshal.FreeCoTaskMem(lparam);

            //Release the device context handle obtained by a previous call
            e.Graphics.ReleaseHdc(hdc);

            //Return last + 1 character printer
            return res.ToInt32();
        }

    }
}

The main source includes PrintDialog, PrintPreviewDialog, PrintDocument, and PageSetupDialog, but it works fine just with one PrintDocument control. So I've removed some extra codes just to shorten the useful part. But if you're interested to using them all, you can find the full code in the linked page.

    private PrintDocument _printDocument = new PrintDocument();
    private int _checkPrint;
    public Form1()
    {
        InitializeComponent();
        _printDocument.BeginPrint += _printDocument_BeginPrint;
        _printDocument.PrintPage += _printDocument_PrintPage;
    }

    private void btnPrint_Click(object sender, EventArgs e)
    {
        PrintDialog printDialog=new PrintDialog();
        if (printDialog.ShowDialog() == DialogResult.OK)
            _printDocument.Print();
    }

    private void _printDocument_PrintPage(object sender, PrintPageEventArgs e)
    {
        // Print the content of RichTextBox. Store the last character printed.
        _checkPrint = rchEditor.Print(_checkPrint, rchEditor.TextLength, e);

        // Check for more pages
        e.HasMorePages = _checkPrint < rchEditor.TextLength;
    }

    private void _printDocument_BeginPrint(object sender, PrintEventArgs e)
    {
        _checkPrint = 0;
    }

Answer 2

got it..

on this Place:

if (printDialog.ShowDialog() == DialogResult.OK)
{
    StringReader reader = new StringReader(eintragRichTextBox.Text);
    documentToPrint.Print();
    documentToPrint.PrintPage += new PrintPageEventHandler(DocumentToPrint_PrintPage);
}

I changed to:

if (printDialog.ShowDialog() == DialogResult.OK)
{
    StringReader reader = new StringReader(eintragRichTextBox.Text);
    documentToPrint.PrintPage += new PrintPageEventHandler(DocumentToPrint_PrintPage);
    documentToPrint.Print();    
}

Now it works fine..

Also if someone needs to print content of a RichTextBox, you can use my code..